It just goes on and on. We can hear the storms coming. First the thunder, then we see the lightening, and in a little while the rain starts---and it comes down very hard, and then it lessens, and then it's hard again, and it just goes on and on and on. We've been in a moderate drought, so I'm not complaining, but so much at once? It's very tiring. WHEW!
And then a little sunshine comes---very bright---but the rain continues even then. This is so weird.
The dogs are bored with being kept inside, but they definitely do not want to go out in the rain. On the other hand, the cats swat at me, meow, and run to the door when they hear the thunder, and if the door is opened will run out. I, however, do not want them to go out when the weather is so unstable.
Drivers keep driving into flooded streets and acting like it's a big surprise when their cars float off the road, or they lose control and careen into someone's house. Are they this desperate to be on TV? Does rain bring out the stupidity of the human race?
Another storm rolling in so I need to shut down and unplug AGAIN! Pitiful old computer that it is, I don't want it fried by the lightening. See ya!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
IT ALL STARTED WHEN . . .
Chill and Jaz were shopping at Sam's. This was about three to four weeks ago. According to her Chill dragged her half way across the mammoth shopping area to see this wonderful thing they had displayed. It had originally been priced at $799.00. The price had been cut to $515.00. Jaz said he thought that it would be great for them to go in on with moi (I'm feeling a little Miss Piggy-ish, I guess) and extend our gardening efforts. Apparently, those tomatoes, zucchini, basil, etc. are appealing. Anyway, she called me and described it, and we planned another trip to Sam's Club for another look and a conference. That was about June 30.
It looked really good, and I did some on-line research, and everything seemed to be just about what it said it was. The only down side was that the customer reviews were all done about one month after purchase, so there was no response about how things actually grew there; on the positive side they were all pleased with the assembly end of it. So, all things considered it seemed like an o.k. deal. The next hurdle was that we had to pick up the two LARGE boxes (one weighed 150 lbs. & the other 165 lbs.) from Sam's the same day as the purchase, and we couldn't seem to connect with Chill---he who has pick-up and muscles. It was finally resolved, and we made the purchase on July 9. Guess what! The price had been reduced to $398.00. YEA! YEA! And Chill even opted to hire a friend/customer to build it for us. Yesterday was the big day.
Doesn't this look like a giant Lincoln log set?
Our hired guy called the night before to say he'd be at my house at 7:00 a.m., and he was. I'm always surprised to see that people actually function at this hour, but they do---eventually. Come on, Jaz and Keith. Hands off hips, and apply to construction.
Well, one of them got the message.
BTW Keith was apparently feeling the pressure of the on-line information that said two people working together on this project should expect to finish in 6-8 hrs. (Of course, I think they meant ordinary klutzes who only half know what they are doing.) As he didn't seem to need any help from us for a while I commandeered Jaz to the front yard to help me trim away some hedge to apply a Y spigot attachment to the front outside water supply so we could run a hose to the new garden. Well, that woman is manic when it comes to cleaning out something. Pretty soon we were pulling out vines, weeding, pulling up volunteer trees, hacking out lantana that just won't give up, and we managed to harvest five yard bags of debris. (Unfortunately, this tells you something about the state of my alleged flower beds as well.) They haven't looked so good ever.
When we went back to the back yard this is what we found.
At this point we discovered between Keith's and my treasure trove of drill bits we didn't have one to make a hole big enough to put a garden hose through, and he had to make a run to a nearby hardware store for a bit, and I begged him to pick up the Y connection for the faucet as well which he did. He was a joy to work with.
Jaz did some helpful holding of things as work progressed and figuring out the placement of the plastic liners for this giant container for plants. She really did good things. And what did I do to help this process along? Well, my job was to get water for everyone. Did I mention it was hot? Ten degrees cooler than a week ago, but 90-92 is hot enough to keep a good sweat going. It is likely that each of us drank at least two quarts of water out there. I was also fetching things like soap for screws, band-aids and wound cleaning foam, an array of bits of wood for leveling, etc. We were a pretty good team. Jaz decided to go get us something for lunch (Church's chicken) as she and I were beginning to walk into walls. But Keith, the real competitor, just wanted a Coke. Here he is putting in the final screws.
