weird day.

13 days left at the health department. Today gave me several reasons to be thankful for my pending departure.
1. Started the morning with the resampling of a septic system that had previously failed. Rang the doorbell...no answer. Again...no answer. No one home. Thanks for making the appointment. I called the homeowner. He was sorry his wife was not home. "I don't know where else she could be." I think what we have here is a failure to communicate.
2. Second stop. Owner was home but forgot to run the water 45 minutes prior to my arrival. I had to crouch in the weeds and the mud, holding a bottle under the outlet pipe to collect drop by drop until the bottle was full. And all the while, swat sparrow-sized mosquitoes.
3. Geothermal inspection at 3:30 in the afternoon in humid 90 degree weather. Mud and grout ankle deep. Sweat dripping from my face onto my clipboard, erasing the grid lines from my graph paper.

On a lighter note, the afternoon brought a touch of humor.
One of our inspectors was going to East Peoria to post a shack as unfit for human habitation. A guy had been living in a shanty without plumbing or sewer since 1997. One of the interns (a 40-ish, former military woman) was to go with the inspector for safety reasons. The inspector was parked behind the office, as was I. The intern was parked out front. The inspector drives a reddish Ford Taurus. I drive a reddish Grand Am. The intern went out the front door to pull around back and wait for the inspector to leave. I left out the back door, apparently at the same time. So, she assumed that I was the inspector, even though our cars are drastically different in shape (as are myself and the other inspector), and proceeded to speed down the road to catch up with me.
Now, this probably isn't the most professional thing to do, but after all she's an intern (and has not returned a "hi" or "good morning" a single time since she started). So I continued on my merry way to complete a geothermal inspection 7 miles south of the office. Remember, she was supposed to be going to East Peoria, about 10 miles NORTH of the office. This didn't phase her. She followed me down winding country roads, further and further south and twice pulled up directly behind me while I was stopped to check mailboxes for the address. Still, she didn't realize that I was not the other inspector, who is heavier, about 5'5", and a female with long blond hair. wow. So on I went, pulling into a driveway and up a steep hill to a brand new house, still under construction (she was going to a shack in the woods). STILL, she followed. It didn't occur to her that she had made a mistake until I stepped out of the car.
I would have loved to have a picture of her face at that moment. Maybe I'm just cruel. But at least she finally spoke to me. I think she was a little embarrassed as she backed her car out of the driveway and sped away back to the health department.

13 more days.