After the one day basement flood in April, I decided that I would wash the floor down really well before replacing what I had had to move to higher spots. Last week the day came when I had a long enough empty spell in the day to wash the first section using a squeegy sponge mop and soapy water with bleach added.
As I was scrubbing away, I decided that this would be a good time to thoroughly clean and dump throughout the basement. I haven't done this for at least fifteen years. Periodically, I sort and dump in one section or another of the basement but, more has been added to the basement than has been dumped. I decided to allow six months for the job. That was being realistic. I moved everything to one side of my studio and started in.
I scrubbed the floor. That wasn't hard. But the next day I began sorting and dumping. Lots of paper items filled two wastebaskets in short order.
But then I started clearing off the library table Tom and I brought back after Tom's parents died. The table sat in their living room for all the years I knew them.
Cujo was still sitting on the table after I sorted through everything else. Cujo has been sitting there for over twenty years. He was Sonja's high school Senior Science Independent Project. She boiled the remaining flesh off a decomposing dog found along the road and glued the bones together. The vet where she worked allowed her to use his burn barrel to boil the dog. She said the process was very smelly. I never checked out the process. I was glad the boiling wasn't being done in our backyard. She wrote a long paper on the construction of a dog skeleton and received an A on her project. Tom made the case. At the junior fair portion of the county fair that summer, she was awarded Reserve Champion.
She teaches high school science now. I'm hoping that she will someday take Cujo to school for a permanent display. Till then, he sits in the basement. I can't bring myself to dump him.
No comments:
Post a Comment