Boiled or bottled?

I've never been under a boil water alert before.  The city of Austin has been under one all week.  That means all water for drinking or cooking needs to be boiled.  But, it also means dishwater, the water you rinse your mouth with after brushing, water for the dogs, and ice. 

Ice has been the thing I've had the hardest time with.  Rob works in a different city that takes its water from a different source and he has been bringing water and ice home for us.  But, it means being conservative with those things.  If there's a little ice left in a glass, you add to it rather than toss it into the sink and start fresh.  Rather than bring my lunch box to my desk with lunch, it stays in the office refrigerator with a bottle of water in it so there's cold water for the afternoon. 

And, something I didn't think of, all the leafy produce in the grocery stores had to be thrown away because it had been sprayed with city water after the boil notice became effective.  It took stores a couple days to restock their shelves with produce. 

I'll be very glad when this is over.  I know there are places where people have to do this all the time.  I have a new appreciation for the effort that goes into living in a remote place like that.  Sure, it's beautiful, but it's a lot of extra work. 

I voted early yesterday.  I stopped at the polling place every morning and measured the line.  I went on cloudy warm days, and cool rainy days, and the only thing that happened was the line got longer on days I thought people would stay home, proving again that I am no judge of human nature.  Yesterday, I just bit the bullet and scheduled out of office for a couple hours and did it.  And, it took 32 minutes from parking to leaving and I was only a few minutes late to work.  The line looked long, but it moved quick.  So, vote!  Whoever you're voting for, just vote.  Like my Civics teachers always preached, the only way to lose the right to vote is to not exercise it. 

Rob voted the day before I did.  He posted a cute post about how all the cool kids are voting early, so if you want to be as cool as him, you need to vote.

 

 

So, of course, I had to imitate him.  Not quite as cool, tho. 

 

Couldn't resist. 

Had lunch with a friend on Wednesday.  We laughed for an hour and a half.  I completely lost track of what was going on in the restaurant around us.  It felt good.

In the mornings, I've continued to quilt "wind" in the tree quilt.  I'm about 40% done.  Hopefully I'll get most of that done this week.  But, it's going to be sunny and it's been so long since we had sunny days that I plan to spend part of the weekend doing more cleanup in the yard.  We haven't had significant rain in three days and the ground is starting to turn into a solid again.  And, I need some sunshine to recharge me.   

Have a great weekend!  Do something you enjoy.  Keep the pleasure and the work in balance! 

Lane