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| Way to go, Cheryl P. |
Thought Number One: The Tides Have Turned
For the last six months or so, Kansas has been in the clenches of a horrible drought. You might remember some of my earlier posts this year concerning the effects of the high heat and no rain.
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| A few weeks ago, things were looking dire. Someone had to do something. I did. |
A couple of weeks ago, it appeared that we may never see rain again in the middle of the country.
Kansas City was sitting high and dry with the label of Exceptional Drought.
I am not sure I like the word "exceptional" applied to the lack of water being available. If that is how we are going to use the word "exceptional" perhaps, it could be said that my exceptional efforts to keep an exceptionally green lawn resulted in an exceptionally expensive water bill.
I, however, am a giver. I rallied with my neighbors and came up with a plan to save our lawns.
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| Don't I live in such a cute neighborhood? |
I took both my cars in to have them detailed. Yes, I decided the most effective, sure-fire way to bring rain into Kansas was to take my 2 SUVs in to have them detailed. Not just washed...not just waxed...I mean the whole package...THE MAX, "make your car new again" detailing.
Picture me taking bows. My two clean...more than clean, really...DETAILED cars has brought Kansas to its knees. Now we are just a severe drought. Uh-huh, that's right, I single-handedly caused the clouds to open up and rain. This was so effective, I actually moved two counties out of the "exceptional" category into the "severe" category. I think the people of both Johnson County, KS and Miami County, Kansas need to send me flowers...or candy...or money. I am willing to take any and all expressions of your gratitude providing they have a cash value.
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| Johnson County and Miami County, KS are the winners!!! |
It appears that someone down in Kingman County, Kansas had the same idea but frankly it is hard to top the 6 and a half inch rainfall that I personally am responsible for.
Thought Number Two.. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Did you not see the possibility of a down side to this story? My dear readers...have you learned nothing in the 274 posts that I have written. There is always another side to the story. ALWAYS
As it turns out, the rain did make a "exceptional" appearance two days after the detailing of the cars. Had I known that this would be the case I would of forked over the money for the detailing last June but it didn't occur to me at the time.
It also, turns out that a wood framed house that sits through 3 months of drought in 100 degree weather might have some of the grout crack around the windows. Frankly, this just brings out the Bad Witchy side of me in spades. I replaced 28 windows in my house a couple of years ago and I have had the trim painted several times since then. Also, I have had re-caulking done on a couple of occasions as well. Call me surprised when the torrential rain moved in and water came in around my windows destroying some of the sheet rock. As luck (bad) would have it, the company that I bought the windows from has gone out of business.
WTF...That company had an A rating, ton of glorious recommendations and now they seemed to have gone MIA. I called the manufacturer of the windows that are, by the way, a "name branded" window maker and ask who they recommend to come out here and find out what the %^$& is going on. They give me a name of a company that is booked through next year. Now that won't do.
The "too busy to do crap" company gives me the name of another company that gives me the name of another company that doesn't return my call.
I shouldn't be surprised that I now am a pariah because none of these companies installed these windows so therefore "It Isn't Their Problem."
After beau-coup phone calls, I did track down a company to come out and they tell me that these very nice windows were installed incorrectly. "No sh%&? I say. That company knows a guy that specializes in re-doing bad installs...for a price. ***choke, choke, gag***
So...after 4 days of uninstalling windows, pulling out wet insulation, replacing compromised wood, and rebuilding frames...oh and let's not forget re-caulking and painting, we may or may not have things right.
Who knows as we are still in a severe drought and I am waiting for another rain. As my cars are detailed, I am waiting for someone else with my type of luck to go get their cars done.
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| The Good Witchy Cheryl P. is a part-time rainmaker. |
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23 comments:
I think they should revamp the state flag and put your likeness there as an homage to your accomplishment. I'm so glad you finally got some rain. Your summer this year was our summer last year. People kid about it; but it's actually very scary.
The day I have MY car detailed the weather will definitely change--there will be snowballs in hell.
It never fails whenever I clean my car and detail it - it rains shortly afterwards. And it seems to happen no matter which state I live in. Must just be my luck...or I need to pay attention to weather forecasts before I clean the car again. LOL!
I don't think Gov. Brownback has recognized what a valuable asset I am to this state yet. I am holding my breath in anticipation that he will discover me. Currently I am turning a rather vivid shade of blue.
I have thought of you hundreds of times over this summer remembering your posts from last year. I was quite concerned for TX. As an ex-Texan I thought it was uber-scary.
I still walk every day with my TX friend and while the Dallas area has gotten some reprieve from the drought their temps have continued to be way hotter than the norm. Is that true of your area as well? All of these odd weather patterns need to right themselves.
Funny...Maybe you should go get that detailing done. A lot of people in hell would be eternally grateful. Really...eternally.
