= new reply since forum marked as read
Stayed gone so long I lost my gold star temporarily - I'll give myself one for a birthday present - and totally missed Valentine's day. It was kind of the folks who sent me one though, and they were in my mailbox waiting. I'd swing by to read some BOG posts w/o commenting. Still enjoyed them.
I've been living w/o running water for TWO SOLID MISERABLE MONTHS now. Turned off a faucet all the way accidentally, took a nap, and woke up with frozen pipes. Things went from bad to worse which was just as well because it forces a replumbing project - if and when I can get a competent plumber to actually show up instead of talking a good game. At least the Methodist church I've been visiting offered to pay for the project, which is wonderful for a person who has no choice but to pinch pennies.
Anyway, they've been helping me haul water from the church basement in old milk jugs, so I manage - but it's a terribly unpleasant, labor intensive, and time consuming way to live. One lady who lives way out in the country started taking me to her house usually on the weekend for a real shower so I feel clean enough for church Sunday morning. But then that means a trip out there, sometimes running a couple loads of laundry first, then driving back etc etc etc.
Everything has to be done one at a time the hard way - no multi-tasking possible. Every precious drop of water at home has to be rationed carefully. All dishes, pots, and pans have to serve at least 3 days and stored in the refrigerator. You don't want to know the ways I've devised to take a halfway decent birdbath. The dogs' bedding hasn't been washed in 2 months; imagine how that's starting to smell. I've even had to use a homemade camp toilet except twice a week when the real ones need to be flushed once to keep out swamp gas. You can imagine how much fun that is. I've even been reduced to gauging exactly how much each activity requires per week so I can look at my current water supply and know pretty closely how long it will last. Good thing I don't get out much!
And yet I'm still relatively fortunate in that it could've been so much worse. Believe me, I'm grateful for having dodged most of the bullets. But I walk past my new dishwasher - the very first ever - and have to pat the damn thing and promise to run it again ASAP. Well, I'm not quite that squirrely but I'm getting there.
I've always wanted to ask you a question but usually get distracted and forget. Are there currently any plans or even thoughts for what the BOG will do when President Obama's term ends? I know he'll still be plenty busy and the group name doesn't specify PRESIDENT - but I hope we'll still hang together at least now and then when he's in the news.
O
I'm certainly impressed with how he's making his last 2 years the least lame-duck type in history. Instead he seems to have ramped things up. It dazzles me. Literally dazzles. And I'll chuckle the rest of my life whenever I think of one thing he said at a presser - "You know, Speaker Boehner is a man of color too; unfortunately it's not a color found in nature." Or words to that effect. I've been laughing ever since.
The growing carpal tunnel problem will have to be addressed medically at some point. Meanwhile I've been trying to read more than write. If you ever find yourself with absolutely nothing to do one day, you might check out my FB news feed. Somebody turned me in for a false name so I had to switch to Veronica Austin, my real pen name. https://www.facebook.com/irishayes.reprised Of course when FB promised the new account holder that a username could be arranged, they flipped the two. The news feed includes the usual liberal lineup of DailyKos, Media Matters for America, Crooks and Liars, etc. I pretty much avoid DU's GD because of so many highly offensive posters, and I can't block them from posting. At least on FB, with all its flaws, I can kick trolls and/or idiots off my personal threads entirely, not just hide them from my own sight. There's a certain satisfaction in that.
The BOG still offers the best reading around, though. 
you have been missed! so sorry to hear about the plumbing problem. i know it is very hard because we run off a well with a pump. we have to keep the water on a little more than a drip at night and open all of the cupboards so the inside heat can get to the walls supporting the pipes so they don't don't freeze. and then, if the power goes out - no water or heat.
love that you have a dishwasher - this will be my next big purchase. it will have to be portable, though.
we can keep this group going because president obama will be on to new things and i know we are going to want to talk about them.
hope things get easier for you in the water department in the near future. i will check out your fb page
that although normally I can hardly bear to watch, much less listen to, the Repukes on tv news or anywhere else, I find it highly entertaining now to hear them squawking about 'Democrats' obstructionism'. Tooo funnny! 
