The Job Goes On...and On... and On

Eleven days out and this is what shows for the time on the bathroom project! Not much, right?The days have been long and hard for DH, but he refused to hire any younger muscle to help things along. We have always done things here the hard way and with our own backs. That was fine when we had youth to go with exuberance! Now two sick and soft aging bodies don’t seem to move so fast anymore. The only thing not softer here is DH’s head!



Yesterday DH nearly electrocuted himself under the house. I heard bad words and heard strange breathing. I could see him through the flooring, but I never could have gotten to him if need be. This time the experience, pardon the pun, shocked even him. He was working on plumbing, sitting in wet dirt, and bumped into a hot wire he needed for light. At the end of the day, I am as tired from this kind of event as from lifting and pulling.


Today something broke out near the street on the water line. The city will bring a backhoe tomorrow, dig up the street, and repair. Meanwhile, the one bathroom we do have running has no water as that line was capped. We do have water in other rooms, but this is a little more Frontier Days than I like. Meanwhile, rain storms are moving in for tomorrow, and we have to board up the hole again. However, new subfloor and tub are in, so surely in days to come, the room will begin to SHOW progress.


Writing? No way is that happening here, as my creative mind is as hard and unyielding as a peach pit. The only time my mind begins to yield like clay under a potter’s hands is when I make runs to the lumber yard or the hardware store for DH. I will confess to meandering a little, taking the longer way, soaking up the beautiful spring weather for those few minutes I am away from the pounding, shoving, nailing, grunting, and hammering.


The weather has been a beautiful gift these past few days. It is a joyous drive to town while seeing the flowers, trees, and shrubs expand with spring colors. Redbud, dogwood, jonquils, tulips, snow crab apple, lilac, forsythia, and now the wonderful wisteria are all flashing shades of pink, fuchsia, lavender, lemon and white like Southern belles flipping their pastel petticoats. Rain is coming, but I will try not to complain. I got the yard mowed this morning, around trucks and lumber that is, and I moved out poinsettias, crotons, and house lilies. They will like the sun and even the dewy raindrops.


Since despite being quite tired here, we are not sleeping well; I was up late last night finishing the Theroux book. Nice that it ends with her finding a love life, although it was a hard commitment for the author to make. (I see another new book is out on lists titled Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline.) Our friends always say the second wife gets the goodies, the attention. DH and I often joke about things the second wife here will get, and I say that what I want to be when I grow up is someone’s second wife. As this project moves on, I am beginning to think a second husband who knew nothing about construction and who believed writing checks for remodeling might be a desirable love interest. It might be nice to have a resident book reader to share titles with, or a writing companion to compare notes with as pages develop. Then again, I have never been too interested in fantasy so I better just go fix supper for my Bob the Builder fellow who does live here now!