Mukilteo Musings

I have been too positive so I think I'll be negative today for fun. Today I'll talk about some of the bad things about living here. It is wet all of the time. Our houses rot from the outside and rot from the inside. After you shower, you must leave the fan going for about an hour and even so rugs or carpeting in bathrooms slowly develop this black edge that spreads--it means your floor is rotting. If water spills over or behind anything like sink or tub tiles, it never dries and rot moves in followed by carpenter ants, termites, and all sorts of horrible things. If you spill on a wood floor--it must be wiped up because again, it will not dry and will warp the floor.

Keeping moss off of the roof is a constant problem because once moss appears, it eats through and then leaks happen. Living near salt water makes house paint deteriorate so everything looks run down all of the time and yet if you don't keep up the paint, the siding will rot. Oh yes, and UNder the house is really interesting. Many people do not have basements because it is impossible to keep water out. My neighbors had a flooded basement recently after no problem for 15 years. Experienced engineers cannot figure it out but I think they are in the path of a new little river coursing its way to the Sound. It was really clean pure water. And if you have a dirt crawl space like we do, water still likes to accumulate and then rats crawl in and the mold begins.

Gosh, and I haven't even started on SADS (seasonal affective disorder syndrome or whatever) that affects almost everybody. Coffee and winter trips to sunny places are the only remedies. More later--just trying to keep the place to ourselves!!