WINDING DOWN... Summer (Part 140n)

WINDING DOWN... Summer (Part 140n)

There was electricity but it was still raining when we awoke. However, my father had been right when he predicted that the rain would end in the morning and the sun would be out in the afternoon. There was so much to do in the wake of the storm that I did something that I never did. I actually made a list. It took me from noon on Wednesday until supper time on Friday to get it all done.

I don’t know why I felt I had to tackle the neighbor’s fallen tree first but I did. When the rain stopped I started there. The chain saw made fairly quick work of cutting the limbs off but wasn’t big enough to take on the trunk. I had just finished up doing what I could when Bill arrived. As I’d mentioned in a previous post, handy he wasn’t. However, we did make a clear path from his driveway to the kitchen porch steps by the time we were done.

Overall, the storm didn’t do all that much damage. Driving around I could see it was mostly nuisance stuff like small tree limbs, twigs and leaves strewn around yards. I had to go get our Sunfish sailboat from over at Rex’s house and while I was there he roped me into going to the sailing club. The wind, water and waves had destroyed the racks we’d built to store all the Sunfish boats which meant I had to take mine home. The officers of the club had decided to close it up early (Normally, the clubhouse itself would be open on Saturdays and Sundays through September) because the septic tank had been filled with sand during the flood tides. They felt it was a waste of money to dig it out knowing that Winter storms would only fill it in again. So, Rex and I nailed the storm doors on over the regular ones to get the message across to anyone showing up wanting access.

I got “B’s” sailboat pumped out all the way and after doing it helped Dave, the marina owner, retrieve a couple of boats that had slipped their moorings and had ended up in the marshes. A trip to both Elle’s mother and my parents was also in order. My father’s dock had lost all the handrails and the tree stump was still embedded under it. After I told him I had the use of a chainsaw that took care of the rest of Thursday.

Friday was dedicated to my own house and yard. Cleaning up the leaves and twigs so that I could mow the lawn was first. It had been almost two weeks since the last cutting and with all the rain it had really grown. It took more than twice the regular time to get it all done. With the Sunfish sitting on the trailer in the driveway I was constantly reminded that I’d have to find a place in the garage to store all the gear... and probably even more when the new Sunfish arrived. When I’d finished the lawn I took some time to figure out where to put all the things we’d been accumulating AND, the Sunfish gear. I couldn’t come up with anything so took a break for lunch.

Elle was off grocery shopping and had left me a sandwich. I’d not taken much time with the mail over the week and saw a flyer for the local Agway (farm and garden supply) store. There was a picture of a steel shed right on the front and as soon as I saw it knew I had a solution to my space problem. I had to go to the landfill with all the stuff I’d collected from around the house and yard so decided I’d go from there to the store and check out the shed. It was 4’ by 6’, not all that big, but I had a place for it in the far back yard. I ‘bit the bullet’ and took it home with me figuring I could put it together some night. But, have you ever bought something and not wanted to use it right away. The rest of the afternoon was taken up erecting the shed. By supper time I’d had enough even though I still had to put in a floor. Not satisfied with just putting it up I went to the garage and brought some things out to see just how they’d fit. The kids bikes and the lawn mower were real ‘space grabbers’ in the garage and I was pleased at just how much room was available with them no longer there.

Walking towards the house I looked up at it and felt a bit guilty in that I’d not made one iota of progress on painting that side of it. Other than some time for sailing, that project had started out as the focus for my vacation time and I’d done none of it. Even with that disappointment, I still felt good about the shed and the space I’d created in the garage. Elle and the girls had already eaten by the time I made it inside. She wanted to know how I’d made out so invited her to come out to see it. I remember her hesitating as she reached the screen door but then she continued on. With everything that had happened during the week I’d not had much time to think about ‘pee fun’ and, as we made our way to the back yard I had an idea.

When our house was built the owners made a formal garden complete with a fountain and irrigation, very unusual for the 1930’s. The next owner was a farmer and for him and his family, the garden was a ‘time waster’ and just let it go. When we bought the house it was obviously neglected and overgrown by weeds. The fountain was just a pile of rubble and the wooden garden seat was broken. Elle set out to resurrect it but I’d put a monetary restriction on her. By the end of August it was starting to show ’life’ and Elle wanted to replace the seat as the first major purchase. I didn’t have a problem with it and had started looking in the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs with her. The wooden ones were a little pricey so we backed off on that. When I was at the Agway store to look at and buy the shed I saw a couple of cast iron love seats the were on sale. I didn’t really pay much attention, focusing on the shed. But, it came to me that if I were to buy one for her she’d ‘reward me’.

There were two way to get out the the new shed and one was through the formal garden. She didn’t question why I’d led her that way and when we got to where the fountain used to be (now removed) I stopped her. I pointed to where the old wood seat had been and proceeded to describe the love seat that I’d seen. She knew what I was talking about because they were also shown in the catalogs. She wasn’t really thrilled when I told her it was white but when I told her the price and told her that I could paint it any color she wanted she smiled. I think it was one of those “a bird in the hand” type things. When I told her that the store was open until 8pm and that we could go get it after I ate it sold her. But the reason we’d come out there in the first place was to look at the new shed and how much it held.

Before I reminded her of that she’d started moving back towards the house. I grabbed her arm and she turned back towards me. She said she really “had to go”... which is pretty much what I’d thought as we left the house. I wouldn’t let her go and she gave me one of her ‘looks’. That was when I reminded her about the love seat. She looked back towards the house and then relaxed and moved behind the overgrown azalea bush. Even though it was going to cost me $30 for the seat, my plan had worked. Back inside I convinced her to leave her wet panties on and to wear a dress when we went to get the seat. I could tell she wasn’t thrilled about that but she didn’t say anything and I knew it was going to be a good night when we got home.

To be continued...