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Anyone Need Any Sand?

Now that the snow has officially vamoosed from the front yard [the spell checker should love that one. -J] it appears that 800 pounds of sand have been deposited on our lawn. Ick.

So, faithful dump readers, what have you found to be the best way to remove sand from the grass:

  • Broom
  • plastic rake
  • metal rake
  • one of those leaf vacuumy things (which I don’t own, so I hope this isn’t the solution)
  • something entirely different
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Wow, How Do They Do That?

According to the Fitchburg Sentinel, “Water poured out of a manhole cover near the intersection of Bemis Road and Benson Street in Fitchburg.”

Okay, but there’s a small problem with that. Bemis Road doesn’t intersect with Benson Street. They are parallel to one another, and about 1/2 to a mile apart. So someone’s going to have to draw me a picture to explain how they have an “intersection”. (Are the local reporters not from around here any more?)

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Disney Addict

I realize I was just there in October, but I’m already starting to feel that itch to go back to Disney again. Is there something physiologically wrong with me? Probably not, as there are a LOT of people out there who feel the same way. My sister lacks this kind of wiring, as does her husband. But her kids (being kids) are leaning more my way, and miracle of miracles, my mom actually wants to go back.

So here I sit, thinking I should figure out when we can go back. The only bad thing is that now that we’ve gone down as a large group (9 of us) I don’t know if I want to go back without everyone. That means I’d have to convince my sister that it’s time to plan another trip, and I don’t know if I want to undertake that effort.

I do believe going back we’d be able to be more low-key than the last time (which is probably just wishful thinking) because everyone has officially been, and been through almost everything on the “should see” list so you could pick and choose.

Anyway, it’s going to be 60 today so maybe just going out for a walk at lunchtime will help me shake the longing. But I doubt it.

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The Rain Falls Mainly on the Drain

Man alive, Noah would be having a good time right now. Lots and lots of rain. It’s positively floody out there. I spent 20 minutes this morning trying to find and then uncover our backyard drain. I have to do this every year, but normally I don’t have to do it in a downpour. Normally I do it when it’s relatively dry, but I’m thinking the water isn’t even going to go down much because the sewers are already completely flooded and the ground saturated.

I guess I’ll find out when I get home how it worked, but this morning I looked out the window and had an “uh oh” moment when I realized there was probably more water out there than I’d seen in the almost 11 years we’ve been in the house, and I probably shouldn’t wait to try to unplug. I estimate that it was at least 10-12 inches deep on top of the drain, which I eventually found. The problem I was having was that the water was so deep that it covered more ground and threw off where I thought it was…it was actually about a foot further back than I estimated. Plus I was trying not to fall in or get mud all over my work clothes. Let’s just say it’s not how I wanted to spend my morning and leave it at that, ‘kay?

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Cable Guy

Amy over at Living Reflections talked about her recent experience with the sales people at BestBuy (motto: “We will hound you until you break”). She tried to sneak in and buy something without making eye contact with a sales person because they are the retail equivelant of someone trying to sell you a vacation time share. The guy ran up to her at the register with ink and cables! Can you imagine?

Look, I sold PCs retain wayyyyyy back when they first came out. This was back in 87. We had to sell cables with every printer because nobody had cables because nobody had a computer back then. Can I tell you how many extra USB, Serial and Printer cables I have lying around my house? And I was the last person to try to oversell someone, which is why I probably only made 14k that first year. But I knew there weren’t people out in the world badmouthing me for selling them something they didn’t need. You don’t need a 24 pin dot matrix when this IBM 9 pin will do.

Anyway, go check out her rant. I told her that if the printer came with cartridges (and not just the sample ones that print 10 pages) but the guy told her that because he wanted to sell her ink, she should contact the AG because that’s illegal. And that, dear people, is why you should steer clear of BestBuy.

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