Madeleina Didn't Make It; Journalist Comes Through

Well, someone from Madeleina's school called yesterday to tell me that Madeleina didn't make the all regional band. I was not surprised, given that she thought she played awfully, but I was still sorry. She was okay with it, and that's good. So long as she loves playing and practicing, she'll be able to work with music her whole life. And that is a gift. My dad played piano by ear and played wonderfully. And it allowed him to get through rotten days. One of his favorites:
"Better be ready when the taxi gets there,
Better be ready by a quarter past eight,
I want to be there when the band starts playing..."
And I'm no good on the guitar, but every now and then, just making up a new blues song keeps me going. Or running a riff on a marine band harmonica.
So she's not all regional but that's okay by me. She tried and that was fantastic. She worked hard in the week between the mock tryouts and the real one. That too was fantastic. And she took losing in stride. I guess she comes out a winner on this one.
And more news: The fellow who cribbed my work--I've railed about him in a couple of posts recently--has come through. He admitted he probably used some of my work in his and asked me where to put an attribution. I had two paragraphs, his essence, that were mine, but had him put it on the key graph. "As journalist Peter Gorman wrote..."
So that guy goes from being a scumbag to a stand up guy. He took the hit, tried to wiggle for a while, then fixed things. So good for him. I appreciated it.
Bad news: Got a water bill for about $500 a couple of days ago. Normally, when the house is full, it runs about $125, and with me being alone most of this month--except for when Madeleina's here--I expected it to come in at about $80 or so. So $500 blew me away.
Turns out I've got a leak somewhere between the water meter and the house. Not under the house, because it's dry there after I had all the piping changed last Spring. The problem is that that line is buried, so I've no idea where the leak is. Worse, there is no wet spot, no muddy spot anywhere. But since 80,000 gallons of water leaked out of that pipe last month, it's got to be somewhere. And my suspicion is that it's beneath the 20-foot-wide concrete driveway, where the pipe crosses to come in under the house.
And that means???? It means I probably need to tear up the driveway. Hell, I can't afford to tear it up, much less pay to have it fixed. So this sucks.
I gave myself half-an-hour of water yesterday for a shower and to wash dishes and so forth; then last night have us another half-hour for Madeleina to take a shower.
Man, I'm not looking forward to what I see coming. And naturally, the insurance on the house doesn't pay for water damage...Ah, I love insurance companies.
Oh well, I'll start the digging today and just pray I stumble on it at the edge of the driveway. If that happens you will all hear me screaming for joy. I will promise you that.