Summertime

I have had a whirlwind of a last three weeks. Steve and I were house sitting for my parents for three weeks while they cruised the Mediterranean (poor them). It was a house full of poodles. We have an 80lb labradoodle and a 10lb toy poodle, they have two 40ish lb standard poodles. Needless to say, that was crazy. You will never see me with four dogs any time in the future.

The first week we were house sitting, the temperature hovered around 80 degrees, which for us Alaskans is HOT. The back and front door were open all day everyday during this period. I spent most of my free time out on their deck in the least amount of clothing I could get away with in a heat induced daze.

Then came Memorial Day weekend, which I spent in the weirdly hot and humid weather painting the exterior of our house and our shed in the Westchester Lagoon area with my mother-in-law. It was nice to be outside all day for four days in a row, but it was hot, sticky, itchy and overall tiring work. I think I counted somewhere around 20 mosquito bites, yikes. But now my house looks all nice and fresh and my new shed is a nice hunter green. The next week passed rather uneventfully, I planted some beautiful flowers at my parents to surprise them when they came home and mowed the lawn a few times. I went on a straight uphill but beautiful and fun hike with my girls. My sisters fam and I bike over 30 miles to the new Movie Theater and back. It was a pretty great week.

The last week we were house sitting, things went a little south. Steve crushed his big toe with a hand held soil compactor at work, which ripped his toenail and half the flesh on his toe off, had to spend the day at the doctors, getting stitched up and having xrays taken of his foot, then was sentenced indefinitely to spending his days at home with his foot elevated. Our 7 year old cousin was also added to the mix - we watched him for a week during this injured foot period. Four poodles and a seven year old do not make for a very calm or clean house, in case you were wondering.

Fast forward to yesterday. We were finally home sweet home with just our two poodles and no kids. I was doing some laundry, Steve was relaxing on the couch, and I noticed some water on the floor in our kitchen, where there is an overflow drain (this used to be a garage/basement). I tell Steve and head to the bathroom to grab some paper towels. THE BATHROOM WAS FLOODED WITH BACKED UP SEWER WATER. I was not happy. There was up to two inches of standing water on the bathroom floor in some spots, the tub was full of sewer water, the shower curtain was soaked in it, as were all our rugs and our bathmat. And its not like it was just water. No. It was sewer water, and it smelled like it. There were chunks of toilet paper floating in the definitely not clear water. I thought I was going to vomit. Of course, this took place after hours for the plumbing company, so it was like $200 an hour for their services, and we couldn't get a hold of our landlord.

To make things even more fabulous, the plumber couldn't even fix the problem, because this is an old crappy house that isn't plumbed right, and so a different plumber has to come today and install a new piece of plumbing for the other plumber to come back and snake, hopefully solving the problem. It's definately times like this when I miss my nice outhouse back in Homer. Unfortunately, neither the upstairs tenants or the downstairs tenants (us) can use any running water until this is fixed. No laundry. No washing dishes or even hands for that matter. No shower. NO TOILETS. And I have to stay here all day waiting for the plumbers. Lucky me.