Russell Attacks the Grout

There was grout everywhere. Big globs on the floor. Under our fingernails. Dripping down the walls. Russell worked in the shower, OilMan (with a toothbrush) tackled the opposite wall. They chatted about the Warriors, and about dogs. I averted my eyes from the big bucket of grouty water on the bedroom rug and went away, hoping for the best.

Hours later, OilMan emerged from the fray, saying that clean up had begun. I stayed away. From what I had seen, the clean up was going to be the worst part. Finally Russell emerged and pronounced the job finished. We trooped in to view the result. The floors were clean and mopped, the walls were clean and dry. The stones certainly looked better than the last effort, and will look better still after the grout dries. We continue to scrape away at it with fingernails, washcloths and a wooden burnishing tool I've had for decades.

Soon the grout will be too dry for us to keep fooling with it, and we will finally be able to take a shower and wash off all this grout. It's not what we thought we were getting, but if we had never seen it with no grout, I think we would be perfectly happy with it. Whatever…the die is cast and the last of our major remodeling projects is finally finished. Finito. Done. Whew!

We had just enough time to go to the title company and sign the final papers on our field of dreams. All we have to do to it is mow it. Oh, and trim the trees, and….