21 December 2004
how else could three month's salary last a lifetime?
Well, I realize the title up there says "fine whine" but I'd like to think I don't whine too much. Heh. So there's always been this crack in the wall of the basement, right? Before we bought the basement wall and the rest of the place with it, the home inspector had looked at the crack and figured that the caulk/cement stuff that had been put into it was an adequate patch, and we'd need worry only if it seemed to get worse.
Well, it got worse.
It turns out that we weren't in any danger of our wall bowing, as he and we had thought, but the whole north end of the house is sinking, slightly, slowly. Apparently this would explain the stair-stepping pattern of the crack on the wall and also quite possible the cracks in the basement floor too. This also explains the just over seventeen thousand dollars we will be throwing at the Basement Guys to "pier up" the house and also rip up the outlying two feet of the basement floor to fix the pipes and gravel that haven't quite been getting all the water under the house down to the sump pump. When it's all over we'll have a rock-solid foundation again (with a lifetime warranty, this time) and far better drainage.
Unfortunately Jessica's not taking this very well. I'm not happy about it either, but I can't see much else I can do but get it fixed and move on. I'm looking forward to having the basement problems solved and future ones compeletey headed off. There's just that minor (heh. Who am I kidding? It's major major) expense of the seventeen thousand dollars and change.
In other news, I've been rocking out on the treadmill like nobody's business. Tonight while watching the John Frankenheimer (forgotten) classic Seconds I worked off another six hundred calories in just about fifty-two minutes. I'm pretty sure that covers my whole dinner since I drank water and chowed down on a bunch of Macaroni and Cheese.
Yesterday I'd done four hundred (and had sandwiches and some rice) and the day before three hundred, but I can't imagine I'll keep just upping the total every day willy nilly. I've got another sixteen or seventeen days of this before it becomes a habit, and even if I notch it up another hundred each day that still puts me over two thousand in January. I'm interested in getting healthy, but not so committed as to give up more than two hours of my night to do so.
Of course, it's entirely possible that we will have trucked the treadmill back to Sears well before then for the cash. So it goes.
2 comments on how else could three month's salary last a lifetime?
add your comment
I can and will moderate any and all comments at my discretion. I will not ever display or reveal your email address without your permission.
Is your house/neighbourhood built on a swamp? Could explain the sinking.
A large local mall is built on a swamp. The entire mall sinks roughly 2 inches per year. So, in, say, 150 years or so, we might have an underground mall, which would rock my world. Even better, in only 18 years or so, I won't have to walk up any stairs to get into the mall. I hate stairs.
Oh, BTW, underneath the pavement in the back parking lot of the mall there is a front-end loader and a dump truck. Apparently when they were contructing the mall, they left those parked behind the mall on what was then dirt. It rained hard that night, and when they returned the next morning, the loader and truck were over 3/4 submerged. It proved easier and cheaper to bury and pave over the machines than to unearth them.
Alas, not a swamp. Wonderful clay soil surrounds my house.
I'm intrigued that you're looking forward to shopping in a century and a half, though. Talk about long-term parking.