Thunder & Lightning

 We had a very dim and overcast day today.  The rain held off until just before noon and it's been raining pretty much since then.  A thunderstorm just rolled in, rumbling and flashing out there in the dark.  I didn't take any rain pictures but you know what rain looks like, day or night.  I hear the raindrops pecking at the window right now and the thunder rolling across the sky.  At least it isn't snow.

There was a small flock of Juncos feeding on the fallen cracked corn and seed on the ground this morning.  Most of them were in the grass and, therefore, invisible, but this one little birdie hopped on the patio for the seed fallen there so it was visible.  It amazes me how hard it is to see them in the bright green grass.  Those birds are charcoal gray, they should stick out, but they don't.

The Downy Woodpecker found the suet pellet feeder today and made himself at home.  I hope he tells all of his friends.  And none of the squirrels.

 

 

This afternoon I cast on another Warm Beanie, this one in yarn called Harvest.  I'm kind of surprised at the way the colors are pooling but there isn't any way to change it, not one that I know anyway.  This is half of the ribbing rows for the deep brim.  It'll be an easy thing to knit on at Friday Night Zoom Knitting tomorrow.  (How is it that the days drag but the weeks fly by? I was amazed to realize that today is Thursday already. Wasn't it just the weekend?)

22 October--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

Chapter 2

The next morning Silas showed up bright and early and we went over every inch of the hotel debating what we could salvage and what had to be torn out. Silas went down to Johnno's for a different hammer.  

The man from the Water and Electric Department arrived before ten o’clock.  He stood in the open doorway, the sun at his back, and stared at me. 

"Hi," I said, "you must be the Water and Electric man."  I walked toward him with my hand extended.  "I'm Mrs. Rose Lambert."

He stood there, his weight on one foot and his hands on his tool belt, looking me up and down.  "I Helbert Hughes," he said, "here to fire up your lights and clean out your pipes."

Oh lord, help me, I thought.  I tried to keep the smile on my face but hoped that Silas would come back soon.  "Yes, well, the meter is out the back door and the water main shutoff is out there too."

He nodded but didn't move.  "I knows this, but first we need to talk about payment."

"Payment?"  I was confused.  "I thought the woman in the department told me that I'd get a bill."

He nodded again.  "Yes, you get a bill from the department but now we talking about your payment to me.  Today."  He took a couple steps toward me, shifting his eyes up and down my body.

"Now wait a minute," I stood my ground. "I'm not paying you a bribe to do the job you already get paid to do.

"If you want work done today, you will."  His voice had dropped almost to a whisper.

"Hughes."  Silas' voice made both of us jump.  "What are you doing trying that scheme out on Mrs. Rose?"  He pulled the man's shoulder and spun him around.  "You put in the meter and turn on the electric and water right soon then I won't have Johnno telling your mama about this."

"But, Silas, I got..." Hughes said, spreading his hands out as if to push Silas' objections away.

Silas wouldn't listen.  "I do not care what you got, you got to fix this electric and water and not try to wheedle a bribe out of Mrs. Rose.  She is a good person, wants what is good for Anguilla, and not to think Anguillans is crooks."  He shook his head.  "For shame, Hughes, for shame."  Silas walked around the man and came to stand before Rose.  "I am sorry, Mrs. Rose, Hughes is my cousin but he is a jerk.  I will watch him for you."

"Thank you, Silas," I said, and I went out the front doors onto the sand to look at Road Bay for a few minutes to calm down.

I went back inside to stand by Silas and watch Hughes inspect the wiring before he reinstalled the meter and flipped the breakers.  We held our breath as electricity was restored.  I think we all dreaded hearing a pop, a fizzle, and then smelling smoke.  That didn’t happen.  When Hughes flipped the switch in the lobby one of the light bulbs in the old chandelier actually lit up.  I had bought a package of bulbs at the market the day before so I asked Silas to put another bulb in there.

While Silas and Hughes went out back to see about getting the water turned on, I went into every room, upstairs and down, flipping switches to see if any of the other light bulbs worked.

I had started clearing out the debris in the kitchen since it was closest to the dumpster when I heard water clanking through the pipes.  I watched apprehensively to see if the pipes held.  Hughes came in and opened the kitchen faucet.  First came a moist hissing and then a rush of thick rusty, sludgy water.  Slowly the water cleared up and ran fairly clean.

“You needs to replace all the old metal pipes with PVC,” he said shaking his head.  “I not open the shutoff between the kitchen and the rest of the hotel.  Do not send water through the whole building now.  These pipes have had no water for years; she might leak in the walls if I turn it on before you inspect the pipes, Silas.”

Silas nodded.  “Mrs. Rose and I were just discussing that.”

The truth of the man's words was evident in the puddle spreading around our feet.  While Hughes ran to turn off the water at the main, Silas and I used an old tarp and a couple sheets that had been shoved into a corner to sop up the water on the floor.

Once the worst of it was cleaned up Silas shined a flashlight at the pipe above the kitchen faucet.  "Look, Mrs. Rose, there is a rusted out place an inch long facing the wall."

"Damn it," I said, "it would have been handy to have running water so we could clean up as we work but I guess we'll have to wait until the plumber gets all the pipes replaced."  I looked around at the bare studs and rafters.  "I'm glad that didn't happen once the new wallboard was up.  I know I didn't buy enough to replace walls twice."

Today's toss was a stack of FedEx boxes folded flat and some cardboard that Durwood used when he worked for the Walmart Portrait Studios.  I keep stumbling onto things that I don't know why I've kept for months/years/decades.

I also switched out my summer socks for my winter socks.  It's cold and damp enough to need warm and boring socks.  My mismatched socks are put away for the season, except when I wear my hand-knitted socks.  Those I only knit one of so they're always mismatched.

--Barbara