Thursday, June 17, 2010

Back in Maine


The new wall has made a big difference. As has removing the spiral staircase to nowhere that was looming in our living room. The wall of tyvek that divided out house is almost all gone, revealing the 1x3 framing and the (straight) staircase. Before we get the sheetrock up, we could stage the “Romeo, oh, Romeo” scene from R'nJ in our living room, utilizing the landing at the top of our stairs as the balcony. And, at the rate we're going, we probably would have the lead time to put up a play before the wall goes up. But what really matters is that it feels much better around here and, praise be, is more functional. Aaron and his brother really did themselves proud.
Other good news is the abatement of the ticks. Of course, it is all relative. Today alone, I found one on Forest's potty, one on my arm, one on the floor, and picked one off my back. As my dad pointed out, just because ticks can live 200 days without feeding, doesn't mean most of them do, and who knows how early they hatched. There is hope they are starting to die off.
But best of all, to this mama, is that Forest is much happier than he was last time we were here. His fear of flies and mosquitoes seems to have evaporated while we were in Cambridge, and he hasn't once said he wants to go home. Whew!
I'm writing this by the light of a propane lantern on my “dana” by Alphasmart. Here is what the lantern looks like by day:
The “dana,” meant for schoolchildren, is a plastic keyboard with a small screen and some basic text editing software. It requires very little power, what with the no whistles and bells. While I don't need much, an option to illuminate the screen would be helpful. Instead, I have to stand at the kitchen counter to have enough light. The lantern over our only table is broken. We'll have to be sure to get that fixed before Forest is at the homework stage.

2 comments:

  1. So glad the wall is helping and Jasper's fear of bugs is gone! All very good news.

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  2. Have you considered getting some chickens? I understand they eat ticks, and you'd also get fresh eggs.

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