Sheer Madness...

When we lived in Maryland outside of Washington, DC, we went to the Kennedy Center several times to see a play entitled "Sheer Madness". The setting is a beauty shop. It is a comedy and changes script each time you see it. The humor is based on current politics, world events, etc. In DC the local news is the national and international news. There is lots of fodder for comedy. The pace of this play is best described as frenetic. It just moves constantly in and out of doors, across stage, etc. Constant movement and constant comedy. It is a fun play to see and, because the dialogue changes with whatever is current, one you can easily see over and over and never tire of seeing it.

This last week and continuing through this weekend my life has felt that way. Constantly moving, gotta laugh about things or you would just sit and cry your eyes out sometimes, and keeping up with current events. Hence, my title for this Blog entry...Sheer Madness.

Let's look at Eagle Bend and Sadieville events. I noticed a van in front of a neighbor's house with signage stating clean up for disasters. A few days later they had another van just like that in front of their home. Then a few days later another neighbor on our street had a similar van in front of their home. What was going on???

I received a phone call from my next door neighbor. It seems their hot water heater blew a valve and they had to replace the valve. Then they learned that the other neighbors hot water heaters had burst and they had flooded basements with major damage before they realized their basement was flooded. The neighbor across the street had an issue with his toilet. He found out the widow on our street had a crack in her toilet. He sent his repairman over to check on her toilet issue. Hmmmm....

A resident on Pike Street in Sadieville gave Claude a call. They were having issues with water pressure in some homes on Pike Street. She had a list of them as well as the residents on Eagle Bend. She ended up bringing Claude the list.

We have several builders on our street. One purchased a tool to check the water pressure. He started keeping track of the water pressure for each home throughout all these occurrences.

Claude called Kentucky American Water and requested someone come and check our homes water pressure. Then he sent an eMail to the president of Kentucky American Water. This is where it is nice to know and have good rapport through working with people. She immediately replied to Claude and sent someone out to further investigate.

The result thus far is that Claude was interviewed by the Georgetown NewsGraphic Tuesday and yesterday he was interview by WKYT in Lexington yesterday. Kentucky American's field representative is coming to our home this afternoon to meet with Claude again.

The only problem we have had personally with the water pressure is the head blowing off of the hose when Claude was watering his tomatoes in the back yard.

In the midst of that saga our air conditioning went out. I came upstairs last Friday to get more water. When I reached the top of the stairs, I commented to Claude ,who was watching TV in the living room, that it felt a little warmer than it should. I went to the thermostat and it read 82 degrees. I checked and it was set to cool at 75 degrees. A little bit of difference there.

Claude called the air conditioning company we have used in the past. They were supposed to come out today, find the problem and fix it. Just received a call. The service guy's son had developed some dread malady and he will not be back in to work today. They offered to wave the $85 service fee and come tomorrow. Alas, tomorrow is Sadieville in September. Claude and I will not be here to take any service call. We have set up for them to come on Monday. Today it will be 90 degrees and sweltering. Thank heaven for a nice home with a lovely basement for me to retreat from the pollens coming in open windows and the heat. We have slept two nights in our basement. Try as I may, I could not find a way to link the air conditioning issue with the water pressure issue.

This week was my first time conducting our Countryside Homemakers meeting. It went well. I made my Lemon Hand Scrub treat for all the ladies the night before. I waited until later in the evening because I needed to do that in my very hot kitchen. It is made with 100% virgin olive oil, sugar & lemon juice. It should be kind of a grainy paste. Mine was that way as I made it. But the heat was so oppresive that the oil quickly rose to the top as I put ribbon and tag on each little container. But the ladies liked receiving them.

I spent all spare minutes reading and studying to teach institute. This is a class for 18-30 year olds at Church. It is held once a week. The teaching time is 1 1/2 hours. This week we covered Matthew 11-16. I finished up my outline yesterday afternoon. There is no telling how many hours I spent studying and preparing. I love the study part. It is so fun to immerse ones self in the scriptures. I felt good about the promptings I received as to what to present first and how to fit the other in if time permitted. Then...Thursday morning I woke up about 5am and was not feeling well. I finally gave up at 6am and came downstairs to get some computer work accomplished. I was just worn on Thursday and did lay down for a bit in the afternoon. Not how I wanted to feel my first time to teach these young people. The class went well, everyone participated with the worksheet activity I prepared. We had some good comments and discussion. They liked the cookies I brought for a snack after. I felt good about it as I drove home to Sadieville after.

Monday was Labor Day. We invited Papa out for the day. After he and I picked out songs to sing on Wednesday and I cut his hair, we headed downstairs to spend the day where it was cooler. Claude got a book titled "It Happened Today in Kentucky History" when attending the Governor's Issues Conference. Papa took it to read. He was thoroughly enthralled with the book before we ever headed to the basement. He looked for a place to sit. He picked Claude big puffy leather chair. We got him comfy and I headed back up to Claude's office where he was working. I forwarned him that Papa had chosen his chair with a chuckle in my voice. Then I shared with him that I was sure Claude would come down, look at Papa with a stern face and say, in his best Sheldonesque voice, "You're in my seat." Claude loves the television show "The Big Bang Theory". Sheldon has a certain place he sits and that is exactly what he says when anyone sits it in. Cracked me up.

Tuesday Papa and I covered the Family History Center. Claude stayed home in case the air conditioning people called to come. He spent his entire day on the water pressure issues. It turned out to be a good thing he was home all day for that.

Wednesday after singing with Papa, I met Claude at Fazoli's for dinner. He was headed into Lexington for meetings that evening. Claude had received a report on his Blackberry about a severe weather alert until 11pm. As we sat by the window finishing eating and chatting a bit, the wind suddenly started to swirl. We looked at each other and I asked Claude if he should head on into Lexington before it got bad. He looked at me and said, "I was thinking more of you needing to head home quickly. I left with all the windows wide open."  We quickly got outside to our cars and the rain started to fall. Before I could even get on I-75 headed north the rain came down in buckets. The drops were enormous. My wipers were going at top speed just sitting in the turn lane waiting for that light to change so I could go. Driving home was an absolute nightmare. If it was raining in Sadieville that hard with that kind of wind, the interior of our home would be very wet when I got there. I passed a big truck, turned on my emergency flashers and took possession of the middle lane. There was only a truck coming up behind me that I could see. He went around and then got in front of me in the middle lane. I let him get far enough ahead so I wasn't getting his splash in addition to the tumultuous rain. Then he and I drove at 45 - 50 mph until just before I got to Sadieville. Amazingly and thankfully, the rain was just a light shower there. I got home and got the windows shut before the bad part hit Sadieville. I was pretty sure I was going to be like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and swirl up into the air at some point.

So this Friday I took a break from 'Sheer Madness' for a moment and slept in as long as I could on that air mattress in the basement. I made it all the way till 8:30am. Felt like noon to this body. We have been to the Rosenwald School and I have taken pictures. I'll finish my day completing the cards to go in with the bricks. Pricing my craft items for the Countryside Homemakers table. Making a brochure for the Countryside Homemakers table. Finding some old and new pictures of the Rosenwald School to print for comparison purposes in the school. Then gathering everything so we are ready to be out of here at O'dark 30 in the morning for Sadieville in September.

Sheer Madness continues...