So during Irene, a bridge was washed away by our drinking water. In fact, it took out the home of a former KISS rocker, knocked it right off of its foundation, causing him to lament the loss of much of his memorabilia, as he wasn't being allowed inside to retrieve it due to risk of collapse of the home. How long ago was that? Ten months?
Things are a little slow at work, sort of the calm in the eye of the storm, just after a major snafu debacle and just before the change in administration which will affect me in unknown ways. So I checked into my news source, Facebook, to find reports of a major water main break in town. So major, in fact, that we no longer are gathering water in our reservoir. We're on a mandatory water restriction, under a state of emergency, and very much in the dark as to why this happened or how long it will last. The entire midsections of three intake pipes are simply gone into the water below. The very same pedestrian bridge damaged by Irene collapsed around them - but it was such a flimsy bunch of boards to begin with, it's difficult to imagine that it could have caused the entire fiasco.
So far, we're little affected, our water works and the pressure is good. Although the water looks clear, we've been advised not to drink it, so I gathered up a bunch of water in Princeton yesterday before I came home from work. Luckily, our power is on (some not so lucky in this extreme heat) and our pool is filled. This may end up being the first day it gets some use!
M is off to work, she is also filling in for someone on Monday which means she will work six days in a row. I don't like that, and hope at least one or two of them are complete washouts (she is already way too tan and it's not even July...) B is a bum; he'll start tennis camp on Monday, going twice a week, but other than that his days aren't too full until he heads off to his computer 'camp' in three weeks. He'll do some volunteering at the nursing home again, if he ever gets on the ball, and of course he needs all of his medical testing done as well.
Kevin is off on one of his obsessive bike rides, he finally found someone to go with him, a former co-swim parent and fellow congregant at our dysfunctional church. So they're off on their maiden voyage together, out in this building heat.
So I guess things are not that exciting. We're gearing up the college search for B, welcoming any suggestions for an average kid in a world where above average is the new average. His hope will be his essay, which has to be well done and has to draw attention to the fact that his grades, while averaging out to a lackluster GPA, have staged steady increases ever since freshman year. So the challenge will be for him to maintain that climb in time for first quarter/semester grades, and to tie in the whole chiari experience with the difficulty in settling into high school, and ultimately, a more competitive junior/senior year GPA as compared to the first two years.
The real challenge is to find a school with admissions standards relaxed enough that he will get in, without sacrifice of education quality or motivation of the other students. And to keep this within a respectable budget, as his top choice school is one of the priciest schools around; although its reputation is solid in the community and it could offer him opportunities after graduation, another important consideration in this search.
And in other news, we had our house and deck painted last week. We waited a month past the date we were given for the guys to show up, and then they blew through like a tornado, knocking over bushes and leaving unfinished bits everywhere. I guess that's what happens when you hire people and nobody is around to watch them work. They were dropped off by their boss, and the only one home was B, who managed to sleep through their hollering and banging around, which began at 7am daily.
But now I must be off - I took a vacation day on Monday, mainly to get caught up in dust bunny maintenance and laundry (which is now prohibited by the county!) so I probably should try to get a start on that.
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