Ferns are good . . .

The 9TS would be perfectly happy in a condominium. You know, where someone else is responsible for the maintenance and yard work. He made that abundantly clear years ago. I, on the other hand, wanted a house with two cats in the yard . . . or three as the case may be. To compromise, I mow. He edges. It's a good compromise. Gutters too, fall in my territory, so a couple of days ago with beautiful weather in the offing, I gathered my big leather 'man' gloves, the ladder and the hose and relieved the front gutters of their dead leaves, crawly animals and various and sundry other gunk. Then I ran out of gas. The back would have to wait a day or two.

Today being another glorious day, armed with my aforementioned gear, I hit the back gutters. I did remarkably well until I got to THE space. Let's back step for a moment. Our house is a bi-level, two story job with an extreme rise in roof elevation. Roofers take one look and go whoaaaaaa and run the other way. The painter, made sure he had a harness on before tackling the upper roof level. In the back of the house there is a spot where the gutter from the top roof (which has NEVER been cleaned), drains down to the lower roof over the patio. The problem is the pool cage also runs along that area for about four feet creating a spot that can only be cleaned by a sucker footed midget or a contortionist. That is where I stopped. I did shinny up into that notch just once. That was enough. As I skidded and slipped toward the cement below, my life flashing before my eyes, I promised the good Lord that if I survived, I would never again wedge my body up there. I always keep my promises and have been ever so grateful for the strength of the screening on the cage. Whew!

The 9TS will have to come up with some creative device to clean that section. There are ferns growing there. Nice ferns. Pretty ferns. Maybe we should leave them alone ferns. I'm just saying . . .

Meanwhile, I'm off to relieve myself of debris, spider webs and anything else I may have collected on my person during this mornings venture.