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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Under the Miss ~ eltoe

The ongoing photo journal of Katoba Dobermans' 2009 "Miss & Mister" Litter ~ DPCA Futurity Nominated for 2010

6:35am ~ Given the current state of affairs with the kennel/downstairs of our house, I have temporarily set up "crate city" in the living room, where the dogs rest,
hide out from each other, and for all intensive purposes, have a place to "be" when not outside or having their turn as the "in-house rulers" ... that is, until I can get
the kennel area set back up again. How long is this going to last? I have absolutely no idea ... but, will say, that everyone is being VERY cooperative ... to this point
anyway. I have to get a plumber out to fix the pipe that caused yesterdays flooding disaster. I have never had to shop for plumber before ... how hard can it be
though, right? Then I will have to hire a contractor to fix whatever damage the plumber finds in there or creates with their repair. Again, how hard can this be?

7:00am ~ began calling plumbers ... OMG this is some favorable time for them as EVERYONE seems to be having the same type of problems. On one hand I am a
bit scared - how long is it going to take to be able to shower again? - hahaha. On the other hand ... I guess I am not alone.

8:15am ~ still trying to find a plumber that can come out TODAY. There is no sense in even TRYING to contact a contractor because I have no idea when plumber
will be here ... nor do I know what extent the damage is to the walls. Feeling a bit defeated again ... still.

9:01am ~ I have been on the phone for over 2 hours putting my name on lists with plumbers for the earliest of repairs ... today ... hopefully. With more than 40,000
Pierce County Residents without water this morning, it is not looking good. It is shocking how the plumbing industry leaches out extra fees when there is a "supply
and demand" issue - even charging fees to put you on a list - saying they will send someone out in less than an hour IF you prepay a trip charge via credit card.
Then, I came upon one company who was above the board with their public relations. The dispatch gal, Danielle, took my name, address, and phone number; put
me on the list; and TOLD me to keep calling other plumbing companies because they are ALL going to take awhile and the FIRST one I can get is the one I should
use, considering the demand right now. WHAT?? This reminded me of the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" when Santa sends a "Cole's" shopper to "Shoppers
Express" because they had the "Peter Pollywag" on sale at half price and offered a mail in rebate. Danielle was MY Santa today. So, I did as she instructed and kept
calling around. Then, I got a call back from Danielle asking if I was AT my house. I told her "yes" and she said there was a truck now available in my area and she
was sending them over. I could NOT believe it as it had only been less than 2 hours since I put my name on the list. Within 10 minutes, the big red & white truck, (not
the fire engine this time- hahaha), pulled into my driveway. Within the next hour+ the two men who had come to assess the damages, had not only FOUND the leak,
but had FIXED it as well. I could not believe it ... they had disengaged the hot water heater, opened up the wall, found the cracked copper, removed the bad section
and replaced it with good pipe, reinstalled the hot water heater, cleaned up the mess and instructed me on what to tell the contractor that I would now need to hire
(there is extensive drywall damage)... all this in less than an hour.
The fee? ABSOLUTELY REASONABLE & RESPECTABLE. No more than any time of the year - NO emergency trip charge, NO price gauging due to supply and
demand ... and best of all ... no "plumber-butt-crack" !!!
My plumber's names were Todd and Mason. My understanding is that Mason, (can't be more than 20-22 years of age), is the boss' son. They were AWESOME.
For your current or future plumbing needs (available 24/7), the company is:
SPARTAN - ROOTER
Family owned and operated for more than 40 years
255.253.4101, North & Northeast Tacoma
253.235.4117, South Tacoma
253.235.4104, Lakewood
253.235.4119, Puyallup/Sumner
www.spartanrooter.com
They are online and in the yellow pages ... but, I thought I would list them here, as well.
I will NEVER call a plumbing company other than this one again. This is some of the best customer service and efficient work I have ever received.
Thank You, Spartan, for making this very unpleasant situation much more bearable.

Can you believe this little tiny break in the copper pipe, (less than one inch),
caused a dump of 2500+ gallons of water into the downstairs of our house, in less than a matter of hours??
Tacoma City Water should at LEAST send us our bill inside a Christmas Card this year, right ?!

1:15pm
My body is aching today and I am still cold to the bone ... I have become a total whiner about this and I do not even care anymore!
My husband got home HOURS after his shift ended & I did not know where he had been,
What I DID know was that I had dealt with this ENTIRE situation without HIS HELP. and I was tired, and I ached, and I was actually MADDDDDD at him for not being
there ... this is all normal, but it all went away and I just had to burst into laughter when he walked in with ... WATER ... 15 - GALLONS of water.
This song IMMEDIATELY came to mind: " ... isn't It ironic ... " ~ Alannis Morrisette
His cell phone had died, he had to attend a doctors meeting before coming home, and he had no way of knowing WHAT was now going on here.
The last thing he knew was that I was very sick, the water had been shut off, the downstairs had flooded, I had a HUGE mess to try to deal with, the dogs had to be
taken care of, and that I was pretty much ... a wreck.
That was it ... and he came home with ... WATER.
I explained to him that it was cleaned up, that I had already gotten a plumber to fix the leak, that the bill was reasonable ... and now, I just had to find a contractor.
He HAD to have been pleasantly surprised by the progress made thus far.
At my request, he took me to Famous Dave's for lunch. I HAD to get out of the house ... even though I felt like 'death warmed over'.
Eating yummy food (that I could actually taste) felt GREAT. Then we gave Trinity her holiday bonus, (as regulars, she provides great service to us year round),
we also stocked up on the Famous Dave's holiday gift pack products we really like ... AND Todd bought me Famous Dave's cook book.
I feel totally overwhelmed by not being well .. this has really gotten me down - WAY down ... but getting out WAS good and ...
... it didn't hurt that a bit of "Santa" came early :)!
After we left the restaurant, my wonderful husband drove to Costco, where we stocked up on new dog blankets - one for EVERY dog and bitch in the house ...
... including one for ME to have, (go ahead ... say it ... it fits this week - hahaha). I LOVE them. Todd also bought the dogs one of their Christmas gifts ...
... a 16 can-pack of tennis balls ~ that is a total of 48 tennis balls & they will LOVE that!
A couple more stops, then home ... where I fed, pottied and played with the dogs until their bedtime, when they settled into the pups "Tent City", again.
Then, after waiting and longing for it ... I strolled upstairs and took a long, hot, end-of-the-day shower.
After jumping into some very comfortable, (also new), jammies, I met-up in the living room with my two current best friends: Exedrine Headache and Nyquil Cold&Flu.
Now, I am winding down for what will hopefully be a good nights sleep.
I still cannot get past this awful viral attack ... nor can I believe I was alone for the flood issue.
Nevertheless, the dogs are the best medicine ever ... and I will get past BOTH of the issues that weighed me down the past couple days.

The dogs are all sleeping now ~ Erica is breathing in my face with her eyes half open ... still has a bit of puppy breath ... how sweet.
It is peaceful with ALL my loved ones safe and sound in the house ... the DRY house ... tonight.
"Thank you, God ... as always ... for these wonderful dogs."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are interested in being considered for one of the show prospect puppies available, (Zzzen, Soleil, Breeze),
please begin by filling out the questionnaire, (below).
Email it to Kathy at katoba@comcast.net. Please do not leave anything 'blank' on the form.
Kathy can be contacted at 253.312.4839.