MaineCourse

Bandit

I dropped by Ann’s to trap whatever rodent was now living in her attic and to see what could be done about her screened-in porch. The porch is a bit bigger than the Kibbes’, but without the cool stainless steel tie rods.

In fact, there are no tie rods, nor a supporting ridge, and the existing collar ties were installed too high, which is why the walls are now spreading. I guess the good news is it lasted twenty-three years, but the bad news is it may collapse this winter.

As an aside, Adam, have you tapped your tie rods lately?

We talked about the new sun room, the one I might build in the spring, and whether it would be a three or four season living space with heat.

Anyway, the discussion of the room reminded Ann of Bandit, her ferret who used the porch as his protected playground. She had two ferrets, Bandit and Rocky, but Rocky died a year ago. Bandit, she told me, died two weeks ago. The thought brought tears to her eyes. More loss. Like water in her basement, only worse, Bandit’s passing was further proof that “nothing is going right.” Maybe the sagging porch roof is too.

I jumped in (what would you expect?) and asked, “How about another ferret?” She said no, that there could never be another Bandit, and besides California (she has thoughts about moving) prohibits ferrets and ... and then the tears really began to fall. She said something about Andrew, and I guess this is the place she always gets to.

I tried to tell her why she should get another ferret, or a cat, or a dog, or something to get attached to but I stopped myself.

This time I shut up and hugged her.

Good dharma (to follow up on wonderer from the linked post). And it's good to be able to reason with yourself about reason having no place at the time -- hugs are good stuff.

The outer tie rod's gone a bit slack -- sunroom contracting in the cold?

Posted by furry.

Posted by Michael at December 3, 2003 08:47 AM