I posted that we finally got rain last week. This week, on Tuesday afternoon and into the evening we had wonderful, gentle rain that soaked in. It wasn't all that we needed, but it was a step in the right direction.
Wednesday dawned cool and clear. It was beautiful in the morning, and I managed to get in an hour's work before a nurse came to visit Elegante Mother. I was trying to tidy things up before she arrived. She was early! I got caught in my gardening gear, looking ratty, and had to make the best of it.
My sixteen year old nephew was with us, to help with the gardening. Although the grass was starting to green up again, it was too soon to mow, so he got stuck with the chore of cutting raspberries and sumac trees out of a pod of evergreens. This is a neverending chore that has to be done at least annually, sometimes twice a year. It's hard, nasty work, especially when it's hot.
I had intended to help him, but the nurse visit took most of the morning, and I had office work in the afternoon. He slogged on, all by himself. Every 15 minutes of so, I'd see him driving by with a trailer full of trees and raspberry canes. I give him high marks for working by himself and sticking with it for six and a half hours. The harder half of the easier job is done. I'll work with him next week, and see how much more we can get done.
We hired my nephew to mow the lawn. He never expected some of the heavy physical labor he'd get stuck with. I have to give him a LOT of credit for rising to the challenge and doing a great job!
Comments (10)
Send him over my way when you're done with him - I could use someone to pack dirt down before we put in the sand for the base of the patio. With WS working long hours and 6 days/wekk, the work is going slowly.
Posted by bogie | July 29, 2005 6:14 AM
Posted on July 29, 2005 06:14
What a nephew! I am truly impressed with a teen who will stick with any job for 6.5 hours--let alone such an onerous chore. Good for him. The world is not going to heck in a handbasket, is it?!
Never having lived in the same state with any of our three nephews, ours got off easy. Now we have three grand nephews. They somehow seem to think that they should live with their dads and moms--in California and Illinois. Fancy that!
Posted by Cop Car | July 29, 2005 10:43 AM
Posted on July 29, 2005 10:43
Heck, Cop Car....you'll have to make arrangements to have them for the summer! I'm telling you, I couldn't do without them!
Posted by buffy | July 30, 2005 5:21 PM
Posted on July 30, 2005 17:21
Bogie, I don't think he's heavy enough to do the work! He'll be sixteen in less than two months and he's 6'2" tall. But....he only weighs about 150 pounds. We might need to find a bruiser for you.
That patio of yours will be gorgeous when it's done, even if it takes ages to get there.
Posted by buffy | July 30, 2005 5:28 PM
Posted on July 30, 2005 17:28
Buffy--I'm sure that Bogie won't let your nephew off that easy. WS isn't as tall as your nephew and is usually lighter than 150# and she doesn't let him off! Encourage your nephew to work out, regularly, with the weights--lol. (The first two purchases that I recall my Hunky Husband's having made after we married in 1958 were a set of weights and a toolbox--both from a Sears catalog, as I recall.)
Posted by Cop Car | July 30, 2005 5:58 PM
Posted on July 30, 2005 17:58
How can you possibly remember his first two purchases???
Yeah....it's time this kid started bulking up. If nothing else, he needs to be able to defend himself from his shorter classmates.
Posted by buffy | July 30, 2005 10:39 PM
Posted on July 30, 2005 22:39
Actually, WS is heavier than 150 (not by too much), and has been for years I don't get out of the heavy work though (like drilling holes and hammering spikes into a million railroad ties as well as putting in the granite steps to the dog pen - at 75 - 200 lbs per step), and I definitely don't weigh that much.
Posted by bogie | August 1, 2005 4:17 AM
Posted on August 1, 2005 04:17
Buffy: It's easy to remember purchases that represented a huge proportion of our total resources--buying the toolbox and the weights was sort of like buying houses, at the time.
Posted by Cop Car | August 1, 2005 9:59 AM
Posted on August 1, 2005 09:59
Cop Car tried to post this, but my censor objected:
Bogie: I guess I just think of WS as he was during most of the years that I've known him (just as I still think of myself at one hundred te to one hundred fifteen--lol). He was as thin as you are, in those years. Now I'm trying to picture you at one hundred fifty to two hundred pounds and can't quite get there. (I'm just envious of the genes that you got!)
Posted by buffy | August 1, 2005 11:41 AM
Posted on August 1, 2005 11:41
Cop Car.....it objected to the numbers or to the shorthand for pounds, I think. I'll ask ~T~ about it.
Posted by buffy | August 1, 2005 11:42 AM
Posted on August 1, 2005 11:42