Life in the new house

We are adapting to the new house. I really like having a lot of my life on one floor and fewer reasons to go up and down stairs. My body likes that as well. On the other hand, it means I am closer to the kitchen and other noise sources (what did you think I meant - midnight snacking?). When my husband stays up later than me or gets up earlier - both frequent occurrences - there isn't a flight of stairs protecting me from kitchen clean up or breakfast making sounds.

On the other hand, the cats like having us closer to their food dishes. They can hear us in our bedroom from anywhere on the first floor which means they come and beg for food as soon as they think its breakfast time. Or if I get up in the middle of the night, it must mean time for a snack - because I am on the same floor as the kitchen.

Overall its a good place for all of us. We aren't quite ready to entertain yet but are getting closer. The unpacking fairy hasn't shown up in the middle of the night to help us when we weren't looking so we have a ways to go. But I can now find most of my clothes and am getting my craft room/office set up the way I want it. I have also reconnected with my kitchen stuff - I have made bread in my bread maker, found the cuinsinart parts, and the crockpot. Tonight I making pulled pork for dinner (with homemade barbecue sauce, cornbread, and braised cabbage on the side) - this make me happy.

If you see the unpacking fairy, please send her our way. Thanks.

Public utlities

Okay this is a bit off my usual topics but I have had my fill of dealing with public entities this weekend. Thursday night a little thunderstorm blew on through the area. It caused Boston's July 4th celebration to be cut short, even though it had been moved up a day. Anyone who was awake through it, said it was significant. Me, I slept through it in a room with a fan and an air conditioner running.

Then Friday morning, Arthur came to visit and we got 2.5 inches of rain from about 9am through the next morning. That was on top of what had already come down over night. (9am is when I found my little rain gauge and other garden decor in the basement and decided to run outside and put them out in the garden between the rain drops. I did get a little damp but I did dry off.

Then we started seeing all the damage. Never call NStar or Verizon on the 4th of July. NStar got me a cranky lady (who had probably received a few million calls already) who said the branch swinging on the lines across the street was not their problem. NStar's line is the top cable only. They don't want to hear about anything else. They didn't care that it isn't really a branch but the top 20' of a tree which are now 30' down the road hanging 15' up.

 

I then tried calling Verizon and the only person I got was a guy in Florida in billing. He didn't know who I should talk to but did think that a technician might be able to help me. 30 minutes later I was still on hold.

I then picked up my cell and called the town's DPW and spoke to the nice guy who said they had been out all day already cleaning up. He said they might have a little more pull with NStar.

Yesterday, my husband noticed that the support wire for the power cables that come to our house from pole is disconnected. I considering waiting until Monday so that I could speak to a nicer human being at NStar. I was informed by my better half that I should call today to get in their cue for repairs.

I called NStar again and got another crabby lady who informed me that she would send it to dispatch and they would decide if it was their responsibility or not.  I didn't bother to tell her that I had already checked their website and it clearly looks to me that it is their problem.

All we can do now is wait and see if it is miraculously repaired by NStar. We do not need to be home so it should just happen. I will wait until tomorrow and try calling the town and Verizon again. I hate dealing with public utlities