Hinds County Gazette
October 8 2009
I am just about wore down to the ground….I have two major projects going at once. You all, generally it does not bother me one little bit for friends to see my house, with an occasional unmade bed, sink full of unwashed dishes, or a gazillion dust bunnies down the hall. But the back porch had come to the point it needed attention, so very badly, it was mildewed, the Formica was peeling off the counter top , the cupboard doors were warped , so they no longer closed, the screens were disgusting… clogged with dirt and pollen. The porch had gotten so bad…I was ashamed for even my buddies to see it.
I had a plan for the porch…but it kept raining, so while waiting for the rain to stop… I moved on to a rainy day plan. Which was to put up new curtain rods…actually a poles with rings that have clips…the curtains are attached by means of the clips…so from now on, when I wash the curtains, I will no longer have to tussle with threading the lace curtains, on to 12 feet of rod, then climbing up the ladder one step at a time….gripping that cumbersome load, then comes precarious part, the far reaching ….to attach each of the ends, that are positioned 12 feet apart,….. all the while, struggling to keep my balance. The ceilings in this old house are 12 foot and the rods were positioned at about 10 feet up….None of this use to trouble me. But now that I getting old, it doesn’t seem like an especially safe maneuver…..…Hence my new plan.
I don’t think this clip on thing is meant for lace curtain….It almost certainly would not pass the laugh test in and around the serious home decorating crowd. ….But you have to do, what you have to do… to stay in your house when you get old….and have clean curtains.
The instruction stated to install the rods and brackets it would take 30 minutes, I was doing six windows….well….the first one took and hour. Each one after that took progressively longer and longer. Hours turned to days...
It was the ladder climbing that really slowed down me to a crawl and made my bones and muscles ache…. After climbing up the ladder, no matter what I was doing, I did not have what I needed when I got up there and had to come back down. Or if I had it…it fell to the floor and I had to come back down. And the painting! I thought my arm was going to fall out at the shoulder….My neck is still stiff…my legs are cramped, my muscles are sore.
One day after working the entire day, I was so tired and so sore, I went to the bathroom, and turned on the water going to take a nice hot bath. Mother vowed and declared that a hot bath with a handful of Epsom's salts pulled the soreness right out of the muscles …I has some Epsom's salts in the shop, I use for my roses…I limped out to get it and limped back in …I have one of the old tubs…deep and long, an old claw foot ….I looked down at that bathtub filling up….I thought to myself…“as weary as I am, as bad as I hurt, if I get down in that tub, I will have to call the fire department to get me out.” I turned off the water drained the tub and took a shower….
None of you all care about my aches and pains…. do you? That’s Okay….Nobody I whined to this week be seemed concerned either… On top of all my aches and pains and nobody caring…my washing machine died….is there anything more aggravating then an out of fix washing machine? Well, maybe a car that won’t crank…..or a lawn mower that won’t go, or a dog that won’t come when it’s called….or somebody that all they want to talk about …is how hard they work, or how busy they are, or want to tell you all about their various aches and ills.
I did have a grand time Thursday Evening…, a friend and I went to Raymond for one of the Evenings at St. Marks events to see the writer Allan Huffman, he spoke on his book Sultana: Surviving the Civil War , a tragic story of a boat that sink, north of Memphis, just after the war. I had met Allan at the Mississippi Heritage Trust event that I attended with Isla awhile back….I was so impressed with myself when he (A real author) told me read my column…then on after while, he confessed, he didn’t read anymore, he had let his subscription lapse
Mr. Huffman had let his subscription to the Gazette come to an end, therefore, I felt I was under no obligation to buy a copy of his book….so I borrowed Isla’s copy of another book of his, Mississippi in Africa… .
But still and all, after meeting Mr. Huffman, …and finding him so down to earth, witty and fun,…. sore and exhausted as I was, I just had to go listen to him speak about the Sultana…and soon as I finish Mississippi in Africa, I shall be hunting down a copy of the Sultana…..sometimes I find history a bit dull but, I am finding Mississippi in Africa totally absorbing….
Hey! I gotta go! I hear Charlie barking….I called Jerry, I think Brian must be here to fix my washing machine!
Call if you need me
I am just about wore down to the ground….I have two major projects going at once. You all, generally it does not bother me one little bit for friends to see my house, with an occasional unmade bed, sink full of unwashed dishes, or a gazillion dust bunnies down the hall. But the back porch had come to the point it needed attention, so very badly, it was mildewed, the Formica was peeling off the counter top , the cupboard doors were warped , so they no longer closed, the screens were disgusting… clogged with dirt and pollen. The porch had gotten so bad…I was ashamed for even my buddies to see it.
