New Computer at My House.

My darling little brother Cary ( 46) is a Genius. He built me a brand new everything you can imagine computer, with a shiny black with neon lights cpu case, with a gig of something and 160 gigs of something else that makes everything instantaneous.

He also downloaded all the tunes in the entire history of recorded music and they are of the MP3 variety which means I can now start thinking about another piece of electronic gadgetry to add to my already outlandish collection of stuff that never gets used.

But wait! That's not all!

He also lives in a house that is always under construction, a major factor in the 'why he has never married' equation. He bought a perfectly good house that only needed a new roof and proceeded to rip out and rebuild three bathrooms (only one is functional at this time) a refinished basement/wetbar/pool room/ and now storage space for drywall sheets.

He hates removing wallpaper so instead he will remove the wall and replace it with new drywall. While he is in the midst of doing that, he decides to install a gas stove top and a water faucet above it for the occasional filling of a pot of water. The gaping hole in the drywall for this procedure remains unfinished, but the faucet is working perfectly.

His home projects philosophy is: If the weather is nice, it is time to garden. If the weather is nasty it is time to start a new project (not finish anything previously started. Whaddya nuts?).

So when he invited me for lunch/to build a new computer, I should have known something was up and running and he needed to show off... We are so alike.

He built these wonderful new stairs, because one can't have too many ways to get to the basement. They were just pine the last time I saw them and he said the edges were going to be covered with oak veneer and trim and he said he would have a carpet runner down the center, covering the pine parts. OK sure.

But here it is. FINISHED.

But wait! That's not all!

The stairs of course are taking up the valuable space where the water softeners are contained. I say softeners in the plural because he has well water and it is 95% iron and 5% H2O. There were softeners connected to softeners and more softeners. Still his water had the odor of last year's trout custard and enough pressure to qualify as a mist. Just as he finished the stair project the water softeners died. Or so he said. I have a feeling that was just a bit of theatre to up the drama quotient on this reveal.

Are you ready for this?

ta da!

Notice the water softener hiding in the inner sanctum? The new and improved single beauty makes the water taste like it came in a fancy bottle and flow like tears at the end of Casablanca.

Hopefully this heralds a rash of completed projects that will culminate in that roof replacement, before the tomato seedlings get planted.

I dream.