The Neverending Project
I stood at my kitchen door looking across the breezeway at the outside garage wall. Planning some light remodeling work prior to selling my home I figured I would replace a few of the cedar shingles and layer on some fresh gray paint. My house is a small Cape built back in 1948 and although the previous owners updated virtually everything, they never replaced the old cedar shingles that are now worn from several cold winters and hot summers. Considering the simplicity of such a project, I knew I would have to set aside the better part of the day, a whopping six hours or so, to complete the task (trip to Home Depot included). A six hour job would leave me just enough time to mow the lawn!While looking at the garage, I noticed some odd dirt stains appearing to leak down from behind the cedar shingles so I stepped out of the house and walked across the breezeway to get a closer look. Sure enough, it looked as though dirt, carried by rain, stained the shingles leading me to believe the breezeway roof must be leaking down between the shingled wall and the inner garage wall. I stepped very close to examine the stains and found tiny particles of sawdust clinging to the shingles like cobwebs. Suddenly my n
Ken is an older man who is hard of hearing, although he'll tell you differently, and one of the nicest neighbors a person could have. Not a very comforting factor considering the pending sale of my house. I had to completely rebuild the wall inside and out as well as reshingle and paint. It never ceases to amaze me the sheer physical effort he puts forth to yell hello to me each morning and how it always scared the hell out of me. It wasn't until two full weekends, and three more trips to Home Depot, that my battle with these little voracious armies was finally approaching a victorious end. The ant and I stared at each other for a few moments as if to contemplate each other's fate should we attack. "Just thought I'd stop by and see how goes the battle! Can't stand them ants, I find them all over my yard every spring!" As quickly as he appeared he disappeared into my garage to take a look at my handy work. Originally planned as a six hour project replacing a few shingles and some light painting, my home improvement task turned into a five day major construction job complete with the bills to show for my efforts. Standing on a small stepladder I almost came crashing to the cement steps when Ken noticed me working on the house and voiced in my direction an ear-shattering HELLO! I humorously thought, wouldn't it be great to use that verbal sonic blast as some type of weapon against my plight? Returning a wave to Ken, I turned back to my battle. The research uncovered my original concern, carpenter ants typically nested in wet, rotten wood. I guess the lawn won't get mowed anytime soon. The man is loud! This morning it wasn't hello he was yelling, instead I watched him for a few minutes as he walked around his front lawn stomping his feet. Continuing on I removed the siding previously installed that the shingles covered and found two thriving suburban communities of these creatures within the wooden planks. First, I tore off the cedar shingles finding water damage and several carpenter ants running about. Certainly I felt the elation as I flexed the will and might of a superior being in the tiny faces of my enemy just as Ken rounded the corner with another HELLO almost causing me to spill my last can of paint.
Common topics in this essay:
Home Depot,
Police Officer,
Neverending Project,
cedar shingles,
carpenter ants,
home depot,
six project,
hasty retreat,
garage wall,
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Acceptance Essays
