When the cat's got my tongue, or....
What I'm doing when I'm not blogging.
Well, friends, only six weeks left until I complete the job that has been depleting my creative juices. My work on the Grand Jury has sapped my free time and most of those particular mental and emotional resources from which my writing would normally be drawn. So much of my life is consumed just now by things I'm not allowed to talk about. And all the rest I'm just too tired to think about, let alone write about.
And so, I've taken on other projects.
As I've likely mentioned before, we've been puppy-sitting our grand-chihuahua (and grand-tabby cat) for the last few months while my daughter teaches English in the Republic of Georgia. We were filled to the brim with pets before, and now our house runneth over....and so does Lil' Chompy, all over the carpet. We've intended to replace the decades old rental house carpet ever since we bought this place four years ago. We just kept waiting for the Sack-O-Cash to drop from the sky to pay for it.
A few weeks ago I pulled up the corner of the carpet where the smell seemed to be the strongest and found it to be soaked through and deeply stained. And I made the commitment right then and there. I cut out about three square feet of carpet. Since then, on days or evenings when I'm home but Paul's at work (I can't do this when Paul is home because the filth will aggravate his asthma.) I've been tearing out carpet. As of right now I'm about half-way through. It's a big and messy job. As you can see. Under the carpet and padding is a layer of powder-fine dirt, and under that 106 year old plank floor (not hardwood). The hardest part of the job is moving the furniture. Since our house is so tiny, almost all our furniture items must do double-duty as storage. As a result almost everything I have to move is stacked or filled with books, music, games, videos, etc.
Since we cannot afford the several hundred extra dollars labor charge to have new flooring installed, we had to choose a kind of flooring simple enough for me to install myself. After speaking to several people, we settled on vinyl plank hardwood, in a cherry shade, since that was the prettiest of the sale items. Removing the carpet is hard work, but satisfying in the sense that I can't really mess it up. Installing new flooring is a different matter. I'm pretty nervous about that part, but that step is still a few weeks away. In the meantime it's rough, stained, paint-splattered wood and ever-diminishing patches of disgusting carpet.
This winter must have done something special to our yard. All our plants, things we've planted in the first years since we moved in are blooming wildly for the first time. What a happy and fulfilling feeling! If only I had more free time to spend out there enjoying it all! |
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| Our mandarin tree is loaded with sweet citrus blossoms giving us hope for our first ever home-grown fruit! |
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| More mandarin blossoms! |
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Clematis flowers have woven themselves
into the grapevine.
It's the third spring since planting.
We're hoping to see our first grapes this year.
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| Grapevine (and some weeds) growing along the fence |
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| Cinco! |
Comments
If I can do that at my age (then nearly 60) you can, too. Of course I damaged my shoulder and had to have therapy for frozen shoulder! My motto...the old "measure twice, cut once". And ever cautious with the electric saw.
I love the clematis in the grapevine!
Nice to hear that life goes on despite towers falling. I always enjoyed the clean surface of marble floors when visiting apartments in Italy, Carpet ? well it's just one big dirt-magnet as it ages.
Life goes on, praise the Lord ! I am meeting American, Dutch, French and Australian visitors in the church of Saint J.
If you're are not going hungry, cold or sick, oppressed politically, affected by natural disaster or without clean water, give your thanks to the Lord !