Peanuts Advent-ure

The 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas is next Tuesday, the 9th. To celebrate, my twinster Jean sent me this fun and nifty Peanuts tabletop mobile, counting down “the 12 days leading up to Christmas.”

Peculiar thing about this mobile. It isn’t a 24-day Advent calendar, neither is it a way of marking the Twelve Days of Christmas that start on Christmas Day.

The instructions say, “Ask an adult for help.” As soon as I find someone with the necessary maturity and patience to assemble the stand, I’ll put a photo of it here.

I put it together all by myself, with Obi Wan’s words of encouragement. 😉

The Sewer Saga – 6

We were finally able to start getting settled, after one of the most challenging summers of my life, until last year’s cancer treatments. When passing papers on selling our place, I made a point of giving our new phone number to the Smiths, in case they had any questions or problems.

A few months later, my wife called me at work. Mrs. Smith had called, and she was upset. There was a problem with the sewer hookup! I called her, and the story wasn’t at all what I feared it could be.

About a month after the closing, the town had given the okay for sewer connections on the street. Mr. Smith, holding the agreement I signed with the contractor, had contacted him. The contractor coordinated everything with the town. He pumped out the septic tank, did all of the digging and pipe work, and there were no problems with putting the house online with the sewer. What a relief hearing that!

There was a plot twist that was very gratifying to hear. Mrs. Smith had become instant best friends with the wife/mother next door. I was so pleased having confirmation that I was right about them being right for the neighborhood. Icing on the cake was that, unknown to me when I signed up with the contractor, his daughter was that neighbor!

Such good news! So, what was the problem?

The lawyer. She wasn’t releasing the escrow money to pay the balance of the contractor’s fee. The Smiths had called the lawyer’s office several times, providing all of the required information, but nothing was happening. Their calls weren’t being returned, the contractor wasn’t getting paid, and he was talking about needing to put a lien on the property.

I was furious!

Share Cropper

From “Green Onions” to “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay”, the legendary guitarist Steve Cropper was a musical force that helped define the Soul sound of the old Stax Records. After a career of successes, Steve has, at last, come up a Cropper at age 84.

Here’s an interesting Cropper playlist.

From Russia With Love

Last night’s Jeopardy! game had the clue, “It’s the only James Bond film with a country in its title.” The incorrect response by a contestant was, “To Russia With Love.”*

Putin should give up his invasion of Ukraine and declare peace in the name of Messer Chups.

 

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* Harrison Whitaker is one of the stronger J! players to appear on the show. He lost yesterday to someone who seems very unlikely to win a second game. We’ll find out tonight.

Update: Daily Doubles to the rescue, for a second come from behind win.

The Sewer Saga – 5

Based on the timetable I had from the town, the sewer line was supposed be ready in time for the connection to be completed before passing papers. I became concerned when the date began to slip. Then I was told the engineers had decided the lines needed more time to settle underground before they’d be ready to use. Argh.

I had to tell our real estate agent the house couldn’t connect to the sewer service until after the sale had been completed. She informed the buyers, who I’ll call the Smiths. They knew there was a chance that would happen, but I really wanted to go to the closing with everything already done.

The meeting was held at the office of the attorney who was hired by the bank writing the mortgage for the Smiths. My wife and I were there with our real estate agent.

We immediately liked the Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The same cannot be said of the attorney their lender was using. She had the same last name as the creator of a new Apple TV series. The same name as the first mate on a boat that gave three-hour tours.

Getting down to business, I explained the situation. The town expected a delay of two months. A licensed contractor had already been hired to remove the septic tank and connect the house to the new sewer system. I would put plenty of money in escrow to cover not only the balance of the contractor’s fee, but the cost of pumping the septic tank as often as the Smiths wished.

The attorney turned to Mr. and Mrs. Smith and said, in a very snide tone, “You’re screwed.”

My wife and I were dumbfounded. Not only was the lawyer being unprofessional and insulting, the fact was that nobody was being screwed.

Our agent immediately spoke up in our defense. She told the lawyer that I had done everything possible to have the sewer work completed ahead of time, but it was entirely out of my control. Then she revealed there had been another offer on the property, for more money. My unprecedented gesture, of accepting less money, without asking for a counter-offer, was news to the Smiths.

After that bizarre upset, we passed papers. We agreed on an amount to be held in escrow by the attorney, and I wrote a check for even more money. We left the meeting feeling good about the Smith family, but with the lawyer’s rudeness leaving a bitter aftertaste.

It was hot mid-August weather. Driving home on the highway, the radiator on my ’89 Honda Civic blew out. We had to drive to our new home with the heat in the car turned up full blast.