Sheltering at Home Week 11. Wednesday, May 27, 2020
A house remodel? “It’s legalized home invasion,” our contractor warned as we got ready to sign the contract. “We come in and we take over the place.”
And so they did. They took over the place — a major part of it, anyway: the deck, the living room, the dining room and part of the kitchen. On and off since Nov. 1, it’s been people coming and going. Carpenters. Electricians. HVAC technicians. Pile drivers.
And it’s been nice.
Honest. Our remodel has kept us company all these weeks. It’s actually been pleasant having workers — people — in our house. Jon and I have been sheltering at home since early March, so the invasion has felt more like an old-fashioned open house, with living, breathing (through masks) people appearing unannounced at our front door.
Coronavirus Stats Are Going Up Around Us
The coronavirus is still out there, threatening everybody’s life, livelihood and sense of smell. And with the social distancing guidelines easing up, my infectious disease doc tells me to be more vigilant than ever. New cases will increase — modestly, everybody hopes. But increase they will.
So here we are at home, still, with construction proceeding apace. We’re glad the work is finally getting done.
But we’ll miss it. We’ve enjoyed — yes, enjoyed — the comings and goings of all those workers.
We can’t see them through the wall of protective plastic sheeting. But we can hear the noise and the chatter (English, Spanish, Chinese). The commotion,
starting at 8 a.m. sharp, assures us that the human race lives on and we’re still part of it.
As I said, our remodel has kept us company all these weeks. And it’s been nice.
Until this week.
This is the week the floor guys arrived.
They brought hammers, crowbars, sanders. The plastic walls shielding us from hostile microbes do nothing to shield us from the pounding, sawing, buzzing and scraping going on in our kitchen.
We’ll be glad when the floor guys leave and take their crowbars with them.
Our Remodel Has Kept Us Company — Now What?
But what then? Won’t it get awfully quiet around here? Just Jon and me and our beautiful new deck, our open concept kitchen, and nobody looking in on us but the backyard squirrels?
Not to worry. As I write, a bright young landscape designer is working on plans for a new patio. There will be jack hammers. There will be cement mixers. There will be truckloads of stone. There will be noise and dust.
There will be people.
More Sheltering in Place Chronicles at “I Let the Maytag Man Into the House, and Here’s What I Learned About Human Nature.” More pictures of Jon in our den at “One Broken Ankle and Two Lives Grind to a Halt.”
very well said. all that activity means we are working and producing. when it is just the squirrels, it brings us both apprehension about everything being shut down yet an eery sense of peace and a rare ability to hear and focus on nature. and clearer air!
You’d think that his would be a great time to get peaceful and enjoy nature. But that has not had much appeal for me during this time. There’s probably some deep reason for my reluctance. I should explore that. Maybe.