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Mid-January, Rain - January 13, 2012
Almost Midwinter - December 14, 2011
Saturday, Noonish, Sunny - November 05, 2011
October, White - October 31, 2011
October, 2011 - October 04, 2011


April 19, 2009

11:31 p.m.

Sparkling Embers, Mother Earth

From Saturday

I woke up earlier than usual today -- very good, as I've had trouble getting out of bed these many weeks -- and even doing my morning dawdle and an errand, got to Rose's a little after eleven. They weren't there. I texted them to let them know I'd come over, and they said they were doing errands. I took my laundry off the line from yesterday (what a lovely, meditative task. I don't like how the towels get scratchy but otherwise, hanging laundry out instead of using the dryer is a beautiful thing), played with cats, and then burned some of their enormous brush pile that never seems to end. They burn it inside a rectangle of cinderblocks that was the foundation of the old chicken coop. That coop is history now, and it's a perfect little spot to do away with the bits they've cleared from the property. It's the first time I'd burned all by myself, so I was extra careful. I got the pruning shears and the "fish" (little clippers) from the barn and cut up whatever sticks were too long, and there were a great deal of leaves that had been raked up from the front. I remembered that Pearl had raked these because all the vinca up there is riddled with poison ivy. Pearl isn't allergic, and the rest of us are. I called Rose again to see if she thought there was any of it in the pile, because burning poison ivy can be horribly dangerous if you inhale the smoke.

Her response was, "anything's possible," so we just didn't know. The brush had come from all over and there it was to be burned, and there I was, so I just burned it, tried to stay out of the way, and prayed for protection. My hunch about it was positive so I went with that.

They still weren't home after a while, so I walked up into their woods. It's way overgrown now, a forest really, but it used to be pasture, when a long-ago owner had horses. Apple trees have gone wild. Little broken birdhouses dot the woods. Empty flower pots lean against piles of leaves. Eventually they'll transform it into something vital again.

I found myself at the stone wall that divides their property from Mine, so over I went. Rose called just then and said they were home and would come over after they�d eaten.

They met me in the House and Marc was able to look more closely at structural things. The basement tells all; he pointed out where all the pipe joints were corroded and some were leaky. They weren�t making puddles, but they had drops hanging from them. The basement doesn�t smell musty, so that�s good.

I was dismayed to see all the old pipes, but he assured me it wasn�t that big a deal to replace them and we could do it ourselves for a few hundred dollars. Later he explained to me how it was done and what kind of pipe we should use, and I got pretty excited about helping.

The electric current is adequate but there are no circuit breakers, only the old screw-in fuses like we had here at the apartment until recently. That will require some rewiring. Again, a point against the seller but nothing I have to worry about.

Then I pointed to some white stuff on a beam and said, �What�s that?� and Marc replied, �Oh! That�s asbestos!�

Ack!

He said that, no, that was GOOD. Because it won�t hurt me unless I go downstairs and snort it (his words), but Son would have a much harder time selling a house so insulated.

The furnace is new-ish, and the water heater also. No problems there.

In the end he said the place was in better shape than he expected.

We found the old man�s liquor stash in a file cabinet.

Everybody liked the fieldstone fireplace in the basement.

Recon finished, we left to go to a friend�s house and dig up some free bulbs: Iris, Lily, Narcissus. By then it was past dinner time but there was the inevitable spontaneous raking to do and pulling out of rampant Bittersweet and so forth. Finally we went in and made Miang Kum for dinner � one of the most delicious things on earth. Then we burnt brush in the dark of night at the fire pit, watching the embers shimmer and sparky things fly up and fade, and listening to peepers in the woods. Glorious, I tell you.

Sunday

So why was it so hard to get up today? I thought I was on a roll. The morning was slow; I talked with Eagle and didn�t go with Rose to see her bird. I did get some necessary work done in the morning. Around one, I headed over again to see what was cookin� on the farm.

Marc and Pearl were working on the chicken coop again � it�s standing with four walls and a floor now, and it will have a lovely red door they found at the dump, and a nice window in front. I had copied the documents I borrowed from the House, and went up to replace the folder where I�d found it. Even though it�s still maybe two weeks until Son returns, I�m getting more nervous about being over there, so I didn�t stay long. But something odd happened. I was doing my usual dreaming about how stuff would go, when suddenly I had to POO! Unmistakeably, immediately, and imperatively. I knew the water was turned on in the downstairs bathroom, so I went in and flushed the toilet to make sure� praying it wouldn�t overflow or something. It flushed okay. The toilet was icky. I took a piece of t.p. and lowered the seat (nasty) and covered it with more toilet paper. What else was I going to do? I hadda GO! So I did. I broke into my House and pooed in it, before I even bought it.

I thought, this would be a much worse time for Son to come back and find me, than my being on a ladder in the back of the house.

�Hey! Who�s in here?�

�... Just a minute! I�ll be right out!�

Anyway. I really am not going to keep going in the House. You might almost not believe that, but it�s true. I just needed to� mark my territory.

Later, when Rose returned from Bird visiting, we did PLANTING. We planted all those irises and narcissus and lilies. There were a lot. I got to divide the corms � these were old, established plants that had proliferated for years � and we put some in the back of the house, and down the driveway along the big stone wall. It was lovely to get my gloved hands into the DIRT. Some had violets in the chunks of sod we�d dug out, and we left them to flourish.

And lo and behold, it turns out they have an old arbor they�re not going to use. It�s not an arched one like I�d been imagining, but it�s beautiful and has a little gate. I just love it. It�s bare old wood right now, so I�d paint it white and plant� oh, maybe morning glories or sweet peas, to climb up and over.

I had one chunk of narcissus I�d brought home for myself, because Rose suggested I plant something at the House. I put some along the side next to some daffodils � he�ll never notice them � and the rest way at the side of the yard near the forsythia. Then I had to go into the House again to find something to water them with. A bucket was available, so I did that and then dried it out and put the stuff back in it that I�d removed. Thanks were given to House and I left again� but it seems that I might have one more trip to make, because�

�later Rose told me that she�d talked to Angela, our realtor, who wants to go in, too! This is SO FUNNY! I know it�s outrageous, but see, it�s my house, and on some level I�ve claimed it and it�s claimed me, and we�re not doing any harm � just arming ourselves with information in case Son is all weird about selling it. And he probably knows very little about its condition, at this point. So we�re going to see if Angela can come in the next few days before I leave for a tour. I�ll go in the once more, and then wait to be invited. Which is only a formality, of course, because House and I are on close terms.

After all the planting it was quite late so we went down the block to the local tavern for a mediocre meal and sloppy service. It tasted good enough; we were so hungry. We speculated on whether this Olde World town would ever open a nice sushi place, or an Indian restaurant. Unlikely, we thought. Doesn�t matter; it�s such a beautiful town.

Then I came home in the chilly night.

I�ve got earth under my fingernails. I heard the cry of a hawk in my woods. I saw a cardinal close up. I want this life.


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