September 04, 2009

1:22 p.m.

Friday

Well, I feel a little less whiney today about it all. I was trying to decide whether to mow this morning before the sun came up high enough to hit the front lawn, but it was still quite wet with the night's dew. Instead I got out the iron rake and continued with raking the large bald spot in the lawn, picking hundreds of stones out of it, lengths of rose stems and bittersweet roots we'd meant to bury when we filled in the trench -- but a lot of them ended up near the top, so those landed in the stone pile, too. I managed to get it all raked and loosened as much as I could -- this soil is clay where it isn't stone -- and got out the bag of grass seed.

It was fun sowing by hand! I didn't know how much to toss around, so I guessed. (Later I asked Marc, and he said about a dime's worth of space for each seed. I said, "Oh! I'll have a VERY lush lawn!") I left open one walking path's worth from the front stoop to the driveway. No point in trying to make grass grow where I'm going to be walking all the time. Then I set up stakes along each side and connected them with twine so it would be clear that one shouldn't walk on the grassy parts. Then I watered.

Watering involves getting the bucket from under the kitchen sink (which is there to catch the drip on the right side where the dishes drain) and putting it downstairs under the faucet that turns on the outside water. This one leaks very actively so the water must be turned off after use. Then turn on the outside faucet, unwind the hose and spray away. When done, undo everything in reverse order.

Along about then the chimney guys showed up to give me yet another estimate. I had a very nice conversation with one of them for a while, which was too bad because I liked them but they gave me the highest estimate for the work, of the three I've gotten. Sorry, fellas. That $300 I'll save will get me most of a new back door.

Where's my $8000?

I have a disturbing feeling about the refund; the website and the automated phone number both tell me they can't give me any information about it. I have to call another number with the return in front of me. It's at home. I hate those disturbing feelings, because they're so often right.

Laundry's in; must go home and make that phone call. Stay tuned.