When it was done he asked, "What time is it?" I immediately looked inside at the clock in the kitchen and reported it was 2:00 p.m. Seven hours from the time he arrived which included getting the boxes into the area from the carport, opening, reading instructions, cutting a finger, conversation, and just being pleasant and courteous the whole time, and working mostly alone. I love it when people know what they're doing.
So what does this new construction look like? Well, it's gorgeous. Just take a look! (It's not tilted; I think I was.)
This afternoon, the day after, I was doing even more yard work; I won't bore you with what that included, but when I was taking out all the stuff to the curb for trash pick-up in the morning my backdoor neighbor was doing the same. I invited her to come see what we'd built. As she came up the drive she asked, "Oh, are you going to raise chickens?"
It looked really good, and I did some on-line research, and everything seemed to be just about what it said it was. The only down side was that the customer reviews were all done about one month after purchase, so there was no response about how things actually grew there; on the positive side they were all pleased with the assembly end of it. So, all things considered it seemed like an o.k. deal. The next hurdle was that we had to pick up the two LARGE boxes (one weighed 150 lbs. & the other 165 lbs.) from Sam's the same day as the purchase, and we couldn't seem to connect with Chill---he who has pick-up and muscles. It was finally resolved, and we made the purchase on July 9. Guess what! The price had been reduced to $398.00. YEA! YEA! And Chill even opted to hire a friend/customer to build it for us. Yesterday was the big day.
Doesn't this look like a giant Lincoln log set?
Our hired guy called the night before to say he'd be at my house at 7:00 a.m., and he was. I'm always surprised to see that people actually function at this hour, but they do---eventually. Come on, Jaz and Keith. Hands off hips, and apply to construction.
Well, one of them got the message.
BTW Keith was apparently feeling the pressure of the on-line information that said two people working together on this project should expect to finish in 6-8 hrs. (Of course, I think they meant ordinary klutzes who only half know what they are doing.) As he didn't seem to need any help from us for a while I commandeered Jaz to the front yard to help me trim away some hedge to apply a Y spigot attachment to the front outside water supply so we could run a hose to the new garden. Well, that woman is manic when it comes to cleaning out something. Pretty soon we were pulling out vines, weeding, pulling up volunteer trees, hacking out lantana that just won't give up, and we managed to harvest five yard bags of debris. (Unfortunately, this tells you something about the state of my alleged flower beds as well.) They haven't looked so good ever.
When we went back to the back yard this is what we found.
At this point we discovered between Keith's and my treasure trove of drill bits we didn't have one to make a hole big enough to put a garden hose through, and he had to make a run to a nearby hardware store for a bit, and I begged him to pick up the Y connection for the faucet as well which he did. He was a joy to work with.
Jaz did some helpful holding of things as work progressed and figuring out the placement of the plastic liners for this giant container for plants. She really did good things. And what did I do to help this process along? Well, my job was to get water for everyone. Did I mention it was hot? Ten degrees cooler than a week ago, but 90-92 is hot enough to keep a good sweat going. It is likely that each of us drank at least two quarts of water out there. I was also fetching things like soap for screws, band-aids and wound cleaning foam, an array of bits of wood for leveling, etc. We were a pretty good team. Jaz decided to go get us something for lunch (Church's chicken) as she and I were beginning to walk into walls. But Keith, the real competitor, just wanted a Coke. Here he is putting in the final screws.
When it was done he asked, "What time is it?" I immediately looked inside at the clock in the kitchen and reported it was 2:00 p.m. Seven hours from the time he arrived which included getting the boxes into the area from the carport, opening, reading instructions, cutting a finger, conversation, and just being pleasant and courteous the whole time, and working mostly alone. I love it when people know what they're doing.
So what does this new construction look like? Well, it's gorgeous. Just take a look! (It's not tilted; I think I was.)
This afternoon, the day after, I was doing even more yard work; I won't bore you with what that included, but when I was taking out all the stuff to the curb for trash pick-up in the morning my backdoor neighbor was doing the same. I invited her to come see what we'd built. As she came up the drive she asked, "Oh, are you going to raise chickens?"
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