Balancing Travel and Household Needs

So, as we prepare for a Fall full of travel, things are going south around the house.

Travel Plans - We leave in early August for a week in Santa Fe for 4 operas (the fifth opera was one we're seen several times and it didn't seem to be necessary in our lives).  We've also opted for a prepared dinner each night rather than the buffet with knowledgeable talk about that night's opera.

Later in August trailing into mid-September we'll be on the Disney Wonder sailing through the Panama Canal from San Diego to Florida, followed by several days at Universal City for a Harry Potter fest - at long last.

Then in late October it's a cruise on the Disney Fantasy with friends from a previous cruise followed by time at Walt Disney World for Food and Wine.  We'll find out next Thursday whether we get the part of the F/W festival that we'd like to have.

Followed by several days in November in Puerto Vallarta at a resort that is new to us.

And in January 2017 we'll be off to Cabo for a family gathering of siblings in the last year before our ownership kicks in.

Then nothing til September when it's a flight to Vancouver for a cruise to Hawai'i then time at Disney's Aulani.

Phwew! 

PROBLEMS AROUND THE HOUSE - So, of course, things are breaking around the house!    The usual Pet B 'n' B we used during travel will be closed for the first trip in August, so we're checking out another spot next week.  Larger and more organized, we're not sure how the kids will take to it (or the place will take to our kids) but we'll find out next Friday when we all go for a visit.  Since we rather cater to their likes/dislikes for feeding, we're weaning them on to a new combination of foods that will have a greater chance of being followed at the new place. (And simplify life for us if they like it!)

Then the trusty coffee grinder decided it was tired and has to be coaxed into action.  We buy our coffee beans in good-sized bags at Costco and grind it each morning so it's fresh!  Reading about the Breville grinder we use, people are recommending regular cleaning.  Now, this is something that we've never done in the 6 years we've had it.  There was never any reason to do so.  We use a dark roast coffee bean and things have just been fine all this time.  Recently we tried a different bean - Rwandan - that is darker still and rather oily - read 'sticky'.  Though that may be the problem, it's really good coffee and I'd hate to abandon it.  And since we've pre-mixed the two beans for grinding, it may be a while before we can switch back to a single (non-Rwandan) bean.

I've tried to clean the innards of the grinder, but removing the burr grinding part seems to be problematic.  There is a newer Breville model that advertises 'easily removable burrs for cleaning', but it's rather pricey, so we're considering less expensive models...and in the meanwhile, we try to coax the present grinder into action.  The last time at Costco, we ground the bag of Rwandan coffee before we took it home, so there's always that to hold us.

And lastly (to date) we've noticed that our front-loading Bosch washer (which has had minor problems since we moved it to Mexico with us) has decided to fill with water - even though turned 'off' - between uses.  The first time (yesterday) it was only slightly filled; this morning it was half-full and went everywhere when Michael opened the door! So it will finally be time to replace it with a agitator-less tub model by Daewoo, I think.  And we can save a couple hundred pesos by opting for a silver or white model instead of the fire-engine red one! (Probably not worth the cost for a paint job - sigh!)

You'd think everything could just wait until next year before going 'boink'!  It will make affording all this and the travel a little more challenging, but we have non-refundable deposits everywhere so we'll be going....  At least we can turn off the water supply to the washer to prevent unwanted tub-filling until there's a sale on the washer!  Hope it's not while we're gone somewhere....

Oh, Boy, Rain!

What started out as a gentle rain has suddenly turned vicious!  That gentle sprinkle quickly worsened, the lightening and thunder turned into a constantly rolling thunder - even when the lightening wasn't obvious.  Thunder has been roiling and rolling for the last 10 - 15 minutes while the rain has intensified and lessened then intensified again, but not given up!

Luckily, Michael went up to the third floor and placed towels at the base of all the windows and doors.   Guess we should have had the windows in the cupola grouted when we had the chance!

And now Michael is reporting hail is coming down.

We did have a blackout a few minutes ago with the resulting bings, bangs, and ringing when the power turned back on.  Since the blackout affects the modem and router, anything connected to the system sounds off when the power is restored.

Luckily, we had prepared a tuna noodle casserole for dinner tonight, and we're taking advantage of the passing storm to let it cool off a bit!