Motley Moose – Archive

I need to figure out this problem diary because I have one.  So I am going to tell you all about it and let you make me feel better then we are going to vote on the official name for the diary which I have now decided will be on Fridays.

So here is my rant

As you may know, my house is for sale.  It is a lovely 100 year old bungalow.  Nice neighborhood, good schools, updated kitchen and baths, original but refinished hardwood throughout.  Very pretty, homey little house.

With a basement.

I am not from an area where basements are common.  Everything in Oklahoma is built on a slab except  the WPA stuff at Fort Sill but I digress.  Sump pumps are a mystery to me.  Well I went downstairs last Saturday night to get a bottle of wine from the basement (we make our own so we have to store it downstairs cause there is ALOT).  I noticed the sump pump was on.   Weird.  January and all.  So about a half hour later I checked again, still running.  So I touched it.  Hot!

So I unplugged it.  My husband came home and we discovered that the mechanism that turns it of was rusted out so we got a new one.  Also found that the hose outside the house was full of ice.  Fine, due for a warm up earlier this week, we unhooked it, all is good.

Except, my sweet husband hooked it back up last night due to all the rain.  This AM I checked it prior to jumping on the shower.  It turned on just a I walked into the basement area where it is located.  The water was trying to pump out, hitting a blockage in the hose and shooting all over the wall around where it leaves the house.  Gallons of it.  All over the basement walls and floor.

It appears an animal had built a nest inside our hose and that was the blockage,  we have a new one now.  The leaky points of the pipe exiting the house are repaired and I have bleached the walls, floor so much that I am lightheaded.  Fan and dehumidifier in that area.

When we put our house on the market our realtor joked that we better watch out.  Your house gets mad when you sell it.  In one month a new water heater and now this.  Can we be done now?

The House and Senate passed the compromise legislation to finance the Federal government for the balance FY 2011, with 59 House Republicans breaking ranks to vote against the deal. The overall vote in the House was 260-167. Eighty-one Democrats gave House Speaker John Boehner the votes needed for the bill’s passage.

In the Senate, the vote was 81-19, with dissenting votes mostly coming from more conservative Republicans. In the Senate, 48 Democrats, 32 Republicans and independent Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut voted in favor.

The House is holding court leading up to the likely vote on healthcare this weekend – perhaps even today.  Will healthcare reform pass into law in the foreseeable future?  Will it look like something that most people can be happy with?

Consider this an open thread for following and discussing the pertinent happenings.

One of the promises President Barack Obama made while campaigning was a repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) legislation that discriminates against gay and lesbian members of the Armed Forces. So far, the administration has been content to let this matter be handled by Congress. This is understandable, considering all of the other issues the administration has on its plate.

Congress has responded with efforts in the House and Senate aimed at repealing DADT.

The House effort is being led by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) who introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (MREA) in the 110th Congress. There are currently 163 168 co-sponsors for this bill with Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) as lead sponsor.

The Senate effort is being led by newly-appointed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Senator Gillibrand has received a promise from Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold hearings in the fall. Any Senate bill on this issue is expected to be introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). He is apparently searching for a Republican co-sponsor before introducing a bill.