Weekends
Generally, weekends are an all out tag team frenzy to make a dent in our "to do" list. These things fall into two categories...maintenance and restoration.
Spring mornings have not been starting with the sweet chirping of the little finches that make Dave the Cat so crazy to be outside. No, they have been starting with the asthmatic wheezing of a pigeon couple who have taken up residence under one of our eaves.
We have already moved our "base of operations" to the back of the house. We're preparing to renovate the second floor--that will also require going up through the first floor bedroom ceiling. We don't know the condition of the joists.
Aaron heads to the second floor storage room to prep the upstairs space.
Then he goes to the first floor bedroom and prepares to "break it down", as it were.
And out falls....??? A little paper log cabin. Of course.
Whoa! What did they do to that joist???!!! Is there any joist left under there? Okay, kids. Do not try this at home. This is one of the bigger no-no's in home renovation.
We have our work cut out for us obviously.
p.s. For those of you who have expressed curiousity about how this story ended, this weekend we helped to move the woman we know into relatively affordable housing. In an impressive show of tag team support, the pastoral team at our local church carried the ball into the end zone. They are the real thing.
p.s.s With the help of our friend, R, we were also able to salvage a station wagon full of tools for carpentry, well-digging and infrastructure projects to support the work of a neighbor in Africa. (The wagon was so full, things were hanging out the windows...hurray!) My back was complaining all weekend but my soul was lightened. After all, there is always Tylenol for the back.
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Comments
At our last apartment, there was a pair of pigeons living under the air conditioner in the apartment directly across from our bedroom window. They were so loud that I eventually bought a squirt gun, and every morning when they'd start warbling, I'd open our bedroom window and douse them, and they'd fly away. Then one time, one of them wouldn't fly away. She just sat there quivering, taking the full blast of the Super Soaker. I emptied it on her before I realized that she had laid her eggs and was protecting her babies! I felt terrible and threw away the squirt gun. I still feel bad.
Posted by: Jake | May 3, 2004 9:25 AM
Well, Jake. I can't say that I blame you for the squirt gun :) Pigeons used to roost on top of the window A/C units in our old place and, man! What a racket! Luckily, Dave the Cat was a holy terror and managed to hurl his fat cat self against the glass enough times that they got the message.
But if you're still feeling a tad guilty, I've heard that THIS page leaves you feeling "squeaky clean" :)
Posted by: jmo | May 3, 2004 10:15 AM