Mukilteo Musings

Blah! Gloomy.

When I took this morning's pictures below outside in my back yard, it was 38 degrees. The high today will be 44 with a chance of rain. It is always 44 with a chance of rain even on the 4th of July. All of this is enough to drive our new friends who moved here from Colorado and who are from California originally away. The winters they can manage. It is our perpetual winter that lasts through spring and summer they cannot handle. On Easter Sunday while at their house for dinner, they mentioned that their friends in Colorado were basking in 75 degree sunlight. What were we doing? We were huddled in their kitchen around the stove looking out over Puget Sound and watching a breezy storm come through. Beautiful? Of course. Warm? Please, give me more hot something to eat or drink.


38 degrees and drizzle. Oh well, it SNOWED yesterday in south sound.

Our daughter happily drove back to Walla Walla where the sun exists and the cloud cover is higher and thinner. My Seattle born baby is discovering her mood is positively affected by Eastern Washington weather. As for me, I'm drinking my coffee and taking my vitamins. My friend, Chuck, deals with it by baking bread. He probably inhales enough B complex vitamins from the yeast and the dough to get him through these gloomy days. He underestimates his bread baking skills. According to his latest article in the Mukilteo Beacon:

"Still, people would marvel over my remarkable ability to do something that essentially requires the motor skills of a 4-year-old, and maybe a measuring cup (maybe). People are funny. "

http://www.mukilteobeacon.com/columnistschucksigars.html

Well, Chuck, I suck at making bread so my motor skills must be non-existent. I have never been able to get the yeast right in 35 years so I gave up. This is why I want a good bakery in Mukilteo. So, you'd have a faithful daily customer if you opened a bakery, Chuck. Seriously. You have the skills and the passion. And I wasn't reading your column while waiting for a cheeseburger. It is the first thing I read in our local paper except for maybe the Police Beat when my family is the featured felon of the week. (Yep. It has to do with a supposedly stolen green Jaguar and a repo man along with the Mukilteo Police showing up in our driveway. Curious? I promise. I will write about my husband's mid life crisis purchase one of these days.)

I don't have a local bakery. I'm living with contractors every day. Nice men. I'll miss them when they are gone, but still, I want my house back. I have a gloomy sky. I have a dog who thinks it is funny to wait until I clean up all of his piles in the back yard and put away the shovel and dispose of the sacks before he, you know,....makes another elephant sized....!!! "Apolo, I do not care if it is your sixth birthday. You just made me scream outside in 38 degrees and drizzle." I had to start the pile process all over again which allowed birthday boy more time to dig under the rhodies again getting his feet all muddy.

So what else could frustrate me? How about no hot water for two of these chilly days? No way to shower or take a bath or even wash my face? Here is the good news and the bad news about no hot water:

1. The bad news is the second time we used our big new spa tub with a view, our hot water tank didn't fill it up. Yikes! All of this money on a new bathroom and we cannot use our new bathtub.

2. The good news is that the water heater collapsed sending water onto the floor of our garage. It wasn't just the tub.

3. The bad news is the water heater failed leaving us with only cold water for the next morning.

4. The good news is this did not happen while Kaley and her college buddy were here just a few days ago.

5. The bad news is the water heater is only 5 years old. It was new when we bought the house and we thought we had another 5 years with it at least.

6. The good news is it was still under warranty until May 2008.

7. The bad news is Dave went to work without shaving. He does not use an electric razor but he shaves in the shower.

8. The good news is his assistant who has been with him for thirty years delightedly had the chance to ask him why he did not shave before he came to work. She enjoys giving him a bad time.

9. The bad news is, even though the water tank was under warranty, we needed to purchase a larger more expensive tank to handle two new bathrooms and the new bigger tub.

10. The good news is they installed the new tank. We now have hot water again. And it will handle our new tub easily. We actually should use less water because the new bigger tank has a rapid recovery system meaning we should not run out of hot water. In addition, our new tub has a built in heater so when we fill it up on these chilly days, it stays warm. You do not have to let some of the water out and then refill it with hotter water to get through the bath.

Before Addition

Back of house on a rare sunny day before we cut the dangerous tree and before the remodel.

After Addition

Taken this morning while I was cleaning up dog poop and slugs. Why do slugs just LOVE dog poop??

Ok, I'm off to wash my face with hot water, drink some more hot coffee to wash down my B vitamins, and to take birthday boy on his daily walk! I would take a nice hot bath but I have contractors in my bathroom. So, you know... .