I'm typing this seated at the dinette in the RV, which is parked in our driveway, plugged in so I can run the air conditioner. The dogs and I consider this our "new home" as the guys work on the bathroom renovations. It makes for a much quieter and nicer environment than having to lock them up in their kennels in the house and listen to them bark every time they hear a peep from upstairs.
The work is progressing. Todd came Friday and moved the plumbing for the shower to the opposite wall, which means that now I am going to get the glass half-wall that I always wanted, right next to the big beautiful window in the bathroom. I am so excited about this. I went down to a local place that Darlene had recommended some months ago and ordered the full glass shower door and the glass for the half wall. The price they quoted me was EXCELLENT! Jim, my contractor, had told me that a glass door like that would cost "$4,000." And his predictions for how much the wall would cost was equally dire.
Now I realize that he just always uses the "$4,000 figure whenever he's presented with a new idea. I don't mind, now that I know this about him. He is doing great work up there and is so neat in the process.
Today they are trying to take up the tile in the laundry room....and remove a raised section of flooring that it's on. For some reason Bob the Builder...the original home owner who did all this installation, chose to over-engineer everything! The floor can't be pried up because he put hundreds of nails and screws in it! They have to pull up the tile to get to the nails and screws and he put the tile down with Who-Knows-What but it isn't coming up easily! They have to chip each tile and they break and leave little bits, etc. A nightmare!
Now Jim has a healthy respect for what I went through trying to get the damned wallpaper off! Bob over-engineered that too....I don't know what he used to adhere it to the walls, but it was EXCESSIVE!
On Friday when Todd was working on the plumbing, I was out back with the dogs when the familiar gurgling began in my intestines. CAUTION...what I am about to write you may NOT WANT TO READ!
I went into the house and used the toilet and when I went to wash my hands, the water just dribbled out of the faucet. UH-OH....Todd had shut the water down! Now, when I have one bout of diarrhea, it does NOT stop there...no siree, it goes on and on, sometimes the next bout coming immediately on the heels of the last one.
I panicked....what to do? The RV! I raced out there and checked the water levels....the fresh water read EMPTY! Oh no...I can't use the RV! I could get a bucket and fill it from the swimming pool and use that to flush the toilet inside, but that would only be one flush and frequently I have to flush multiple times in one sitting....OMG! I can't use the house toilet!
I grabbed a roll of toilet paper and the key to the back gate that leads to the path in the woods...SO HAPPY we have woods behind our house. By then my guts were really gurgling again....I raced down to the gate, got the key in the lock and it hit! I didn't have time to unlock the gate...had to "do it" right there along the fence...with three Jack Russells right there, watching me with puzzled looks on their faces.
I scooped dirt over the mess and raced back up to the house, where I got plastic store bags and handy wipes from the RV. I also picked up a small garden spade from my tool box. I raced out back again and through the gate to the woods.
I had just enough time to set all my supplies in a row when the wave hit me again. I crouched there in the woods, surrounded by the piles of brush that we haul out there from the yard and was thankful that we no longer lived on Sunrise Street, where none of this "cover" would be possible.
The whole thing lasted for what seemed like an eternity. I had to dig four holes out there and felt like I was back in the National Guard, touring Germany. I was physically wiped out and it took all of my strength to clean things up, and make my way back to the RV, collecting the dogs along the way. I collapsed on the bed and the dogs and I slept for about an hour until Todd called on my cell to let me know he was done.
The evidence was all bagged and disposed of properly....the holes were covered over, camouflaged with sticks and leaves and I poured about a half gallon of vinegar over them. I could have kept my mouth shut and no one would have been the wiser.
But no...I had my iPhone with me out in the woods and I texted Sandy as I crouched...telling her, "if this was happening to someone else, I'd be laughing."
I go tomorrow to see the gastroenterologist and hopefully she can come up with some remedy to help me with all this shit....and I mean that literally and figuratively. Carol is coming with me...she used to work with Dr. Sansone and it will be great to have them see each other again...and she can help me explain things to the doctor. She can also help me remember what the doctor says and can share the info with Sandy. Sometimes I have trouble with this part...remembering or understanding what the doctor is saying.
The work on the bathroom will continue into next week and maybe beyond. In the meantime, we head to Stowe this weekend, taking Ryan with us. He'll be playing in a lacrosse tournament up there. We are all excited about this get-away.
Later.....
