Yeah…I’m late with the blog. It’s not that I forgot. I didn’t. I even had a message from the Universe picked out. But…
Life happened. With a crash. And my entire afternoon was lost in a puff of concrete dust and rotten wood. Brief back story. Our house was built in 1968. The previous owners (who built the house) had a concrete block wall separating the back/side yard from the two neighbors to the west. When we moved in, with very large dogs, we put up a wood privacy fence. Skip ahead almost 20 years and add normal wear and tear (plus a replacement wood fence 10 years ago), sandy soil, Norwegian wharf rats, carpenter ants, ancient tree roots, and more than a few earthquakes.
Just before noon yesterday, there was a creaking groan, a loud crash, and yelping dogs. I went dashing out to discover five sections of the wooden fence in my neighbor’s yard, covered with the concrete blocks from the 3-foot high wall. I was terrified one of his little dogs was caught under the mess because when my dogs and his dogs are out at the same time, there is much barking going on at the fence. Luckily, he wasn’t home and his critters were safely inside. It was my two big boys who yelped–startled, scared, but unhurt.
I did’t stop to grab a camera then. I grabbed the landline (it was closest to the back door–my cell was still in my office) to call Lawyer Guy. Then, still sans camera/cell phone, I grabbed work gloves and started shifting as many blocks as I could. I managed all but four–those were too heavy for me to life and too far away to “roll.” My neighbor got home, we moved the rest of the blocks, and sort of put the fence back in place. LG got home and “secured” the sections with bungie cords.
Today, I’m waiting on a contractor my BiL suggested to see how much it’ll cost if he does the labor. None of us are in good enough physical shape to really do it, but we will if the cost is too high.
Anyway, that pretty much killed any writing mojo and Stormageddon was arriving around 5:00 for his weekly visit and dinner with Jammie and Big Daddy while Baseball Boy conducts practice. By the time he was gone, dogs fed, etc., I took arthritis-strength acetaminophen and went to bed.
And that’s why no Universal musing today. Instead, I offer a pan photo of the aftermath. Click on the photo to get the full size pic.
Filed under: Writing Life Tagged: family, fun travel and adventure, herding cats, life sucks sometimes, Thursday Thoughts
