If you're expecting a poetic moment, sorry to disappoint. However, I will comment on one of our recent weekend to-do's. One of the fence posts between our property and a rental home next door was damaged sometime in the previous renter's tenancy (probably by the junk trailer they backed into their yard when they moved out in the middle of the night to skip out on their overdue rent), and this spring, some high winds finished the job, breaking it off such that the whole section of fence wobbled until we got it braced. The owner, ( a rather cheap-skate real estate agent who bought the house when her client couldn't sell it during the recent housing market crash), couldn't be bothered to help fix the fence his tenants damaged, so we bought the materials and fixed it ourselves this weekend. It seems likely that the owner is now fixing the place up to sell (we hope), at the very least, perhaps he'll be a bit more selective on whom to rent to.
Word of warning. If you ever have a choice of hiring someone to replace a fence post, and doing it yourself, Hire the worker, no matter the cost! I'm afraid these old bones will never recover from the digging down about 4 feet to extract all of the old fence post and concrete that was holding it in. I've used my pick axe before, but breaking up clay, and breaking concrete and rotted fencepost and clay is... A younger man's job. The fence is repaired, though.
One of the previous renters (from a bit more than a year ago) was, I'm afraid, a stereotype bad neighbor type. He was the one that damaged the fence with his trailer, some of their other tricks included storing their truck topper (peeling paint and rust) in their front yard (and sometimes he'd actually place it in our front yard, because he had lawn tools and other junk laying where he'd normally keep it). One day I heard a gas-powered string trimmer revving up next door, accompanied by the sound of laughing and screaming kids. From my deck, I could see his two mullet-haired boys (10 and 12 or so in age) playing, the older one was chasing his younger brother around the yard with the trimmer. No adults in sight. I asked the older boy what he planned to do if he actually caught his brother with the string trimmer... (Great, future leatherface in training???) His reply, in thick stereotype hillbilly was, "Uh, I dunno, he runs pretty good, dont he?".
One of the landlords other tenants (who stayed only about 5 months) moved in in the middle of the night, moved out of the middle of the night, and regularly moved mysterious plastic trashcans from his garage to his truck regularly in the middle of the night. No, we're not spying on them, these antics were observed several times when I was returning home from an evening shift, my truck headlights illuminated them (2 mid-twenties young men and their hooded helpers) rolling 2 filled trash cans down the driveway and all four of them hefting them into the back of their own truck. Strange and scary...
So now the house if being fixed up, with loads of new drywall disappearing into the house, lots of sawing and hammering and a dumpster's worth of construction trash piling up. Since we'd been good friends with the previous owners (who moved out a couple of years ago), we know that the basement was already finished, so it must be repairwork being done. Hmmmm...... (Please let it be sold...)
Writing: I've taken a trip back to my roots, or sorts. In an effort to break my doldrums, I've been rooting around in the past of doril, digging up old stories to rekindle my passion for writing. I"m looking at writing a short, possibly about beauty, or perhaps the "old crew", Brandis, Wulluff, Evro, Delanore. Nothing earth shattering, just something to get me going again. I'll post it (or excerpts as I go) here. Hold me to it, patient readers. And please, comment. (especially you anonymous readers, I know you're out there, I just don't know who you are... ;-) )
Anyway, more to come, but I'll post tonight and write more tomorrow for later posting...
TTFN,
Jim
Word of warning. If you ever have a choice of hiring someone to replace a fence post, and doing it yourself, Hire the worker, no matter the cost! I'm afraid these old bones will never recover from the digging down about 4 feet to extract all of the old fence post and concrete that was holding it in. I've used my pick axe before, but breaking up clay, and breaking concrete and rotted fencepost and clay is... A younger man's job. The fence is repaired, though.
One of the previous renters (from a bit more than a year ago) was, I'm afraid, a stereotype bad neighbor type. He was the one that damaged the fence with his trailer, some of their other tricks included storing their truck topper (peeling paint and rust) in their front yard (and sometimes he'd actually place it in our front yard, because he had lawn tools and other junk laying where he'd normally keep it). One day I heard a gas-powered string trimmer revving up next door, accompanied by the sound of laughing and screaming kids. From my deck, I could see his two mullet-haired boys (10 and 12 or so in age) playing, the older one was chasing his younger brother around the yard with the trimmer. No adults in sight. I asked the older boy what he planned to do if he actually caught his brother with the string trimmer... (Great, future leatherface in training???) His reply, in thick stereotype hillbilly was, "Uh, I dunno, he runs pretty good, dont he?".
One of the landlords other tenants (who stayed only about 5 months) moved in in the middle of the night, moved out of the middle of the night, and regularly moved mysterious plastic trashcans from his garage to his truck regularly in the middle of the night. No, we're not spying on them, these antics were observed several times when I was returning home from an evening shift, my truck headlights illuminated them (2 mid-twenties young men and their hooded helpers) rolling 2 filled trash cans down the driveway and all four of them hefting them into the back of their own truck. Strange and scary...
So now the house if being fixed up, with loads of new drywall disappearing into the house, lots of sawing and hammering and a dumpster's worth of construction trash piling up. Since we'd been good friends with the previous owners (who moved out a couple of years ago), we know that the basement was already finished, so it must be repairwork being done. Hmmmm...... (Please let it be sold...)
Writing: I've taken a trip back to my roots, or sorts. In an effort to break my doldrums, I've been rooting around in the past of doril, digging up old stories to rekindle my passion for writing. I"m looking at writing a short, possibly about beauty, or perhaps the "old crew", Brandis, Wulluff, Evro, Delanore. Nothing earth shattering, just something to get me going again. I'll post it (or excerpts as I go) here. Hold me to it, patient readers. And please, comment. (especially you anonymous readers, I know you're out there, I just don't know who you are... ;-) )
Anyway, more to come, but I'll post tonight and write more tomorrow for later posting...
TTFN,
Jim
