"There are only two seasons--winter and baseball."
--Bill Veeck
I have to agree with Mr. Veeck about that. The end of baseball season means the beginning of winter. I hate winter. I despise winter. I loathe winter. Winter has cold weather and ice and short days. I have to wear shoes and socks in winter. There are no fresh peaches in winter. No tomatoes either, or corn on the cob or good strawberries or any kind of melon. No wrens singing in my yard, no honeybees, no daylilies.
No building permits either. Mine runs out December 19th, and every day that I get to work outside on the house I think might be the last day of that. I won't miss my wrists and arms hurting after a day of scraping paint, but I'll miss being outside, seeing my neighbors, hearing the saws and hammers of everyone else's projects. Last week there was enough good weather to make some progress on the house, and I'm hoping for the same good weather this week. Before that permit runs out (and the good weather with it) I need to make as much progress as I can on the west side of the house. That's the side of the house we started back in....May. Good grief, has it been that long?? It's finished except for a 15-foot-wide section (where the paint's incredibly hard to strip) and a little bit of trim. I'd also like to get the clapboards replaced on the back of the house before winter, and my neighbor Chris would like to get rid of 20 or so salvage clapboards that he's promised me but that I haven't picked out or paid for yet. That's a lot of work to get done. I'm not making any promises or bold declarations about what I think will be accomplished. Too much depends on things I can't control, like weather and arthritis and the help of others. I'll try to remember to post photos of what's being done, but if y'all don't hear from me you'll know I'm out there trying to beat the weather in between working night shift and doing that other thing called Life.