If you read to the end of my previous post, you will find it really funny or even weird that we have a plumber out here, this morning, digging in the front yard.  Yesterday, Jerry was digging the hole for the third front fence post, very carefully, mindful that the fence would cross the water line into the house, somewhere.  But not too worried, because the previous owner thought it would be a good foot or two from the post, and it looked like it, too.  After digging through a root, one more slam of the hand digger filled the hole with water.  No surprise.

Well, that’s one of our themes:  busted water pipes.  We’re lucky about a lot of things, though, like having a plumber here before 5:30am.  The cappuccino paraphernalia was not rinsed from yesterday, but thankfully, the automatic coffee machine has water in it, and Jerry has plenty of orange juice for his cold.

Landing Barred Owl

So, I was standing at the door with my coffee, saying hello to the the guy, John is his name.  Jerry had told him about Little P, the reason we (and when I say we, I mean Jerry, mostly, as usual) are building the fence.  He said he has a little dog that looks like a miniature Doberman.  Seven pounds.  He said he never lets him out of his site.

Red Shouldered Hawk in Flight

Jerry had told me of a friend’s trip to the mailbox with his little dog at his side.  While he was opening the box, a coyote ran by and snatched him away.  It’s not just dogs, but the hawks and owls, John said.  Yes, them hawks will snatch them up in a minute.  He says them owls is mean.  Worse than the hawks.  Maybe that’s why that barred owl was sitting in the cedar tree every evening, last summer.  Just perched up there, ready to swoop down—for rodents, we thought.  Maybe little, dogs, too.  The plumber said one of his friends had his little dog out with him.  He stepped away to fix a fence or something and when he got back, there was little left, but a pool of blood and a hawk standing there, eating him.  [I got the pic of the barred owl from http://www.chesapeakebay.net/.  You may enjoy reading that site about wildlife in watersheds and estuaries.]

John has finished the repair, already!  How convenient to be able to wash dishes and take showers.  Those Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are kind o’ hard on the hands.

Jerry’s about to leave for his pencil drawing class.  (Friend, Bill, told him he’s too old to be going to school.)  I guess I’ll let P out when/if it warms up.  He can lie on the deck under the roof.  Oh, yes, the deck roof was repaired, yesterday, after only a little over a month!  We think it is passable, though as we have come to expect, a little cobbled up.  Doesn’t look new.  [Oops, what you expect is what you attract to your life.]

Just a note from the plumber:  need to use “Schedule 40” plumbing pipes.  Those with the thin walls are only a few cents less than the Schedule 40.  If we’d have had that heavier kind, it would not have broken.

Now that all is well, again, I’ll make myself a cappuccino and use a lot of water for dishes and laundry.  It’s a good day.  As they say here, “Have a blessed day.”  It’s a loving sentiment to express in our New Earth.