I hope it lives....

Well, yesterday, I planted a tree. Literally. My little Peach tree was not very happy in the pot and I realized it needed to planted... sooner rather than later. I knew it wasn't cut out to be in a pot, unlike my Colonnade Apple tree, and didn't plan on leaving it there for this long. I'd hoped to get it planted after firming up ideas with a landscaper. Alas, I've not heard from the last landscaper I talked with. I'm going to call her tomorrow and see if we can't get together in a week or so. Over the weeks and after some thought and some reading, my goals for what I want her to do have changed, but I still need a little help. The yard doesn't look really good in this picture. I wasn't sure for quite a while where I wanted to plant it, but yesterday this is the spot that called to me. It's slightly off center in the yard, but I can see it from the living room. It's also in the middle of the large dead spot in the yard. But, said dead spot is filling in.

As I said, I planted the tree. Dug the hole, filled in the dirt (used Miracle Gro's soil for trees and shrubs as I think it needs all the help it can get), and used the fertilizer tablets that came with it. I must have done okay, because it survived the storms that rolled through this morning. I'm terribly pleased with myself for getting it planted and hope that I didn't kill it. I did learn, however, that maybe I not geared for planting trees. It's made me re-think all the flower beds I'm envisioning back there. Not that they shouldn't be, just that I shouldn't be the one doing them. At least not by myself. I have no problems doing the actual planting, but I'm smart enough to admit when I'm not the best person to do something, that's why I have a lawn service to do my edging. I can mow, but I can't edge worth a dime. And, I'm not sure I'll be all that good at putting in a flower bed, let alone a lot of flower beds.

I've also realized why one wants the garage in the back of the house. It's much easier to have a potting place in the garage if you don't have to lug everything to the back. Course with a garage in the back, you have to lug mulch to the front, so I guess lugging is involved no matter where the garage is.

At any rate, the Peach tree is ensconced in the ground, my first permanent landscaping in the back yard.

Midnight service calls.....

The A/C saga continues. It's still vibrating in the wall in my bedroom and is driving me and the cat nuts. So, I asked the builder's rep to get the service people back out there. Usually he's pretty good. Apparently, he told them to set up a time with me. They called me last Wednesday afternoon and said they had some available THEN to do the call, was I available? Ummm... let's see... I'm at work, I told them. Oh, they say. Can we, oh, I don't know, schedule an appointment time I ask. Okay, they say. All our mornings are taken. How about Friday after 3:30 I ask? Okay, we'll see you then, they say.

I called them before I left on Friday. Yes, I was still on the schedule. I treated myself and stopped by Corner Bakery on my way home (one sandwich is lunch and dinner for me). And, I waited. I called at 6:00 pm to see if they were coming. Yes, however, they have been running till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning they say. (I'm not kidding). So I asked if I was expected to stay up until 1:00 in the morning for the technician. No, I'm jut telling you that's how late they've been running. All I could think to do was say thank you and hang up. Totally insane.

Here's the kicker. The technician called me at midnight to see if I was still available for the service call. Uh... no. What are they thinking!? How effective is a technician who's been working all day going to be? And, the unit is outside and it's dark! I'd rather him not be relying on a flash light in the dark. I could understand this if the unit weren't working, but it's working; it just has some issues.

Personally, I think the darn A/C unit was installed sloppily and they don't want to deal with it or me. And, I'm afraid they may have to cut into the sheet rock to do away with the vibration. I don't want that, however, if that is what has to be done, I certainly don't want them doing it at midnight. I won't even go into the safety factor of letting a strange person into one's home at midnight.

I'm very curious what the builder is going to do now.

Memorial Day 2007

I made my first trip to Louisiana since moving back to Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. Kitty Cat survived... she appreciates me so much more after an evening alone. I didn't get to see my Mom for Mother's Day, so this was a combined trip. And, since I can't use vacation days until I've been at new job for six months, this gave me a day to still get ready for the week and relax a bit.

It was a good visit. Shreveport is growing... crime is up, but the shopping that is coming in is reminiscent of the towns here in TX. And, even though Mom complains a tad about driving "all the way across town" (she doesn't live in Shreveport, but close), I found that with the parkways it's not a bad jaunt at all. They even had a Wild Birds Unlimited store. This has to be one of my absolute favorite stores. I'm even more driven to get the bird feeders set up in the backyard. I'm also going to design a garden in my backyard with the intention of attracting the birds. At first I couldn't envision what I wanted back there, but now I'm starting, too.

