Sometimes housecleaning is an outside job
COMMENTARY ignoring grew arms. As I entered the house from the backyard, it reached out, like the “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” and tried to grab me! I got away. Barely. I darted into the house, shut the door behind me hard and leaned against it, panicked and panting.
“What’s wrong?” my husband asked.
“I almost got mugged!” I said between gasps.
“We need to find that guy’s number,” he said, far too calmly in my opinion. “That guy” was the fellow who cleaned our old house last summer after our listing agent brought to our inattention the fact that the place might be more attractive to buyers if it, err-umm, had a bath.
“That guy!?” I cried. “We need to call in a SWAT team!”
Like debt and middleage weight gain, outdoor house filth creeps up gradually. You ignore it because, let’s be frank, getting your house washed, at least on my list, ranks pretty far down, somewhere between filling out your do-notresuscitate orders and replacing the transmission fluid.
DC dug out the cleaning company’s receipt and handed it to me.
I called Jeff Worth, owner of Tropical Roof and Exterior Cleaning Systems, based in Longwood. “A covered lanai in Florida in the summer is perfect for mildew,” he said. “Mildew thrives where it’s shady, hot and humid, and can bloom