Taking Things Into My Own Hands

With all the rain we had last week and this week my lawn is growing like weeds (which are probably 35% of it anyway).  I got a call from Marlin the owner of our lawn service earlier this week saying that all of his summer help had gone back to college and he was going to be off or away for the next month so Jake, an ex-employee was going to be mowing, that I should make sure to be home when he came because my lawn is special (being hilly and having the garden watering hose that needs to be unhooked and reattached).  I called Jake that day asking him to come and mow next week but got to thinking that Marlin was asking a lot, asking that I hang around on the off chance that Jake would come to mow because they never call ahead, they just show up.  So I got the lawnmower out of the shed where it's spent the last 3 summers, got it gassed up, and after about 20 pulls it started.  !!!!!  Unfortunately the self-propelled part didn't work so I scaled back my expectations and just mowed my front yard AND I consulted with the next door neighbor who has a side business of mower and snowblower tuneup and repair.  He thinks it's an easy fix and will look at it tomorrow.  Maybe I'll get the rest of it mowed Sunday and Monday.  I have to remember to let the renter know that the days of the lawn service are over so she or her fiance will be expected to mow her half.



Tonight I had the second half of the Jumbo Shrimp with Spicy Cuban Black Beans.  Just as delicious even if the shrimp were a tad rubbery from their turn in the microwave.  Yum.  Gotta buy more cans of black beans.


August 31--Fedor Michajlovic Slavianskij, Family Group on Balcony.  "Only the children are happy," Gwen said.  "Huh?"  Andy wondered if they were looking at the same painting.  They stood in front of an oil of a couple with three small children and a sour looking aunt or nanny.  The father stood looking at the mother, palette and brushes in his hand.  Now that he really looked at it Andy thought that they'd been painted when they were in the middle of an argument.

My sinuses are filling up and aching something fierce.  I sincerely hope there's a weather change moving in and ragweed or something is sending out tons of pollen because I do not want a cold.  I wouldn't be surprised if I got one, in fact, I've kind of been expecting one, but I'd really rather not.
--Barbara