7 posts from June 2009

Customer Service!

Jun 30, 2009
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I am shocked and amazed (pleasantly so) at the service by my HVAC and now, plumbing, company. I don't think they are necessarily the cheapest around, though they also don't overcharge excessively and are not overly pushy about additional products when they come out to do the service (they are offered, but when I say no thanks, that is the end of it).

Yesterday I finally hunted down a plumber. I was leery of going with my HVAC guys to do plumbing - I can't really say why. I guess in my head I thought that a company should stick with something and do it well. The first company I called (that comes highly recommended via Angie's List and HOCOA) doesn't service my area. The nice lady there referred me to a local plumber whom she said "is as good as we are". *laugh* So I called him and left a message...his voice mail said the usual spiel about assisting other customers, etc but then it stated that he would call back within 10 minutes. Really?!? Well, being that it was the end of the day and it sounded like this might be a one-guy shop, I gave him 40 minutes. (I probably would have given him all evening, but being the procrastinator that I am, I REALLY needed to get someone scheduled to come out this week while I am at home.)

Unfortunately for him, the guy didn't call back. So, I relented and called my HVAC folks...I should have just started there. They have people on the phones 24 hours a day and every time I have ever spoken with any of them, they have all been very pleasant and helpful. Since I have a service plan with them for my AC and heating maintenance, I got 1/2 off the plumbing service call. (They are in the process of figuring out how to work in the plumbing service with the current plans.) I also discovered that their standard service call fee is less than either of the other two places I called first. They have had their plumbing license for over 10 years, but have just begun really promoting the added service. So anyway, they had an opening for today, but my schedule just didn't work with that, so they are coming tomorrow between 10 and noon.

The really impressive part is that I just got a call from one of their service guys double checking that today wouldn't work because they could have someone out to me in about 30-40 minutes! He was very nice and said it was OK that it didn't work and they would be here tomorrow as scheduled.

The other local plumber did call back last night - about 2 hours after I left my message (around 7pm) - Neil talked to him and let him know we had already scheduled someone else because he hadn't gotten back to us. Apparently his cell phone fell in the water over the weekend and thus he was a bit hindered on getting messages and returning calls. As Neil remarked to me after he hung up with the gentleman - it seems that water damage would be an inherent risk to the profession. Maybe other precautions (or even a simple, temporary change to the voice mail message) should have been taken in the likely event that this happened. Heh. I will admit, the fact he still called back same-day (and that late in the evening) was impressive and he probably is a good plumber, it just happens that I was in a more urgent situation and thus he missed his chance with us.

Tomorrow will be the final, and true test of it all - how much will it take to fix the leak and how efficiently will they be able to do it?

Bumble Bees

Jun 19, 2009
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Yesterday I was noticing that there are a bunch of very happy bumble bees hanging around the vitex (chaste tree) in the back yard (and also the abelias). I took some photos, though, many didn't quite turn out because I wasn't paying attention to the temperature change and high humidity outside and the lens fogged up on me! Luckily, it didn't take long to reacclimatize the camera to the outside weather.

BumbleBee3

Unfortunately, you can also see in one of the photos where the Japanese beetles are beginning to decimate the leaves of the vitex...they also seem to be loving the flowers as food. I don't know what to do about them - from what I read, the traps may simply attract more of the beetles defeating the goal of getting rid of them and there don't seem to be any insecticides that will kill them (wouldn't PETA love me for that one?). I need to do some more research, but if anyone knows anything about Japanese beetle control, I am all ears!

BumbleBee10

This morning I noticed that the bees were sleeping on the flowers! So, I also researched that and learned that new queens and males leave the nest (usually they are forced out) and spend the night either on the flowers or in holes in the ground. In the fall they mate and then they winter over and in the spring, the queens will form new nests.

Photography...

Jun 7, 2009
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I have been really enjoying having the camera in my hands again. Neil has been kind enough to lend me the extended use of his battery grip and 50mm lens. The battery grip is awesome - I have big hands, having the extra grip space/area is really handy (hahaha no pun really intended). Sure, it adds a bit to the overall weight, but not so much that it is bothersome. And lens has been fun too.

Neil recently got himself the Canon 5D MkII and has been having much fun with that. Now that I have been playing with the 50mm lens I am understanding more and more the difference in not having a full frame sensor. It doesn't make that much of a difference to me with the photography that I do, but for Neil, I can tell this is really going to make a big difference for him. I am very excited...and I am hoping that now it will be easier to get him out shooting with me again. ;)

Of course, with all of this I have been lusting after another lens - 24-105mm f/4L IS. It will be a long time before I can even think about getting this lens, but maybe I can get family to pitch in together for it for Christmas or some such thing. Heh. This would replace the 28-135 that I have now and would somewhat limit things in lower lighting with the fixed aperture, but the L lenses are so much crisper with fabulous color it would be worth it for sure.

And then there was squirrel...

