Lunch break

You get what you pay for. The teen helpers are on a long lunch break playing with my boys. No one is working but me. Tom says living away from home is like being on Vashon again, isolated and alone, with none of his own stuff around him. He misses us, though I wonder why. The boys are so not helpful unless I get cranky. They avoid helping until I have to yell. Tom would hate being home with me cranky almost as much as he hates living away from home.

I went to the local farm and garden store and bought a hoe to help the teens speed up with the gardening. It broke within the hour under the hands of my helpers. I had to go back to the store for an exchange. The rake broke also, but I had had it a couple of years so I couldn't exchange it. I told them I would do the lawn mower. I don't need that broken also.

I am taking my own break as I type. The sweat makes my shirt stick to my back. Even though the sun didn't make an appearance it is still warm outside. Not having the sun beat down on us helps. Yesterday, with the sun out, it was incredibly warm and exhausting work.

The garbage man emptied our cans so we can refill them today. I will put them back on the street once they are filled to ensure that they are not forgotten next week. I can't afford not to have them emptied each week so we can stuff them full again with weeds.

My front yard is beginning to look barren with all the flowers and weeds pulled. If it wasn't a bush or a tree, I told the boys to pull it out. Our renter made it very clear she likes the clean empty none gardener look. She didn't like the tall flowers or the mint. Most of my plantings were low maintenance. I also had a sprinkler system put in two years ago. That should help everything survive neglect.

It does look more like a rental now as the character I gave the house is washed away. The iron sculptures are collected for the move so they wont be forgotten. We have had to leave garden features behind before. I do not want to lose my favorites. The iron Beaver, the iron scarecrow, the french iron wheel all have to be packed.

Well, I need to end my break. Slowly everything is getting boxed, but it wont if I am not doing it.

The "investors" have our contract now, what ever that means. It is technically not the banks but the banks have to negotiate with the "investors" before we can have a signed agreement. BA has verbally agreed to accept. They now have to convince the second bank and the second bank's investors. August 3 seems very far away when our movers are coming July 6.

I called the utility companies to find out how long once we have confirmation that we can get power and water turned back on. Telephone takes three days minimum to hook up. Water and electric take twenty four hours to turn on.