About a month ago, I pulled some dishes out of our dishwasher and noticed a film on the glasses and silverware. Our dishwasher is a Jet-Dry hog, so that’s unusual. I assumed it was a dishwasher hiccup, cleaned it, refilled Jet-Dry reservoir, although it was mostly full, and carried on.
Then Kid 1’s boyfriend pointed out that there were “chunks” floating in the electric kettle. I looked into it and discovered that the entire bottom of it was crusted over. This normally happens with hard water over a long period of use, but the kettle was brand new. I poured vinegar into it and let the neutralization take its course.
A week later, another layer of crust. The iced tea is cloudy. The dishes are coming out with a white film out of the dishwasher and there is so much residue, you can actually draw a little pattern in it with your fingers.
We called a water purification company, who did a few simple tests, which I carefully watched. First, our water softener died a sad death. Second, if our water was any harder, we could actually sue the city because by law they would have to improve the water quality. We are just under the limit.
The problem is compounded by the fact that we technically have well water. It’s community water well managed by the city. Curiously, a water dude came to the house and informed us that he needs to shut off our water for a bit to do “some testing.” When pressed, he said he was checking pressure. Three years and this is the first time “testing” happened. I am suspicious.
So the answer to the water dilemma would either be many plastic bottles, which I am not willing to do or a whole house purifier/softener system. One one hand, it will give us bottle quality water and my hair will no longer resemble garage sale Barbie straw. On other hand, it’s a bit pricey.
Long story short: they are installing one today. We are sitting all masked up. Kid 1 isn’t here – she went to run an errand for us – and her little dog Nykie is locked in the bedroom with the outside door open for her and other dogs convenience. Nykie has now been without human contact for the whole hour and she is howling. She is howling like the world is ending.
Amount of work done: zero. Because howling. We threw out 3 chapters last night and I really want to fix what’s left so it would make more sense. We can’t wear headphones because we have to talk to each other and we can’t go to the office, because the installer is here.
Howling.
Hooowling.
Kid 1 is not allowed to leave the house.
Awroooooo!
Oh poor Nykie! Can’t you put him on a leash next to you? I put our dog on a harness tied to my chair when strangers are in the house.
Oh my goodness. That is a Day. I was reading an article a while back about how many dogs are going to have issues when this pandemic ends and all the humans go back to work because the pack being together 24/7 is Doggie Heaven and the Humans being GONE Again will not make for happy doggies. I think you just proved the case and point. My condolences.
I hope your water and your howling and your productivity all improve soon.
We’ll keep buying anything you write. After Blood Heir I’d buy one of your grocery lists! That way you can afford as many water purifiers as you want, and two or three to spare.
Congrats on the new system (even if it is pricey)! And thank you for info on using vinegar in the kettle (did not know that).
If it’s not too much, can you respond after and let us know how you like the new system? I’m in Southern California and have very hard water, have always wanted a softener system but after trying one that used salt and made my skin itch about 10 years ago I’ve gone without.
Holy shit, she’s stunning! You guys make beuatiful babies, and I mean it metaphorically (awesome, exquisite books) and now literally, too (lovely children)!
Awrooooooooooo
I think I must have never known anything other than hard water being a Londoner, I’m not sure water softening is a thing here, or at least I’m quite unfamiliar with it! I’m actually overdue on the monthly kettle descaling and fighting bathroom limescale is an unforgiving task!
Poor puppy, maybe you could try acclimatising him in short bursts so he won’t feel so stressed? Separation anxiety in dogs is not uncommon but does sound like they think it’s the end of the world!
We lost half of a devoted pair of dobermans last April. The remaining boy was understandably despondent, I was actually glad we were all quarantined together because I don’t think he’d have lasted long home alone all day.
And then Echo joined us…barely a year old, 100lb Great Dane mix, full of smarts, mischief, and oodles of energy. It never occurred to me until 9 mos later that she literally had never been alone! It only occurred to me when she started getting between me and the door and trying to distract me every time I went to put my shoes on…when I could *find* my shoes! Because smart, easily bored, and mischievous dogs are creative monsters.
Plus, Percy, our older doberman, taught her the exact right spot to sit in the front room to catch the reverb off the stairs so that everyone *5 houses away* can hear their protests at being left home alone. I’m surprised we haven’t been egged. Or ticketed.
