Housekeeping 101
By Gerald Witt
I don't always get to the house chores right away. Dirty dishes sometimes linger a couple days. Clothes aren’t always folded and put away immediately. When you live alone, that's how it goes.
So there was no obvious rush to clean up the potted plant that a gust of wind knocked over on my porch the other week.
But when I pulled into my driveway last Monday after watching a football game with friends, my headlights caught plant's root ball.
"Tonight’s the night," it seemed to say, "to throw me out."
I grabbed the wad of dirt and stems. The pot wasn't nearby, but I guessed that it rolled under a chair and I'd find it the next morning. It had to be somewhere. On the second stair down from the porch to the trash can I jammed my right shoe in the plastic pot, which cracked and slid out from underfoot. I hit my left hip and shoulder on the corner of the house, spun around, and hung my right thigh on a wrought-iron rail designed to keep people from flying off the stairs. I was just falling down them.
I avoided a total wipe-out by chucking the plant and grabbing the rail.
Looks like I found the pot.
Back inside my duplex, I was sure that I ripped my pants and would need stitches on an area that I usually sit upon. That check turned out OK, thankfully. Lesson learned: While it's good to do your chores, it's best to do them in a well-lit area