Close to finished

Did you ever hang around a work site and watch the workers build, paint or operate machinery? Maybe as a kid. Well, today I feel like a kid again, doing just that. This is not our home yet. Today it is a very busy work site, and I feel like an observer who is somewhat in the way of progress.

If it takes a heap o livin' to make a house a home, this ain't my home yet. It's getting a heap of activity, but that activity is not living as we usually think of the word. One worker is painting our laundry room a sweet, light Dodger blue. Another two men are painting the ceiling of our new portion of the living room. And for good measure the heater/ac man is carrying his equipment through the house and getting into the attic to finish the copper piping and connections to make the unit operable.

Yesterday we had an extra laborer tearing out a nuisance tree and it's bundle of roots that resembled underground dreadlocks.

The place is potentially wonderful, but we are not there yet. Potentially wonderful is not wonderful. It promises to be so, but not all promises are fulfilled. Like the promise of our big discount membership in Direct Buy, from whom we ordered the overhead lights/fans for our new portion. When delivery time was almost here, we get a phone call informing us that the units we ordered are not available. "We can't give you what you hoped for with your expensive membership, but have a nice day anyway." Our one agenda item for today is to go see the owner of the business, face-to-face to tell him that his company stinks and demand our money back.

Now before you count us as unreasonable and demanding, let me tell you that even though we got a discount membership because we are so aged, it was still a major investment. The idea is that a member saves so much money on large items like appliances, furniture etc., that he more than recoups his membership fee and buys needed items at something like half the price. So we ordered a new freezer to replace our energy-guzzling antique freezer. Three or four weeks later my wife phoned to find out when we might expect the arrival of the unit only to find that it was unavailable and they neglected to inform us. Now it's the fans. According to the catalogue they were about half the price suggested by the manufacturer. Well, so what? They can be priced at ten cents for all the good it does when they are not available.

At my age I don't expect to live long enough to recoup my investment. There just aren't that many things we need any more. I am trying to think of the most sarcastic ways to make my point dramatic for the owner. Oh, by the way, we do hope to speak to the owner of the business because he was the one who personally sold us that membership. He said he likes to get on the floor and meet customers to keep in touch with the likes and dislikes of the public. Boy is he going to hear of this "public" dislikes!