Can You Sting Me?

Apparently, the answer to that question is “Yes.” The events that occurred this past Friday afternoon (July 28) were difficult and unexpected. This is what happened...

I was in the office until around noon then I came home to be here when the cable guy arrived. Once here, I showed the cable guy around. He was going to install cable, Internet and digital phone service. He climbed up the pole and when he came down and started working around the house I kept hearing phrases like "This isn't good" and "It's worse than I thought." Apparently our house needs to be rewired for cable. Even though there are alleged cable outlets all over the house, we only had one viable connection downstairs in our living room. We have one of our extra bedrooms upstairs set up for the office. Our phone lines were pretty much non-existent even though like the cable, there were outlets all over the house. The cable guy was able to put an extra outlet in the living room for the modem. I picked up a wireless router and a wireless USB adaptor (later that evening) for the desktop computer until we can get things rewired. There's cable running upstairs coming in through the attic, but it's old and might not be connected. The modem couldn't pick up a signal when he connected to the wall outlet upstairs.

The plumber arrived shortly after the cable guy. Our downstairs toilet had been overflowing for seemingly no reason. At first inspection the plumber couldn't find an outside clean out, which I've learned is common for an older home to not have one. Without an accessible clean out, the plumber who was sent from our home warranty people couldn't do anything for us under the warranty. He thought that being an old house with cast-iron waste pipes there were probably roots growing into the pipes and blocking it. He also told us this was probably pre-existing and to get the sellers to pay for it. I immediately got on the phone to our realtor to get the listing agent and seller's contact info. What I didn't know is that while making this call outside on my cell I was standing on top of a yellow-jackets bee’s nest. They started attacking while I was still on the phone. I ran to another part of the yard, but not before getting stung 7-8 times -- one on my neck, one on my elbow, one on my knee, and about 5 on the back of my leg. That freakin' hurt!!!

After a bunch of Advil and a Heineken, the plumber said if we wanted he would pop open the pipe and take a look for us, but we would have to pay for it. I said OK because I wanted to at least know what the problem was. Luckily he popped open the pipe right where the blockage was. There were some roots, not a lot, that had grown in through a repair that had been done with cement. It took a little time, but got us unblocked. We also got some spray and killed the bees. Wasn't too bad, it was less than what he initially told us. We're probably going to have the waste pipe replaced with cleanouts installed next month. Not something we planned on, but will improve the home value.

I didn't mention that the rest of our belongings arrived that morning and even though the cats were locked in the bathroom, we could only find one of the three when it came time to let them out. Lago was a bit panicked and thought maybe they got outside. Turned out two of them had climbed behind the sink and were hiding under the vanity.

I had many drinks that evening to curb the throbbing pain in my leg and was still sore the next day, but I did manage to cut the grass and weeds that were growing waist high and higher in some places. I wish I had a before and after comparison photo.

I got our wireless network running yesterday too. I’m feeling better and with the 90-degree temp. today, glad I got the yard done yesterday.