Of Mice and Contractors

(click on image to enlarge) At first glance this appears to be a picture of a pile of debris. It is actually a picture of the top of the home of a White-Throated Woodrat, commonly called a pack rat. It is called a midden, which is a cool archaeological term meaning garbage pile, or something close to that. It is constructed among the pads of a prickly pear cactus. The rat builds the midden from stuff it collects and uses cactus to create a fortress for its nesting area which lies beneath the covering. In my fair city, folks living in the desert areas have to contend with pack rats gnawing at whatever strikes their fancy. Car wiring can be an expensive favorite of the creatures. Sometime the critters will take up residence in the walls of houses. Which can't be good. Speaking of places that look like a pack rat's midden, my contractor's guy was supposed to finish our drywall and tape and texture yesterday. I waited for him to arrive before going to work. When he didn't arrive by 8:45 am I called his cell phone. He explained that he needed some material and that he couldn't reach his boss to get the okay. I called the boss, who professed astonishment, and told me he would call me right back. When he called he said the guy was on his way and would be here by 10:30 am. About an hour later the guy called me to say he wasn't coming today, because he couldn't finish today and would have to come back another day anyway. I guess his point was that he had a full day's work and only four hours left in the workday, so he might as well come Wednesday and do it at once. The contractor called later to make sure that his guy and worked it out with me, like I got a vote or something. It looks as if we are fortunate this debacle will be done sometime next week. Geez, its no wonder these contractors get a bad name. We did go and order carpet and in a couple of weeks that should arrive. The work is being done by another contractor so hopefully it will go smoothly. Lastly, today is the drop-dead day for paint colors. Picking paint from a sample book sucks. It is impossible for me to figure out what a whole room will look like from a 1" x 1" swatch. Also the one trillion shades of white can be tricky. We picked a basic color called Swiss Almond. Why do I suspect it will turn out to be white when applied to the whole joint? I have been hearing complaints from the lovely Mrs. Sneed for over ten years now that the inside of the house is too darn white. I hope this isn't another decade of the same. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the guy to finish drywalling. Have a good one. Merle Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong and sometimes just full of it.. Tag: Daily Life Personal Finance Humor