The House Woes Continue

Actually, my house woes are getting better The plumbing repairs are all wonderful, working well--my kitchen sink faucet feels so different that I am startled when I turn it on. Water pressure is much better. And today someone came to repair the problem that prompted the Maytag recall of my dishwasher. A/C unit might go in this week; if not, early next week but they'll check it Friday to be sure it has enough coolant for the weekend. I bought the battery for the alarm system, but forgot to ask friend Jim to tighten a water hose connectiont tonight when he was here for dinner. Oh, well. And to add complications, Oncor installed a new electric meter today--not once, but twice. The guy came back and when I said, "I thought you were through," he said, "I thought I was too. But I installed the wrong meter." So twice while I was working on my computer, the power flicked off for just a second--enough to stop clocks, etc. Since my main computer is a laptop with a well-charged battery, it didn't affect that. But I do feel things are straightening out.
I had to cancel lunch plans--and plans to get a new i.d. for TCU--today to wait for the dishwasher repairman, but as soon as he disappeared at 11:45, I jumped in the car, delivered a mansucript to the office and went to get the alarm battery. Then listened to an archival disk for a long time--about  Wolf Brand Chili. I would so much rather have hard copy in front of me.
Tonight I fixed an Italian spinach salad for Marsha, Charles' daughter, and Jean Walbridge and Jim Clark. They all three have so much interest in native peoples of the Southwest, and Jean and Jim seemed fascinated by Marcia's tales of her work as an anthropologist. I am always amazed and impressed that she does that without sight. It was a pleasant evening. Marsha, who is on a no-fat, no-salt diet seemed to love the spinach salad--I wasn't so sure I was crazy about it.
The neighborhood war over the concept of a historic overlay continues and is getting downright heated in some posts on the Berkelely Buzz. I appreciate the calmer heads who ask for less vitriol, but I couldn't resist responding to the neighbor who wrote that if we give up rights to our houses (a clear misunderstanding of historic overlay) it would be the first step down the slippery slope to a totalitarian government. A bit of a stretch I thought. My thought is that I don't want to see charming early twentieth-century houses torn down and replaced with McMansions that cover the lot as far as zoning will allow--and sometimes ask for variations. And I was a lot more worried about losing my civil rights during the last Bush administration with wire tapping, etc. My neighbor Jay accuses me of having stirred up the populace but I really didn't start it--a neighbor did who said she'd grown up in a lovely neighborhood in Houston and seen the same thing happen and now she barely recognizes the place. I just chimed in--quietly, I thought.