Friday Randomness

The cartoon above looks random, but it is not entirely random, because while I do not plan to be singing on an airplane, I will soon be on an airplane! In October, I’m going to go visit my friend Marilee in upstate New York, and then visit a few friends in NE Ohio. Exciting! I wanted to go further west to Chicago or maybe Wisconsin, because I know some awesome folks there (you guys), but it turned into too much driving, right in the middle of the week while everyone would be at work and doing kid things, so I’m limiting this trip, this time. I am thinking of all of the folks in the Madison area though, and am thinking that might be my next solo trip. While visiting Marilee, I believe I am going to spend Canadian Thanksgiving in actual Canada. We have celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving for years, since Ted is Canadian, but never in Canada. Marilee’s in laws live just over the border in St. Catherines. I also would like to see Niagara on the Lake, because I’ve heard it’s beautiful. Assuming that Niagara Falls will also be involved. I’m looking forward to it.

I mentioned last week that we needed a new dishwasher. We went to 3 stores, Home Depot, Sears, and a local place. All were interesting. At Home Depot, the guy helping us was at least 90. He knew his shit, and he didn’t know his shit. Meaning, ask him a question about a dishwasher, and he knew everything. But he asked us the same questions a few times, meaning his memory wasn’t great, and he couldn’t blame it on menopause. From there, we went to Sears. Yes, we still have a Sears. Apparently, there are 5 Sears left in the US – 2 in Florida, 1 in Massachusetts, 1 in Texas, and 1 in California. Let me tell you, it is NOT what it once was.

This is the appliance area now. Not a human in sight to help you. No way to tell what model of dishwasher you are looking at, what color it is, what the price is, anything. I assume they mostly serve contractors who know what the hell they are doing, but there is no hope for someone who wants to just buy a damn dishwasher. Upstairs there were a ton of clothes though.

The third store was the charm. We ended up in the same local store where we bought our fancy washer and dryer a while ago, our European washer and dryer that we love. We feared that going there would be costly to our pocketbook, and we were not wrong. We ended up with a very fancy dishwasher that speaks something like 17 languages and can detect a clog at 75 paces. What do I mean by that, you might ask?

The dishwasher was delivered and installed on Monday. On Tuesday, it threw a weird error about a clog, but it said to clean the filter. How could the filter be dirty after 12 hours? So I rinsed it out and then it worked. So I forgot about it. Until Wednesday, when the stupid error came up again. So I called the fancy local appliance store, and the nice salesman who answered the phone told me the same thing happened when he got a new dishwasher. He told me to clean out the ‘air gap’, pictured above. I have never seen an ‘air gap’, but this is what ours looks like. Kind of like a filthy dildo. At least what my imagination tells me a filthy dildo might look like, I’ve (thankfully) never seen a filthy dildo. That made no difference. Errors, errors, errors. I called back and got voicemail. Frustrating, I wanted to know when someone might come and I had no idea. This went on all day, lots of emails and phone calls, when Ted went to the store to talk to the same guy I talked to, and he told him all about how he solved the issue when it happened to him. Ted came home, we had dinner, and then we dove in. SO MUCH DISGUSTING GROSSNESS. SO GROSS. However, it was really satisfying to clean it out, and to finally run the dishwasher and have it run through without an error. We’re considering starting a company where we just go clean out people’s pipes under their sinks, but wow, so gross. SO GROSS.

See the trees to the right? Don’t they look dead? Guess what, they are. This picture was taken in May.

This is this week. Dead trees are gone. SAD. I hope the remaining trees survive.

Gas prices are up again.

I made a frittata again. Frittata people, how do you keep it from sticking to your pan? I used to make it in my cast iron skillet, but that was horrible to clean, so I changed to the enameled cast iron, and it’s better, but not a lot. Is it because I cook it on the stover first? Should I put it in the oven instead? UGH. I may have killed my Le Crueset. The good news is that if the tiny holes I see at the bottom are real, I can return it and they will replace it. We’ll see.

We went for a lovely walk last weekend, to our local park which has an equestrian center. Look! Horses! I’m horrible at taking pictures though, because of the four horses, the prettiest one is the one with the butt facing you on the far left. The one on the right we named Old Paint.

On the same walk, we saw turtles!

And this horse, whom I have named ‘Steve’. We didn’t get close so I didn’t get to pet him. Isn’t that horrible? But I didn’t want to be rude and intrusive and his person was there. If his person hadn’t been there, I probably would have snuck up and given him a pet.

Speaking of which, Ted talked to my brother Richard the other day, and they were talking about animals. Me and animals. Richard told Ted about when I was 4 or 5 and we lived in Alaska, and we were at a fair…there was a horse behind a sign that said ‘Caution, Vicious Horse” and my mom found me cuddling the vicious horse. My mom used to tell a story about being on the street in Berkeley, and looking down to find me cuddling the mangiest dog ever from my stroller. I love animals is what I’m saying. When we go for walks, I love seeing all of the animals.

Any exciting trips in your future? What’s the last stupid appliance you had to buy?