AUSTIN, Texas, August 24, 2005 — I get up reluctantly. FFP asks at one point what time it is. I feel it is about 5:15 since I think I just looked at the clock. But it is an hour later, probably. Must have fallen back into my dreams. We drift off again and get up a little before seven. I am making the bed when FFP calls for me to come outside. Water is gently bubbling up somewhere under the drive, pooling in the low spots. We try to turn off the sprinkler system. (I have to dig out the dirt around the valve handle and still can't cut it off all the way.) We don't think it is the sprinkler, though. We

think it is the water to the house. We have pressure but a small leak might not affect it. We call a plumber and get them set to come over. They say a slab leak detection will cost $260 or some such figure. What choice do you have, though? None. FFP calls Dad and tells him I won't come to water aerobics. And we wait. FFP calls the people who put in the Eco-Crete driveway. He remembers a pipe getting broken and being repaired with one of those sleeve things when it was put in. They say they can fill in the Eco-Crete more easily if the repairmen 'saw' cut it out. Yeah, I was just talking about how costly it is to live in a big complicated house. And ours is nothing compared to some. Imagine the maintenance on the Dell mansion. Shown below.

I will tire of Google Earth soon enough I'm sure. Of course, not yet. I even spent time looking for the aerial views of tennis courts I've played on. Tennis courts, pools, airports and sports fields make easy patterns to pick up on assuming there aren't too many trees.

As we wait for several hours for the plumber we contemplate using a different plumber as this one we've used for years no longer answers 24 hours and, further, doesn't have enough technicians. But I am sanguine. We will get it fixed eventually. We have the money for the repairs. Life will go on. I used to worry so much about any one thing like this. And, on the flip side, used to feel so good when one thing got fixed. Now, I just accept the breakdowns. And feel nothing when it's over but a bit of puzzlement at what the next thing to break will be. We do indeed call off the understaffed plumber and try to get the other one. Only to have them show up unsure what the job is and wander off to find a digging tool for the Eco-Crete or pavement. A four o'clock we still have no progress on fixing this latest problem.

While FFP did something he needed to do, I waited for a call back that didn't come and finished up reviewing a film so that I could return them. I went to the club, did some bicycle riding, a few leg extensions, took a shower, went to the AFF office and turned in my films and got a few more. FFP had someone coming by for an interview around four so I got back by then so I could communicate with the plumber if he shows up. FFP asserts that the pipes under the driveway are PVC. I scare up a picture on my computer from 2001 when the driveway guys busted a pipe (I know, amazing) and the pipe looks like metal to me. Looks like they took out a busted section and used sleeves to reconnect it. Pretty amazing I found that. It's no surprise that things are turning up leaking after the city blasted to water pressure and our step down failed and, um, you have these sorts of patches here and there. Ah, the joys of home ownership.

FFP has someone drop by to be interviewed for his column. I wait for the plumber who is allegedly 'leaving the rental place with a cutter for the drive.' But at 5:30 there is no sign of him. I supposed we should have cut off the water to the house which slowly dribbles and bubbles from the drive and runs into our French drain and gutter.

I get hungry and eat a quick pimento cheese sandwich and a cereal bar. Bad diet. It is all I've had, though, to eat except for a small serving of cereal and nonfat yogurt. I drink a bunch of water.

The plumber does come and he locates where the pipe leaves the drive. But the saw he rented won't start and another tool he has won't work. It isn't looking good at the moment on the plumbing front. I have Forrest check his schedule and he's free tomorrow so I can do the tennis workout I agreed to do. These things were much harder on him when I worked. Especially if I was out of town but mostly just because I could never wait for workmen or stuff like that during the day. Now we are retired. We just have to worry about the workmen interfering with our visits to our club. Ha. And be glad we didn't have problems while we were both out of town. Be glad of that.

Meanwhile life goes on. I decide to work on the budget. (Which will be blown for the month with the plumber's bill, of course.) But I never even get so far as bringing up the worksheet. I wander off to read the paper, watch a thing on TV about Mark Felt. FFP and I watch Michael Moore's The Big One. We rented it from Netflix. I'm not sure why. Like I said, the queue was set long ago and just keeps spitting out DVDs. Of course, maybe I wanted to see Michael when he still had ammo for both parties and pretty much anyone else and wasn't trying to simply sway an election. It must be hard, though, to never make a difference (except maybe making money for yourself) if you are Michael Moore. I mean he got the ammo (different kind) out of K-Mart in Bowling for Columbine but I don't think it made a difference and the kid in the wheelchair was really instrumental in that. Anyway, we watch that and I start watching a film for AFF review. I can't talk about those but I can say that it was about the underbelly of a place we visited on our vacation. Which doesn't really give anything away. We went a bunch of places on our vacation and someone probably made a underbelly movie about all of them and, from the number of entries in AFF, submitted them to this festival. But, just to be safe, I won't say if it was bad or good or anything else.

I switched to cable and caught the end of Kill Bill Vol 2. Other people like these movies. I've always thought I should have a look. Well, I have to say, hmmm. If you want a bunch of smart ass with violence I think Man Bites Dog is better. But that's just me. I like black and white and sub-titles. Most Americans like to hear English and get technicolor eyeballs. Still, I now know a bit about this one and so I can answer trivia questions, I guess. I don't mean to watch it until the end which is late but I'm propped up in bed trying to fall asleep and I don't. So I do see the end. I say 'hmmm.'