The stuff you do...

Woke up this morning and it was well below freezing for the first time in a couple of weeks. Naturally GC Guy called and asked me to come over to make a tray of geiger counters, finishing off our supply of meters. I don't know why, exactly - he didn't want to do it on Monday or Tuesday, but then the weather wasn't FREEZING then, so there was no reason. Grr.

Hokay, I wasn't expecting him, so I told him I wouldn't be there till nine because I already had something to do (and it's bloody freezing.) What I had to do was wash some clothes. It's been a busy weekend, and I don't want the laundry thing to get out of control again. Now washing my clothes is a bit of a project right now, even though I got the washing machine working, because it's pretty terminally on the fritz. As soon as you supply it with water, it starts to fill. Even if it's not turned on. Even if it's not plugged in. It just fills. And when it's done filling, it overfills. Which is why it was flooding the barn. Which is why, in true redneck fashion, I hauled the sucker outdoors. So I run a hose to it, put the dump hose in a length of 1 1/2" pipe, plug it into an extension cord, and do my laundry outdoors. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the water in the hose hadn't frozen, so I was in business. This procedure works okay for now, as long as I remember to turn off the water after the last rinse fill. Once that was done, I left the machine to finish things up by itself and spent a few hours building geiger counters.

Got a call from my neighbors D&L while I was there. They're both recovering from various injuries and needed some help moving a new tub in the house they're building. So I grabbed some lunch, hung out the laundry, and drove over there to move their tub.

On the way home I went through the wash to the Secret Lair to unload the VERY LAST PARTS, I SWEAR, that I need to finish the septic system. Still too cold to voluntarily work outside - at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. But I did need to stop at the new apple trees and give them a good watering, because after the trouble we went to in planting them I'd do that in a hurricane.

Then I stopped at our new reloading shack and loaded up all my .44 brass. Still haven't decided what I'm going to do to get the Taurus actually working - probably ship it back to Taurus, since my neighbor J has done that and found it a pleasantly hassle-free experience.

Came home and let the boys out. They've been so good about the Gitmo thing, really. They could bust out any time they want (Magnus and Fritz used to do it routinely, including massive property damage) but they just hang. Of course when I get home they consider it my duty to end the incarceration. And I guess so do I. And LB, he just want to hang with Dad. He goes where I go, finds his favorite sleepy spot wherever that is, and causes me no trouble at all. I know he's just lulling me into a false sense of security before he runs off to Nebraska. again. But it's kinda sweet while it lasts.