The Miceman Cometh

Some of my dear readers may be wondering: "Whatever happened about the Mysterious Mouse Infestation of the past winter?"

Yes, it was mice, not rats – for which we are devoutly grateful – that were sneaking around, gobbling up or distributing chocolate peanuts, at Christmastime. Our "ratzinger" gizmo trapped a few of the critters, in the space of a couple of months, and there has been no sign of any activity since. But today we had a professional exterminator come out to have a good look around and make recommendations for critter-proofing the house and grounds.

The good man did give us some free advice, and allowed as how this is Their Territory, and we must learn to co-exist with the forest denizens. However, he did not suggest that we offer them food and shelter; he showed us where and how to beef up our house-armor (inserting clumps of steel-wool where needed, clearing a couple of outside areas that a mouse might interpret as a sort of welcome mat, etc.) He gave us a list of foodstuffs that must not be left out uncovered. He inspected some suspicious little dust piles along the ledge of our bedroom "barn wall" and assured us that it was not termite issue -- it might be carpenter ants, but it might also be very old stuff that just shakes out of the tongue-and-groove construction of the wall with our occasional little temblors up here.

All this service (he was here for a half-hour) and advice, and he does not charge a cent; he said he likes to be helpful and also knows it's good will: when we do actually need him to do something we'll be inclined to call him, and then he will charge for work done. I like this policy!

Actually we have had little to no observation of "outside pets" coming inside; it's summer, and they are enjoying all the fresh air and free woodland foods. If we get some uninvited guests when the weather turns cold, later in the year, we can call our friendly service, and he pledges to be out here within less than 24 hours to help us.

I can say philosophically that I am at peace with the understanding that we have moved into "their" forest, and that one of the exigencies of living in such beauty is that we are sharing the space with the natives. But they didn't pay for the cottage: and I know Leenie and Greg would certainly not want us to lower the drawbridge for anything with four legs (or 100, in the case of a centipede) – they might even have some two-legged potential objections too! So behave yourselves, friends, when you come to visit!

The Sweat-Equity Pit

Quite a few years ago there was an amusing/horrifying Tom Hanks film called "The Money Pit" – about renovating an old house. Since that's what we've been doing for the past two months of springtime, I can relate. Although we haven't spent scads of money on this project to which we set ourselves, we have worked hard and put in a lot of time; but we are almost done with The List.

The two major projects were redoing the awful floors in the parlor and guest room – and reconfiguring and creating space-saving built-ins out in John's little studio (The Doghouse).

To get the floors done, we had to move everything out of the two rooms, including all the books and the bookcases, all the "tchotchkes" in the curio cabinet and the cabinet itself, etc., etc.  The cottage has looked like Moving Day for a few weeks, with boxes of books and decor stuffed into various corners of the place and furniture piled into other rooms. We were "floored" at first by the task of choosing the right shade of green for the floors, to blend with other walls – and still another tint for the parlor alcove. But we triumphed, I think: we are very happy with the final results. The actual work was done by a local professional painter, thank God – and we had a couple of days of rest at our beloved Merrybrook cabin while that was going on.

John decided to save a lot of money by renovating his studio himself; and he really worked! But that too is almost ready for prime time; and I'll take photos this weekend of that space and the changes in the cottage, for an album to send to all who might be interested.

We've also had to break down and buy a few furnishings for the newly spiffy interior. The former parlor chairs (which Leenie scornfully calls patio furniture and Souffle more kindly dubbed "engineering style") are out, and two lovely Queen Anne style recliners are in. A great secretary desk graces the entry foyer, and John uses it for household work-space; I use it for storage of linens and such in lower drawers, and our collection of steins and cups from our days in Germany in the upper, glassed-in shelves. I also found a nice little oak dinette table and chairs, for the parlor alcove..... The old and infamous leather sofa that lived temporarily as a guest-room bed has been given away to a single mom who desperately needed furnishings; and in our now much less cluttered little Sanctuary Room, we have our bookshelves installed against one long wall. We bought a very clever ottoman that takes up almost no room but expands into a single bed – for the use of any pilgrim in need of a quiet, peaceful retreat. I still have my writing area here at the lighter end of the room by the window; and I'm looking for a comfortable chair to go with the ottoman, for a reading corner by the library shelves.

