A River Runs Through It. Part Three

Busy, busy, busy.  Man, was I busy yesterday.  It was, of course, laundry day, and I got started with that chore very early because I have been tracking a package all week and knew it was supposed to be del
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(Kitty walked across keyboard.)
ivered sometime during the day, and that was going to require even more work.

I'm not a very patient person when it comes to getting something new and the wait for the package to arrive was excruciating.  It kept getting later and later, I got to thinking perhaps FedEx was going to let me down. 

I finally gave up and went to work, while I was in the office, I thought I heard
a gentle tap-tapping at my front door.  When I went to look, there on my front stoop was a box about knee high, it looked as thought it had been through a war.  I mean this box was so dilapidated I was surprised it was still in one piece.  I hoped the merchandise inside was in better condition.

I didn't open the box right away because I knew I had a lot of preparation work to do before what was in the box could be put to use.

Yep, you got it, my new living room carpets had arrived, and now, I had to get rid of the old ones.  I knew this was going to require a lot of work, and considering it was later in the day than I had anticipated the package would arrive I thought about tackling the job in the morning.

Nope, couldn't do it.  So, I started yanking up the old carpets.  I say yanking, because once the non-skid backing on them had deteriorated I had nailed them to the floor.  Well, aside from the fact I was going to have to get on my hands and knees to remove all those rascal-y things I also had to sweep up a mountain of yellow, icky, tiny, dust sized backing.  I tackled the backing first. 

On the up side, there were not as many nails to remove as I had originally thought, but on the down side I had forgotten that BEFORE I had pounded in the nails, years before, I had used duct tape to anchor the carpets into place.  Well, dang it.  I got most of it up, but realized removing the residue of that could be problematic.  Hmmm.

Undeterred, I swept up the backing, and then set about removing the nails.  Those that I had not 'bent' pounding them in came out quite nicely.  Others, not so much.  THAT WAS DANG HARD WORK!  There were three I simply could not remove, so doing the next best thing, I just pounded them further into the floor.  (What the heck I was going to cover them up with the new carpets anyway, nobody will ever know.)

Next I tackled the residue of the duct tape.  Again, on my hands and knees, and with a solution of water and ammonia, I inched along the perimeter of the old carpet and with my thumbnail scraped the tape up.  I stood up and admired my handiwork.  I was pretty proud of myself.

Finally I took my Swiffer out of the cleaning closet, applied one of their wet cloths and washed the floor, rewashed the floor, and rewashed the floor.

I was tired, and decided I would put down the new carpets in the morning. 

WELL, THAT DIDN'T WORK.  Zorro had a terrible time getting up onto the furniture, and off of it as well.  He simply could not judge the distance, he was becoming very distressed and so was I.  He has very long legs, and I've always feared he might break one (or more) and figured this was the 'perfect storm' for that to happen.  I realized I was going to have to put down the new carpets right away. 

So, after a bite to eat, I opened the dilapidated box and took out the new carpets.  (You know how cats love boxes...I think this one scared her, she'd have nothing to do  with it.)  I spread the carpets out, and have to admit, I'm pretty darn pleased.  They are sage green and quite a change from the chocolate ones that had covered the floor for years.  I am a bit concerned about stains though, especially as I walked across the new carpets this morning carrying a mug full of hot coffee.  Oh, and when my kitty hacks up a fur-ball.  Ick.

Whatever!  At least the carpets are where they are supposed to be.  It's going to take a week or so for the 'folds' to flatten out and then I guess I'm going to have to decide if I'm going to anchor them down with duct tape, or nails.

It's always something, isn't it?  Yep, it's always something. 

At least I no longer have a chocolate river running through the middle of my living room.