Jun 6, 2009
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The first squirrel to come up into the yard appeared yesterday. Sadie was SO excited - she did her little happy dance at the back door while whining and squealing. I, of course, had to come see what the commotion was about:

Oh boy!!!

and this is what I saw. A cute little critter who also seemed quite excited by the prospect of such easy, tasty treats being available. I took a bunch of photos through the kitchen window, so please pardon some of the weird reflection issues in some of the photos. When the sun came out, it made the white kitchen table reflect on the window - I didn't notice until too late.

I also got some photos of a few of the birds that come visit the feeders. None of the ones of the brown-headed cowbirds turned out, so maybe next time. And the titmouse refused to come to the feeder while I had my camera available. Someday I will catch him, though. Someday!

A Motley Crew

I was excited to capture the woodpecker that has been visiting. He moves around so much that I had originally mis-identified him as a red-headed woodpecker, but now with a photo to examine, I have discovered that he is actually a red-bellied woodpecker.

Tasty Tid-bits

The mourning doves are always lovely too...there are more photos on my Flickr page.

Since I had the camera out, I also snapped some photos of the kids. The kitties weren't very excited about having the camera pointed at them, but I still got a couple OK shots:

The dogs, however, hammed it up as usual:

Marly

Sleepy

After a lazy afternoon, Moo decided it was time to play. Sadie didn't seem to mind in the least and the two had a nice little romp session:

Marly always starts out by assessing the Sadie situation - you can see the romp session coming! The last photo is of Sadie telling Moo to take it easy. Every once in a while Marly will get a little too rough and Sadie has to remind her who's really boss in this house. You can't see it, but there is a serious, deep growl coming from Sadie.

And now everyone is back to being lazy and having a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

Slow cooker...

Jun 4, 2009
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I have had a crock pot since Christmas a couple years ago (got it at Costco with a gift certificate from my dad), however, I have never used it! There is a first for everything, right? Today I am attempting a roast in it. Of course I got started too late this morning to cook it on "low" (10-12 hours), so it will be cooking on "high" for 6-8 hours. Both temps and times were according to the recipe that came with the cooker so I am hoping it will still come out OK. I also didn't have onions or celery so we are doing without... potatoes and carrots and beef stock. And the roast is smeared with horseradish and salt and pepper.

I also fixed the weather stripping on the back door - it takes a little shove to get it to latch now, but I think it is finally well sealed and will hopefully not leak anymore when it rains hard. As I was cleaning up the door frame I noticed that paint is peeling and the lower hinge screws are rusting. So, those will be projects for another day.

Now I think I will start photo-documenting my house for insurance stuff - just in case!

Farmers Market & a Libertarian Meet-up

Jun 2, 2009
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Tonight Neil and I are going to head to the Charlotte Tailgate Farmers Market (I want veggies and hopefully some strawberries!) and then from there we are headed to Murphy's Tavern to meet/see the Motorhome Diaries guys. It should be a fun evening. Then tomorrow (or maybe Thursday) we will head back into town for some more photo shooting.

While we were in town Saturday, a city cop waiting at a stoplight asked me if we were doing the photo contest. I had NO idea what he was talking about and then the light changed. On Sunday I noticed our community newsletter in my newspaper box (that is a whole other gripe-y entry for another day). In the newsletter it talked about the Mount Holly photo contest! The theme being Summer in Mount Holly. I might enter, we'll see. I think Neil should for sure, he is a great photog when he wants to be. :)

Aside from that, today I am working on moving my server, modem, and router into the guest room. My office gets WAY too hot with so many computers and external hard-drives running in there (especially in the summer). Since I rarely, if ever, use the guest room I figure it is OK if it gets warm in there. The kitties will like it!

Some laundry is getting done and I am watching Transporter 3 - I have a serious thing for Jason Statham. Too bad he is so short! *laugh* The movie isn't what I would call a 'good movie', but it is very fun and entertaining. I guess that in and of itself makes it good in my book. I love the characters in this one - particularly the French Inspector. From there I think I will move on to watching Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. He's nice to look at too.

Time to go move more electronics and then maybe make some lunch.

Yard Photos

Jun 1, 2009
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I took some quick photos of the yard this morning...everything is so darn green since the rain we've had (I know, such a tough problem to have) that some of them are hard to get much definition in them, but they give a general idea of what's been happening around here:

Front Yard

The hardest part of the yard was laying the pavers to extend the patio for the grill so that it was no longer sitting in front of my living room window (for the past two years my view has consisted of the back side of a covered gas grill):

Patio

The last big yard project now is to get the lawn to be an actual lawn. That will take awhile yet, but a good start is underway - most of the weeds have been killed (the Japanese clover is being stubborn) and we tossed down some seed in the bare areas. This fall the lawn service will properly seed the whole yard (lime, aerate, fertilize and then seed). Until then, though, some of the seed we put down is actually growing!

New Grass!

There are other shots on Flickr of the back yard with the bird area and the new side-yard beds and some close-ups of the front walkway areas. Enjoy!