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Pour, pour pitiful me.
May. 8th, 2009 11:07 amYou may recall the story of the Red X's from last month. Of course you don't. Our house got cited, as did just about every one in this entire subdivision, for sidewalk repairs, which had to be completed by June 1st. Within a few days of the arrival of the Grim Sidewalk Reaper with his spray-can marking the offending "pads" with red X's, a swarm of contractors descended on our shores, and more than half the homes here have already had their pedestrian-traps dug up and the new cement laid.
Until yesterday, that half did not include us, nor had our neighbor to the right been in on the fun. We'd both called the same guy, who did our other adjacent neighbor's sidewalk and quoted a decent price, but he didn't show to start the work last week when we expected him, and I was just too overloaded with Le Stuff to chase after him.
As I said, until yesterday. As I left for the office, some guys I didn't recognize were busy digging up a bunch of Sally's nonconforming slabs, and the trucks and mini-dozers involved didn't look anything like the ones I'd seen in use at Betty's house on the other side. By the time I got home, our two half-pads were also gone, and nobody knew nuthin about who had done it.
Had we blown a deadline and the town was doing it, doubtless at a much higher expense? Had some other contractor screwed up and begun work at the wrong house? Inquiring minds wanted to know, so I called the dude who we'd signed the quote with.
He didn't recognize us by address- forgivable, since he's probably got 20 houses on this street he's either doing or has quoted. But then I played the card I always use to get people to spot our house when they first turn the corner:
"It's the brick one, one house off the corner,.... ::continues to hear mouth-breathing:: .... you know, the one with the big beautiful gardens in front."
"Beautiful gardens" is what we call an understatement. Here's a shot from two autumns ago, just one I grabbed quickly off Eleanor's computer (she'll probably link to a better one), which gives you an idea of what I was talking about from his sidewalky point of view:
( Since he apparently didn't see it, why should YOU without clicking? )
More hemming and hawing, and finally, he asked: "Oh, are you the one with no screen in your front door?"
Yeah, that would be me. It's been repaired and is ready to pick up, actually. I'm so glad I waited, or you would never have remembered my freakin' house.
We kinda made fun of the guy when he first came by, because his business name is "Enigma Construction." After this incident, I'm going to offer him a free dba modification of that to "Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma Construction," because that, apparently, is how deep he keeps his clues.
But only after he pours the concrete, which he's supposed to do today. Cross your fingers, and keep Jimmy Hoffa off my damn lawn for one more day.
Until yesterday, that half did not include us, nor had our neighbor to the right been in on the fun. We'd both called the same guy, who did our other adjacent neighbor's sidewalk and quoted a decent price, but he didn't show to start the work last week when we expected him, and I was just too overloaded with Le Stuff to chase after him.
As I said, until yesterday. As I left for the office, some guys I didn't recognize were busy digging up a bunch of Sally's nonconforming slabs, and the trucks and mini-dozers involved didn't look anything like the ones I'd seen in use at Betty's house on the other side. By the time I got home, our two half-pads were also gone, and nobody knew nuthin about who had done it.
Had we blown a deadline and the town was doing it, doubtless at a much higher expense? Had some other contractor screwed up and begun work at the wrong house? Inquiring minds wanted to know, so I called the dude who we'd signed the quote with.
He didn't recognize us by address- forgivable, since he's probably got 20 houses on this street he's either doing or has quoted. But then I played the card I always use to get people to spot our house when they first turn the corner:
"It's the brick one, one house off the corner,.... ::continues to hear mouth-breathing:: .... you know, the one with the big beautiful gardens in front."
"Beautiful gardens" is what we call an understatement. Here's a shot from two autumns ago, just one I grabbed quickly off Eleanor's computer (she'll probably link to a better one), which gives you an idea of what I was talking about from his sidewalky point of view:
( Since he apparently didn't see it, why should YOU without clicking? )
More hemming and hawing, and finally, he asked: "Oh, are you the one with no screen in your front door?"
Yeah, that would be me. It's been repaired and is ready to pick up, actually. I'm so glad I waited, or you would never have remembered my freakin' house.
We kinda made fun of the guy when he first came by, because his business name is "Enigma Construction." After this incident, I'm going to offer him a free dba modification of that to "Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma Construction," because that, apparently, is how deep he keeps his clues.
But only after he pours the concrete, which he's supposed to do today. Cross your fingers, and keep Jimmy Hoffa off my damn lawn for one more day.
