The Mess, the Cleanup

I told you that my oldest, Italo, came over while I was food shopping--and the stuffed peppers turned out spectacularly, by the way--and tore my bathroom apart. Pulled the toilet, pulled the tub, tore up the tiled floor, pulled half the rotten flooring under the tile and half the wall on three sides of the tub/shower. Then he replaced the rotten flooring with new plywood. While he did that, Madeleina and I ate dinner. Italo didn't join: When he gets going, he's not stopping. Fortunately, I had a few beers someone brought over to keep him going.
    After dinner and a movie, I went to bed. He kept working and who knows when he went back home. All I know is there was a note on the bathroom door saying flush the toilet with the bucket--he'd replaced it for morning emergencies, thank you--and then added that he'd finish the job next year. Me? I got up at 5 AM knowing I had some calls to make but nothing on an emergency level, so I made coffee and settled in to read the newspapers on the internet. My jobs, other than cleaning up the kitchen from last night's dinner, and the living room where the two new dogs got into a couple of rolls of paper towel and left hundreds of bits of paper everywhere--along with a couple of ruined ping pong balls, one torn baseball and three ripped sox--was either to mow lawn or finish the back porch fence I've been redoing.
    The choice was overwhelming, so I went with the cleanup in the house, then sat back down at the computer. The lawn could wait because it looks like rain, I convinced myself.
    But then who shows up but Marco, my second, and he said Italo told him to come over to help with the bathroom. As Italo wasn't there, he said he'd start mowing some lawn. He did. I could not avoid joining the fray. So I raked and bagged the cuttings in the areas where the grass was really tall--under the bird feeder it was taller than two feet--then took over mowing. Marco got the direct front yard, so I hit on the side yard, a 40 X 40 stretch covered in fallen branches from the harsh winter winds. Then I hit the huge front lawn, about 40 X 110 and then here comes Marco with a second mower. He hit the fenced in part behind the house, a nice 50 X 80, then went after the huge space beyond the side lawn I'd done. Which meant I couldn't quit without looking like a sissy, so I hit a space between the creek behind the garage and office building.
    Thank god, he left for a while so I can relax, write and have a glass of wine. Next up, supermarket time, and then, I'm afraid, both Italo and Marco will be working on the bathroom, so I'm going to be forced to work on that back porch fence. I've got one section to put into place and another to rebuild--about 10 foot long, but I've got the wood all cut. After that, time to paint it all but that's almost fun.
   So things are a mess right now. There's crap and wood and tiles and old tubs everywhere. The lawn needs a serious raking and the fence needs finishing. But by the time we get it all built and cut and all that stuff, well, it's gonna look great. Only problem is: That's when the clean up starts. And as good and generous as my boys are, clean up is not in their vocabulary. Oh well, at least I won't have to worry about the tub falling through the floor when I'm showering. And the lawn looks absolutely fabulous, dahling.