Bunco Squad Raids Swenson House

The Last Couple of Weeks

We thought it would be another quiet weekend following the weeks of Christmas, New Year’s, St. Knut’ Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. During this period I managed to get to a Celtics Game (on the Premier Level), we didn’t join the crowds in Washington but we did find ways to watch the inauguration, and then Cheri headed off for two days of skiing at Smuggler’s Notch.

So although it slowed some, we did manage to keep busy—I won’t bore you with more pictures of the insulation projects, but I did seal some significant leaks between the stone foundation and the sill joist. This should also help with some of the squirrel bowling that seems to happen most mornings in the attic. It seems that during the fall several red squirrels found their way into the attic and stored butternuts somewhere in the eves. In the morning, before they head out for a day of foraging they go to the secret stores and roll them across the attic floor to wherever it is that they chose to eat. I am not sure if they are looking for window views or someplace out of the drafts, but for some reason they have to move the nuts—and it seems to be mostly over our bedroom.

One Saturday morning this fall I managed to watch one of the squirrels gather butternuts from the ground out in front of the house, scurry up onto the front door steps, shell the nut—leaving the softer peelings in a pile on the stoop—and then disappearing behind the step with the nut firmly in his mouth. Looking around the area where the stone step meets the stone foundation I found a couple of access points for the squirrels into the basement—see some earlier pictures for examples of these holes. It seems they then either form a nest between the old insulation and the floor in the joist space—likewise, see the previously mentioned project to replace damaged insulation—or they work their way through the holes between the center chimney and the floors to gain access to the attic. I am sure they have other ways of getting to the attic, but this does seem to have some validity.

I have searched and vacuumed out the area over our bedroom, but still no nuts have been found. Have-a-Heart traps and the more effective, but to some—particularly the squeamish types—a more permanent solution, snap traps have been employed without any success. By that I mean nothing captured, although the bait is sometimes missing or the cage remained untouched.

While home during the MLK holiday I did manage to observe some more activity and discovered a couple more access points into the basement with incriminating furry rodent—they really are just large rodents with a fuzzy tail—tracks in the snow. The holes have been blocked and sealed, but the bowling continues. I wonder if I blocked them in instead of out?

The Raid

Since the period following the holidays can be cold and dreary—although the clean white snow and crisp cold air provide a cleansing feeling—many people start to experience cabin fever and a desire to be with others instead of hibernating. To counter the bad side of these effects Cheri and I decided to have a Bunco night. Alright, actually Cheri was the primary instigator but I am always up for a reason to have a party.

A Bunco Squad is normally thought of as a part of a police force that investigates fraud and abuse. Although there may have been some attempts at fraudulent rolls of the dice and abuse of food and wine, this wasn’t the type of Bunco at the Swenson House.

The night started out in the kitchen, the way most evenings seem to start out in the Swenson house, regardless of the party. Cheri and I—alright mostly Cheri again, but I did help with some things like making the guacamole and taste-testing—prepared heavy pupu’s, which is a tradition we brought back from our living from from Hawaii and consists of enough finger food appetizers to make up for a whole meal. I—really me this time—opened several bottles of wine, had some microbrew beverages available, and prepared a cheese-stuffed, mushroom and butter basted, baked loaf of Italian bread (the recipe card calls this ‘Gail’s Bread’) while Cheri put the finishing touches on lighting candles and getting out the support dishes.

It had been a snowy day, so we cleared the walkways and put down some salt. Then to add some ambience I put out small candle lanterns on the walkway directing guests to the right door, and lit the larger lantern to welcome them in.

People gathered around the kitchen island to start the festivities. Overall we had a party of eight couples (sixteen people…just to help you with the math) and several of them had not met before. Our friends the Gosselins (Jack and Stephanie) came up from Stonington, we had neighbors (Dennis and Lisa) from just down the road, Jamie and Martha (who you’ve seen in earlier posts), and then Bob & Ellie, Suzanne & John, and Charlie & Kellie who are all friends we’ve gotten to know through church.

Stories were told, as you can see in the picture, wine was imbibed, also as you can see in the picture, and we had plenty of food between what Cheri prepared and the wine and appetizers that others brought. The food kept coming so it was almost two hours before we retired to the Keeping Room which had been set up for Bunco.

Bunco is a dice game we learned to play while living in Texas. There are several variations, but the basic game involves four people around a card table and multiple tables around the room—four in this case to seat all sixteen people. In the variation we played each person was a partner with the person opposite them at the table. We drew table numbers beforehand to mix people up and didn’t allow spouses to start out at the same table. Without going into detail, you roll the dice for simple winning combinations and continue until the someone at the head table—so designated by having the colorful tablecloth and more importantly the bell—gets a score of twenty-one. Then the winning (and losing) teams for each table are determined and the losers move to another table while one of the winning members shifts to one of the loser-vacated seats—this mixes up the teams for every round.

The one exception for winning a round is if someone rolls the three dice to match the number of the round. For example, if in round four someone throws three 4’s in a single roll they shout out “BUNCO” and all play stops. This happened on several occasions and it seemed that it was more women than men. It reached a point that Lisa, Martha and Suzanne were all declaring themselves the ‘Bunco Queen’ and by the end of the evening we had to have a roll-off to officially declare the official Bunco Queen.

Of course why have games and a Bunco Queen if you are not going to award some prizes. The overall loser—the person on the most losing teams—and not to mention names (Charlie) received a bottle of ‘No Whining Wine’, the Bunco Queen (Martha) has a box of chocolates fit for a queen, and the overall winner (Jim) got three $5 scratch-off tickets. It’s only too bad his luck ended with the game.

So, the police didn’t come to the house. But everyone had a great time and there was agreement that we need to do this again. All in all another great adventure with the Swensons.