Friday, February 15, 2013

Everyone wants something & I give the death sentence to a tree


My day yesterday was a hectic one.

MORNING:

We wrapped up the fence project which looks fabulous, but we can't use the back yard.  With the contractors back there walking around on the soggy ground, the back yard is a mud pit.

Two nights ago we got a beautiful snow fall - big wet flakes - that amount to five inches of fresh snow come morning. Then the temperatures spiked at around 50 degrees, so all that wet snow melted and turned the yard into a bigger pool of draining water.

The fence guys, trampling about in the muck, reminded me of Moses in the mud pits making bricks, and me as Pharaoh's overseer admonishing them to "Dance you mud turtles, DANCE!"

The fence builders wrapped it up and handed me a bill. They want money.

One of the neighbors came by and admired the fence. Now they want me to re-landscape.

About five minutes after the fence guys came back for their final day, the tree removal people came here to cut down the grizzled and mutilated maple at the end of the driveway.  BGE had been hacking away at this poor tree for years, so it was lopsided, topped and rotting. Years of road salt and pooled water left its base black with spongy rot as well.  And the other day it started to groan in the wind, so it was time to do the humane thing before it fell on a passing car, or us.

So down came the tree.  I counted its rings and it came to sixty-six.  Poor thing.  They ground the stump out, cleaned everything up.

Then they wanted their money.   Like I said, everyone wanted something.

AFTERNOON

Then the electrician arrived. And he was gorgeous.


He introduced himself as "Danny" and proceeded to talk non-stop for the next hour and a half while worked on our electric panel.  

Cookie does electric off existing lines, but Cookie does not go into the panel, period.  No live bus bar for me. This is why Danny was called in.   He also fixed the strange outdoor light by the back door.  

Danny was easy on the eyes, but his nonstop yakkity yak yak wore thin after about five minutes.  Cookie would leave the room, and he could hear the yakkity yak yak continue.  And whenever I came round to see where motormouth was on the project, Danny would start a new yakkity yak yak routine by saying "It's funny you mention that, yakkity yak yak..."  

What was funny is all I said was "How's it coming along?" and the yakkity yak yak began. 

Then he handed me the bill; he wanted his money.

But Danny does beautiful work, arrives on time and relatively affordable. 

Nice guy, lonely I think.  When he was leaving he said "Hope I didn't talk much.  My wife says I talk too much.  But I don't think I go on and on like yakkity yak yak..."  Ten minutes later I excused myself.  Looking in the morrir my eyes were glazed, my face tightened into a slight smile of a psychotic and my ears were ringing. 

So I sat back and had a cup of coffee until the husband came home, and he wanted dinner. 

Like I said, yesterday was a day of people wanting stuff.

On today's menu is shopping for a fridge.  Maryland has a sales tax holiday this weekend, so that gives us the chance to save another $100 on a new fridge. 

If I find anything, I'll let you know.  


3 comments:

  1. Home-ownership.
    It's always something and it almost always comes with a bill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did we get any pictures of Danny? I would have introduced the topic of cell phone photography into the conversation. Just sayin'.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. "the back yard is a mud pit."

    Mud wrestling with Danny?

    ReplyDelete