Bailing with a spoon...

Galina and I spent most of yesterday away from the media-generated frenzy of excitement over it being the 5th anniversary of the attack on the WTC and Pentagon, but it was hard to avoid getting splashed with some of it as I commissioned our ancient analog TV to receive the stronger local broadcast signals.

So far this morning, I've caught an uninvoiced translation from the end of last month (I think; I have a call in to my client to make sure it's not a screwup on my part), translated a short item, and generated two invoices. My plate is clean.

Hopefully, it will remain clean for a couple of hours, as when Galina asked me to address the leaky kitchen faucet, I proceeded to do so by turning the shutoff valve under the sink, which decided to commit seppuku in a very wet manner. Fortunately, our local air-conditioning guy, who lives down the street, had one of those welded-rebar "wrenches" that you can use to shut the water off at the street. Meanwhile, the mopping goes on... and I need to hie myself to the local hardware store for a pipe wrench and (hopefully, only) a valve washer.

I need to send off my visa application today, among other things, and then, may the dogs of translation be loosed!

Cheers...

Everything but new work...

I made two trips to the local Home Depot to get the appropriate tool (small pipe wrench) and accessories (I am now the proud owner of a variety of washers and O-rings), and in the end, I almost was unable to get the job done, owing to my bum shoulder.

Back around two years ago, I noticed that something had happened to my right shoulder, making it impossible, for example, to throw a ball more than a few feet. Things got so bad, I even went to a chiropractor, who explained that my problem was due to a problem with a muscle tendon.

Well, either that was a load of horse puckey, or the tendon healed itself, because the other day, just to see if I could, I chucked one of Drew's paintball "hand grenades," and it sailed far enough away for me to be satisfied that my throwing arm - which never could rival that of, say, Joe Namath - was functional and pain free. (Though it's interesting to note that it was the first time I've consciously thrown an object any distance for some time.)

Lately, my left shoulder has been giving me trouble. Extending my arm, for example, out from my shoulder (as if signaling a left turn) is painful. Certain other movements requiring shoulder aid are painful, as well. At any rate, the close quarters under the sink here at the Webster house made it virtually impossible for me to tighten the valve under the sink once I finally replaced the washer in the silly thing.

It got to the point where Galina actually called the guy from whom we borrowed the meter valve wrench, to see if he could come lend a hand. However, a few minutes later, I finally figured out how to exert leverage on the pipe wrench without killing my shoulder. Turning the water back on at the street turned up no leakage in the valve.

Hooray for phase one.

Then I tackled the kitchen faucet again, and figured out I had a problem with a large O-ring. Rather than head for the Home Depot a third time, I wrapped some teflon tape (which I'd used for the valve threads) a few times around the joint and replaced all the parts.

For now, the faucet does not leak at all. Hip-hip, etc. again, for phase two.

Galina's got a "honeydew" list for the house that's growing faster than the national debt, but hopefully doesn't cost as much. I'll take things as they come, from that direction.

I managed to get my visa application into the evening's FedEx, after answering all the silly questions again. As I've noted before, the Russian embassy knows more about me that most of my former employers.

While walking around the property, I'm noticing a new spectrum of wildlife. I've seen at least two new insects and am getting reacquainted with the bird life. Ther are some mushrooms coming up in the lawn: white, gilled, with a stem that is slimy when the specimen is young, and whose cap turns light beige in the center as it ages. Maybe I'll take a picture if I can get some new batteries for the camera.

Cheers...