Well, you may see the photos soon; and as we work to finish everything up by the one-year anniversary of our moving-in, on July 1st, we are looking forward to a lazy, quiet two months of summer ahead. It's been quite cool up here during these past months, for which we are extremely grateful; but as the warmer days are coming, we hope to be relaxing on the back deck in days to come!

Go Slugs, Go!

It's been a Zoological Morning in our little woodland home. John found his first Banana Slug (proud mascot of UC Santa Cruz) on our property; and a confused bird flew into his Studio as he was working with the door open. The slug moved on (slowly) but John says it really looked like a wiggly banana, very bright and shiny yellow (eewwwhh).  The bird was stunned (but not nailed to a perch) and then it shook its little feathers and flew back out again. I only thank God it wasn't me in that Studio!

In other news, I will also go (faster than the slug) – to Ann Arbor, home town of Fran and the University of Michigan – in mid-September! I reserved my ticket this week, and am getting very excited about Recherchezing Les Temps Perdus in preparation for writing my memoirs. My high-school buddy, Diane, still lives in Michigan and will come over to spend a day with me while I am there – it will be a great help to have two minds digging into our respective memory banks for juicy stories, and it will be a lot of fun to get together again with her after all these years.

In preparation for the trip and the writing task, I am working on a couple of teaching tools for writers of autobiography:  Natalie Goldberg's "Old Friend From Far Away," and "Courage and Craft" by Barbara Abercrombie. Both full of excellent exercises for waking up memories and learning to write them down.

As soon as we're really done with our Spring Turnout of this house (by the end of June, we hope) I will buckle down again to daily writing and discipline.  Meanwhile, the house is still in a bit of an uproar, but we're working on it every day and ought to have it ready for a "before an after" photo album soon!

Babysitter Story, Chapter 2

No doubt it's really silly to refer to this weekend with Josh as "babysitting." He is not a baby, and doesn't require much "sitting." I fix meals for him, and keep him company (and make sure he gets to bed finally, after the lengthiest getting-ready process I've ever seen in my life). 

Friday evening after he and I had an early dinner, I bargained with him: "If you get all ready for bed now, we can watch a movie together before you go to sleep." He was pretty fast with the process, based on that deal. The great film biography of Johnny Cash, "Walk The Line," was on CBS, and we watched it together. Josh asked very well thought out questions as we watched: "Exactly when did all this happen?" was one of my favorites -- the 60s costumes probably made the timeframe look like a long-bygone era to the lad! He asked about the problems and pain that ensue with drug abuse, and was interested in how June Carter's care for and love for Johnny made a good man out of him eventually.

On Saturday morning, Josh came downstairs and asked, "May I watch some TV while you fix breakfast?"  I said, "Sure, it's Saturday, want to watch cartoons?" He replied, "No, I like the Discovery Channel."  He watched a program on wildlife during Arctic summer, and we discussed it as I fixed a pretty good pancake brunch with fresh fruit and yogurt.

In the afternoon, Aunt Julie drove down from Seascape and went with us to Monterey to see the brand-new (and wonderful!) Pixar film, "Up."  It will be much loved by all ages of kids and adults, I predict.  We did a little shopping afterward, and I took us to dinner at P. F. Chang's (Josh ate a huge plateful of Shrimp in Lobster Sauce over rice -- after some hearty appetizers, of course.)

I think that at least I've partially redeemed myself after the rocky start to this grandma weekend!

Babysitter Blues

"Here's the story / of an old grandmother / who had brought up her six kiddies, plus two more / and it's the story / of how old grandmother / was out shopping when her grandson needed her"

I contracted to stay with Josh in his home in Marina for three days, while Joe and Kathie flew back to Chicago for a nephew's wedding this weekend. Here's the first installment in the story.

