Cable Man at Work

Late this overcast afternoon this character appeared just outside my second-floor study window.

Turns out he's from the local cable company, replacing a wire to our next-door neighbor's house; he said it had been gnawed at for perhaps the last 15 years by "wire rats" (a.k.a squirrels). The orange belt at his arm provides security: it's wrapped twice around both the main horizontal cable and the top rung of his ladder and is snapped into his belt on either side of his waist.

Daredevilry apparently runs in the family; we chatted for a while, and he said his sister works for a company running rapids on the Deerfield River in northwest Massachusetts--she steers the rafts.

Don't miss the double porch on the house across the street :) I'm adding this to my Northampton house series.