Ernest in earnest

"I am in trouble."

Those are not the words you want to hear from a 91 year old man.

"I need help."

Also, not good.

That was the call I got last night from our neighbor, Mr. Price. If you are not up on the layout, Chez Mogs is the third in a stand of four 120+ year old rowhouses. Mr. Price is in the second. He has lived in that house since he was four years old. And if you go in---it kind of looks it. His house has changed little in those 87 years. It is still very Victorian in layout. Where our house has two large rooms, he has five small ones. Our house retains some of the original woodwork to give it charm---his is like a timewarp with original mahogany built-ins and a statue of Mercury proudly holding out a bare light bulb (which would have been hot stuff when the house was built) still affixed to the original newel post. Not much has changed in there.

You would think that someone with his history would be winding down---but Mr. Price is more energetic than me. He still delivers groceries for the Jewel nearby. He still has a lady friend. And he just got a new car...

...hence the call to me. The car is actually new to him as opposed to factory new. When he got his drivers license renewed this year (at that age, it must be done annually---which is impressive since there are a lot of days when he is working with just one eye), he celebrated by picking up a larger late model Buick to replace the car that was failing him. So it must have been a real downer for him to call me this week when the electrical system on his new car failed. In the end, I jumped it and he was off on his merry way to meet the aforementioned lady friend with a big smile on his face, repeating his mantra "Gotta keep movin'."

This is a roundabout way of explaining one of the things that has gone very well with our project. The neighbors. On one side, a happy Mr. Price who is thrilled that we will be putting in a new fence between us (he was asking for it on and off over the last couple of years). So when the contractor yanked up his concrete walkway---he just smiled and told us to keep movin'. And when we asked him to keep his dog, Pup Pup (or Poop Poop as he pronounces it sometimes), indoors for three or four days, he smiled and said the dog would just have to keep movin' in the basement for a while.

On the other side, is the house that has been empty since we moved in. It has changed hands every year and rehabs have started and stalled repeatedly. Apparently it is on the market at the moment. The agents showing the place cannot be too happy with the mess we've made out of the back yard...but they cannot really complain...

And so, our dinky 18' wide lot has been a broad and expansive work space. Thankfully, keeping things less complicated so far...

Plumbing and more concrete tomorrow.