John drove me down to Marina on Friday mid-AM; Kathie and Joe had already left for the San Jose airport, but I had a house key. Josh was at school (presumably until 4:30 PM when the bus would bring him home).... John then went on down south to have a weekend with sibs, Marie and Robert – and to see their new shared rental house in Altadena.

So I took the small car left here for my use, and drove down to the big shopping center in Monterey, to look at the two recliner chairs  in situ that I have on order at Macy's. (I sat in the floor model, inspected it, and declared it "just right.")  I did a bit of other looky-loo shopping and had lunch at Whole Foods (the free samples did it for me) -- and got back to Marina at 2 PM -- and there was a car parked in the driveway.... Scary.

Turns out that shortly after I'd locked up and left this house, Josh's school had called because Josh had a tummyache and wanted to come home. Not finding anyone home, they called Kathie's cell, as she waited at the San Jose airport to board for Chicago. She couldn't reach me, since John had taken our one cellphone with him.....

Luckily, Kathie got hold of her former teaching partner Linda, who lives around the corner from her and is retired and was at home -- so Linda picked Josh up at school, brought him back here and waited for my return.

I felt like I'd failed my first babysitting test. But how could I have known? And Josh was not sick; he was a little constipated and won't use the school bathrooms -- the problem was taken care of as soon as he got back home, according to Linda, and he was fine when I got here. (Linda and I conjectured that he might have thought the complaint would give him more time with Granny Franny -- but that didn't quite work out!)

Joe and KB called as soon as they landed in Chi, and were very understanding, but I apologized profusely.

Anyway, grandson and second-rate grandma had a nice afternoon and evening together, and all's well.

Balloon Story

Sometimes grace does drift down from the heavens: here's how it happened in my forest-garden today.

 I was sitting in the back room in late morning, doing a little IM and e-mailing, and looked up to gaze at the greenery beyond the big windows. Goodness! Suddenly there was a lovely bouquet of blue, white and silver balloons, tied with ribbon, floating across near the tops of the trees!  As I watched, they drifted slowly down and alit on the back deck, under the umbrella on the glass patio table.

I couldn't believe my eyes; but I ran out, gathered the gift, and tethered the bouquet to the railing of the porch fence – where it floats and waves gaily, even now.

I asked my friend Sarah, who was on the chat line with me at the time,  if this meant that it was my turn to give a party (since these balloon clusters are often tied to the gate of a party-house); she made a lovely reply: "Maybe the party is just for you."

Every day is a sort of party at this cottage; but today was made very special by that gift from above!

Workin' On A Dream: Part 2

It's Friday: TGIF.  And we are back in our own little cottage again.

Yesterday we spent the morning running back and forth between Merrybrook and our house; power failure afflicted both locations, as it did on Wednesday also. We passed some time watching the paint dry; listening to Peter's generator powering the saws for a tree service trim job next door; and getting errands done in the village.  By lunch time we were ready for a break, so we made sandwiches and sat on the little deck over the creek at our lodge. The deck on the cabin next door (Number 4) was being rebuilt, but the noise of the workmen was not as bad as that at home, and the Mexican radio station was playing some easy-listening dance music; we sat on that deck for a couple of peaceful hours, as a breeze wafted past and the stream gurgled below.  Two beautiful mallard ducks were fishing for lunch below the deck; birds were singing.  I love that lodge.

We met the painter late in the afternoon at our cottage, and we all pronounced it Very Good.  I headed to the back room to write a check for him and as I went on-line first, to see how our bank balance was faring, I discovered that someone had paid for the paint contractor's work: President Obama!  There was an automatic deposit to the account for our Stimulus Package lagniappe.  I wrote the check and handed it to Mr. Painter, saying: "It's from the government, they are here to help us!"  He opined that we were being very good citizens, as we were spending the money immediately, in a local business (he lives on Bear Creek Road) on home improvement. You can't get more patriotic than that, folks! Thanks, Barack!

To celebrate yet another great bit of good luck, we took ourselves down the road to dinner at Scopazzi's, and lifted a glass of local red to the new administration as we celebrated the successful completion of Stage One of our renovation.

Yes, the before/after photos are coming soon, via Kodak Gallery: watch your incoming mail.