Some people mean what they say

Way back near the end of June we arranged with a "dirtguy" to add some dirt to our foundation, compact an area that may be collecting water, dig a hole and cut out a hole in our basement wall for an egress window. At that time he said, "I'm really busy. It could be September before I get to it and if I don't get to it before September 15 I hunt from September 15 to October 15." I waited patiently until October 15. But then decided I'd waited long enough. After several phone calls he arrived in our yard on Thursday and dug a hole for the window. Someone else will be cutting the hole for the window on Monday. Someone else will be installing the window the week after. At the same time someone else will be arriving bright and early Monday to install my maple floor in the kitchen. Events leading up to this week of activity went something like this:

Wednesday afternoon way back on June 13th-------

**I thought it smelled musty in Dean's "art" room so I went down to the crawl space to investigate and discovered a large wet spot in the dirt.

**With trepidation I told Dean, who also went down to investigate and came to the conclusion our foundation was collapsing due to a leak somewhere in the sprinklers or water coming into the house from a break in the water main.

**At 6:30 p.m. I made a frantic phone call to the plumber. "We are leaving tomorrow morning because our daughter is having a baby on Friday. Please, please, PLEASE call me early so I can arrange a time to meet you when we get home so you can look at the crawl space. Pleeeeeeze."

Thursday morning June 14th

**plumber calls bright and early, comes over and determines that no, our foundation isn't collapsing and no, it isn't a leak from the water main or the sprinklers. Maybe it's a collection of water that was created when the sprinklers leaked the year before. Our house won't fall in but we should have someone do some dirt work around the foundation.

Friday, June 15th Pierce is born. We spend time with the kiddies in Delta and then come home after a little more than a week.

The last week in June:

**"dirtguy" comes over, says he can do the dirt work around the foundation, and compact the ground. We say, as long as you're here, would you be able to dig a hole for an egress window too?

**"dirtguy"/of course. I can even cut the hole and install a window well but "you'll have to find somebody to make a cover. I don't do that. And oh, by the way, I'm really busy so it'll probably be September before I can get over here.

**Me/okay. We can wait til September. In July I order a honkin' window well with its own special cover. It is so large it has little steps in it. I don't have time to find somebody to make a cover and who the heck would I call anyway? And as long as we're putting a new window the in the basement I figured I'd order three replacement windows for the ones upstairs that don't close unless you go outside and push them shut.

**Now we wait. In the meantime every now and then I touch base with "windowguy". "Nope, haven't heard from the "dirtguy" yet. He must be hunting. "

October 16th to the present

**First of several phone calls to "dirt guy". Portions went like this:

**Me/Do you know when you can dig the hole?

**DirtGuy/My "big project" isn't going well. I'm behind. It'll be a while.

**Me/I found someone else who can cut the wall. He can come Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Can you dig a hole by then and do the dirt work later?

**DirtGuy/No way. I'm having back surgery. I'll call you on Friday.

**DirtGuy/My surgery went well. I think I can dig the hole Wednesday or Thursday.

**Me to WallGuy/He thinks he can do it Wednesday or Thursday do you know when you can cut the wall?

**WallGuy/Tell me when there's a hole. Time is money.

**Me to WindowGuy/I'm sorry I can't get anybody nailed down. The hole might be dug next Wednesday or Thursday but I still don't know about the hole cutting. I'll call you when we're ready to have the windows installed.

**Me to WoodFloorPlace/If they cut a hole the week the floors are put in when is the polyurethane being laid so I make sure nobody's around?

**WoodFloorPlace/The floor guy's on jury duty. He might be behind.

Finally........ the hole was dug. This Monday "wallguy" comes to cut the hole. That same Monday "woodfloorguy" comes to begin the floor installation. The next Monday, November 12th "windowguy" installs the egress window as well as the 3 upstairs. That same day the cabinets are delivered. Two days later they're installed. The week after the counters are installed.

So............things are happenin' again. In the meantime today I spent some quality time removing the remainder of the linoleum paper from the kitchen floor. Stupid me, I asked "woodfloorguy" if what we'd removed was good enough. Dean got up early and bought me my own special paint scraper to use on the floor. He was so proud of it and handed it to me with a big smile on his face like it was a dozen roses. That lasted until I determined that I really did want to be able to use my shoulders after today so I got out the sander and things went much more quickly after that.

Dean has enjoyed spending his Saturday outside repairing the sprinkler line around the honkin' hole we had cut. Even though we'd had the sprinkler line moved out from the house earlier in the summer in preparation of the hole to be dug, it wasn't quite enough since I purchased a window well large enough to live in.

All that's left is cleaning up masses of dust from today's sanding, pulling the carpet away from the bedroom wall in preparation for the hole cutting, covering the carpet with tarps, placing plastic up on the doorways to cut down on dust from the floor sanding, fighting over the heating pad, meeting all the "guys" at their appointed times, nailing down "dirtguy" for a date for the rest of the foundation dirt work, and small other projects we've yet to remember. Stay tuned.

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Some people mean what they say