Sunday, February 24, 2008

Morning visitors....

I opened my back door this morning to test the temperature and realized I had visitors - birds! At the bird feeder. Finally! It's only taken MONTHS for them to find me. I had to take the pictures through the window, so I hope the it shows up okay on the blog.

It seems like there are millions of birds around here. Leaving dinner one night in town, a "swarm" was looking for a place to land. Birds everywhere... parts of the sky were black with them. The power lines were solid with them, the trees, and even spots of grass. It was really interesting to watch. And, I've seen it more than once.

Given that there are millions of birds, I was wondering why they weren't checking out the feeders in my back yard. So, I was thrilled to see them. I pointed them out to kitty cat, but she seemed unimpressed. Eventually she did realize what I was pointing out and settled in the window to watch.
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Friday, February 22, 2008

A little progress...

I just spoke with the flooring company. They are coming out next Friday to measure the living room and bedroom for new carpet. Yes, they will be replacing the carpet in both rooms. Which is quite a bit, as the living room is actually a living/dining room combination and includes part of the entry way.

I didn't think they could just replace the part that was off - too much time has passed. Then when I realized that the same problem was in the master bedroom (to a lesser degree) as well, I knew there were two options: replace all of it or replace none of it.

I'm thinking the actual install, with furniture moving, etc, is going to be a big pain in the rear, but, it will be nice not to have a stripe in the living room carpet.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Really irked...

This past weekend, I placed an Amazon.com order. My order qualified for free shipping, which is supposed to be 5-9 business days. I've done this for years and usually receive the order quickly. Not so this time. Today, I checked to see when I could expect to receive my order. Estimated shipping date was March 17 - 24, with estimated arrival between March 24 - April 10th. Over a month to receive my order.

You can change the shipping method, which after some debate, I did. Now, I'm paying $8.00 more, but I should receive it by this Saturday. My take on this - this is Amazon's way of getting more people to pay for shipping rather than opt for the free shipping. They run neck and neck with Barnes & Noble in my opinion and so far I've not encountered this problem with B&N. I'm not sure how this will affect my future orders from Amazon, but I'm not happy about this. Who wants to wait over a month to receive an order? Grrrr....

Update: I placed a B&N order, a smaller one, the same day as the Amazon order, and got free shipping as well. It arrived tonight. Hmmm.....

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Blooming Plants... among other things

After over a year, maybe even two, my African Violet has decided to bloom again! I got the camera out and did a little experimenting and came up with what I think is a pretty good photo. I'm hoping the second bud opens soon so I can try it again with the two blooms.

On the home front, it continues to move slowly. I got a call last weekend from someone wanting to schedule an independent carpet inspector to come to my house and check out the carpet. I didn't know there was such a thing or that one needed to come to my house. I thought the carpet guy had already been here. It appears that the flooring company that installed the carpet filed a claim with the mill and the mill requested the carpet inspector. Takes more time away from work, but it's gotta be done. She came out Wednesday. Nice lady. Apparently it was installed wrong; it's a dye problem with the carpet. And, if you look carefully, it's also present in the master bedroom. She says it's fairly common and that she sees it a lot. In all my years, I've never seen anything like the stripe you see in my living room where the two carpet pieces were put in. So, I guess I'll take her word for it. At any rate, she said her report would be turned in by yesterday (Friday) and I should hear something within the next couple of weeks. We'll see how quick builder rep is at getting that information to me.

It's been cold and rainy and just icky today, so I've pretty much holed up in the house. However, when I looked out the window at the rain earlier today, I noticed my driveway is much worse. One side of the crack is now noticeably higher than the other. And the rain won't make it any better. Builder rep supposedly has been out to my house with the folks who are going to correct the drainage. I hope it's soon. But, according to rep guy, they are still in discussion on the best way to fix the driveway. Ummm... rebar maybe?

I had a landscaper out to the house for ideas on the front flower bed and the back yard. His first question though was what was up with the driveway. He's done home construction before and has never seen anything like that. He got down and peered into the crack. Couldn't see any steel. The rebar comment was his. But, he's like the third person to say that. I looked at the driveway across the street, which was poured recently. They put steel in the end of the driveway but not in the part above the sidewalk. Maybe that explains why they've had to replace so many. At any rate, the builder has been debating since December on the best way to fix mine and the others. I'm ready for them to make a decision.

Back to the landscaper. I gave him my budget after we talked. He didn't seem scared off. He actually suggested that we focus on the front flower bed and the back patio, which I agree with and which was my get started plan. So, hopefully, this one will follow through.
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