A nice man in a power company truck pulled into our driveway this morning. DH was out running errands, so I went down to talk to the man.

"I'm supposed to put in temporary power," he said, "but I don't see your main power or your transformer. What have you got going on here?"

"We're building a house, so we don't have main power yet. You can see the foundation there. There's a pad for the transformer down there," I explained, pointing 300 feet down the driveway, "but they haven't put the transformer in yet."

The man rolled his eyes. "Somebody put the cart before the horse again," he said. "About three times a month they get their signals crossed and send me out to put in a temporary power meter before there's a transformer in to hook it up to. I'm sorry, I can't do anything for you. I'll go back and tell them they need to put your transformer in."

"I'm sorry you had a wasted drive," I told him.

"That's Ok, I'm getting used to it," he said cheerfully. He put his truck into reverse and drove it away, beeping. I went back inside to reassure the pets, who hate beeping.

DH, meanwhile, was out driving around to plumbing supply shops in search of "no lead" brass for the water pipe fittings.

No lead, in case you wondered, does not mean "There is no lead in this brass." Lead is an essential component of brass. "No lead" actually means "Well, hardly any."

So naturally that's the thing you put into your water supply system. I'm sure there's a technical reason for that, but I haven't got the energy to look it up right now.

Onward.