Whew! Nearly Missed 'Im

It's supposed to be mid-80 temperatures here today, perfect for walking the dog in the morning before the peak rays. I dilly dallied long enough that I just left the house at 9:40 instead of about an hour earlier, so I only got around 1/3 of Greenlake and back, with a coffee stop in the middle. Actually, I still overestimated my pace, I got back to the house at 10:35, a little late for my 10:30 appointment. As I got to my block I noticed a car drove up to the corner and doubled back. I thought "o crap, maybe that's them." I almost waved to stop him, but thought better of it. It's a stranger, if I'm wrong, I'll feel like an idiot for flagging him down.

So I got up to my porch and realize there's a business card jammed in the door, so yes indeed I have missed my appointment. I called the cell number immediately. Oddly enough it rang about 5 times then voicemail picked up. I could barely understand what was said, so I left a message saying I'd just missed him and if he was in the neighborhood could he please come back and do the estimate. When I hung up, I noticed I had missed a call, I had a new voicemail from his number. So I went to dial my voicemail and when my list of recent calls came up, I realized I'd misdialed his number--I'm forever getting numbers transposed in phone numbers especially, but all the time really. Anyway, when I then called him back at the correct phone number, he answered from still in the neighborhood, and he said he'd circle back.

Sure enough it's the stranger I saw driving away when I walked up. We both had a chuckle about that, 'cause we did double-takes and triple-takes when he drove away the first time. In he comes and I show him to the bathroom. "Wow, that's really tight grout" he says... I used to think that was a good thing. Apparently, though, it's tight enough that it's difficult to even get grout into some of the spaces. Great.

In any case. He says he'll get an estimate to me by the end of the day, and if I agree to the terms they can probably start Monday.

I have a text message from Sim that his crew will be here Sunday. The day I take off for Alaska.