Our carpeting needs to be replaced. It needed to be replaced shortly after it was installed because, for two months, our dog, Shaggy (may he Rest In Peace) had persistent and massive diarrhea.
Every day, when I returned home from work, there would be a HUGE mess to clean up. Some days it was half of the family room, other days half of the front room. Either way, it was annoying as hell.
We have shag carpeting so the clean up was the ultimate shit show. Some days involved a matinee performance of the shit show because both the family room and the front room were soiled. (Annoying AF.)
He was a very good boy and I knew he didn’t do it on purpose, so I never got mad at him.
Someone has to clean the mess…
It was my mess to clean because my wife worked out of town and I got home first. I would arrive home, let the dog out, open up some windows, get dinner started, and then settle in to clean the mess while waiting for whatever was cooking cooked.
After several weeks of this, and after discussions with our vet, we connected the canned food my wife added to Shaggy’s kibbles to the upset stomach. “He seemed to like it,” was the reason given. The immediate lesson for me was that, when choosing dog-related chores, feeding is the place to be. Also, working out of town has its advantages when your canine roommate has persistent and massive diarrhea.
Now, eight years later, the carpet has worn thin in the high traffic areas and, as you might guess, I’ve never quite shaken the grossed-out feeling about the areas I scooped, scrubbed and scoured. I’m not against replacing the carpeting. But it’s a question of money.
The Money Question
Last year, I hired a guy to do some yard work. A “natural” part of our yard had been neglected for twenty years and we decided to finally clean it up. The only work done was my eternal struggle with poison ivy, and knocking down some dead trees. Otherwise, it was overgrown with prickly weeds and unruly brush.
The guy spent five days pulling, chopping and dragging the brush to the lowest area of the yard (we have a twelve foot difference in the back from the highest to the lowest). I directed him to make a pile because it had always been my dream to have one great brush fire to eliminate the problem.
Unfortunately, the brush pile was six feet high and twenty feet across.
Shifting problems
We had transformed one problem into another problem. I called some other guys to see about removing the pile of brush but no one could do it for less than two grand. Not wanting to spend two grand on this problem, my wife and I started bagging the brush ourselves.
Our township offers brush drop off days monthly in the fall and spring. We transformed the problem of the brush pile into the problem of the ninety-six (96) bags of brush. It took two of those drop-offs to do it, but we hauled the bags away to a place that knew how to deal with the problem.
Now with a big empty part of the yard, I brought in dirt, planted seed and schemed about what to do next.
Coming back to money
We wanted to put in a patio of pavers, bringing in still more dirt and gravel to raise the low area, but the estimates started at nine grand ($9,000) and went up from there.
We’re not against making such an investment, but there are half a dozen projects we’d like to do and they all just poke us in the eye as we try to see what to do next.
Back to the carpet
We’ve been lucky that the new dog, Ollie, seems to have fully embraced house training, so we haven’t had to scoop, scrub and scour the carpets in a month. I’ve mentioned that I like to vacuum. After vacuuming last week, we noticed the thin areas again, and the areas so beat down that no amount of vacuuming or shampooing will help.
“Should we get new flooring?” my wife asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Do you want it more than the patio, or the shed, or the deck, or the basement…”
Some life problems require careful consideration when you don’t have money to do them all. I don’t know what we’ll end up doing.
Meanwhile, at My Writing Desk…
The past month, my focus has been on setting up the business side of publishing, and laying out two manuscripts, transforming them into books. I enjoy it, but it’s a lot of detail work.
I’ve also started designing a new novel. I still have one in the can, awaiting editing, so once these other books are published, I will switch off between editing and composing the other two. Whew.
Upcoming Books and Stuff
One of those books about to be published is HIVE, which I’ve mentioned before and shared the first act as a sample. I mention it now because soon (VERY SOON) it will be available as an advance review copy if you’re interested in young adult, dystopian science fiction.
Maybe You’d Like
I’ve joined a group promotion for books with cool characters, using Willie Shocker as my pass into that category. This is a great chance to select some books by their cover and expand your reading horizons:
Click here to check out the Calm, Cool, and Collected giveaway…
And look for Willie Shocker among the covers (“Willie Shocker? You bet your sweet ass he will!”)
Next Time…
I’ll have solid news about my two soon-to-be-published books in the next edition. And please get vaccinated and mask-up. We’re headed for another bumpy ride. I’m hoping everyone stays healthy so we can work on the climate crisis together.
Thanks for reading the Mickey Picayune…
All the best,
–mickey
P.S. I think the new flooring project will be postponed, and this year we’ll move our shed and install a small (i.e., less expensive) patio in its place.