Blount Force Tree Leakage

I almost slept walk through yesterday courtesy of my dancing queen wife’s Saturday night dancing extravaganza.  A fellow cousin pointed out she was going through the same pain of separation after having a Christmastime house full of kids only to have them disappear back to their own lives after the holiday.  She said it was raining and that seemed appropriate given the somber emptiness after so much fun. 

New England decided to fully endow the same feeling when the skies opened up in the early afternoon and we were deluged with almost tropical level rain.  There was nothing tropical about the temperatures though and as my wise cousin pointed out – it seemed almost appropriate.  It did offer a poor man’s car wash as I rotated both cars outside from the garage to rid them of the accumulated road salt.

The last thing to do in this type of freezing ooze is play football but the Patriots didn’t have any choice.  They responded with their typical December flourish and pummeled a Buffalo team that came into the game with visions of resurgence.  The Patriots thoroughly disabused them of that flawed thinking process.

Another Patriots reclamation project, their huge running back Blount, ran the ball over and through the vaunted Buffalo defensive line. They looked almost afraid to tackle the behemoth and by the time he got into the smaller secondary there looked to be some serious cringing going on. This was the last regular season game of the year and by virtue of their win the Pats get to sit around for a couple weeks while their future opponent gets beat on next week.     

The rest of the day’s news was a little more depressing, more in line with my post-Christmas funk.  The water heater seems to have sprung a leak.  When I mentioned this to friends I get a knowing look which eloquently states – this is not good news.  Well at least it’s happening just before all the Christmas gift bills start to arrive.  Ahh – the joy of home ownership!

Basement Leakage

Since I was a little excited about the Patriots big win my wife felt it safe to broach the subject which is always very careful about – taking down the Christmas tree.  I never like this because it seems I’m giving up on Christmas all over again.  She pointed out that I should probably be a little more adult about it as the tree was showing signs of becoming a first class fire hazard.

Okay, So She Might Have Helped a Little (A Lot)

She got me started (properly instructed) and then disappeared for tasks that I did not have a need to know about.  I only broke two ornaments during the process (a new personal record!).  As with every year at this point, I seriously question the wisdom of tinsel which has to be removed so I can recycle the tree.  The damned stuff gets everywhere but it wouldn’t be a Christmas tree without it, so I’m stuck in this endless cycle of post holiday recrimination.

Seems So Empty All of a Sudden

I finally did get the tree back out onto the deck and waded through the ankle deep pine needles to a suddenly bare family room. Buddy helped by charging through the piles of tinsel and needles and my wife miraculously re-appeared to ensure the piles were reassembled and removed.  Thanks Buddy.

Now I’ve got to go find the number for that plumber L.