Back again, back again jiggety jog...

and all that jazz!

the Chet Helms memorial is set for the Great American Music Hall on July 29. Still not sure how I feel about that - it's a good size venue for some things (too big for the DNB, darn the luck) but a mite small to handle the entertainment and a crowd of predicted large magnitude. But GAMH has a close connection to Chester with Lee Brenkman, who sometimes did the sound for Family Dog back in the day before he hired on with the Music Hall some 30-odd years ago. Anyway, one can only hope that the old FD people and Avalon regulars will turn out for this and that they will be able to afford the $50+fees. I sure can't - it has been a rough month.

Rough month? Rough decade and we are only halfway through it! The very expensive Trane air conditioning system blew - it needs a new compressor - $2600. Wouldn't be SOOOOOoooooo bad if the system hadn't cost $16K when it was new on December 28, 1998, and if I hadn't already put $1000 into it for repairs of one kind or another. I have a whole rant on that but I won't bring it up now, except in the current context of "where does all the money go?"

Speaking of money, the toilet in my master bathroom needs replacing. OK, it has been there 30 years and it is time. But replacing it is not easy - there is a built in, mosaic tiled shelf over the toilet, leaving very little clearance, even for a low boy, which greatly limits my choices. I have been looking at the Toto Bristol and Toto Supreme, which are both decent toilets but a little taller than the current Kohler which is 19". This leaves me with, do I spend extra money to get a really low toilet or do I spend the extra money having the shelf cut out, which would likely be a real mess and very expensive in its own right - that shelf is all part of the hand tiled sunken bathtub and walls which flow into the backsplash, the vanity, and the shelf behind the toilet. God. Either way I go, I am looking at $600+. And let's not forget that the fixtures in THAT bathroom are (not my choice, I inherited the house) BROWN. Only saving grace is I found a website that buys and sells toilet tank lids from old model Kohlers. They sell them for $180 which means I could probably either list mine on EBAY for $100 or sell it to them for $40. Way of the world and all that.

When I bought the Toto in the main bathroom back in 2000, it was $700 and now THAT needs a new mechanism. At present, when you flush it, it makes a funny squeaking noise as if it is trying to talk to you. Has to have the Toto gravity mechanism, not just any ball thingy will do. ARGH!!!

And okay, my pool. Lucky me, I have a swimming pool. A decent sized pool - 38' X 18'. Average depth 6.5 feet although it starts at 3.5 feet and descends to 9. And it is 22,000 gallons of --- ALGAE!!! Yee hah. Had to get a new pool service. I've already spent $300 this month on the pool and we still cannot use it.

And did I mention I need gas in my car but the price even at the cheap stations in Kentfield and Larkspur is $2.59 for the lowest grade regular.

And so, on it goes. I guess I am lucky to be alive.