There's a variety of issues that we're dealing with, and the issues are so varied!
Buttercups. I hate buttercups! They're an infection weed that is very, very hardy and resistant to the "weeding", even a weeding used to disperse anger! When God cursed the ground, and told Adam he was going to labor and sweat, He could have simply said, "Buttercups," instead of the long speech. Yes, buttercups. Pretty, but a curse when you're trying to grow food and other flora.
A more recent issue concerns the "water works." It seems that being water manager entails a lot more than what was passed down to me by the previous owners/managers of this house. I have spent hours reading about how to set up a managerial/financial system (which hadn't really existed) for 25+ year-old water piping! It almost feels like "creating something from nothing," I imagine a little like starting up a self-business or something. Add to this 'little' complication the fact that one of the customers is overly late in paying, which could have resulted in all four of our properties having our water shut off, and I'm a little bit overwhelmed and a little ticked off. After some phone calls today to figure out how to deal with that problem, along with information gathering so I can get a functional system up and running (imagine that!), the three properties should be able to maintain our water (we've paid), I'm a bit pooped.
There's considerable legalities that I wasn't aware of when it comes to the whole water management thing, and being a bit of a stickler for rules, I'm trying hard to do what I can to ensure we follow the rules, and that way I can also better enforce them. I did find, in my search, the code that allows me to legally shut off a non-paying customer's water. . . though the situation is far more complicated because of how the water is supplied. I'll not bore you with the details. Yes, it's boring, but I have to learn it so I can do my job!
The good part in all this, is that part of today's 'researching', I discovered some interesting facts. One of the many is that the Environmental Protection Agency (buggers) estimates a family of four people use about 400 gallons of water per day! That is shocking to me. Even more shocking after I converted our cubic feet of water used into gallons-- thought I did my math wrong. Talked to a very nice gal at-- I think (I can't correctly remember because I've been all over the web today)-- the Dept. of Health. This nice gal works as a conservation specialist, or something like that. She used an online conversion calculator and came up with a similar figure to our 2-month water usage, then said, "What are you doing?" and it seriously sounded like she was grabbing a pen and paper! :-) The mystery? Our two month water usage, with guests having been here part of the time, and 3 of us being here all day every day-- 14.36 cubic feet (CF) or, 107.485 gallons. Notice where the decimal is? That means we use, in two months, 1/4 of what a four-person family uses in one day! I'd think it was a complete fluke, too, except for the fact that this isn't the first time I've been so complimented on our water conservation.
At our previous house, when talking with one of the water managers about how I can lower my bill (aka, decrease water usage), her reply was, "You can't. Out of our service area, only a single man has you beat in conservation!"
Yay for us, but daggum, water works is best on Monopoly(R)!
And now for the exciting news (for anyone who has actually read this far). Okay, well, it's exciting for me. Today I was contacted by the founder of battlingbare.org, the site of which I linked and wrote about in my last entry. I was notified that the story I shared for the battlingbare community is going to be published online this Sunday in Business Insider! I looked up the online thing (Business Insider), and am looking forward to having my generic story published. :-)
Well, I'd write more, but Hubby is home from work and it's time for our "evening routine," which this time will include the water works issue. Ugg.
~Cedeham~
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