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Saturday, November 12, 2005

Work on the back bedroom closet was mercifully completed and it was quite stunning to experience an empty closet for the first time in three decades.

The desk in the Den was built-in under a set of bookshelves and hidden behind a pair of louvered doors. Certainly a product of its time, it wasn't a very good desk and defied attempts to use it to house home entertainment equipment. As the condition of the house declined, household goods continued to pile up under stacks of ancient books that were never opened and were largely invisible behind the louvered doors.

Although my instinct would have been to save a few valuable books and send the rest on to their reward, mom insisted on packing everything, including the jumbled contents of the drawers - which I dutifully did, while marking everything "Long Term".

Saturday evening, I received my first call from Delores, a FEMA contractor, regarding the trailer we had applied for two weeks prior. She asked whether we still needed it and said it would be ready in 10 to 15 days. Since we had rented a house, we didn't need it, but our contractor might. I specifically asked whether this would be kosher and the agent responded that, "What your mother does with it is up to her." I said let's give it a shot.

The folks retired to the reservation...I to my bedroom.

Next: Sunday, November 13, 2005