You obviously have the same type of luck I do. I even listened for the weather prior to taking our cars over there. That storm was supposed to hit east of us. As badly as we need rain, I am thankful we got it but it is staggering to see the effects of drought on homes and land here. Foundations have been sinking all over KS. I haven't had any of that (knock on wood) but was surprised to see the cracks around the windows.
I applaud your public service. But, I still think you're lucky. If I had my car detailed, it would not only rain, but also hail stones the size of of beach balls but only over my driveway and my windows would have shattered first, then leaked water all over the place. Which is why my car is a rolling garbage can.
HAHA! It ALWAYS rains when I wash my car too! It's Murphy's Law I believe, but I love that you are being creative with that law an using it positively to influence the weather and save the people in your area from that Exceptional Drought!
It's a shame when you pay good money to have things done, like new windows, to find out they were done wrong. It really is amazing how many companies install windows incorrectly, it's such a simple thing to do properly...
Clicks!
--Trina
Hi Cheryl,
What a wonderful person you are to have both your cars thoroughly detailed to break the drought :)
Ouch! You had to pay for window installation twice, what a bummer. I hope your second windows installation company did a good job and stays in business in case you have any issues!
Clicks for you!
Wolf
Yikes, your luck sounds worse than mine and that is saying something. Although, last year all of Olathe, KS lost their roofs thanks to baseball size hail. Yep, every roof in town of over 150,000 people. I can't be sure it isn't something I did.
Surely your garbage can...oops I mean your car can't be that bad.
This is where people like me that have no working knowledge "what the correct way is" are at a disadvantage. I swear I talked to 5 different families that used Lighthouse Windows and Doors and checked with both the BBB and Angies List and still got hosed. They looked good on the outside at first but when they ripped them out, I could see all the problems. A horribly expensive lesson.
I am thinking I need to live in the same town and you and Wolf. Unfortunately that wouldn't work for being down the street from my little grandsons.
I hope so too. But who knows. It seems that so many companies do a poor job and the homeowners that don't know squat don't have any inkling that it is done wrong.....Well, that is until something is not working.
I was looking at a home yesterday that had the most "creative" plumbing under the bathroom vanity that I have ever seen. I wish I would have taken a pic. You would have enjoyed it. Some homeowner will discover it when their sink backs up.
I hate it when companies go MIA, and now that I'm in the business of tracking down crap companies it really chaps my hide. Hope everything else is good with you and yours. :)
hugs
We have a similar deal with roofing here in Socal. We've had a bit of a drought here, too, and even in the best of times, it hardly rains except in the winter. So when a sever storm rolls in, many of us discover roofing problems that may have been around since the houses were built. And just as in your case, the builders are long gone. We were lucky to find someone who came right out and as soon as the rain stopped, they repaired it all. Or at least we think so ... it hasn't rained substantially since then.
Clicks,
Bud
Oh, Madge, it's so good to see you!!! I bet crap companies are now the bane of your existence. Realistically, very few companies stay strong forever. I wasn't surprised that the window company went bust as the whole housing market went belly up in the last few years here. I think my windows were put in just as this guy's company was failing and lots of short cuts were taken to try to optimize profits. I hope things are going well for you. How is school going??? I'll get an email off to you in the next day or so to ask the gazillion "catch up" questions.
Frustrating though, isn't it? In the last few years so many companies that are related to building or housing have gone under. I wasn't at all surprised. I was disappointed to learn what a lousy job the install was. Everyone that looked at the windows said he took shortcuts to save time, material and money.
In our part of the country, the windows need to be weather tight because we aren't all that far out from our "blizzard" season. Rain in the winter sounds like a wonderful thing.
That really sucks about the windows leaking and of course you can't find anyone to take responsibilty but hell isn't that always the way..............and yeah detailing the car is often a sure fire way to insure rain............my dad has always said it rains after he does the car............
It does seem to be the norm anymore that by the time something breaks you are either out of warranty or there is a reason it isn't covered. I guess anything is only back as long as a company is still in business.
It was rather funny that we had gone four months without a drop of rain and the minute I clean both cars a gusher moved in. Actually we were thankful for the rain. The leaking windows took all the fun out of it though.
AHahHAhHAhHAhAHHAhaAahHAHah!!!
Isn't that ALWAYS the case. As soon as you wash your car, you can BET it's going to rain!
And, OH MAN!!! {about the windows} Well, that just fucking sucks!
Thankfully our summer was pretty tame. I think the high only got to about 103 and we did have at least some rain. It was 60 this morning. It was April 11th the last time it was that cool.
Try sending a bill to the state for being a rainmaker. Who knows? They might just pay it.
Yeh, it really pisses me off when I think I have something handled and it turns to shit but WTH. Tomorrow is always a better day...and if it isn't the day after that will be.
It's crazy that it has been hotter here in Kansas this year than TX. As far as KS paying anything, I think they are broke. I haven't quite figured out where all the state income tax money goes.
I feel so badly for you.
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