hay !
Hay, not hey, that is. That’s what was in my pockets, my hair, everywhere yesterday, I was like a scarecrow! I finally got the front and very front yards raked out and smooth and ready for seed. So I spread some fertilizer, some grass seed, and covered it with hay. It rained last night and is on and off drizzling today, so hopefully in a couple weeks I’ll have baby grass for a lawn. Anything but dirt and I’ll be happy.
And the electricity is on in the cottage ! Hurray ! It’s kinda neat to be able to flip a switch and lights come on, after so long. George is coming this afternoon to start laying the rest of the tiles, so it’s getting there. Last week I primed the front of it also, so it looks nice and clean and white… All I have to do now is figure out how to come up with a couple thousand dollars to finish it and it should be real nice! Once the tiles are done I’ll get some new pics of it all and post them, K?
So last 4-5 days has been all outside work, grading the yard, trying to get it looking half-way decent. Yesterday and today I have a few laborers next door at my Mom’s house (oh, you didn’t know my Mom bought the house next door about five years ago? it’s a blessing and a curse at times…) grading her backyard and moving boulders and getting it ready to be seeded and do some landscaping there too. She had the same backhoe operator as me there destroying her yard last year. So little by little things are shaping up. I still have no job, no money, and no prospects. But I have a good outlook, I have loving people in my life, and I’m lucky enough to have 4 great kids who I miss. That’s a hint if you read this, Maggie, that I haven’t seen you in awhile…
My son Sam who lives with me has a girlfriend! For a few weeks now. It’s weird, like, he is growing up, I must be getting old. But I can still hang pretty good, and feel better then when I was 30, so I’m not complaining. I went to Rich’s wake last night. man, he looked horrible, didn’t even look like him. His wife looked like she was holding on. I can’t help but think about their two kids though. I mean, the youngest one won’t even have any memories of her father, that’s really sad. And I look at his life, he had it all, a beautiful and very successful wife, two kids, a big luxury home, money, all the things people dream of. But it couldn’t fill the hole inside, it couldn’t take away the pain, only the drugs could, or at least you think they do when you’re caught up in the life. But meanwhile all they do is take away your ability to feel and make you exist, not really living, just surviving. I dunno, we went to the diner last night and were talking, five people I know died in the last six months, that’s five people too many. Two OD’s, one heart attack, one liver failed, one from the virus. At least some of them died clean and happy I guess.
Shit, this is kinda getting me bummed out first thing in the morning and all. It’s a gray dreary and wet day out, it’s too easy to become morbid and start thinking negative. I have to run a couple new water lines at my Mom’s house and tie them in so she has hose-bibs outside, I guess I’ll change and go do that to keep myself busy. I talked to Grace this morning and she was maybe going in, maybe gonna fall back asleep. She said she’d call me in an hour, and she hasn’t, so that means she fell back asleep. I guess I’ll let her sleep and if she’s in the mood (no not that mood, we’re always in that one) she’ll come up later and we’ll cook up some grub and chow down. I made chicken stock from the chickens we roasted this weekend (they were delicious by the way, stuff with a whole lemon and fresh thyme, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and shove in the oven) so I’m thinking of making some “green rice”. What’s that you ask? That’s when you sautee up a cup each of chopped spinach, parsley, and scallions in some olive oil. Then you add two cups of rice and heat until translucent. Then you add the appropriate amount of chicken stock (depending on how you like your rice) and cook until done. Fluff it up with a fork, and crumble up some feta cheese on top, or just squeeze fresh lemon on it , and enjoy!
OK, you got two cooking ideas, heard about the progress around the old homestead here, and also had a mini-discourse on why drug addiction is bad. So I guess I can safely say I’ve said more enough and I’ll go start my day…
