I just finished doing the dishes after dinner and I always think about Mike when I do the dishes. He always wanted to stack as many dishes as he could in the drying rack and had a system to do so. Plates on the outside, pile, stack, carefully place etc. It used to drive me crazy. I thought why not just stop, dry some dishes, and carry on, but like so many other things Mike was proud of how many dishes he could stack into one small drying rack. Caesar salad is another thing that always makes me think of Mike. I will never forget that look of horror my mother had when Mike wanted to use a raw egg in the Caesar salad that he was making at my parents house one year. Mike, being Mike, (combined with my mom's love and affection towards Mike) managed to convince my mother that it was okay and that there was very little risk of Salmonella poisoning. There was a process, a system, a special recipe that you didn't deviate from when making Caesar salad. It was a Nault tradition, together with Flank Steak. I think of Mike when I think of rats (which isn't often). 325 Johnson Street and 410 (401?) Division Street were two other houses Mike lived in during Undergrad (to add to Colleen's list). There were rats at Johnson Street. This is starting to be quite a rambling post, but we were recently away with friends at Christina Lake and one of our friends had decided that to add more humour to her life she would on occassion just start laughing uncontrollably for no reason. This inevitably would get everyone laughing and soon any group would be in fits of "no life attacks". I know Mike would have liked that and would have participated whole heartedly.
On a completely separate note - Neil, you are most welcome. Before Mike died, I made a pledge to Mike and it is one that I plan on keeping. You have two (and two more) beautiful grand children that deserve the best in this world and I am proud to have helped with the trust fund. It was the least I could do for my friend who has given me so much.
Oddly enough - I too think of Sarah when I think of rats (which also isn't often) .... perhaps Kingston housing unites all of us in housemate memories involving rats?
ReplyDeleteSarah's bravery is what I remember most (well that, and me rocking myself to comfort myself when I heard over the phone while at a conference in TO that a rat had dragged a loaf of bread to the middle of our King St. kitchen floor and eaten it ... at first the debate was, "could it have been mice?"). Sarah persisted sleeping in her main floor room while the traps were set in the kitchen to catch any lingering rats. We offered her to share our rooms - but Sarah was brave! God, I'm laughing writing this .... but it also sadly meant that Sarah would be the first one up on the main floor and therefore the trap checker. The rest of us upstairs managed to sleep in quiet well during rat patrol weeks. Sorry Sarah - a double whammy.
I also remember our "rat specialist" (i.e. pest control person) telling us that the good news upon catching our first rat was that it was "intact" ... apparently rats will eat the guts of their dead friends .... true scavengers.
Mike and Sarah's relationship blossomed in our King Street house. Did he know about the rats? Hmmm ....
Ok - anyone who has lived in Kingston (as a student!! ... b/c I swear I don't have rats in my house now!!!) has a rat story.
ReplyDeleteI lived in a house "north of Princess" as they say and the basement had a dirt floor - we kept hearing a gradual increase in scratches and sounds over the year and by spring we were had a full infestation - all the walls made noises and they were open visitors in our kitchen ... the full extent to which we didn't find out until we were moving out and realized they had been everyone. We had trapped a few, but a brave housemate did the dirty work. Colleen - I was like you - rocking in the corner!
We too had a questionably sound basement ... middle of a triplex. We even had laundry down there that we refused to use - choosing to use our parent donated cars to travel afar to a laundry mat. Sarah and I had done a complete seal of the basement door, steel wool in all house cracks etc. before we moved in in August - the previous resident didn't know if there was a rodent problem as she had a cat? Needless to say, the bacon grease kept under the sink was just "too tempting" for 4 legged creatures. So, we then we abandoned all of our dishes etc. in the sink cupboards and duct taped them shut (thinking that was the only access point to our house at large). Then the rat arrived .....
ReplyDeleteCrazier yet, we felt obliged to share our embarassing misfortune with our neighbours ... since after all we shared basement walls in our triplex. We discovered they had been dealing with "problems" for a while .... hmmm ... so much for being neighbourly.
I also remember literally harassing our landlord who seemed less than ambitious to help us solve our problem .... I was incensed. And my landlord knew it.
3 cheers for student housing ....