Wednesday

Happy Hump Day...the week is half over.
I was up early and was out the door by 8 to go to Dad's. He was up and eating breakfast. That was a plus. I had scheduled someone to come out to empty the septic tank and I knew that if I was not there, Dad would be outside. With a temperature of 35, I didn't think that was a good thing.
I was called out to the house last night and had to run the washer to get the drains to run. This means the toilet would not flush. Home by 9 pm.
So Mike was coming out to clean out the septic tank around 8.30 and he was there a little early. Steven and I had decided it would be a good idea to have it cleaned out, before we called a plumber and before the ground freezes. The blockage was caused by a lot of roots in there. This caused the intake to be blocked, which caused a flow problem. It needed to be pumped though, it is a 1000 gal tank and it was full. The problem has been fixed and that is great. We have water flowing through the pipes.
After Mike left, I dried a load of laundry and put another load in the washer, folded sheets and did a little general pick up of the house. Home by 12.
I don't think we will have to replace the toilet right now, which is good. I don't really feel like dealing with a plumber right now. I have enough to do at my own house, which does not get done when I am at Dad's.

Catch up time

I have tried to slow down a little. Steven was home and I got a little break. I did get a call one night and had to show Steven what to do....that was on a Tuesday night. Then I caught up with Steven later in the week. We will have the septic tank cleaned out, before the ground freezes....he will clean everything out to the pipes in the house. Hopefully this will solve the back up of water. Then we will go with replacing the toilet after that.
On Saturday Paul and I went to Des Moines. Paul and Carl were participating in a cyclo-cross race held at Living History Farms. The weather was really nice. A little breezy but who can complain when it is in the 50's with the sun shining at the end of October. It was almost 60 on Sunday. I took over 300 pictures. Wow. But that included pics of some of the buildings at the farm, besides the racing part. We stayed at the hotel right next to the race area, so didn't have to go to far from Saturday to Sunday. We had Subway for supper and that was only 2.5 miles down the street.

This is an old building back in the woods at Living History Farms that I walked by to go take some more pictures. Carl had headed back to Waterloo to take Little Miss trick or treating, since it was Halloween.



Below is the beginning of race one on Saturday....riders waiting for the start of the race. Carl is the second one on the left in black, he has a black helmet. Has long sleeves on this morning...it was a little chilly, the wind was pretty strong. I went out into an area that they were riding to take some pictures and where the wind was blocked.
Here comes Carl through the woods on lap 2

This is Sunday.....we were "in town" section of Living History Farms in Des Moines. They started down closer to the church and then up this hill, turn to the right and then to the left and traveled out into the field before they came up the hill by the barn, down to the road, over some barriers and back around the church and to the town, between two of the buildings and up the hill for the next lap. I think Paul said it was almost 2 miles for a lap. They rode for 45 minutes plus 2 lapsCheck it out the short sleeves.

Lap 1 up the hill to the barn......
then I had to go back to the car to get a new memory card for the camera so here he is on lap 3 coming down the hill to the barriers

The barriers

After crossing the start / finish line, it is up the hill and time for a drink of water....Amy is holding out the water bottle for him to grab as he goes by when he comes up the hill. He had just changed a bike tire. His back tire had flatted on the previous lap and he had to push or carry his bike for a 2 mile run around the course.

Busy week

I haven't posted for a week, so I will do a little catch up.
I worked the week and then on Thursday, the 15th I took Dad to the Dr for a blood test, to make sure that his blood thinners are okay. He was having a bad morning, it seems he thought he took too much medicine. He skipped Wednesdays vitamin and an acid reflux pill(takes 2 a day), I told him that was fine.
The rest of that day was quiet. :)
I went to lunch with Paul on Friday. We went to Z's and had tenderloins. Then about 3.15 I got a call from Dad....the toilet is not flushing right. I get out there and it is okay....but he is flushing some wipes down that are not compatible with a septic tank. I fill up the washer and force the clog out. I am out there for about 45minutes. Eric, Nikki and the kids are there, so I visit with them for a bit. Then I head home. I had put a roast in the crock pot and Paul and I have that for supper. Carl and Amy stopped down so that we could see little Miss.

