Sat on the porch for a long time today. My birds have either found another restaurant or are eating berries from someone’s yard. Had a couple of cardinal pairs about dusk and the four fighting finches fought over their favorite feeder. I have 18 feeders from the front yard to the backyard deck and the little fellas fight and squabble over the same feeder.

I know it’s the same ones because one of them hovers and has a hard time landing on the perch. I keep telling him to head for the sunflower platform feeder but he’d rather cuss at his friends and fight for a perch.

Called my porch sitting today a break from all my chores and Christmas decorating. Almost have the house back in order after a couple of weeks of renovations. Got lots more repairs and renovations but have to fatten up the piggy bank before I call the “handyman” couple to visit again. I love them! So easy to be around and such perfectionists. They were so unintrusive.

When you live in an old house you just learn to live with the quirks and things that don’t work the way they should. This was our conversation one day. “Miss Lane, what’s wrong with this door,” Mr. Handyman says. I say, “I broke the skeleton key off in the lock. I just nail it shut in the winter so it doesn’t blow open.” “Well, you mind if I fix it?” Do I mind if you fix it? Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Every night it was a battle to drag a case of skeet (clay shooting targets) over to the door to keep it shut. And if we had a windy storm we piled some heavier stuff in front of the door.

I was so used to that door I didn’t even put it on the list of things to work on!

I told him I’d run to the building supply and get a door knob but he says, “Bring me a glass door knob from your collection.” Wow…he’d noticed I had a bowl of old glass door knobs and he fixed three broken door knobs with glass knobs from my collection. Every time oldest brother walks by that bowl he tells me I need to throw those “things” away. Came in handy! Take that brother!

The handyman went down in the basement one day to check on the house’s foundation. He even ventured into the scary part of the basement where the skeleton faces are painted on the wall! My mother’s sister painted the skeleton faces there when she was a child and we’ve always been scared to go in there. My middle brother used to say, “Don’t let Chief go in there, especially around the corner without a weapon.”

Well, Mr. Handyman strapped a pistol on his waist and stepped through the inner basement opening. I didn’t know you could stand up in there. Always scared me to even walk by it. He kept encouraging me to follow him but I had lots of reasons to say no. When he went around the corner and I couldn’t see the light from his flashlight, I started to sweat! I thought, “Oh my God, don’t call me for help!”

He comes back with a glass gallon jar and a wooden shotgun shell crate and tells me I need to come look at things. No, no…not brave enough!

And the Mrs. part of the handyman couple was a wonder, too! Not only does she paint the windows but she washes them, too! Cleaned the ceiling fan blades and globes while she painted the ceiling! My son Thomas thought the fan in the kitchen was new! Knows her way around a caulk gun and all the tools of their trade. They are both skilled in their crafts and synonymously “jacks of all trades.”

The Mrs. also makes delicious jelly! Gifted me three jars and I’m smacking every morning with that deliciousness on my bagel. And! Brought me two dozen fresh eggs for my Thanksgiving cooking.

After they had packed up and gone, I risked my life to clean the light fixture in the dining room and the ceiling fan in my bedroom. Didn’t look as sparkly as hers did, though.

I miss them. Gonna have them back this summer for more renovations when my money tree blooms!