This morning I was going to give a sweep to the entrance of our second building on Leconte before going off to correct more essays from my students. That was right after breakfast. When I went into the garage on Arch Street, however, I saw the garage door had been smashed open… the bottom half was in splinters, and the top of the door was askew… impossible to open or budge for that matter. I ran upstairs and out the front door to find that Mary Greenan was doing the same… One of the elderly priests had driven over Ralph Murphy to pick up Tom Prendiville, and somehow had driven through the garage door!
Okay, these things happen. No one was hurt. Tom and Ralph were laughing, and the priest told me to send the bill to the parish… and they were off, leaving it all to Mary and I to sort out…
Step one, I called Madden Doors out of Martinez: we have our accounts with them as they installed and maintained both our doors for years. The foreman there (Bernie by name) told me that it is a bad time: they have jobs booked for ten days and it would be difficult to come. I said that I appreciated that; I also said "God Bless You" when I heard Bernie sneeze, and expressed my concern when he told me that he's fighting a cold. Well, it turned out that he remembered us, that he himself had come out on a few jobs in years past, and so he said that he would put us on a priority response code. He'd try to have someone out by 1:00 in the pm, at least to remove the door.
Step two, Mary called Michael Touchstone… more details of what happened from Mary and what to do next from Michael. I told Michael that I'd called Madden to have the broken door removed. There was no way to get in or out of the garage, and besides the four cars locked inside, we would not be able to have the trash picked up, or the recycling seen too until we solved that problem. The elder priest has car insurance, of course, so why are we concerned about expense. This is not our budget problem.
Step three: bedrooms… Tom told us last night that an international delegation of youth ministry folks will be coming for meetings on 2-4 January. Some are to arrive tomorrow, and some are staying as late as 7 January. Altogether, there will be six guests. So, Mary asked if I'd go with her just to check what rooms were available.
We found half of the guest rooms in total disarray. That meant we had to wash linens, vacuum floors, and get the place in shape. I found junk in the guest rooms and so I began methodically to go through each one. The thermostats were all haywire too, so I had to program them in 14 different environments. Well, the long and short of it was that I was kept busy in that until 12.30…
After a quick lunch, I went to the phone to see if Bernie from Madden Doors would make contact. He did so at 1:20. He had a crew that was finishing a job in Walnut Creek, he said, and they would arrive in 30 minutes. I loaded up the washing machines with sheets from the guest rooms… then waited on the front porch. At 2.05 the men arrived. They noted that the door really needed to be completely removed. It was hanging by a wire, literally, and the spring was as taut as could be. They told me that the whole thing might snap and come down at any time… All of which made me happy I called immediately, and that the folks at Madden remembered us and put us on a priority response code.
By 3:00 the crew had gone, and so had the door. I finished cleaning the entrance, sweeping the driveway, getting rid of all the splinters and bolts. Then I unloaded the dryers, folded the sheets and blankets… and now it's time to close off the day.
Never did correct those student essays.
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