Christmas in April

Ok, I know it's only March. But the title works better with April.

This morning I awoke to the sound of a truck idling outside. Oh good. It's 6:30 AM Monday and the contractors are back at work next door. The hammers start flying at 7, but today we had a nice early arrival of some sort of large truck. Excellent.

I understand the need to get to work early, and I have to admit I am impressed with the work ethic of the crew. There is not a moment wasted, those guys are hard at work form 7:00AM to 5:00PM. But this is week number eight - of about 24 -  and it is getting tiresome, to say the least.

Things are going as well as can be expected with such proximity and bother. There was the incident I wrote about before when the bracing was in my yard blocking Maggie's wheelchair access. The boys hopped to and fixed it straight away. Last week someone tipped over the portable toilet and I called the owner of the house to let him know. In fairness, that was probaby some high school kids  Then the other morning,  I got Maggie downstairs, and opened the garage door just in time to see the bus pull away. Seems the big boss told the bus to move so he could hitch up his trailer full of crap and take it away. That required him to block my driveway for several minutes delaying the bus access for several minutes while he worked on the trailer. That was REALLY not cool.

I didn't say anything at the time because I was so mad I was fuming. I know that it is best that I keep my mouth shut when I'm that angry because there is just no telling what will come out. Steve made the mistake of making light of it when I came back into the house and I nearly tore his head off. (It's a dangerous job being married to me.) I said/screeched, THEY DO NOT GET TO MESS WITH MAGGIE. (and I may have used a different word than "mess".) Steve quickly understood that I was NOT pleased. The next day I mentioned to the foreman that was unacceptable and that I instructed the bus driver to ignore them from now on. He got it right away. I think he was very sad to see that garage door open before he finished and knew he was caught red handed. I told him they can do their job, but they cannot interfere with my life - except for constant noise for six months. Even a day later, my tone was clipped.

I believe we have an understanding now.

It is difficult because this is a row house. They have a lot that is 25 feet wide and it abuts my lot that is 25 feet wide. To give you an example, this is what I saw while I ate breakfast the other day. It is a workman redoing the window in my neighbors dining room, and it is taken from my dining room table.

Today has been particularly loud and shaky. A picture frame on my bookshelf fell over a couple of times. Finally I just laid it down and will put it back up when they move away from that corner of the house.

I am glad Maggie is at school all day - but next week is Spring Break so I'm not sure what we will do then. Lots of outings, I guess.

Oh and just to complete this Monday morning I have to share another ridiculous fashion choice by the nurse.  First of all, the nurse I have on Sunday night does everything in the morning, which is very helpful. Maggie is in her chair with all the equipment attached which saves me at least 15 minutes in the morning. It's good thing though, because I often have to change Maggie's clothes when this particular nurse is here. There have been some very odd outfit combinations.

This morning Maggie looked fine, though I was a bit perplexed at the 4th of July shirt. Didn't matter, Maggie is a proud American and she can show it all year long. I left it. It wasn't until I was getting ready to head downstairs that I noticed the socks.

Sure,  St. Patrick's day is over, so lets' get out the fuzzy Christmas socks with the snowflakes.

We changed those while we waited for the bus to arrive.  The workmen watched and wondered, but they seemed to be staying on their side of the hedge.

They don't want to cross me again so soon.