Yard update...

My buddy, Paul, from South Dakota, e-mailed me that my last post went off in several different directions. To quote, "...you got a little opinionated about things other than your back yard, eh? We went from kids who keep their blinds down, to environmental issues, then the end of the world in Mayan terms, some sociological jabs on the younger generation, and to my liking some conservation observations, and even touched on cooling and heating issues....and finally, one more time about your desire or hint to live in Mexico..." Haha! What can I say? I've been known to digress a time or two.

So, I'll keep things short this time. Here's the result of my work this weekend. The garden center at Lowe's was absolutely packed with customers...people buying a ton of bricks, fertilizer, plants and whatnot. I wanted to keep it simple...nothing fancy or expensive, but just brighten up the patio area. By the way, I love the new outdoor rugs you can buy now. I got this one at Ross for a song. Really dresses up a drab slab of concrete, right?

I also put some flowers around my massive mailbox post.

There's a story behind this mailbox. I've already mentioned how the mailbox was put up the day after I moved in. I didn't think there would be a problem, but apparently there's a little "tiff" between the owners and the mailwoman. I didn't get any mail the first three weeks I lived here. I called a couple times and was just told that sometimes it takes awhile. When I tried to pay a credit card on-line one day, I was refused access to my account. I called the number they provided and was told that my bill had been returned and they put a hold on my account because of it. So I called the post office again and was finally able to talk to a supervisor who told me that all my mail was being held at the distribution office because of an "issue" with my new mailbox. She was very apologetic and told me that I could pick up my mail there despite the fact that the public was not allowed at the distribution center. So, I went to pick up my BIG stack of mail that had been piling up even though NO ONE told me it was being held. I've heard since then that the mailwoman can be a bit "moody," and the supervisor pretty much confirmed that. A couple days after that, I happened to be at the house when the mailwoman drove by. I went out to talk to her and she was EXTREMELY nervous to the point of almost shaking when she told me that she couldn't deliver the mail to my box after March 6th because my box didn't conform to U.S. Mail standards...it was set back from the street so that she had to either drive up on the sidewalk or park in the street, and get out of the truck to deliver the mail. Well, I'm looking around and see that most of the mailboxes on the street are exactly the same way. I was very nice to her and said I felt like I was caught in the middle and just wanted my mail. She was still really nervous and drove away still talking the whole time. So I told the landlord about the problem and she went to the local postmaster the next week and explained the problem. Long story short, he said the mailbox was fine and that the mailwoman would deliver the mail. Now I think about this every time I open the box to get my mail. Will the mailwoman go "postal" some day and put a bomb in my mailbox because she's pissed at my landlord?? I told my son that if he finds my body out in the street in front of the mailbox, he should have the mailwoman investigated.

But, whoa!! I've digressed once again! Back to the yard. I found these little solar lights at Wal-Mart for three bucks. They just put out a little bit of an accent light at night which looks really nice.

And poor little Gringo watched me all weekend. :-( I was going to comment tonight that I hadn't seen the girlfriend around for a couple weeks, but lo and behold, I saw her dog in the yard playing with Gringo tonight, so she must be back. No kids, though.

To be continued...