The Domino Theory
One thing leads to another. That's for sure. In street work and in housework.
- April -- sink hole the size of a Volkswagen appears in Humboldt Avenue. Sink holes are even better than "speed bumps" in slowing down traffic.
- Several boulevards and sidewalks begin slowly sinking.
- May -- Entire street from 53rd to 54th blocked off.
- A nice letter from the City Engineer tells us that a 70 year-old sewer/water pipe needs replacing. Such is life in the city.
- The construction trailer, a Biff and piles of machinery become fixtures on the block.
- Many city employees and lots of pieces of machinery start work. Every morning at 7 am. By the time I leave for the bus around 8 am they're having a coffee break in their trailer on the corner.
- 26 foot pit is dug.
- Not deep enough. Need the Army Corps. of Engineers to assist in going down 20 MORE FEET! That's about the depth of a 3-story building.
- As long as they're disrupting life, they decide to replace the gas lines to each house.
- Boulevards are dug up.
- Sidewalks are torn out.
- Yellow, blue and red spray paint guidelines randomly appear on the hacked up lawn and sidewalk. What's next?
- Maintenance of the front yard is abandoned. Who cares, the only traffic is parents bringing their 4-year olds to see the big diggers up close and personal.
- Mid-July -- one of the neighbors starts a lottery to guess when the work will be completed.
- August -- rumor has it that a second hole is needed. Workers are invited to Block Party.
MadgeWorld residents were terribly annoyed by all the disruptions -- no parking, no water (no toilet flushing!), caterpillar tracks all over the front lawn -- and the unpredictability of it all. That is, until we tackled some maintenance work of our own on the inside.
The task at hand: tidy up the living room since we can't work in the yard. A whole lot simpler than digging a 26-foot hole.
Or is it? We're into week three and still not done.
Week One
- Start by tidying up the coffee table -- put away silver tray and glass candlesticks UNTIL NEXT CHRISTMAS!
- That requires removing candle nubbins, washing dusty candlesticks, removing tarnish from tray (where's the polish?).
- Which leads to rummaging in kitchen cupboards.
- Therein OUTDATED foodstuff is discovered. This serves as diversion from cleaning candlesticks.
- Approximately 40 pounds of food which had passed its freshness date -- some by more than 5 years -- was carried to the trash. Did you know that JELL-O CAN GO BAD! It can. Be careful. (Jell-o gone bad. . . think of the possibilities.)
Week Two
- Freshly washed candlesticks ready to be put away. This means making room on the linen closet shelf--which is full of other candlesticks and vases, shelves of towels, miscellaneous baskets of first-aid supplies and giant cat-hair dustballs.
- More OUTDATED product discovered--from Benadryl to Correctol to Xanex. If you've got a cold or can't poop, don't come looking for any help here.
- Out it goes, along with the gallon of white vinegar (why?) and a small space heater.
- The tidying binge is disrupted by a trip to Northfield to a moving sale. Lorelei's mother is moving after 25 years. We ended up with an old rug and dresser (pictured, left). Both of which NEED WORK to be usable.
Week Three
- We take the new-old rug to Keljik's for deep cleaning. Why not take the rug from the living room, too?
- Roll up rug and throw out disentegrating pad which leaves a cloud of fine dust.
- The quick trip to drop off the rug (just 10 blocks away) takes two hours. Keljik's Rugs is an old-school family business. The kind of place that you just don't rush in and out of. The kind of place where the old guys know their stuff and are happy to share the knowledge.
"Is that cotton or wool?" (Talking about Lorelei's rug.)
Pause. Old guy bends down to touch rug.
"Cotton. Italian made. World War Two vintage. All the wool went to uniforms."
The living room rug is pronounced a "Sarouk. From Iran."
After we check out the prices on their Sarouks (from 8K to 15K) we check out the new My-T-Fine (43rd and Bryant) for lunch.
- Once the rug is gone it seems like the ideal time to rearrange furniture. Introduce a little feng shui into the house. Which means things will migrate from room to room.
Maybe by the time the water line is fixed, and the hole is filled in and the boulevards and lawns are repaired, those those candlesticks will be put away.
Enjoying: Iced Coffee
Listening to: "Summer Wind" Frank Sinatra
- April -- sink hole the size of a Volkswagen appears in Humboldt Avenue. Sink holes are even better than "speed bumps" in slowing down traffic.
