Sometimes you have to vent.

     When you own a home or any piece of property, you realize how much you don’t really know.   You become a plumber, an electrician, a landscaper and a painter.   You become, or are forced to become, a lot of little things as part of being a homeowner.  It’s in the fine print of that contract you signed.

       I thought about that and 1001 little things during the last few days.  Recently my riding lawnmower needed a blade replaced, which I replaced with mulching blades, only for me to hit a hidden root with it again – on a tree that was scheduled to come down this weekend.   Now the mower assembly will not engage at all; shutting down the whole machine.  We have to have it repaired for the second time within a week.

      I thought about how the summer thunderstorms moving through our area all this week were turning our “dry creek bed” project into a very wet, very muddy issue.  I’m also realizing that this is why I should have put a landscape barrier down (to help prevent erosion) AND that I am going to need a lot more rock for this project.   Luckily, the soil in and around Western Pennsylvania tends to be full of rocks and many farmers have piles of them.   It’s just a matter of getting them here from there.   This means I’m going to need to find/rent/steal a truck.

      Other projects that we have been meaning to do keep putting put off for a wide variety of reasons.  We have been wanting to pressure wash the house all summer for example but the weather has not cooperated.

   A friend of ours is letting us barrow his 1250+ PSI pressure washer instead of going to rent one.  We could buy one but frankly the expense of one does not justify its use.    Since our home is technically two stories and has some “hard to hit” areas we may need to borrow his RK tractor as well.  

    Basically I plan on standing on a pallet with the equipment, raised in the air and quickly pressure wash these hard to hit areas.

      He broke his ankle this week.   On top of all that, my mother in law had two trees fall on their garage during one of the thunderstorms.  Luckily no one was hurt and the cars were out of the garage at the time.   However that means that cutting those trees becomes a priority and I’ve not even been out to see the damage yet.

 
  Sue and I have talked about taking down two or three trees that are near our house and don't appear to be in the greatest of shape.   I've been reluctant to take down any still living tree (they do show signs of rot) but am thinking that she may be right.   We know that it takes at least 6 months to a year for wood to "season" to be burned and now would be the time to take a tree down for that purpose.  

    We already cleared a lot of brush and even took down some dead limbs on our property.  

     All these things have happened in the last two weeks or so.   My job also moved me to a new schedule.  I actually volunteered for it for reasons I’m not going to discuss here (yet anyway).   I am now working from 8 AM to 6 PM with Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday’s off.  However as I quickly learned last week that means that my entire day is taken up with work.  I’m simply not able to do much during the day.  

      Wednesday’s now become “the day” for me to accomplish any projects or make any phone calls needed.  Make appointments, etc.  I have to get my car inspected by the end of the month for example and still have to replace the muffler on it.  I just dropped $400+ on new tires.

      For a variety of reasons, Sue also took on a secondary part time job.  She is cleaning two offices near us every night.   We don’t need the money but Sue is referring to it as our “vacation fund” in that we have not been on a proper vacation in several years.    Some evenings I’ve been asked to help out. 

      I know that all this will pass, that Rome wasn’t built in a day.   I just don’t like relaying on others for help, although I don’t mind paying for it.   

    Sometimes you just have to vent and I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew.