Caretakers finally came to remove the worst of the dead weeds in the yard of the vacant house next door. The cat will now pick up fewer nettles when she goes over there. They were too late to save me from the nettle which stuck in my finger this morning as I was brushing the cat. A bit of it remains lodged there now, stinging every time I type r (ouch) t (ouch) f (ouch) g (ouch) v (ouch) or b (ouch.)
In addition to the noise of the cleanup crew, there has been hammering all day. Vertical wood siding is being replaced on the house across the street. A note to all who are buying or building a house: wood siding that reaches the ground ought to be horizontal. It rains. The ground gets damp. Vertical wood siding acts like a tree and sucks the moisture up by capillary action. The wood rots. Our house has some vertical wood siding, but only above a wainscoting of horizontal siding, so the vertical pieces don't get wet on the end. We have no rot. Every house on the street with vertical siding all the way to the ground gets rot.
It is uncomfortably warm in the house today. I'm going out for a while.
