A problem in the house

This week, as many others has flown by, but
not without its trials.

We have an odor problem that persists. We
assume it is plumbing, but on the off chance
that it may be a critter and it may just
desiccate and go away..we are waiting. We've
stopped using the upstairs bathroom also.
If it is plumbing we are at least not adding
to the problem. When/if the odor goes away
we'll flush a couple of times and see if it
returns. If it doesn't then I guess we
assume it is/was a dead critter. We are
sleeping in the RV and fortunately the
weather is such that it is very pleasant
out there even without using the furnace.

Last Monday I took our tax information to
our accountant. It is always a relief to
dump that problem on someone else. In
the evening we went to Viki's for dinner.
Liza was home for spring break. It is
always fun to see Liza and Keegan. They
are such busy people. Of course it is
nice to see Viki, too. I always feel a
bit uncomfortable there because she makes
it so clear that it is really a chore to
have us.

On Tuesday we went to the VA and the news
from there was good. He isn't getting
better, but at least he's not getting
worse. The museum had a wonderful exhibit
on violent storms. The exhibit I enjoyed
the most was of a tornado. The researcher
had built a triangular box with three
video recorders in it, each facing a different
direction. I don't know how many times he
had tried, but this time the tornado went
right over the box. We were standing in
a room with video pictures on three walls.
We watched the tornado approach, hit and
pass over us and on its way. It was
quite a spectacular exhibit.

On Wednesday I went to book club at Julie's.
We discussed a book of short stories by
Booy (sp). For the most part these stories
were very sad and depressing. They portrayed
people in dire conditions and living with
little or no hope. I did enjoy one; an elderly
man and a young boy became friends and the
boy was recounting to the man how excited he
was about a festival coming up. We then
learn that years ago the man leaves his
native home and his family and comes away
with only an apple. Year after year, it
turns out, he has planted an apple seedling
in a nearby vacant lot. Now, the man and
the boy go to attend the festival which
turns out to be an apple festival and the
city has made the vacant lot into a city-
owned and cherished orchard where everyone
is free to take home as many apples as they
like. That was the happiest story of the
lot.