Finally...a cool front

The front finally blew in a little while ago. I was sitting in the kitchen, finishing up Friday's crossword puzzle, when I heard the wind and saw leaves flying past the windows. I walked out to see if it felt as cool as it looked like it would. No, not then, it didn't.

So, I've come upstairs to pay bills. Of course, I have to check email first and then blogs I follow...Happy Anniversary, J & G!

The bills will wait for a little bit. I'm going to play a game first. Karen, the mail carrier won't be her for several hours.

It started raining, so I thought I'd go check that out. I remembered how good my car looked a few weeks ago after being thoroughly soaked and then wiped down in the garage, so I grabbed the keys and moved it out onto the driveway. I should have turned it around so that the back (which NEVER gets cleaned good, even in the car wash) could really get pounded. But that would have meant getting out of the car with the rain in my face (which doesn't bother me, but I just did my hair yesterday and it's still looking really good!)...or climbing to the other side, so I didn't do that.

Going back through the house, I listened for any water dripping in the house. The front windows often leak, and we used to have a problem in the attic when the rain and rain was coming from just the right direction. The draft created between the two attic vents on opposite sides of the house would pull the rain right into the attic. Wayne opened the attic stairway one time and rain was pelting his face. The stairway is probably a good 20 feet from the vent! So, we keep that vent covered, which defeats its purpose.

Last weekend, during that big (several inches) rain, I heard water dripping and saw it was coming from the ceiling by the fireplace. I guess the flashing needs tending to on the roof. I had to take everything off the mantle and put a towel up there until it stopped dripping.

We've had so many water issues over the last decade:

• Wayne flooded the downstairs when he fell asleep while the tub was filling
• The front windows leak when the rain is from the south
• Rain comes in the attic if the rain is from the north
• We had a water pipe leak in the garage which required jackhammering and rerouting water to a faucet outside
• We recently had a leak inside the wall between the kitchen and the former back porch. If we had gone the whole route, it would have required some $$$, so we just capped it there and lost an outside faucet in the back
• The AC drain clogged this summer and water dripped into an upstairs bathroom and then ran down to the master bathroom and ruined that ceiling...again
• Now we apparently have a leak at the fireplace

Geez! But, it is much cooler out...the WeatherBug thermometer online has dropped about 20 degrees. Yay!