Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Update from the Lake: Early Fall

Photo:
Early fall construction in Austin, Nevada

In a departure from the semi-standard format of my on-again, off-again updates from the lake, this post will have zero pictures from the lake itself, just from the road to/from the lake. Why? Because I didn't take any! Really!

Our fairly recent visit to the lake was one of getting a little less accomplished than planned, with accomplishment of one or two things not planned, including the fixing, eventually, of a semi-broken water heater. Semi-broken means that if one went out and occasionally tripped the reset, the heater would come back on, heating fully until the next time the thermostat, upper or lower or both, went haywire and caused the thing to shut off. That was the main thing not planned for, which, as far as we know, was fixed successfully just as we were leaving. (No way to really tell until we go back and run the hot water.) A second unexpected accomplishment (or event) was a special trip to town for a family birthday dinner.

Photo:
Looking downhill while waiting for the pilot truck in Austin, Nevada.

Overall, it was a mostly lazy, restful interlude. I had no problem sleeping in or napping, and my state of restfulness carried over nicely to the beginning of this most recent work stint, which started sometime last week (I already don't know what day that was, or what day this is: the perils of long work stints.)

We didn't get new flooring down in the dining room, but we did find a likely store and probable choice: a rock-patterned vinyl.

Oh, and we discovered that one thing we thought we had accomplished back in early summer had been left undone, with our local handyman having disappeared with his payment plus tip. He took the money and ran! We are hoping a neighbor will be more thorough and conscientious.

Our drip line was still running, flowers were still blooming, birds were chirping, and leaves on trees hadn't started to change. It was summer when we arrived, fall when we returned.

In other news, we are back at our little house and well into the middle of our work "month." It's turned suddenly fallish and is expected to snow tomorrow; the tomatoes in the garden are safely enclosed in an impromptu greenhouse made of stakes and thick plastic. Flowers here are still blooming; it is hoped that green tomatoes will ripen despite the impending snow.