Messy Scenes

1. This morning the lake looked like the witches' cauldron scene from Macbeth. Our little lake usually looks like a placid cup of tea reflecting faithfully the landscape cradling it. This morning, with the mist rising in clouds from its surface, the surface seemed to boil and bubble within the encircling gold.

2. Up here at the house, the scenes are even more chaotic. Peter has his saw set up outdoors on the stone path between the lumber-piled yard and the porch. The clothesline has been taken down and rests in a tangle near the woods that frame the yard. Scaffolding climbs the front face of the house where Peter is currently working, and bits of construction debris settle everywhere as he works and discards until evening clean-up.

3. Indoors things are not much better. I have tidied the bathroom and cleaned up the worst mess caused when Peter had to take out the window (spilling a quart or so of water on the floor). He turned it right side up, set it back in and re-foamed. Yes ... the original incompetents installed it upside down with no place for drainage. (And there are other windows where they did the same thing.) But until Peter has finished framing this one again, its bits are leaning up against walls. When he completes the work I will re-hang curtains and clean thoroughly. (And repeat the process in the bedroom where the other two upside down windows are.)

4. My bedroom which is usually very tidy has become a storage place for pieces I want to work on this winter: a high chair, another toddler's chair, a doll cradle, a child's table and chair set, some little shelves and tables ... the list goes on.

5. The rest of the chairs and other larger pieces are still in the screened-in porch which is another messy scene.

6. Then there is the dining room/kitchen area ... every horizontal surface is covered in paint tins, papers, and work in various stages of completion ... and will remain like that until I have finished all the works in progress, or until Wednesday when I will have guests for dinner.

7. I have tidied up the deck area and put things away. Still have to move the canoe ... a two person portage ... but the chairs, paddles, umbrella and kayak are now stored where they will live for the winter.

8. When I ran a couple of errands with Kenya this morning I discovered a really sad scene on the road. Blood stained dirt marks the spot where the newest puppy on the lake was struck by a car on Sunday. It was a gentle little soul that Kenya really liked. She spent a good deal of time at the spot this morning; she seemed to be making sense of it. Apparently the driver was so busy watching that he didn't hit the white terrier, he didn't notice the puppy that ran under his rear wheel.

9. The dogs' owner is a new neighbour who seems to lack good sense. In the less three weeks since he moved in, his place has become the eyesore of the lake. It wouldn't matter so much if he were up here in the woods, but he is smack dab in the middle of the tidy community. He burns couches, scatters furniture, boats and golf clubs all over the lawn, parks several vehicles helter skelter on the lawn and road, leaves his garbage pail lying in one spot, its lid in another for days and days, and lets his dogs run loose. Nothing ever gets put away. The dog who is still alive is very aggressive and does not stay on the property. Perhaps the death of the puppy will make the owner more careful about keeping him tied.

10. But it is his failure to get a permit to deal with his septic waste that is really bothering the neighbours. He has a handkerchief sized lot and a holding tank ... and seems to be allowing his grey water to just be pumped into the front yard ... 30 feet from each of three wells ... his own and those of his neighbours on either side. And there is another drainage pipe that leads out onto the road all ready to create a giant ice patch right at the bottom of a hill that is already difficult to manoeuvre in winter, and at a place where everyone has to stop ... by the mailboxes.

My messes should be cleaned up within a month; I hope my neighbour's will be too. After that, of course, winter snow will cover a multitude of sins and scenes.