The drive up and back though was the interesting thing. I've done this drive for over 10 years and never had a hint of a problem. Going... I was behind a tanker that blew a tire. Fortunately, I was far enough back that there weren't any problems. Good thing since most of his tire stayed in the middle of the road. Then coming back...a truck had been having problems. As he pulled back onto the highway from the shoulder, he lost control. He fishtailed 180 degrees and angled back toward an on-ramp that, naturally, had cars headed for the interstate. I could only watch and know this guy was going to plow into someone. God was watching over everyone. The truck went up on the shoulder (very sloped), flopped onto one side, and then righted back up and stayed up. He missed another truck by inches. Fortunately, most traffic was well behind me and everyone could see the guy losing control (East TX is rather flat) and could slow down. I made sure others got out to help (they did) and continued on. It's scary to watch something like that and know you can't do anything.

A lot of little things.....

Well, the past week and half have been full of little things. First, the AC guy, who was supposed to come to my house on a Friday, didn't. I left work early and even called them twice, at about 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm to verify that he was coming. At first I was told the ticket was closed... they left a note on my door. I said, no that would have been yesterday. I've been here since 2:00 pm (he was due after 3:00 pm) and no one has been here. Oops... he found it. He'll be there. Same conversation an hour and half later. No AC guy on Friday. However, he did come on Saturday, which really surprised me. Turns out that the way it was installed, it's vibrating something against the framing or something in the wall. Ya think? And, how do they fix this? The AC guy tried moving the pipe from the AC unit to the house a bit and oochied the AC unit over a bit on the it's concrete pad. The result - it's not as bad, but it's still there. I'm thinking that vibration in the wall can't be a good thing and will cause some type of problem eventually. And now the programmable thermostat changes settings 15 minutes ahead of what I programmed. I'm thinking they'll be back at my house some time soon.

The people who are supposed to fix the ding in my back door didn't show up either. I re-scheduled for last Friday. Left work early, but was still running behind. Called them to confirm I would definitely be there, but might be late. Their response. The tech is still in South neighboring city and probably won't make it today. I'll have him call you. He didn't show and he didn't call. I'm tempted to live with the darn ding, but it's the principle of the thing. I've been trying since I moved in in January to get the ding fixed.

So, several items still remain from this last round with the builder. I'm going to continue thinking the house itself is sound, but this builder's finish out work I'm not impressed with. I doubt I'd buy a house from them again or recommend them to anyone. Really a shame, since they are supposed to be one of the better builders in the area. Makes you wonder.

Then I spent a weekend killing spiders. I don't particularly mind small ones (don't really like them either), but after killing several large ones, I called the pest control company. I could do this, since the one repair that did get done on time was the sheet rocking for the window above the door. I have tubes in the wall of my house where they spray. But, for the first visit they come out and treat inside the house as well. Service still includes treating the yard and outside the doors and windows. I'm very bug phobic, so this is a very good thing. He also knocked out two wasps nest, one which was above my front door. This guy showed up on time and did an awesome job. You always run the risk of seeing more bugs before less. So far, not in my house, but, ugh... some really big, thankfully dead, spiders on the porches. Moths, too, which is kind of sad cause I don't mind those. Never seen this many moths, though.

Exercise. Ack... not so good for the past couple of weeks. Had to be home early three times to meet repair people, plus some not so good weather equals very little gym time. I think I went twice one week and three times the next. On the plus side, while I'm still having some joint problems, nothing like when I was doing step aerobics. I'm hoping once things settle down with the home repairs, I can get back to a more regular schedule.

Not that I haven't gotten exercise in other forms. I have finally organized my garage! Naturally, I chose a hot, humid Saturday to do it and naturally, the rain and cold front moved through after I was done, but I got it done! Probably not as good as my Dad would have done, but he had some mutated gene for organizing that I don't have. I think he was just born with that ability and alas, he did not pass it on. However, I now have some usable space in the garage and can start going through boxes that were in storage and getting rid of stuff. That's the goal at least.