Our Olde House: February 2023
Our orange cat, who I call Fuzzy, divides her time between inside and outside the house. We do not have a doggy door because the raccoons, possums and other cats would undoubtedly use it, so we have to let our cats in and out either the front or back door. I usually let Fuzzy out, and I started telling her how long to be gone, when to come back, and if rain was expected. I will tell her to be back before seven, or come back soon, or some other such instructions. And she does.
Miss Sherry is inclined to think that cats, including Fuzzy cannot tell time or understand English. She believes this even though Fuzzy always comes back around the appointed time, or within thirty minutes if I tell her “soon”. So I asked Miss Sherry, if the cat cannot tell time or understand English, how does she come back on time? I did not get a direct answer, so I suggested to Miss Sherry that she tell Fuzzy when to come back when she lets her out.
So Miss Sherry told Fuzzy to come back soon because it was fixin to rain and then let her out the back door. About thirty minutes later the cat comes under the fence and walks up to the back door to be let in. Another time Miss Sherry told Fuzzy to be back before seven and let her out the front door. To be fair, Fuzzy did come back at six, but it was cold outside. Just because cats famously ignore their human butlers does not necessarily mean that they do not understand what is being said.
Miss Sherry and I, do not make any New Year’s resolutions because we have learned over the decades that too much dumb stuff happens before we can get around to anything we resolved to do. We have not been attacked by insects or severe weather, so I have been able to think about this year’s projects around the house that I would like to do or have someone else complete. I do not make a list of these projects because the list causes me anxiety by its sheer length and inevitable lack of progress.
The plastic wood on the back deck needs to be power washed again so it returns to its actual color. I do not bother power washing the old wooden deck boards because they should be replaced with plastic wood boards; this project really needs to be completed this year. The cost of the plastic wood has tripled since the lumber shortage started a couple of years ago, the logic of which eludes me since these boards are plastic and not wood.
I did manage to power wash the front porch concrete steps and front walk again. These steps get moldy from the rain but they really clean up nicely. When I power washed the front steps I was reminded that the fifteen feet of dead azalea hedge next to them needs to be removed and disposed of. When you put it that way, “removed and disposed of”, it does not sound like much time and effort will be involved in this task, but we all know otherwise.
We still have ladybugs in the kitchen window; Miss sherry put over thirty of the little gals outside one day last week. Very weird. Still no ants, still a good trade; I did set off an ant bomb under the house last month as a preemptive strike. I had one rat under the house a few days ago, but after running around on the pipes for a few hours he found the rat trap. I removed him the next day, and once again plugged the ‘last’ access hole under the house in a spot I did not notice before.
For Christmas last year, Miss Sherry and I bought ourselves one of those natural gas powered standby generators, with the final installation and testing just completed. It is very nicely done, and very well engineered with many safety mechanisms and options to test the entire system or a single component. It also has a phone app so you can check the status of the unit from inside the house or while at the beach.
Miss Sherry was without power for nine days after Katrina, which was a minor inconvenience compared to the tens of thousands of lives that were devastated by the effects of a direct hit from the hurricane. The consequences of that disaster also adversely affected thousands of other people hundreds of miles from the coast. I do not know how to protect a house from a direct hit from a hurricane or tornado, but we can replace the source of electricity if a ricochet takes out the power grid. Yes, this is like collision insurance for your car, we have the generator and hope to never use it, but we have it if we need it.
