Day 83

The dog had a good time today.  There's a 4" drain pipe buried along the foundation on one side of the house.  One end opens into a drainage basin alongside the front walk.  The whole thing is about 50 ' long.  The other opens into a basin by the deck.  A squirrel had run inside it.  We could hear it squeaking.  So could the dog.  She was running to each end of the pipe trying to get it to come out.

I decided to flush it out.  Literally.  I got a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with water.  I poured it in one end.  The squirrel didn't come out.  So I unrolled the garden hose.  It was kind of cold, under 50, so the hose was stiff.  I started pushing it down the pipe.  Eventually a very wet squirrel came out the other end.  Lucy chased it across the yard and up a tree.

That wasn't the end.  For the rest of the day Lucy continued to want to be left out so that she could investigate that pipe.

I confirmed last night that the towel warmer had gone tits up.  The switch wouldn't go on anymore.  We went to Barton Creek Mall today to see if they had any towel warmers.  The stupid website wouldn't say.  The mall was packed.  They didn't have one.

There was a package waiting for us at the gate, and we picked up the one at the post office.  We waited in line to pick it up.  Just as we were leaving they decided to open an express window for package pickup only.

The presents were several art things for Ellen and a pair of cool slippers for me.  They are leather with orthotic insoles.  They are really comfortable.

We also stopped at the hobby shop that we could never find.  It was in back of the building fronting the street.  That's why we couldn't find it.  It was a nice little place.  They had some N scale stuff and I bought a flat car with a cool load.  It was a disassembled heavy mining dump truck.

We didn't do anything else the rest of the day.  Ellen tried out a couple of her new presents.  She made pancakes on her new griddle and dog treats with the dehydrator.