Hick has been working on the plumbing under the new bathroom he is adding to Bargain House, our latest flip. He can get to that area in the cellar, but the cellar doesn't run under the entire house.
"The living room isn't over the cellar, but there's enough room I can get under there and work. It's more than just a crawlspace. I can be on my hands and knees and crawl across."
"That's good. It's better than Pony's house, where you had to send in Old Buddy on his back or belly, like a snake!"
"Yeah. And now I know why the pipes in Bargain House never froze. The air vents? They're not insulated. I was crawling along and got my back up against one, and nearly burnt the skin off! They're wasting heat."
"Not really. The heat still rises up under the house. It's not like those ducts are in the ceiling, letting that heat waste out through the roof. It's still helping heat the house itself."
To which Hick replied that the heat is rising into the house to help heat it. Saying EXACTLY the same thing I had just said. I don't even think it was one of his attempts to scoff at me and show his handyman superiority. He just can't hear, but nods and pretends he can.
"Oh, and while we was down under the house, we found a dead cat. Mummified."
"From the heat, I guess! Like the one you found in my grandma's attic over the garage, and HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) wanted to take it to school to show the teacher."
"Yeah. And there was also three bird heads. I guess that cat had been eating birds under there."
At least Hick didn't bring any of these discoveries home to show them off. It's his own fault HOS thought it would be acceptable to take a dead cat in a big ziploc bag to middle school...
Tommy does say the same thing I say to clarify as if I did not just make it clear. He cannot hear as well as he thinks he can, but he is 'helping' my talk!
ReplyDeleteImagine the teacher's horror if he had managed to take the dead cat without your knowing it.
Yes, they are so selfless, helping us express ourselves, heh, heh.
DeleteEven as a science teacher, I would not have welcomed a mummified cat in a baggie! It would upset more students than it would intrigue, and wouldn't be worth the inevitable parent complaints. Good thing Hick forbade the "show-and-tell," and that HOS didn't want to risk his ire.
Hick oh Hick. Only he and Pony would do some crawling under an old house. Our farmhouse was built in the 1880s, and the corner supports needed to be inspected. When the builders took off some old siding, and treasure trove of stuff fell out, which included an mummified rat. We were about 8 and had lots of fun chasing each other.
ReplyDeleteOnly Hick would crawl under a house. That's not a talent The Pony possesses. Glad you had fun with your mummified rat!
DeleteMy comment disappeared and it was brilliantly written. Hick and Pony have done a lot of crawling, tearing down, cleaning out, etc. A mummified cat must have been interesting. I was a middle school teacher for 2 years (was all that I could stand) and they might have been interested.
ReplyDeleteSome kids would be interested, others horrified. The horrified ones would be the complainers!
Delete🤣 HOS is not alone, that's the sort of thing my kids would have loved to do. Just like my brother and me, we used to got out to the wastelands just north of our town and fill our pockets with baby snakes (safe snakes) and let them loose in class....
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh, pockets full of snakes! Times have changed.
DeleteCrawling under a house is something you would not find me doing! When I was very young, we would visit one of my mother's uncles. The house was so high up on pillars we could just walk under it standing up. My sister would go under it, but I was always imagining the entire house falling on me!
ReplyDeleteHaving a house fall on me would be the least of my worries. I'd be more concerned about the critters scurrying around.
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