the house with numbers...

Illustration by Roger Duvoisin

This is an attempt to blog about the number eight. I was going to title it "The Number Eight", but I've found I'm much to fickle to decide these things in advance. Who knew that cleaning the basement would inspire so many new blogs? Well, the number eight is a mailbox sticker, a very large mailbox sticker which I purchased shortly after moving into this house, some years ago. There were three other numbers. They're all supposed to go together, and they're all supposed to be on the mailbox. Since we moved in, our basement has flooded almost every year, which has led to lots of frantic scurryings to get everything to higher ground. At this point, pretty much everything down there is in a plastic tub with a lid, because that is the only way. So, one year we had what we like to call the Great flood. So much of our stuff was ruined and tossed out, and anything dry was quickly tossed into any random box with a lid in the chaos. We now have several large tubs filled with who knows what. This is the same situation which led to my previous post "Chris's Keys". So, every once in a while, when I'm in the basement rummaging through, looking for something, I'll come across one of these numbers. I have high hopes that one day they'll all come together and go on the mailbox. As it is, our post-man just knows that our mailbox is the one with no numbers. I could go out and just buy new numbers, and I've thought about it before while standing in Home Depot. I was right there in the sticker section trying to tell myself that the original numbers were way too big anyway, and I should just replace them; but I couldn't do it. I really just feel that, one day, it'll work out. One day... my shower will work, Snow's wall will be patched, the kitchen will have cabinets, & the rooms will have baseboards. The decks will be done, Sage won't run off, the mice won't get in, and the boxes in the basement will be completely organized. That is when I'll find them. The numbers will be there. You know what, I should take number 8 out there right now, just in case, before it gets lost. I wonder if it'll confuse the mailman if I just start sticking them on as I find them. Anyway, that's all. I'll let you know how it all pans out.