The Doorway, Two Plumbers and a Squirrel

I might as well start with the drama of the evening. A squirrel was sitting in my new bathroom.
This is not really a surprise as I knew they were getting into the house and I was hoping not to have to deal with it until after the new year, but lo and behold, . . . I had friends over for 4th Advent Coffee, wanted to show them my new bathroom "in the works," looked up to see this little guy (he's not little - he's the size of some of the dogs I've seen around here) sitting on the ledge over the door. I told Katie and Mary to come into the room and pointed at him, at which moment he freaked out! -peed all over everything, anointing Katie and my camera. And really, wouldn't you freak out too if three things about 20 times your size were staring at you?
I left the bathroom, turned out the light, only to hear him crash to the floor seconds later. He couldn't figure out how to get out so he was panicking and running all over the place. Finally he ran into my bedroom and after jumping frantically from thing to thing (we three were to scared to try to cross his path to open a window which would have helped him escape), he decided the heating duct would be a good place to hide! and he promptly slid right down to the bottom.
We went to the basement to investigate - I patted the duct - sure enough - there he was scrambling around at the bottom. :(
I did not want o de roast squirrel wafting up the heating shaft so we took evasive action.

(Imagine the Mission Impossible music now . . . ) The doorway to the kitchen was blocked off, keeping us and squirrel in, cat out.
Left over laundry line was tied to a cast iron iron. Peanut butter was put on the weight. . . and along the entire length to entice our little intruder up the rope. . . then it was lowered down the shaft so that he could crawl up.

Mary was our intrepid documentor of the entire drama - thanks Mary! It was a very exciting evening. We don't know if the squirrel indeed reached freedom. I went down to the basement to whack at the heating ducts - with no sounds issuing from within. A good sign I think. Mary also said she saw the rope move at one point, hopefully the rascal left the building.

In other news. . .
I desperately wanted to finish up my doorway - but alas, that too has not been achieved. I blame Jeff the contractor really.
I managed to Spackle on Monday - and sand and paint on Tuesday. It still needs a lot of work, but I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Then Jeff appeared with the plumbers and I made the mistake of asking him what he thought of my handiwork. Mistake. Now we know that he would have done a MUCH better job - because this IS his job. But still - I thought he would as least be able to say - hey nice job - for someone who has no idea what they are are doing. Nope. We launched into what really should have and needed to be done. And while we KNEW he would say this - its still a little discouraging. But my Dad saved the day today when we talked. He brought it up - "Hey the doorway is looking really good!" :) Thanks Daddy.
I still can't get to it until after I get back from being in LA.

So yes, Jeff brought the plumbers, Brendan and ? (crap, can't remember the other guys name.) Two nice guys. I like them. They don't talk much (at least not to me - but that's not the point really now, is it?). But I get good vibes from them. Brendan was telling me he installed a convenience tube (?) (snort - convenience) for the toilet. It's the big black tube in the upper right corner.
And finally, Mary took this picture - it's not very flattering (sigh) but what do you expect?
Woe to me - I've been really sick for a while now. I got another wave of it after assessing the Woodland Cemetery collection last Wednesday. Cary, our Archivist, walked into the Conservation Lab with the same croaky voice as I did - we both caught the same thing from that disgusting dusty collection. :( Yuck. So I'm taking a ton of orange juice, echinacea, golden seal, and mucinex. Somethings gotta give. At any rate - note the big bags under my eyes, and the general state of my hair - but for some reason I really like this picture.