Monday, Monday

So the saga goes on with the new house. As we try to make it our own, it keeps telling us, "I belonged to someone else."

About two weeks after moving into the house, we were taking a Sunday afternoon nap  after moving lots of stuff. Our bodies continue to remind us that moving at age 60 is not pleasant. We were awakened by a loud squealing noise. I thought it was children playing with a toy. Ken's mechanical mind went elsewhere.

Sugar started barking and running to the door. We stumbled out of bed, and Ken got to the door first. He didn't return right away so I looked around for him. I found him outside in the backyard with the neighbor who had been ringing our doorbell. (By the way, Ken went to the front door because we had never noticed the doorbell and had no idea it was on the side door only.) That same racket we heard was upsetting the neighbors. Our air conditioner, which we knew was old and would need replaced someday, was banging away in the backyard.

Luckily, Ken has experience with refrigeration and air conditioning and was able to put some oil on something inside there to quiet it down. Shhhhh...so far so good. Ken spent the next Monday  getting an estimate and schooled in new air conditioners and furnaces while I was working at the old house.

Before we bought the house we had it inspected. We were told that the dishwasher, furnace, air conditioner and hot water tank were older but still working so no need to do anything with them at this point. The garbage disposal did not work. No big deal, Ken knows how to put one in and I could get by for a while without one.

 About 1 1/2 weeks ago, Ken decided it was time to tackle that project. He installed the new one more as a convenience for me than a need. Thank you Ken! One morning before work, I put something down the disposal and water came up the other sink. I called Ken and left for work with him working on the drain. He used the plunger and said everything was fine. Great. During the week he used some special drain solution that you leave in for an hour just to be sure. Seemed to work.

A week ago, Sunday night, I used the disposal and the same thing happened. Only worse. The water wouldn't go down all the way. Ken tried to unplug it again, run water, and it would go down some but not completely. Okay, so I won't use the disposal for a while.

I turned the dishwasher on while we watched television that night. When I went out to the kitchen, I stepped in water in front of the dishwasher. Oh Brother!! What now? Not the dishwasher too. We soaked up the water with towels all night and the next morning. What happened was that the water was not draining and it backed up into the dishwasher. So last Monday Ken spent the day with the drain cleaning company. He still has to cut the pipe in the basement and replace it because the technician told Ken he only got an opening through all the gunk in the drains. Remember, the house used to belong to someone else!

Last week in the evening, Ken changed a hand held spray shower into a real shower in the bathroom on the first floor. We put up a new shower curtain and it was looking good. Again, we are trying to make this house "our own."

Last night, I turned on the water to take a bath. As the tub was filling I did a few errands around the house. When the tub was nearly full I turned the knobs off. What? Do we have a ghost in the house? The water did not stop coming out of the faucet. No kidding. The knobs wouldn't turn any farther but the hot water kept running. Here we go again.

So I left for work again this Monday morning, with Ken having a repair project to handle.