Echo had major stranger-danger anxiety when she came to us. Luckily that has eased up, so I don’t fear for the lives of anyone new who dares to ring the doorbell. Now she forms instant, deep crushes on almost every man who walks through the door, and she always heads directly for a french kiss. But hey, it’s never boring?
Aww, the poor, abused puppy dog. It certainly sounds like your suspicions are solidly grounded. (I started to comment ‘well grounded’ but decided I didn’t want to be the cause of more howling.)
I live about an hour away from San Marcos, in Bastrop. Our water is also ridiculously hard. I have always had a shower filter to protect my hair, but now I am building a house and am adding plumbing for a water softener. Is this softener going to break me financially?
Depends. How many bathrooms, how many people in the home? They can do a test on your tap water. We went with a whole house softener in the garage and an under the sink system for tea, coffee and drinking water. Tap water already tastes better but it will take a bit for the softer water to cycle through the house. I went with Culligan and if you’d like, Debi, I can send you the name and number of the person who came out. They probably also service Bastrop.
yuck, water like that is the worst, congrats on taking the expensive but excellent solution.
Hooowling! you are going to have to work that into one of the stories!!
My cockapoo barks ferociously at ALL THE THINGS and he is now getting deaf so he JUST BARKS LOUDER. Sometimes I have to move him to a different room, so I feel your pain.
I love your pet posts. How’s Artha? I still chuckle at him (her?) eating all the other pets’ food, “to check for poison”. Have a great day!
It could be worse: I have been without heat since Monday & it will be at least another 7-10 days before a new system is up and running (asbestos found when they went to replace the original 1959 ductwork). Space heaters help (can’t wait to see the electric bill).
Ahh, great choice! If I had the money, I’d get a house water purifier. It will probably improve your health in the long run, in some way. ☺️
O yeah… I was living in an apartment when my cat (trapped indoors for the first time in her life!) went into heat. Not pleasant for the family and new neighbours
We have the same gritty ,filmy , problem. Lemishine helps in the dishwasher,but removes paint from painted dishes my fiesta ware and Lennox are good but some mugs have problems.
Poor puppy! She is so mistreated. We should call the ASPCA. Hehehe 🙂 My kitty would do that when we went to bed. The saddest and loudest mrooooowwwowwoowwww. If you didn’t know better you’d have thought we were beating him. Fur babies are so dramatic. 🙂
We live in Florida and love our Whole House RO system. Best thing we did with our well water. We have no need for bottled water. We did invest in a monthly service that checks everything and if anything needs to be replaced it is covered under the monthly fee.
Omg that description of the howling has me in tears. I have a cat that does a pitiful yowl every time he isn’t in the same room as me.
My mother-in-law objected strongly to a water softener, because she claimed it left salt in the water. She made her husband run the cold water tap to her kitchen sink directly from the well before the softener was attached to the pipe for the rest of the house. But soft water takes a minute to get used to. Lots of suds form from very little soap, and it used to take a lot of rinsing to get my hands rinsed at their house. On the other hand, soft water makes for very nice shower or bath water, and it does take out the minerals that crust up on everything, including the insides of the pipes hard water coats. And yes, it will help soften your hair. And your skin, incidentally. I hope you love it. One day of installation will work wonders for years to come.
And since the installation and the howling dog are driving you mad, be aware that you can think without actually typing out the story, and take a break until the interruptions end. There’s not much else you can do about it all.
My dad works for a company that does water softeners. We have had a RO water system plus softener for water most of my life. When I moved out it was a shock how much I missed the softener and the RO. More the RO than anything else. Worth every penny.
Poor Nykie!! And poor you and Gordon, becuase I have a loud barker/howler. You literally cannot think when they’re doing it.
Love the yarn, and I really love the crop top and option one for the shawl. Pretty pattern.
I hope the softner system fixes the issue!
#5 looks classy and gorgeous. That’s my pick!
Not funny for you but I laughed so hard my sides hurt and tears came to my eyes. Thankyou
Oh, I pity you with the hard water. Ours is insanely hard, and we um, had a crack in our softener last winter, and didn’t catch it until super late in the day, and it ATE our garage floor. Luckily, my husband and father-in-law are handy and were able to patch it. You’ll love the whole house softener. We put it in when we built. 🙂
Also, poor Nykie. Tell Kid 1 her baby needs her, and she’s not allowed to leave anymore. Poor Kid 1. 😉
It’s too late for you, but we have very hard water. I have used a frieje residential ionizing system for 10 years. Got a discount to replace it when it died. Very simple. It’s what commercial buildings do to keep water flowing. It relies of ionization. No chemicals. No maintenance.