- Several boulevards and sidewalks begin slowly sinking.
- May -- Entire street from 53rd to 54th blocked off.
- A nice letter from the City Engineer tells us that a 70 year-old sewer/water pipe needs replacing. Such is life in the city.
- The construction trailer, a Biff and piles of machinery become fixtures on the block.
- Many city employees and lots of pieces of machinery start work. Every morning at 7 am. By the time I leave for the bus around 8 am they're having a coffee break in their trailer on the corner.
- 26 foot pit is dug.
- Not deep enough. Need the Army Corps. of Engineers to assist in going down 20 MORE FEET! That's about the depth of a 3-story building.
- As long as they're disrupting life, they decide to replace the gas lines to each house.
- Boulevards are dug up.
- Sidewalks are torn out.
- Yellow, blue and red spray paint guidelines randomly appear on the hacked up lawn and sidewalk. What's next?
- Maintenance of the front yard is abandoned. Who cares, the only traffic is parents bringing their 4-year olds to see the big diggers up close and personal.
- Mid-July -- one of the neighbors starts a lottery to guess when the work will be completed.
- August -- rumor has it that a second hole is needed. Workers are invited to Block Party.
MadgeWorld residents were terribly annoyed by all the disruptions -- no parking, no water (no toilet flushing!), caterpillar tracks all over the front lawn -- and the unpredictability of it all. That is, until we tackled some maintenance work of our own on the inside.
The task at hand: tidy up the living room since we can't work in the yard. A whole lot simpler than digging a 26-foot hole.
Or is it? We're into week three and still not done.
Week One
- Start by tidying up the coffee table -- put away silver tray and glass candlesticks UNTIL NEXT CHRISTMAS!
- That requires removing candle nubbins, washing dusty candlesticks, removing tarnish from tray (where's the polish?).
- Which leads to rummaging in kitchen cupboards.
- Therein OUTDATED foodstuff is discovered. This serves as diversion from cleaning candlesticks.
- Approximately 40 pounds of food which had passed its freshness date -- some by more than 5 years -- was carried to the trash. Did you know that JELL-O CAN GO BAD! It can. Be careful. (Jell-o gone bad. . . think of the possibilities.)
Week Two
- Freshly washed candlesticks ready to be put away. This means making room on the linen closet shelf--which is full of other candlesticks and vases, shelves of towels, miscellaneous baskets of first-aid supplies and giant cat-hair dustballs.
- More OUTDATED product discovered--from Benadryl to Correctol to Xanex. If you've got a cold or can't poop, don't come looking for any help here.
- Out it goes, along with the gallon of white vinegar (why?) and a small space heater.
- The tidying binge is disrupted by a trip to Northfield to a moving sale. Lorelei's mother is moving after 25 years. We ended up with an old rug and dresser (pictured, left). Both of which NEED WORK to be usable.
Week Three
- We take the new-old rug to Keljik's for deep cleaning. Why not take the rug from the living room, too?
- Roll up rug and throw out disentegrating pad which leaves a cloud of fine dust.
- The quick trip to drop off the rug (just 10 blocks away) takes two hours. Keljik's Rugs is an old-school family business. The kind of place that you just don't rush in and out of. The kind of place where the old guys know their stuff and are happy to share the knowledge.
"Is that cotton or wool?" (Talking about Lorelei's rug.)
Pause. Old guy bends down to touch rug.
"Cotton. Italian made. World War Two vintage. All the wool went to uniforms."
The living room rug is pronounced a "Sarouk. From Iran."
After we check out the prices on their Sarouks (from 8K to 15K) we check out the new My-T-Fine (43rd and Bryant) for lunch.
- Once the rug is gone it seems like the ideal time to rearrange furniture. Introduce a little feng shui into the house. Which means things will migrate from room to room.
Maybe by the time the water line is fixed, and the hole is filled in and the boulevards and lawns are repaired, those those candlesticks will be put away.
Enjoying: Iced Coffee
Listening to: "Summer Wind" Frank Sinatra
posted by MadgeMc at 10:56 PM
2 Comments:
The house looks amazing. Don't you dare sell it!
Nora, my family sold the ONLY HOUSE I'd ever known and moved to the God-less Left Coast (something your family can understand), so you just suck it up.
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