Today I took the first step in the massive home repair monstrosity that will make it possible for someone else to live in this house. We imagine that the entire colossus will take us about six months.

Over time, houses evolve and we have evolved with this house. For example, when I bought this house, you turned on the water in the outdoor faucet in the front yard by turning on the outdoor faucet in the front yard. Those were simpler times. Now you turn on the outdoor faucet in the front yard by flipping a lever down in the basement in a hidden secret recess behind the water heater. There is a reason for this, but it is a complicated reason that evolved over several months and several plumbers and I am afraid that other people would not understand. I won't even go into the story of the light switch in the exact middle of the bedroom wall or how to work the garage door.

(A friend of mine was once rejected by the cleaning service she had called because they said that they would never be able to clean the gunk off her screen door. "But couldn't you just ignore it?" my friend said. "That's what we've been doing all this time." Exactly my point.)

We have evolved with the house over time and now the enormity of deep repair is upon us. It is best to ease into the situation slowly, though, as if you are about to swim with sharks. No one wants to make any sudden movements or big splashes. And the first step is the hardest.

So today I glued the broken picket on the front gate back together with wood glue. It is setting right now, temporarily held together with duct tape. Fortunately, snow is expected in the next couple of days and this will delay my plan to re-paint the fence, giving me time to rest up. But I have now crossed one thing off the gargantuan to-do list. Only nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine more to go.