Two dreams and a nightmare

I had two dreams last night that I can remember. The first one told me that I could find out all sorts of information about the Nikon Coolpix 4100 digital camera that I saw at Sam's Club for $179 by looking it up on Wikipedia. In the other I received a stern reprimand from one of my college Physics professors that I was wasting my life.

I awoke with a profound sense that I was wasting my life, much as I had squandered my vacation. Then I remembered that I had accomplished a major goal of this vacation: to spend as much time as possible with my dog Haley, who is dying. So maybe my life isn't being entirely wasted, either.

But I did decide to follow up on the Wikipedia suggestion...and found nothing useful. I then followed up with amazon.com, which had the usual mix of one-star and five-star reviews, so I decided to do nothing until I had more information. Also, since the major determining factor in wanting this camera is the fact that it's the first Nikon Coolpix model I've come across in a retail setting, I figure it will be worth my while to shop around.

Today was the last day of my vacation. It was gray and coldish, with a curdled look to the sky. Haley and I took a good long walk. Terri Schiavo died. I got more photos around town, including one that I really hope comes out - it would be the first time I've actually lined up a landscape shot in a meaningful way.

At the end of the day I went out to fill my gas tank, pick up a birthday present for a one-year-old, and get some replacement filters for my vacuum cleaner. I came home and got a message to hurry up to see my aunt - she had just gotten home, and there was "something wrong with the house."

I jumped back in my car and tore up to my aunt's house, just a block away. I was ready to block the driveway with my car - not that that would stop any burglars from escaping, but perhaps my Toyota Tercel would get jammed in their tires and slow them down a bit. But my cousin's car was in the driveway, indicating that she and her mother were home.

I looked at the windows of their house. Lights were on, people were moving about. There was no fire, and no one seemed to be ransacking the place.

I ran to the door and their dog barked at me. OK, everything normal so far.

Inside, there was nothing wrong. They played a message for me from the tenants at one side of what had formerly been my grandmother's house ("the house", in my family's way of speaking), which had passed to my uncle, who is currently in the hospital. The message said that the tenants thought maybe there was a problem with "the pipe" on my grandmother's side of the house.

My aunt and I raced over to my grandmother's house - the call was about 7 hours old, so there really wasn't a huge hurry - and made our way to the cellar, which was full of water.

Yes. Probably the floor drain is blocked. Probably the same water which made its way into my cellar had gotten into hers as well - at least, water from the same storm that flooded my basement. More rain is expected tomorrow night. Somebody will have to do something about my grandmother's cellar before then. Unfortunately, I have work tomorrow, so it can't be me.

My grandmother wanted to keep this house in the family. She tried to convince me to buy it before she died, but I couldn't - it was her house, how could I take it from her? When she died the house passed to my uncle. My uncle is getting to a point where he has to think about what he will do with it. I am seriously considering buying it - even though I don't want to deal with tenants, and the entire front porch needs to be replaced, and the basement is currently full of water, and there's quite a lot of work that will need to be done in and around the place. Do I really want to get myself into this?