Sunday, December 31, 2017

it's a cruel cruel summer

Happy New Year from Iowa! Today was rather ridiculous, all in all, although it wasn't really my problem - but the milk plant in Allerton broke a water main overnight, and so my dad got a call this morning asking for an emergency fix. This was, at the beginning, a true emergency - by the time they discovered the break, they'd drained the town water tower, which meant everyone in town had basically nonexistent pressure in their pipes. This was a potentially catastrophic problem since it was so cold last night that pipes could freeze and break if water stopped flowing....

But despite all the ice in the vicinity of the break, and temperatures so cold that most of my dad's equipment wouldn't start, and the fact that they had to jackhammer through concrete, etc., etc., they ended up fixing it, and no one in town was left without water. So I guess that's lucky, even though it started out as a v. unlucky day.

I spent the day mostly getting ready to go and taking care of last-minute things (which I'm sure some people, such as [censored], would have preferred that I had left undone). I also made some danged quesadillas to go along with the guacamole I made (the guac I made today was even better than yesterday's guac). And I went with [censored] and Dad to visit my grandma one more time - she's super confused, as usual, and was angry that we came in during all the snow instead of staying safe at home (she can see the snow through her window, which has been here for days, but didn't realize the real danger was the fact that it's now -15 with windchills of -30+).

Then we came home and had a totally delicious supper - we ate some pork that my dad had cured/smoked (which was amazing). It would have been the uncontested star of the show, but Mom tried a new recipe for twice-baked potatoes that was so fucking good, and she also made bacon-wrapped lil smokies, which were totally awesome as well.

And then we played two games of Ticket to Ride (Dad and I both won, much to my mother and [censored]'s chagrin). I hung out upstairs until 11:30, but then I came down and finished packing as the new year began.

And now I should sleep and dream of all the things I hope to accomplish in 2018 - goodnight!

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