Fall is here

Although I'm a warm weather type of person, even I get tired of the Texas heat eventually. Days like yesterday and this morning are a beautiful, welcome change. Yesterday started out about 50, with a high around 75, gorgeous and sunny. Just a nearly perfect day. This morning it's about 60 and absolutely cloudless with the sun just beginning to come up. It's supposed to cloud up and rain again later, but we'll see. This is Texas after all. The ability of people to predict the weather drops pretty low out beyond about half a day.

One of the reasons I'm so delighted to see the sun is that it's been raining here. Day after day after day of rain, for weeks. We've had an occasional day of sunshine in about the last month and clouds and/or rain the rest of the time. I'm seriously over all that gloom and wet. And yes, we've been drought-like for a while so it's needed and good for us, etc, etc. I'm just really tired of it. I like Texas because of the sun. If I wanted unending rain I'd move to Seattle.

The trees have finally begun to change color. My peach tree has dropped about a third of it's leaves, but most of them are still green, probably because we haven't had any cool weather until recently. Yesterday was probably our lowest temp so far, around 50. Luckily the grass has slowed down so I won't be mowing much more this year.

Last week I broke down and called a plumber. I've had a swampy spot in my front yard near my foundation for a couple of months, and I've been spending some time in denial, convincing myself that it was due to all the rain we've had. But it was getting increasingly swampy and this month's water bill arrived. The usage was higher than in August when I was watering to keep the grass alive. So I called the plumber. I was really afraid that this was related to a foundation problem, because I've noticed some cracks that I've been keeping an eye on. So I was worried that they'd have to dig through my foundation to find the leak, and maybe repair the foundation. Luckily, they found a leak after only digging up under the shrubbery in front of my house. They replaced the leaking pipe/valve and left me with only a muddy patch in my front lawn where the swampy area was. I felt sorry for them because there was so much ground water there from the leak that they were digging though soupy mud and having to pump water out of the hole occasionally. Now I'm waiting for that area to dry up from all that water. Continuous rain isn't helping it dry up. I guess I'll be totally convinced that the problem is fixed when that area dries up. Who, me, a skeptic? Well maybe.

Yesterday I was at Lowe's for some stuff and ended up talking to a guy about new carpet and ceramic tile for my house. I've been wanting to do that since I moved in, but there's always something else that needs to be done first. And that's still true. I need to have the foundation checked before I have work done on the house. But since I broke down and called the plumber, maybe I can get into a groove and call someone about the foundation. Plus, I figure that if I have plans to replace carpet and tile, it'll force me to do the foundation first. So I started planning yesterday. The only question I have right now is: WHY ARE THERE SO DAMN MANY COLORS OF CARPET AND TILE?! Oatbran? Hacienda Tan? Goldwash? You're kidding, right?

This is going to take some time, figuring out what colors I want. Plus I want to replace the counter tops in the kitchen first, which means more color decisions. But if I don't start somewhere, I'll never start. So yesterday I started learning about carpet and tile. I figure if I can pick those colors it might help me decide on the counter tops. And given my lack of decisiveness for this type of thing, I'll have plenty of time to get the foundation checked and finish cleaning out the garage before any of the work will start.

The garage has to be cleaned out because I'll need it as a place for the cats to stay while the house is being worked on. I've been working on the garage slowly over weekends when I have time. So far I've taken 10 large bags of trash out of there, and I'm still working on it. Who knew I had so much junk in there? A convenient dropping place for stuff I guess. But it needs to be clean enough that the cats won't pull anything over on themselves or poison themselves with stuff that's in there.

Wow. They were right about the clouds. Even though it was completely clear at dawn this morning, it's now completely overcast. Too bad. I was hoping for another day of sunshine. I suppose I'll have to wait a while.

Anyway, that's all for today. I'll keep you posted on the renovations and repairs as they go.