Greetings, my fellow port-swillers! I hope your Christmas festivities continue apace.  A word about those geese a-laying for today: they’re evil-tempered creatures and they bite.  You’ve been warned.

Those following what has become the on-going plumbing saga at the port-swiller residence will be interested to know that when the contractor to whom we usually turn for this sort of thing came in to fix up the ceiling of the breakfast room this morning, he noticed not only that the beams and whatnot were still too damp in order to complete such repair, but also that another section of the pipes a bit further on from those just replaced shows every sign of getting ready to spring leaks, too.  He estimated that within the year we’d be having exactly the same trouble again.  So in the ounce of prevention spirit, he’s going to come back next week, replace the offending section of pipe and seal the whole back up again.

So bang goes the chance of turning tomorrow night’s festivities into a painting party.  However, there is a big, green slab of drywall temporarily screwed in to the ceiling by way of patch.  Perhaps we could have a contest to see who can put their footprints on it instead.