Saturday (10/17) I work and Paul is going to a bike race in Altoona. Jeremy is going to ride along with him....I hope the 2 of them behave :)
I go out to Dad's to take out a couple of house keys. One is for the neighbors in case Dad hits his life alert button, they can get in the house. Eric has cut down a couple of trees and is cleaning up the branches. Nikki, the kids and I help him out. He loads them on the trailer and will take them to town on another day.
I stay until about 5 and head for home. Nikki has made Dad some supper and he has already eaten.
Eric, Nikki and the kids stop over and we have supper together and watch a movie. They stay until about 7.15 and then head for home. Paul gets home about 8.30.

Sunday (10/18) we go to the race in Altoona. It is supposed to be 50 degrees, but the wind is strong and it is a little chilly. In the middle of one of the races, a soccer team shows up to use one of the fields. Seems the one they were supposed to play at was over booked. Unfortunately I am now out to the car, brrrrrr....because they are parking their vehicles in the bike path. I have to tell them to move the cars before the bicyclist get to this point. One of the cars is full of the refs.

Monday - I have the day off....sore feet and hips, must be the barometric pressure. The temperature is up to 60. The joys of arthritis and bursitis.

Remainder of the week

Wednesday - Appointment with Dr Palma...he gave me a analgesic gel to apply to my elbow, in lieu of a cortisone shot. I don't want one of those. And do less work, no more strains, rest the hands at work (no typing) as this will make it worse. Lots of typing with one hand. Good thing I "type" numbers at work.
We went to Miss Rhea's for her birthday where we had pizza and cupcakes. She is so cute and now she is three.
Work on Thursday.....not too much excitement until I could not get in the door at home, the handle finally won. But when I did get in, the old door handle went in the garbage and a new handle and deadbolt got installed. Paul put in the deadbolt and did all of the tightening of the screws. Sorry kids, new keys to the house. The handle looks really nice, though.
Friday back to work. Dad calls as soon as I get off work and am driving down the street. It seems his toilet is acting up again. I tell him I will be out in awhile.
I then pick up a check for Adam, stop at the house for a phone number to Roto Rooter. Call them and see if I can get someone to come out. They have several service calls ahead of mine, but they will come out. Since he has a septic tank, he is supposed to use certain brands of TP, nothing with lotion. It has to be biodegradable. That is not what he has.
I pick up Carlie's ck and take them both to the CU at HyVee and buy some septic tank friendly TP. Then out to Dad's.
I get out there and we have water on the floor again. And I put towels on the floor to soak it up. No wringing out this time. I tell him someone will be out to auger the toilet. I am not happy about this and let him know. It seems that my brother, the over the road driver, is supposed to take care of the house. But since he is always on the road earning a living, I get called or Eric gets called.
Eric, Nikki and boys are at the house, Eric is cleaning up the yard. The boys are going to see their Mom this weekend. It seems that Rachel's mother is moving to Missouri and she is here to see her and thought she could see the kids also.
Back to the house, thinking it is just the toilet, I put the towels in the washer, it fills, it washes and when it drains, we have lots of noise. It seems that the pressure of the water has loosened the "plug" and the toilet starts bubbling and water comes into the bathtub and then all of a sudden everything goes down. Taaah-daaah.
I still have Roto Rooter coming and he arrives around 7.15. I tell him everything that happens and he thinks it is probably Dad's toilet paper that is causing the problem. He checks the basement, then he augers the toilet and turns the water on in the bathtub. He wants to see if it backs up. He does find that the toilet, which is old has a lot of lime build up and suggests that we replace the toilet. He charges us for a service call. And if something should happen, no matter what time of day, give him a call. If he has to pull up the toilet to fix it he will do so. What a nice guy.
It is now 8 pm and I have been up and going since 5 am. I am tired and I tell Dad I am going home.
I get home and Paul is not in a good mood. Leave that alone.
I decide to watch TV and have something to eat. Watermelon.

And you think this is it....nope.
Saturday around 9 am the phone rings.....oh how I hate that sound......
this time it is Steven checking in to see how things are. I tell him about the week and he says sorry I have a load. He is in Nebraska and it is snowing....yuck. And he has a load out to Texas. He was planning on being in, but he has a load, going to try and deliver on Monday. And will try and get a load back here. That is how he makes his money, but d..n I hate this crap with the house.

Time to get up and doing something. And I keep telling myself God will only give me what he knows I can handle. He must know something that I don't.