Autumn and stuff

My favorite time of year is definitely here. You can smell wood smoke in the evening air, although I still don't think it has been anywhere near cold enough to need heat or fireplace. But my neighbors don't share that feeling and are getting in the winter oil and wood supplies.

We're holding off on filling the fuel tank for a bit, as we've had an expensive few weeks. I DID change my stove for an electric oven and induction top. I love it and regret not having done it sooner. I really, really hated schlepping those gas bottles!

But, no sooner had we decided that we would go ahead and do that but than my computer died following our trip to L.A. Talk about a necessary but unexpected expense.

Then, yesterday, the power went off. Now, it was raining, and it has been raining a lot this week, so my first thought was that a tower was hit or flooded out or something. But when I looked across the street I saw that the neighbors had lights. Clearly, the problem was here.

Perhaps it was the new stove. It had, strangely, been delivered without an electrical cord, and our electrician, Stephan had not realized it was induction, so he brought the wrong cord. Even though the stove wasn't on, I thought I would unplug it, just in case. I flipped the breaker switch and POOF the power went out again. Not the stove then.

The only other thing that was operating that could have been responsible was the dishwasher. I turned that off and flipped the breaker. This time the power stayed on. Again, we thought it might have been caused by the stove (although I really couldn't see how). Of course, when water started pouring out of the dishwasher, I realized that was our problem.

Luckily, super-plumber, Christian Drouin was able to come over quickly. After about 2 hours taking everything apart, we realized that the pump had blown. Now the dishwasher is just 2 years old. At first, we thought it was out of warranty, but amazingly, we seem to have actually purchased an extended warranty for it. We never do that, so it was quite a surprise.

Now we need to see if we will have a fight on our hands, or if they'll actually repair it for free. In the meantime, I actually find I don't mind washing dishes by hand. There must be something wrong with me.

Maybe it does have to do with the season. Chores like reorganizing the kitchen, cooking, doing dishes, etc., all seem very cozy and pleasant right now.

Ciao for now.

Randy

Marking time

In a way, that's what it feels like at the moment, because we have absolutely no idea of when Mom will get word that her visa has arrived and we'll have to make arrangements to head back to L.A. It's so hard to make any plans. Friends Margaret and Peter have offered to meet us at the airport in Toulouse when we get back, because with the three of us and all of Mom's luggage Beanie will not be sufficient. But will we be coming back when they are on their trip? Who knows. Limbo.

Still, we do what we can. I'm desperately trying to finish the second draft of our new book, EDGAR ALAN POE ON MARS so it can be published in December as planned. And, the big Kahuna is getting Mom's house-to-be ready for her as soon as possible.

We made contact with the owner last week and we seem to have agreed to a deal, now we need for the sale of Mom's house in L.A. to close so we can go to the Notaire here and close the deal on the new place. Lots of juggling. In the meantime, we've started having our friendly neighborhood artisans come in to do estimates and give us their suggestions for the best, easiest, fastest and most affordable way to do what needs to be done.

This won't be a huge apartment, but I think it will be perfectly cozy for one person, and the fact that it's all ground level is a huge bonus. Places like that are gold in a village like this one, as almost everyplace has stairs of one kind or another. Both JM and I are very nervous about Mom living in our house until her place is ready, as between stairs and dogs it's a bit of a deathtrap! We've told her that we want her to let us know when she's going to change rooms so that one or the other of us can accompany her on the stairs and run canine interferance.

One thing about doing the work on the new place is that I think we've learned a lot over the years. And, there's the fact that we won't be living in it while the work is going on, so that will be much nicer as well. Still, it's only two doors away, so we're there for consultation when the guys need us. I can't wait to see it when it's done, because I think it has great potential,

I didn't go upstairs to look at the rest of the property again, although will probably do that today or tomorrow. It's really a very nice space and part of me thinks it would be fun to sell our house and fix that one up for us to live in upstairs while Mom lives downstairs. But we have gotten our house perfectly set up, so I know that's impractical and silly...

Ciao for now.

Randy