By the time the 4th of July rolled around in the summer of 1979 I was wondering how it had flown by so fast. There had not been as many leisurely days by the pool as I had expected but I really didn't really have any complaints.
Alpha went home right after the 4th of July after having been with us for almost four weeks. Sounds like a long time for a house guest, especially your mother-in-law, but Alpha was lots of fun and a tremendous help. While she was there Dennis and I got the rest of the drywall up in the basement without too many curse words, there were several Kansas City Royal baseball games she enjoyed, trips to a winery and tours of all the interesting points in both Kansas and Missouri. Perhaps she needed to go home to Warner to have some quiet time as there was certainly none around our house.
In July the New Neighbors had a Summer Social which included the husbands. Most of their activities centered around the ladies but about once a month or so there was a couples affair. This particular one was a bring a dish to share and the club provided the drinks. Dennis did not sound very enthused about going which I sort of ignored and made the best summer salad I could come up with. (These affairs always forced you into a situation of making something spectacular.)
When it was time to get dressed to go Dennis proceeded to try on all his casual clothing. He had suits for work and sloppy garage clothes but it seems like it had been awhile since we had gone anywhere that required nice casual. There was an abundant amount of cursing as the clothes were tried on and then pitched on the floor. Nothing fit. I had made him fat and he was not going to any stupid party.
My first reaction was to cry, a very adult thing to do. This was not the first "fat fit" as I always referred to them in my mind. They actually occurred almost every time there was a Ford Motor Company affair but those were sort of command performance affairs where he had to show up. They also occurred most of the time when I suggested we go to something as simple as going to the movies. Long before we moved to Kansas City I simply stopped suggesting we go and do anything just to make life a little smoother.
After the initial tears slowed down I just got mad. This New Neighbors event was sort of an event I needed to show up at since I was a member of the Board and these people were my friends. All those company affairs and evenings going out with people he worked with that I did not particularly like or have anything in common with flashed through my mind. Somehow the words "Well, you can stay home, but I am going" popped out of my mouth. That prompted a bit of a rage but I stood my ground for once and he did finally find something to wear.
The evening was not really very pleasant as I put on my happy face. He was not speaking to me which made it easier to get through the evening and he made no effort to be the least bit sociable. It was, after all, my fault when he gained weight. I guess I was going to have to stop force feeding him every night after I tied him to a chair in front of the television. Wonder what his reaction will be when I get the courage to tell him that the club's bi-annual Wine and Cheese Party will be at our house in October?
With the drywall finally in place in the basement and the thought of the Wine and Cheese event coming in October there was still a lot of work to be done. Having a hundred plus people at the party was going to require more space. The next step was something called
"tape and bed" to hide all of the drywall seams. I had seen the finished product from wallpapering in new construction but had no idea how to do it. So I went and watched some guys working on a new house. It looked pretty simple and certainly I could do that.
Armed with a wide blade, a bucket of drywall mud and a roll of paper tape you just put a swipe of mud on the seam, stick up the tape on the mud and put another swipe of mud on top and smooth out the edges. Oh, My God! Starting on the ceiling I quickly learned when gobs of mud fell on my head, the tape bubbled up when it got wet and there was NO smoothing of the edges that this was actually some art form and the guys I had watched must have been masters at it.
After a few attempts at the ceiling and trying to remember that I had not seen the real drywall guys cry I decided to perfect my skills on the walls. At least the mud would fall on my shoes and not in my eyes and my hair. Also two of the walls were only half walls since it was a walkout basement with lots of windows. Perfecting my skills did not seem to ever happen. I got better at it but smooth seams never happened without much sanding. I would much rather insert toothpicks under my fingernails than to sand but one does what one has to do.
By the end of the summer the tape, bed and sanding job was done to near perfection. I did realize in all the ordeal why the blown on ceilings and textured walls were so popular. Perhaps not all drywall guys were masters of their craft. The rest of the house usually required a daily cleaning from hoards of children running up and down the stairs tracking drywall dust everywhere. Actually the goal was to have it done by the time Wes's ninth birthday rolled around so he and his twenty-five little friends could have the party in the basement and the backyard. I was not very good at birthday parties and after that one I got more creative about different locations for the annual event.
Barney had called the Monday after our interesting talk about all the things we had avoided talking about through the years. He apologized but I told him he wasn't the only one that did not say what really needed to be said. He was going to be out of town for several weeks promoting his book and doing seminars. I had all the stuff for his house done and could have delivered it while he was gone but he said for me to wait until he got back. There are times when I wished I had not started the conversation but the time apart might have been a good thing. Maybe..........
Oh, and the annual two week vacation to Warner, Oklahoma is coming closer.
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