Sukkah stuff
I put up my sukkah yesterday. Although I'm on the west coast, I have an old-school east coast sukkah with four heavy canvas walls that wrap all the way around and zip closed (and, yes, the rumors you've heard about the east coast-west coast sukkah rivalry are true). So I screwed together the frame and went into the tool shed to find the canvas, which I had folded up neatly and stuffed into a plastic trash bag last year.

The bag had been torn to pieces. And the canvas had been assaulted by rats. No, they hadn't chewed it - not a nibble. That's right - my sukkah walls were covered in rat doody.

After a feeble attempt to clean it, it went into the trash bin. Luckily, I live only a couple of blocks from Ronnie the Sukkah Guy. Ronnie specializes in west coast pre-fabs, and his durable plastic tarp-like walls were a little too big for my frame. Normally, these walls are slightly smaller than the frame, and are attached with modified bungee cords so they're stretched out taut. Saggy sukkah walls don't do the trick.

As usual, Mrs. Ralphie saved the day, devising a way to wrap the tarp around the top of the frame before securing it with said bungee-like devices. With some help from the garage-dwelling brother, we had it up in no time flat. And by no time flat I mean that a project that should have taken 30 minutes took the better part of four hours.

I have to say, I like the west-coast look much better. Cleaner, crisper. Possibly even cooler, since now there are seams where the odd breeze might make its way through.

Did I mention that the rats also got into the formerly air-tight bin that contained the sukkah decorations, including decorative lights and clampable lamps? In the garbage now.

Post-sukkah task? Tear down the shed and assemble and install a replacement. - served up by Ralphie @ 3:37 PM