Unleaking
As part of the standpipe fix, I had to drain the water in the pipes off to the garden. I think it was about 30 gallons, but I may have lost track of how many buckets I filled and emptied. In any case, Paco took a look at the faucet and decided that it was shot so I now have a shiny new brass faucet in place of the old one, and no more leaks. I only had to pay for the faucet, which was sure better than paying a plumber!

Last night the water system switched over to the lower tank, which it would have done anyway because the upper spring always goes dry during the summer. I've got plenty of water; the lower spring has never gone dry (knock on wood) but the pressure is down to about half. I'm used to that, so it's no big deal.

So much for the domestic infrastructure.

I did go to see HBP, and have mixed feelings about it. What they did, they did very well, but as one friend of mine remarked, it's more like highlights from the book than a smoothly-conceived narrative. I did enjoy it, and I will buy the DVD when it comes out, but having seen it, I am glad that the producers decided to film the last book in two parts. We'll get more of what's in it.

Meanwhile, I have a first draft of my new HP fan fic short, and have gone back to work on the vampire novel. So far I haven't come up with a good ending for it, which is always a stumbling block. I think the problem is that my protagonist--the vampire--doesn't have any real goals to carry herself through immortality. I remember laughing a bit over Anne Rice's vampire, Maharet, who spent her centuries looking after her descendants. What it amounted to was that she had a hobby! I guess I could have mine take up dog breeding.