Human Doing

Accomplished is how I feel.

The cost of hiring a plumber was averted by fixing the clogged drain in the bathroom sink myself. (Note: Coconut oil used on skin, and washing one’s face with cold water to save the water needed to warm it up, really CLOGS things up very well.) I took apart the drain plug mechanism, used an old toothbrush to scrape out the congealed oil, and poured boiling water down the pipe. Ta Da!

Before that, I figured out how to install and rev-up a new back-up device for my computer. It had been forty days since the old one got too full to handle any more data, so I’m feeling relieved that I’m now relatively “safe” from losing data.

Before that, I installed a new phone system that has better reception and reaches into the farthest flung room of this sprawler of a house.

The above two electronic tasks may not seem like a big deal, but to a Luddite such as I am, and while my much more tech-savvy husband is away, it really felt like a big deal to me!

The garden is a work in progress, but I was able to trim back two of the five oak volunteers on the hillside out back. An arborist told me that hear in Oakland, we’re not allowed to cut back any trunk greater than four inches in diameter. These two inch shoots were cut nicely by using the long-handled lever pruning shears. I wove some of the slenderest lengths into circles. Either they’ll make good kindling - like the rest of the sticks I laid straight (seven, eight….) OR perhaps little tiny baby shields with leather or silk stretched over them, and symbols affixed to them with paint or appliqué. Right now, they look cute as their four to seven inch diameters lay about - drying in the deep pine needles on the patio.

Sunday’s task was vacuuming the refrigerator condenser. A little light came on to say DO IT NOW, so I found the manual and followed directions - trusty Phillips head screwdriver in hand.

Pot-luck supper at the Church of Last Resort, as neighbor Jean calls it, was a lovely venue for socializing. I met a gal who began a grief group for families after her own husband died unexpectedly. She seemed very interested in We Can Have Hope, the camp for families that have lost a child, which takes place twice a year at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times. It’s part of We Can - Pediatric Brain Tumor Network.

Networking is gooood.

I feel accomplished.