Spackle and Snow

     



     We’re getting a little punchy here under this winter’s white-out conditions. On a trip to re-fill the bird feeders, my husband created this new friend out of one of the several foothills that have grown on our deck.


     Still, it hasn’t killed us, so it must be making us tougher. For instance, we ignored the 2-3 inches we received yesterday. We don’t get worked up over anything under a foot anymore. 
     We have another opportunity this weekend to show our mettle – Neptune is coming on Saturday. I've learned it’s never a good sign when they name the storm. 

And we’ve been keeping busy – that is when we’re not outside excavating the end of the driveway after the town snowplow’s latest 5 foot gift. 

We’ve also been entertaining again. First, it was the insurance company’s advance team who poked and um-hummed to determine the damage from a tiny pinhole pipe leak that created a map of imaginary continents overhead. Then it was Dave and his co-worker Dave who sawed out a big hole so things could dry, followed by our friend Lennie the Plumber.

Yesterday we reached the rear guard stage when the last crew of workers finally retreated, leaving a clean, whole, un-popcorned ceiling (and a fine coating of dust on every inch of the rest of the house) in their wake. 

First, though, for two days we lived in the land of plastic and spackle. In spite of the barrier taped over the doorway, the whole house was filled with the aroma of wall compound, blown to us by the giant fan that ran all day and all night. 

 I lost the use of the living room – a favorite nap site – in addition to my real sanctuary, my office, since it was the only access for the workmen trouping through to the bathroom off of it. 

     On the plus side, I could enjoy the non-stop conversations about trucks and women coming from the living room since they were bellowed over the roar of the fan.

          And those clown-filled Volkswagens have nothing on me. Who knew that I could fit my entire living room (one couch, two armchairs, a coffee table, three end tables, a TV chest, a TV, three lamps, a drop-leaf dining table, and an electric piano) into a dining room already inhabited by its own dining table, six chairs, buffet and china chest?

Makes you wonder why I needed the living room at all.