I had to take Zach to sell back some books from school but he was only able to sell one back. I told him to take the money and treat himself to a video game. He deserves it. He never spends the money he makes, but puts it immediately into savings. He paid for his own laptop and most of his schooling on his own. Never asks for anything extra in the way of clothes or stuff. Does his chores even when he's got a lot on his plate. So I thought he deserved to do something with his money.
I had put a book on order at the library that came in. It's a John Howe book called Forging Dragons. The drawings and paintings in it are totally awesome. I've discovered his forum on the interwebs where I can interact with artists (as well as him occasionally) most of whom are self-taught as well. Not to mention they are very fun people.
Now that I'm home, though, I'm really wiped out. I need to clean the kitchen at least, even down to mopping floors. And do something with 50 pounds of kitty litter that someone brought in from the truck (used as ballast because the truck was too light on snowy roads) and just dumped in the dining room about a month ago. I'm thinking of using it to fill in the ditches that were dug 12 years ago and never filled in. They were supposed to have drainage pipes put in them but that never happened. I've always been afraid someone would fall in one and break a leg and sue us. Hasn't happened so far but that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.
I also got some weed killer. We have a thistle problem that is horrible. I've tried using organic treatments but they don't kill the plant at the root so I'm going for the big guns. I'm definitely going to get a start on it tonight. I'm sure I'll use a few jugs of this stuff before I can even get a handle on it.
Zach is going to finish mowing tonight. Tom mowed most of it Sunday but quit without finishing it. Who knows? He never did turn the garden for me and apparently has no intention of doing it so I'm on my own, I guess. We watched a documentary last night about Les Stroud buying some property and going off the grid. It was like we watched different shows the way we got totally opposite things out of it. He started lamenting the rain barrel we bought. I told him it would take a couple of years to recoup our money but after that we'd be better off, that I can't really garden inexpensively if I have to water the garden from the faucet. And August is pretty dry here so for a whole month you're using city water. I've been saving milk jugs and apple juice jugs to store water in so I can store up. I'll keep them in the garage because it's pretty cool in there, being a cinder block building.
That is, if I can keep him from crushing them and putting them in the recycle bin. I've reminded him frequently but they still end up there.
And saving water by using rain water only works if I can get him to stop letting the water run in the bathroom sink for the cat. The sink overflowed last week and he got mad at me when I pointed out, yet again, that the cat has been known to drink from his water bowl. Plus he got mad at me because the overflow drain was blocked with junk. So a few days later, I walked into the bathroom and the water faucet was on with the stopper out of the drain and the cat had been outside for an hour.
It's so frustrating for me to try to save money and stretch our resources when he continues to do things like this. I never could get him to put plastic on his windows last fall. And he wouldn't let me do it either.
Well, fellas...there's a new sheriff in town and she's not going to put up with it anymore. I may not get the garden I want this summer but I will next year. I'm going to work on getting the house ready for winter and getting my perennials in for next spring. And maybe some fall vegetables as well. Otherwise I'm limiting myself to herbs and some flowers this year. I'm going to re-learn how to use tools and just do it all myself from now on. If you can't rely on someone, you have to rely on yourself.
And maybe I'll be thinking about my future as well. Do I really want to be treated like this for the rest of my life?
Professor is doing better although he still favors the leg. I think it's a case of won't rather than can't at this stage. I've noticed he'll forget at times and race up the steps. Most of the time, though, he'll wait for me to pick him up and carry him (which is what the vet recommended while he was healing.)
Well, I'm off to clean the kitchen. I can only work in short segments. It makes it frustrating to go that slowly but I make more progress than if I push through and then spend the next three days in pain and no energy.
And I intend to spend some time outside in this wonderful weather. Near 80 and sunny with a light wind. Gorgeous!
TTFN
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