Day 6 - 276 -- Out of my Hands

Today brought numerous shifting priorities. After discovering the water leak in the basement ceiling last night, I had shut off the water to the house overnight. This did allow things to settle and all dripping stopped, though the water in the two wet tiles wicked to the remaining three tiles in this area. Not the end of the world, as we had saved extra tiles purchased for the repair work for a similar leak two to three years back. The plumbers arrived by mid-morning and left by mid afternoon. Things like this reinforce why I rent <sigh>.  The new leak was repaired within two hours, but when they tested the lines again, they found another lesser leak that was in a difficult area to access -- between the floor and ceiling right into a wall. This required removal of six bathroom tiles -- 2x3 -- and the gyprock behind that area. Once fixed, the residual repair will be minimal in the basement, but a whole new piece of wall needs to be added upstairs. For the moment, it is covered up with plastic and duct tape -- the saving grace of many projects <smile>.

So -- with all of the extended work and timing of the arrival of workmen, changes in my plans began. A former student was presenting a seminar this morning just after the men arrived. I headed up to campus to catch her before the presentation began and returned home just as the men were returning with materials from the shop. I was able to arrange to meet the young woman and her mother for tea in mid-afternoon -- just after an hour of cleaning up the sawdust, gyprock dust and ceramic tile dust and shards. I headed up to campus after our tea visit to chat with a couple of friends at the end of their day. We headed to the pub for a Friday beverage and some supper. When I got home, I had a message from the tree guy and I'd missed a chance to show him the work that I see and ask what more he sees. We will connect next week now. I vacuumed the entire upstairs to get the bits that had been tracked through the house. Then I swept stairs and hallway in the basement for the same reason. By then, I was ready for a shower and sleep. <smile>

Perhaps besides the external forces that altered plans, the key to the day was adaptation. A song lyric that seemed to fit the hit and miss plans for the day came to mind. The version I chose to share is a cover of the original. Enjoy!


The Times They are a-Changin' -- Tracy Chapman