Boy I'd sure like a nice grilled steak!

One of the sad things about moving into the new house was that we had to leave grilling behind - at least for a while. The rental house had a natural gas grill attached to the patio and the new house does not have an exterior gas line. For some reason, people around here are all crazy about natural gas grills and not as into the LG ones with the tank that I'm used to seeing. After we moved, we planned on waiting for tax refunds to purchase a grill and hire a plumber to run the line to the deck.

Well we've had a grill for about three weeks now. Just sitting all lonely and covered by itself on the deck. Our problem?? Dead beat plumber!!

I should mention that my Mom works for a wholesale distributor of plumbing and HVAC parts and she deals with plumbers everyday and loves them. When I visit her at work, she's always introducing me to one of her customers and sadly probably telling them stories about me all the time (I think the latest is the wedding pictures she's showing EVERYONE ). So I'm inclined to like plumbers.

When we first moved into the house we had a water leak, then a clogged drain from the washer that dumped water all over the floor, then a gas leak - all requiring some plumbing action. Our home warranty company sent over Larry and we loved him! He was friendly and during one of his visits my Mom was here and they got to talk plumbing and she liked him too. We even asked him about a gas line during one of his visits and it would be "no problem." So when the grill was purchased it was time!!!

We booked Larry and BJ took off work to anxiously await his arrival. He even promised to go shopping for steaks that night!! Well Larry never showed up, and when his office was called the woman said, "Oh I'm so sorry. His daughter went into labor! I guess I should have called you." Since we are understanding (though wishing someone would have called since BJ stayed home specifically for this) we rescheduled for early the next week. Again, BJ stayed home and we had a no show. He called and this time the office said, "there was an emergency water heater problem he had to take care of today. I forgot to call you YESTERDAY AFTERNOON." So they knew the day before that they were cancelling the appointment? And didn't call? BJ was highly miffed at this and much to my surprise allowed them to re-schedule again, but there was no time available until the wedding, so we were going to try again this past Saturday.

And of course, a No Call. No Show. I was sleeping (I worked nights all weekend) and apparently BJ left a very unflattering message on the office phone, and when he went to run errands a stern note was put on the door (in the event Larry showed up very late) stating not to knock or ring the doorbell since I was sleeping. We were disappointed because we had really liked him and are not sure if he has complete idiots working his office?? He didn't seem like the type to be so irresponsible. I just know that if the situation was reversed and we weren't there, the plumber would have charged us for the time.

So our poor grill still sits all alone and untouched. My poor belly craves a medium rare steak or a nice grilled breast of chicken. And now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the plumber we hired from a billboard at the entrance to our subdivision will actually show up today.