If you had asked me a year ago

what I thought I was going to miss the most, it probably would have been a list a little something like this:

my friends
the fantastic diversity of natural beauty, ocean, bay, mountains, waterfalls, valleys
the ability to find good food a stone's throw from wherever the hell you are (and chains were not the predominant offering)
the diversity of people
the diversity of architecture
the 100's of hikes within a 10 mile radius
the walkability
the weather, ok this probably would have hit a bit higher...
the amazing & stimulating casual conversations that you could easily strike up with a stranger
stimulating conversation

anyway, that would have likely been the top 10. maybe not the last item, I don't think I would have expected that to be the case.

Never would I have guessed, that in at least one of the top 3 spots, day laborers would reign supreme.

Gosh. now what the heck would spur that?

well, dear mr. bob came out yesterday (Thursday), pulled down the one section of fence he had strung on Wednesday, restrung it (it now looks worse than the first string - it sags and wrinkles now, the first attempt was not all that bad for what I could see)

he called me about 10 am on Thursday morning to tell me he was going to restring it, and to remark on how much of a mess the gas company made of the yard.

I asked Bob if he was going to set the gate posts (this was Thursday) since he said they needed to set 24 hours before the gate could be hung (and he was going to be done with the job by Friday...) he said no, he left the concrete mix at home and he would set them on Friday when he came out.

I then said, well you said you had another job this weekend, so it sounds like I won't be able to let the cats out this weekend because the gate won't be up. He says, if I don't finish the job on Friday, I will come out Saturday morning and finish it.

Well, I get home at 10 on Friday night - was out interviewing professional women bowlers and shockingly enough, there was no sign bob had been anywhere around. Mom was here until 2 and he wasn't around.

The missing couple of t-posts are not in the ground, there are no holes for posts, no posts in concrete and no new fence stretched along the road.

Oh, no phone message either, not at home, not at work.

Am I happy?

Here is the pisser, he has my concrete mix, my gate hardware, my t-post clips, my tie wire and several other pertinent items in his truck so they would not get stolen or wet if it rained. I have the rolls of wire, the gate posts and the gate.

So, the only way I can do anything productive with the fence is to drive 15 miles back to the Tractor Supply purchase duplicates of everything and start work on it. So much for my homework that is due in a week, the last week of classes this quarter.

Cannot move for the little (ok nearly grown) and big fluff balls that cling to me like whatever the hell clings bad.

I had to let Snuggie out for a while tonight, he was getting a bit wild. If he gets killed before this fence gets up, bitch is gonna be on a rampage.

So, I am thinking in the morning I will go buy a few rolls of some cheap easy to handle wire or mesh material fence stuff, string it up along the road, and pound it into the ground a bit. that will create a reasonable temporary barrier. Then I will pound in t posts on each side of the drive way to act as temporary gate posts, and then stretch chicken wire across the drive with an single t-post attached to the end of the chicken wire to create a rigid side to the "gate".

I can then use some rope or wire to wire the t-post that is in the ground (acting as a gate post) to the t-post attached to the makeshift chickenwire gate, so that the driveway is reasonably well blocked off. This means a small pain in the ass to get the car in and out, but that is ok, I will only have the driveway "blocked" with it while the little ones are learning to be outside.

Then I can probably let the kittens out with some supervision and they will temporarily be protected from running amok into the road.

Wasn't the plan for Saturday, but yet another middle aged white guy bites...

maybe I could fly a couple of fellows out here for a week, and get the house all fixed up and then fly them back...

hmmm,

Anne, you are fluent in Spanish... I may send you out to hire me some home repair men!!! I have room to put them up... they'll have to suffer with some really crappy food while here, but hey, when else are they ever gonna see Ohio? Wait, my sissy, a fantabulous cook (former mother is law was Mexican) can come up and cook for the fellas, since she is off heavy duty work and cannot put the actual fence up for me...

$3k for airfare, ground transit, labor and food for 2 guys, and imagine how much would get done and I could just be done with it. No more UMAWGs (unreliable middle aged white guys)!

So, I wonder what Bob is going to say when he gets back in touch with me? I do hope he and his family are all well, and have not suffered some terrible fate, but if he just blew it off, well that ain't good.

OH, under-boob, mom was here with the kitties today when you left the message about the plates. I do not know the answer.

I have sent you a couple of emails to spursoft and the have been returned to me - get Stubba Bubba to figure out what is going on...

and sorry, little cutie pa-tootie was a one shot deal. They had my gas reconnected by about 11:30 that night and a little before midnight they had their little trench digger loaded up and were off to their next gig. yummy fella he was. I shoulda asked him if he did fencing work...

ok, Snuggie just showed himself in the house, yippppppppppeeeeeee, one more day and he is still alive. that is really how I know it was a good day. I go to bed and all of them are safe and sound. Except Tashi, that is, but I expect he is out sticking his paws in the edges of Possum Creek's lake and ponds while Dad cast his line out into them, pulls it out, walks 30 feet, repeats and does this until he has walked about 5 miles... Tashi probably craps out at about the 3 mile mark and waits for dad to come back around...

I miss them.

Ollie often reminds me of Tashi, especially when his fluffy little self goes sliding about 6 feet on these hardwood floors, then I choke up. glad to have Ollie, but wishing like hell he was Tashi. I have a feeling this is the wound that will never really heal. Maybe it was how close it was to losing dad, but I don't think that is anywhere near all of it. Tashi was a wonderkitty. Maybe just too special a spirit, he had more lives to touch?

anyway, I am gonna go crawl in bed and love the ones I am with, and let little Ollie lick my salty tears.

Tommorrow, i will probably be fencing... yippee.