20 pound carp and whatever

So we have a 20-pound carp here on The Planet Ann Arbor. He was found wreaking havoc in the new pond in West Park a few weeks ago. No one knows how he got there but speculation is that it wasn’t under his own power and, as the pond in West Park is not an appropriate environment for a 20-pound carp, he was relocated to a more appropriately sized venue down by Gallup Park. Of course he is on Twitter, along with the Ann Arbor Cougar and the Dexter Bare Bear. Of course, I am following him on Twitter, along with the Ann Arbor Cougar and the Dexter Bare Bear. He tweets rather copiously and esoterically about local polly-ticks. He talks to everyone [from underwater] from our wondrous mayor and a [retired] drain commissioner to swans and turtles. Why is it that because I follow him on Twitter, I think that he is actually alive and well and swimming around down by Gallup Park. I mean, he could actually *be* alive and well and swimming around down by Gallup Park. Or he could have moved on down or up the river. Or he could be, uh, dead. Or whatever. He is a FISH! But because I follow him on Twitter (along with the Ann Arbor Cougar and the Dexter Bare Bear) and he tweets about his talks with polly-tishuns and other pond/river aminals, somehow he seems alive to me. (Actually, the Dexter Bare Bear does seem to have moved on but we still occasionally hear from the Ann Arbor Cougar.)

Aside from that, can I just say I am exhausted? Down to the farmer’s market and back (with a heavy backpack) this morning, then up and down the stairs and lugging books and boxes and other crap around most of the day. Oh, and I can haz rodent crap? Because boy, do I have rodent crap! Rodent crap du jour is in the Dungeon Library. Not to mention that there was a drain backup down in the Freakout Chamber last summer that overflowed onto the Dungeon Library’s Yellow Shag Carpet. I will never forget the squish of my bare foot hitting that wet, sewer-ey carpet. Blech blech blech.

Seriously, the prodject of the weekend (and probably about the next 10 weekends give or take the ones when we are not home) is to pull everything out of the dungeon “library”, get rid of anything possible (this is reeeeeallllly hard for some people), and cleeeeeeeean. Especially the carpet. (Yes, the carpet needs to be replaced. But not until we get rid of some more stuff.) I managed to pull everything out of about maybe an eighth of the space. One little corner. I flung what was “legal” for me to fling, boxed some other stuff (taking a cue from my Seattle cuz, who is also in a flinging mode) and stacked up books on my staging table (old C fam chitchen table) for eventual return to the shelves I cleared off (and cleeeeaned). I hauled my ancient Electrolux down stairs, got down on my hands and knees and vacuumed up all the rodent crap and other flotsam and jetsam that I could. Now I am letting Roooomba roll around that little area of Yellow Shag Carpet to her heart’s content. She doesn’t get bored with vacuuming like I do and she will go over and over and over that little area of floor picking up stuff that I can’t even see. When her battery runs down, I will recharge her and then let her do it all over again. And maybe even a third time. Yes, it is that bad.

As it happened, “other” “people” were working on other rooms. Actually one other person worked on one other room, which happened to be the Messter Bedroom (credit to DogMomster or whoever it was who coined that term, I can’t remember). At one point there were two people in the house and three vacuum cleaners were going [grin]. Anyway, lots of stuff was cleaned/flung and the flat-screen TV we “inherited” from The Comm (aka snagged after she died) was finally mounted on the wall. The Landfill feels cleaner tonight if only symbolically, although the lingering smell of the Goo Gone I used in the chitchen today mitigates that somewhat somehow.

Anyway, my de-hoarding / cleaning efforts usually feel like two steps forward, three steps back. Especially since I have acquired a lot of things from The Comm’s house. Today, even though the Dungeon is a blasted mess right now, I feel as though I have taken about 10 steps forward. But does that mean I am set up to take, well, how many steps back? Solve for x here. Who said algebra wasn’t useful after high school?

Good night and happy flinging (if you are flinging),
KW

2 Responses to “20 pound carp and whatever”

  1. Pooh Says:

    One of the boyz whined about having to dig out his “o&g” army* from the very full room in the basement. I snappishly suggested that the other option would have involved flinging. He came back with another option, taking it up to his room. I reeled back in mock horror. “Carry all those boxes up two flights of stairs?”
    Peace was eventually restored, when he was able to find it in a relatively short time, since Mark had thoughtfully labeled the box.

    *For those who must know, “o&g” stands for orcs and goblins.

  2. jane Says:

    X is usually equal to 4. and not that you asked, but Y is usually 7.