TOWN TIME UPDATE

Town time has not been especially interesting, so I’ll make this real time update brief. Mike reports that Dr. Alm is pleased with the progress of his foot. At follow-up next week they should be able to remove the rod in his toe and fit his orthotic insert. Although the weatherman keeps predicting rain or snow, we haven’t really had either except for passing brief showers, so Mike has been able to cycle almost daily. Last Sunday he rode with the bike club.

I helped Mike prepare a mailing to previous tax customers for the TaxTyme business. Together I think we put in about eight man hours – labeling and stamping. He took the exterior Christmas lights off the house but I will probably let my Christmas ceramics sit out a while longer. [The Christmas characters in this picture will soon be replaced by some of my "vintage" dolls.]

We’ve had some maintenance problems here at the town house. The pilot light on the water heater went out on Friday. Mike took an early evening shower and noted the water temp seemed a bit cool. (I’ve got to quit letting him take first shower!) Now, the water tank is located behind a panel in the closet of our office (the third bedroom). Not only is access to the tank difficult but access to the pilot once we get to the tank is also difficult. The chest of drawers we put in the closet to store supplies doesn’t help. Mike tried to contort himself to no avail. We finally had to remove the chest from the closet. We were not successful lighting the pilot that night and had begun to plot how we could make it through the weekend without hot water, but Mike was successful in lighting the pilot Saturday morning. And yes, we put the chest back in the closet.

Also last weekend, our Dish system began to malfunction and a visit from a tech was scheduled for this afternoon (Wednesday). Yesterday our receiver went out altogether, so we were without tv last night. We now have a new receiver – an upgrade on the one we got a month ago.