July 19, 2009

9:34 p.m.

A Truck and Some Friends

We didn't do the pipe yet. I know you're all just checking in here daily to find out the latest about the poo pipe, but yesterday we cleared more of the basement and Marc rigged some lights, with a switch, in the back end so we could see what we were doing. It was fun watching him do electrical work. He's fast and confident and explains everything as he does it. And when he pulls a tool out of his pocket -- a utility knife, a screwdriver -- he flips it over and catches it before using it.

Later, when it wasn't quite so hot, I worked some more on the wall and stone steps. I decided I need to use a brush cutter, because clearing that tangle of rose vines and sticks and deadwood and bittersweet with loppers is ridiculously slow. Marc said there was actually a brush cutter in my basement which, if oiled, might serve nicely.

Today we enlisted half a dozen other people to help us clear out the old shop. We made two trips with the huge box truck, full both times. Some things were incredibly heavy and big -- the table saw, a large compressor, a metal cabinet. The truck had a hydraulic platform on the back end that could raise or lower big things, so we managed to muscle the table saw into the bucket of the tractor from there. Slowly, carefully, Marc drove it to the side of the barn, where many hands eased and heaved it into the space we'd cleared. That saw was a MOFO of a heavy object.

The compressor got roped at the top and the tractor bucket just hooked onto the rope and lifted it off the ground. We put a rope around the middle too, to keep it from swinging. We had four guys and four women, so there was enough muscle to go around.

While we were in my basement the second time, Rani suggested that since we had so many people, we get the enormous, skanky desk out from under the broken poo pipe. (This is the broken upstairs bathroom poo pipe, not to be confused with the broken poo pipe that goes from the house to the septic tank.) Years ago when this unfortunate explosion occurred, what exited the pipe ran all over the desk, which was covered with the old man's receipt books, jars of dye for thread (he used to be the dye lot manager for a thread factory here), random metal bits and pieces of things, you get the idea. The desk was covered with all sorts of crap which I had removed last week. It was so swollen from being there for decades in that environment, they had to remove the drawers with a crowbar and smash some of them just to get them out. Chris particularly enjoyed this: having permission to smash something, uttering great karate-like cries as his foot came down on each drawer. (We did not find the $11,000 I dreamed about, incidentally, though I have everyone looking out for it now.) Somehow that nasty hulk was taken out of the bulkhead and turned over onto the ground in back, to be removed at some later date (probably by the dynahoe). At least it's out of the basement.

We got nearly everything of consequence out of the shop, a great relief to Marc, who no longer looks like the deer in the headlights.

Speaking of wildlife though, yesterday we saw some wild turkeys at the edge of my yard, which spirited off into the woods once we became interested in them.

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In spite of precautions I have a burgeoning outbreak of poison ivy. I thought the sizeable patch on my arm was on the way to healing, but just this weekend I have a lot more spots, and now some on my back, waist and elbow. Enough is enough; three days of Prednisone is in order. This shit is insidious as hell. We will win eventually; we'll beat it back enough so that it stops plaguing us. But my place is so overgrown, and we're digging in places where we know it roots, it's impossible to avoid it all the time. Thank goodness I have a sister who is a nurse. I won't take it tonight because it would interfere with my sleep (like the poison ivy rash won't), but tomorrow morning I start fighting back. I think all these other things just don't do much for me -- all the tecnu, the jewelweed soap (and the jewelweed juice itself, which I got from the garden), the creams, sprays, lotions. I've used 'em all on this outbreak and would be hard pressed to prove they've done anything for it.

Pred, however, is another matter.

A friend suggested today that I spray the poison ivy (the plant, not the rash) with pure vinegar in a spray bottle. Said it burns it right up. I shall try that tomorrow.

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Chris and Carol hadn't seen the chickens since they were baseball-sized, and living on the porch. Now they live outside. We have a fenced area adjacent to the coop for now, so they don't run around the yard yet. But they are getting the hang of eating bugs. At first it was just the odd cricket, but now they have developed a taste for slugs. Throw a few slugs in there and watch the melee! They also love wood sorrel and clover. And corn -- crazy for corn. Give them a corn cob, or a chunk of watermelon rind, and they attack it. They also like yogurt with chicken feed mixed in. We walk up to the fence and they come running, hoping for a snack. We had everyone looking under rocks and pieces of wood, hoping to find a bug for them.

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I got my check from the auction today and immediately deposited it. Ready for Pex pipe whenever we need it.

Tomorrow, work again. I'm going to bed right now so I can almost get enough sleep.