Have to comment on the firemen...we have a training facility just up the street, and when our microwave caught fire several years ago, they sent 2 trucks and 6 men. They had some new gadgets they wanted to try out, so they spent several HOURS in our house looking through our walls. One of the firemen was a giant, no kidding. He just reached up on my 10 foot ceiling and took off the smoke detector. Then he yanked the microwave off the wall and hauled it outside. One of them was admiring my piano and I found out he can really play well. Yep they were all pretty hunky. My three daughters had fun talking with them, and a few of my neighbors even came over to take a look. I ended up hiring the piano guy when we moved because he mentioned that he's a piano mover on his days off. One also wanted to drive my little red car because it's a hybrid and they just had a seminar on putting out battery fires in hybrid cars. One of the guys is in our Rose Society, and they all had to check out the garden... it was a strange day, and we made some new friends!
Also...funny how we're all different. I have 2 ovens, 2 dishwashers, cars, trucks, tractors, quads, etc...but don't use the microwave, and can go months without turning on the tv. I found out a few weeks ago that our satellite tv gets music channels, so now I turn it on for music. My three daughters don't have microwaves or tvs, either. I love visiting my daughters because they live in places with public transportation, and I can get on a bus or train and not worry about traffic or parking. I remember when my kids were little, and we were visiting someone who had a clothesline. My girls came in and asked what the wires were in the backyard. They had never heard of such a thing. Most neighborhoods out here ban them. My sunroom makes a great place to dry handwashables. If I dried anything outdoors, it would end up with dust and pollen all over it and I would have to wash it again!
oh--some good news. We've gotten almost 5 inches of rain in the last 2 days, and my pond is full again! Yay! We were afraid it would dry up entirely and we'd have a nasty fish kill, but it was still 3 ft deep before the rains came, so I think the fish are ok.