I had a plan for the porch…but it kept raining, so while waiting for the rain to stop… I moved on to a rainy day plan. Which was to put up new curtain rods…actually a poles with rings that have clips…the curtains are attached by means of the clips…so from now on, when I wash the curtains, I will no longer have to tussle with threading the lace curtains, on to 12 feet of rod, then climbing up the ladder one step at a time….gripping that cumbersome load, then comes precarious part, the far reaching ….to attach each of the ends, that are positioned 12 feet apart,….. all the while, struggling to keep my balance. The ceilings in this old house are 12 foot and the rods were positioned at about 10 feet up….None of this use to trouble me. But now that I getting old, it doesn’t seem like an especially safe maneuver…..…Hence my new plan.
I don’t think this clip on thing is meant for lace curtain….It almost certainly would not pass the laugh test in and around the serious home decorating crowd. ….But you have to do, what you have to do… to stay in your house when you get old….and have clean curtains.
The instruction stated to install the rods and brackets it would take 30 minutes, I was doing six windows….well….the first one took and hour. Each one after that took progressively longer and longer. Hours turned to days...
In that 30 minutes they evidently did not factor in ….moving furniture, old hardware that had to be removed…or stubborn to impossible to remove screws, or the dirt, cobwebs and dried up chameleon, I come across behind the desk in the living room ….The instructions must have been for new construction, with 8 foot ceiling.
Then the Sun came out….so I was putting up the rods betwixt and between waiting for paint to dry on the back porch…and pouring the concrete counter top…that was a heavy job…..And it is not level….When things don’t turn out perfect on The Home and Garden Channel they call it having an “organic appearance” …mine is more lumpy then organic….but I am not totally unhappy with it.
It was the ladder climbing that really slowed down me to a crawl and made my bones and muscles ache…. After climbing up the ladder, no matter what I was doing, I did not have what I needed when I got up there and had to come back down. Or if I had it…it fell to the floor and I had to come back down. And the painting! I thought my arm was going to fall out at the shoulder….My neck is still stiff…my legs are cramped, my muscles are sore.
One day after working the entire day, I was so tired and so sore, I went to the bathroom, and turned on the water going to take a nice hot bath. Mother vowed and declared that a hot bath with a handful of Epsom's salts pulled the soreness right out of the muscles …I has some Epsom's salts in the shop, I use for my roses…I limped out to get it and limped back in …I have one of the old tubs…deep and long, an old claw foot ….I looked down at that bathtub filling up….I thought to myself…“as weary as I am, as bad as I hurt, if I get down in that tub, I will have to call the fire department to get me out.” I turned off the water drained the tub and took a shower….
None of you all care about my aches and pains…. do you? That’s Okay….Nobody I whined to this week be seemed concerned either… On top of all my aches and pains and nobody caring…my washing machine died….is there anything more aggravating then an out of fix washing machine? Well, maybe a car that won’t crank…..or a lawn mower that won’t go, or a dog that won’t come when it’s called….or somebody that all they want to talk about …is how hard they work, or how busy they are, or want to tell you all about their various aches and ills.
I did have a grand time Thursday Evening…, a friend and I went to Raymond for one of the Evenings at St. Marks events to see the writer Allan Huffman, he spoke on his book Sultana: Surviving the Civil War , a tragic story of a boat that sink, north of Memphis, just after the war. I had met Allan at the Mississippi Heritage Trust event that I attended with Isla awhile back….I was so impressed with myself when he (A real author) told me read my column…then on after while, he confessed, he didn’t read anymore, he had let his subscription lapse
Mr. Huffman had let his subscription to the Gazette come to an end, therefore, I felt I was under no obligation to buy a copy of his book….so I borrowed Isla’s copy of another book of his, Mississippi in Africa… .
But still and all, after meeting Mr. Huffman, …and finding him so down to earth, witty and fun,…. sore and exhausted as I was, I just had to go listen to him speak about the Sultana…and soon as I finish Mississippi in Africa, I shall be hunting down a copy of the Sultana…..sometimes I find history a bit dull but, I am finding Mississippi in Africa totally absorbing….
Hey! I gotta go! I hear Charlie barking….I called Jerry, I think Brian must be here to fix my washing machine!
Call if you need me
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