Good Things

• There are birds in the yard!  Not constantly, but I've seen and heard sparrows multiple times over the last week or so.  I've been trying to attract birds to my yard for more than 5 years, so I'm happy to start with sparrows.
• At my request, the natural gas company came out to inspect the natural gas lines and appliances in the house.  This was a scary but necessary undertaking for me because nothing (!) that has been uncovered or inspected in the house previously has been done properly.  Happy, I got a good surprise.  There are no leaks.  In fact, for the first time ever, I was told that everything (relating to the gas line) is in excellent condition.
• What isn't in excellent condition is the lack of a fire break between my garage and my house.  Building codes require that the wall between the garage and the house is built to prevent fires or CO2 from spreading between the garage to the house.  I discovered last  year that my house doesn't have a proper fire break, and have been sweating about finding (and paying!) somebody to fix this for me.  When one of the guys from the Wednesday night group I usually go out with heard this, he offered to come do it for me.  He used to be a foreman for one of the major builders in town, so I trust that he'll get it done right.