I love your blog! It makes me smile….thx for brightening my day!
We are in our 30th day of construction, new flooring, additional visits for the plumber, unrelated to flooring, to snake out sinks and install new filters in our water purification system; and we have three dogs. I had to stay in the bedroom with all three, otherwise they go nuts. We have a door out to the garden which is also open for their convenience. One of our standard poodles, Sophia, has severe separation anxiety. If I leave the dogs to go get a sandwich or something to drink, she howls like someone is tearing off her skin. I am so over my sequestering with my dogs, although I love them dearly. I also have accomplished nothing during the day. After contractor leaves, my workday begins. I empathize with you.
So great. Can almost hear pupper howling the sad song of their people!
Knitting Fun.
I reckon the Xanthe shawl would be a stunner with the blue wool for the lace and the variegated for the garter. I also really like the Tablature but to me, that’s a solid yarn only pattern. The more variegated the wool, the more plainer the pattern. Sometimes you can’t see how beautiful the pattern is when it’s camouflaged with yarn of different colours. I have made that mistake.
I would squeee too if I got a birthday pressie like that.
I had a neighbor with a dog that would howl ALL THE TIME when owner was out of sight for any reason.
oooff, the zoom thing is useful my husband and i use discord its easy to use and free. but unless your both tethered to a computer anyway when you work there is no help for the noise. by condolences on your lost work time.
One of the many joys of East Tennessee is generally great water. Clearly your house smelled the joy of great Blood Heir sales and decided that there was money to be spent. In our case it was a roof leak.
Oh oh i know this. When I was living in Rome, Italy the water is EXTREMELY hard. Even a central softener didn’t do the trick. So what everyone does there is they put salt in the dishwasher. That works apparently.
Also, the locals are used to it but i noticed it’s HELL on the hair and skin. That’s why they sell so much micellar water…. But also, i did apple cider vinegar rinses weekly because it’s the only thing that keeps my curls looking good with hard Roman water.
There’s only one comment about the shawl! Oftentimes oriole only answer the last question, ????. I like option 5 but it looks to be difficult but since you’re talented, I’m sure you’ll have it done in no time. Happy knitting.
Not Oriole but people ????????
I hope your water and your howling and your productivity all improve
I also have pretty hard water, but not as bad as what you’re describing. It has its uses, though…okay it has a single use: baby bettas seem to love it. They grow noticeably faster in hard water as opposed to soft, which is pretty cool. Other than that, hard water is pretty annoying. It causes long-finned bettas’ fins to clump and curl (hence why I have the short finned variety). Most of my plants don’t seem to mind it, but it does leave a crust on the top of the soil/sand.
I actually keep a gallon of purified water on hand because the Cacao tree really doesn’t like my hard water (it’s pretty touchy and also has its own little indoor greenhouse so it can enjoy higher humidity and temps than the northeast can generally provide). I also have to use purified water when I use my yixing mug for tea; the hard water will clog up the pores in the clay rendering it unable to season.
If the picture is of kid one she is GORGEOUS! the dog is cute also. 🙂
We had a sheltie when I was in grade school. She tried to herd the neighborhood kids, we were not as cooperative as sheep. She broke up fights with gentle nips to all participants and tickle fights with Dad became a thing of the past. Very protective. Much later,in retirement, my dad and Princess Fergie, a red toy poodle had a mutual adoration to the point where her ribbons from winning the trailer park pet competition 3 years in a row were framed and proudly displayed whereas my beautiful plaques from winning first place in state, regional and national accounting contests were relegated to a dresser drawer.
When my parents moved, she had no problems until the time came to pack up the recliner. This little toy poodle growled menacingly, barked and stood between the movers and the recliner, determined to fight to the death. Not sure if she was protecting Dad, their chair or both. Dad had to hold her. It was the first item unloaded, and once she and dad were settled into it no longer cared about the rest of the move.
Can Nykie be distracted by food? A ‘Kong’ or similar toy stuffed with peanut butter and frozen can keep an anxious doggie distracted and happy for quite a while.
You should be able to get an under sink RO system instead of whole house. Also, make sure you do not have copper or pipes because whole house RO systems leech those pipes. The RO guy will always upsell you to the whole house system.
Make lemonade out of lemons..,use the dog’s behavior in Hidden Legacy series–maybe Shadow. Little dog with a big voice.