I arrived at Bobby and Ellie's house armed with my box cutter and pry bar and was distressed to find that he had
not gone to work yet. He teaches afternoon and evening classes in criminal justice. I knew it was going to be
trouble and I was not disappointed. He launched a tirade at
Ellie for even attempting such a thing much less involving
his 81 year old mother. Ellie screamed back about how she
had painted the room and the wood work and needed the floor
finished. (Ellie pronounces it scrimming and it always
tickles me.) He screamed back that she had his permission to have new carpet in the entire house but not to bother him because he was working full time and trying to get his masters degree. He got on the phone to Lane who was working
out side and about to have a heat stroke. I think he said
"let them go ahead and try, they can't do it." He calmed
down and went to work.

Ellie and I got the carpet up quite easily and found that
someone had spilled stain in the middle of the floor. Otherwise the wood parquet floor was in good shape. My
solution would have been to clean and condition the floor
and plop a room size rug over the stain. That was way to
easy. Ellie had to have Berber carpet in there but maintained that she wasn't going to proceed with buying it
because Bob would scrim and scrim and she would never hear
the last of it.

There is another point of contention here involving a huge,
mounted blue game fish on the wall in that room. Bobby
loves that fish and the girls and Ellie hate it. He has
admired it since he first saw it as a little boy on his father's office wall. He contends that he needs Lane to
help him get it down and re-hung so the fish sits there on
the wall taunting Ellie and Adrienne.

Ted and I find the whole thing extremely funny. In spite
of their inability to negotiate, they have a good marriage.
In spite of the fish.