The Rural Voice, 1993-04, Page 10FARM
SAFETY
FACTS
FROM THE
WEST WAWANOSH
MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY
SAFETY TIPS:
* Provide sufficient overhead
lights to ensure good lighting
in work areas.
* Use additional lights over
stationary tools or work benches.
* Portable lights will eliminate
shadows when working on
equipment.
* Light coloured walls will reflect
light more effectively.
When you need insurance call:
Frank Foran
R.R. 2, Lucknow 528-3824
Lyons & Mulhern
46 West St., Goderich 524-2664
Kenneth B. MacLean
R.R. 2, Paisley 368-7537
John Nixon
R.R. 5, Brussels 887-9417
Donald R. Simpson
R.R. 3, Ripley 395-5362
Delmar Sproul
R.R. 3, Auburn 529-7273
Clinton 482-3434
Laurie Campbell
Brussels 887-9051
Slade Insurance Brokers Inc.
Kincardine. 396-9513
Chapman -Graham Insurance Brokers
Owen Sound 376-1774
Chapman -Graham -Lawrence
Walkerton 881-0611
West Wawanosh
Mutual Insurance
Dungannon
Ont. NOM 1 RO
519-529-7922
V�Y
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Gisele Ireland
All this over one little wall
As I drove in the laneway, hope
beat fervently within my breast that
today, Super Wrench would have
come good for the promise he has
made with monotonous regularity for
the past two
weeks.
Not a chance!
I'd have had
more luck
expecting valet
parking in our
yard than to see
any signs of
industriousness
within the abode.
My greeting
echoed off empty
walls. All I want,
I keep chanting to
myself, is for
Super Wrench to
whisper sweetly in my ear that today
is the day the wall is coming down.
Now, we're not fighting the battle of
Jericho, we're renovating ... AGAIN.
The whole wall business came up
quite innocently around Christmas-
time. Our two-year-old grandson,
Benjamin, was attempting to man-
oeuvre a riding tractor with wagon
attached around bodies sprawled on
the floor. Admittedly, the room was
littered with the signs of the holiday
season, but even if that wasn't the
case, there isn't enough room to
swing a cat around when we all go
into the living room at once. We take
a number so some can sit, some can
sprawl and the rest can stand up and
complain. Super Wrench was in the
complaining department. It suddenly
occurred to him the room was too
small. Especially now with our new-
ly arrived grandson, Caleb, soon to
be astride another riding vehicle.
As much as it pained him, Super
Wrench, with a lot of help from the
rest of us, decided the time had come.
His office had to move to another
location and the wall between the two
rooms would be removed to make a
larger living room.
In the beginning, Super Wrench
was just oozing enthusiasm. By the
time his new office was in order, the
zest for this miraculous transition had
faded considerably.
We did our part. We packed,
scraped and lugged stuff into every
nook and cranny of the house so the
room was emptied and he could
knock the wall down. The room is
gloriously empty and Super Wrench
is diddling around. We need a permit
to find our way through the minefield
that used to be a hallway to our
bedrooms. We've all forgotten what
watching television is like, let alone
sitting down anywhere to do it. We
now have clear cut choices. If you're
not in the bathroom, the office or the
kitchen, you are banished to your
room for all other activities. Doesn't
seem to bother the Wrench much
since he's never home. It's that
blasted wall that's keeping him away.
The inconvenience doesn't give
me nightmares, it's the speeding
time. Six weeks from now, our
daughter Diane is getting married and
I so look forward to entertaining
family and friends in the bathroom or
the kitchen. We're only allowed in
his office with special permission
since he caught us ironing in there.
Yes, that acid, causing ulcers, is
pumping overtime for me. I keep
telling myself he pulled the same
stunt four years ago when our oldest
daughter got married. He laid the
entrance floor on the day of the
rehearsal, barely finishing in time to
make the church for the event.
Surely this man doesn't plan to do a
repeat performance this time around?
The last wedding saw me gulping
antacid liquid at an alarming rate.
Unless that wall comes down imme-
diately, I'm going to be ordering the
stuff by the caseload. I keep waking
up in a cold sweat to the imagined
vibrations of a jackhammer and
graciously clad guests laughing
uproariously and pointing at Super
Wrench demolishing the interior of
our house on May 1. I guess they call
that particular day MAYDAY for
good reason, and Super Wrench will
likely enjoy every suspense filled
moment. I know I'm not.0
Gisele Ireland is from Bruce County.
Her most recent book, Brace Your-
self, is available for $7 from Bumps
Books, Teeswater, Ontario. NOG 2S0.