I write this post with a touch of trepidation. I’m not sure if I’m tempting fate or not. You see, my awful August actually started the last week in July and it’s carried over into the beginning of September. I just hope it’s finally over.
It started at the end of July when the water main broke. My water main, not the city’s. That means I’m responsible for fixing it. We were three days without regular running water.
Then we had a strange occurance. This isn’t particularly awful, just weird. A comorant roosted in my jacaranda tree for a full day. Now, I’m at least five miles from the ocean and there isn’t anything that remotely resembles a pond. What is a water bird doing in my yard at all? Towards the end, it became obvious something was wrong with the bird. Turns out, wildlife rescue in my area (at least the ones that deal with water birds) need you to bring the bird to them. This thing had a wicked looking five-inch hooked beak! Finally, my nephew and I managed to get it into a dog carrier and get it to wildlife rescue. Diagnosis: It was just an old bird.
Then one of my dogs started having trouble with his mouth. Always very food driven, suddenly Micah was tentative about taking treats and slow to eat his food. It took three trips to the vet and three courses of (expensive) antibiotics to finally find the foxtail that had gotten stuck in the back of his mouth and burried itself about an inch deep.
Meanwhile, during all this time, the house has shifted. It’s probably because of all the rain we had last winter. That’s just one of the joys of living in an old house. In this case, it means that the back door doesn’t close properly. I have to slam it hard enough to rattle the windows if I want to have a chance of locking it. There’s not much to do but wait until the house settles back. If I shave a little bit off the door so it will close now, there’ll be a gap when it moves again. Usually, the movements aren’t this dramatic, but as I said, we had a lot of rain last winter.
Then, on Mom’s birthday, no less, the sewer main broke. Again, mine, not the city’s. The plumber wanted $8,000 to fix it. Might as well say $8,000,000, because I don’t have it. Fortunately, my nephew and my cousin were able to take care of it for $35 in parts and lunch.
That same day, I got my jury duty summons.
And, on the second of September, just to prove August wasn’t completely over, my other dog started walking on three legs. Another vet trip and another vet bill. It’s a soft-tissue injury (like a sprain or a strain). She’s got pain meds and she’s supposed to stay off it for five to seven days. The problem is, the pain meds are working too well and Aliza doesn’t see any reason to rest.
So, here’s hoping August is well and truly over this time.
Back to writing in my next post, I promise.
Meredith Mansfield, Author 