I am camping out at my new house, bought in May, with my new girlfriend, iPad. Actually, girlfriend may not be the right word, but there does seem to me something feminine about this thing. Make that siren-like. It calls my name.

The Netflix app has been totally indispensable without TV hooked up.

Such silliness aside Much work to do here. Had to tear out a wall to get rid of the rot produced by an ancient and repaired leak. Do not want to know what I might have breathed. The blackness of rot is sort of fascinating.

These things are irreplaceable: reciprocating saw. Mine is a DeWalt. Nail guns–my dad bought me these long before he died. I have been thanking him. Porter-Cable.

So what is the deal with Home Depot? They used to be surly and nasty, and now everyone is as helpful as can be. But I still HATE the self-checkout lines. But that is true of all of ’em. That kind of cost-shifting I hate.

But Home Depot is still an on-again off-again thing. One day almost pleasant, another, miserable.