Tuesday, August 21, 1984

Greg accompanied me to Mom's house to meet with a water meter-reader from the water company. We shut off all the valves inside the house and it's losing 43,200 gallons every ninety days. The grass in the yard is brown and there isn't any dampness. The meter man said that perhaps the connection from the well, which was used before the city annexed the subdivision, is leaking and the water is leaking back into the well. We broke open the lock on the well cover, but the well is filled with dirt, not mud. When I phoned the water company, they said they're going to shut off the water to Mom's house August thirtieth if the leak isn't fixed by then.

I went to the bank to refinance my house, which would actually be a first mortgage, since I originally bought the house on a contract-for-deed arrangement. The bank won't finance my house, but they will put a first mortgage on Mom's house. In order to transfer Mom's abstract from Dad's name to mine is $300.00 'up front', which I don't have.

I called an all around handyman and a plumber for estimates of the water leak at Mom's house. The handyman couldn't find the leak, said he couldn't fix it if he could find it, that it was too big a job for him, but he recommended someone else who will get in touch with me later. The plumber will give me an estimate tomorrow.

I took my diamond ring to a pawn shop to find out how much I could get: $120.00 I called a loan company about borrowing against the cars, Mom's and mine, and furniture. I would rather pawn the jewelry and borrow against the cars than owe on Mom's house. I also don't have $300.00 up front to transfer the abstract.

I called the Tax Assessor's office and found out that if I don't pay the taxes on Mom's house until the twenty-first of October, I will owe an additional $75.00. Sonny and Felicia will owe me $275.00 on the twenty-third of August, which I was going to pay Mom's house taxes with, but I will be putting that toward the plumbing leak now.

I went to the unemployment office to find out what happened to my unemployment check, and they have to reopen my file, so it will be another few weeks before I get an unemployment check. They must be broke, the same as HEAP was.

Greg called a man that owns a construction firm and he went out to Mom's house. He gave me a possible estimate of $429.00. there is seventy-one feet of pipe, three and one-half to four feet deep beneath the ground, where the possible leak is.

While Greg was at work, three of his friends appeared in my pool. Teresa and Stever are fighting. It's more than a three-ring circus here.