Lhudly sing huzzah! It’s 8:30 in the morning and around 80 degrees out here on the deck. The worst of the summer is gone, thank God.
But…of course there’s no rest for the wicked.
The watering system crapped out a few days ago. That means everything on almost a quarter-acre has to be watered by hand. That is a whole lotta watering, since most of my posies live in pots. By 5 p.m., it’s still a hundred degrees out here. Potted plants will die in one day — flat — when temps reach 100.
Gerardo knows how to fix the thing — I think the control panel needs to be replaced. He does understand irrigation systems. But he’s busy. And I doubt if he realizes that if somethig is in a pot, it has to be watered every day.
On the other hand…how much, really, does it harm me to get off my duff every few minutes for an hour or two to move hoses around? It’s actually probably good for me.
The handyman recommended by the Home Depot lady for the job of re-installing the fiberglass cover over the shade structure wants nine hundred bucks.
Well. I don’t know if that’s reasonable or not. But you may be sure I am not paying $900 to some guy who says he’ll be here at 9 a.m. and shows up at 11.
Gerardo doesn’t want to do the job. He says he will if I can’t get anyone else, but clearly he hopes I can.
I’d called the guy who built it, Richard, a week or so ago and got no answer. He’s the one who fell off the roof and busted up his back in a dozen places. So I figured he probably had retired from the slamming-around business.
Called the handyman: no response.
So this morning I was going to post a query on NextDoor, which is like tossing bread crumbs in a duck pond. But first decided to call Richard one more time, since I know he knows how to do the job — his first effort lasted 14 years.
And lo! His wife picked up the phone…just as it went dead. She called right back. She said their office had flooded a week ago, ruining their almost-new computer and butching up all things electrical and electronic. They’re just getting back in gear.
So she’s going to have him call to make an appointment. That’s good. If I have to pay $900 to get that thing fixed, I’d rather give it to Richard than just about anybody else. He can fix the watering system, too, I suppose.
Meanwhile there are a jillion other things I need to do, now that the weather’s cooling. First on the list: repaint the outdoor chairs. The cans of spray paint have been sitting in the back room since I bought them last spring, imagining that I’d get around to doing the job before it got hot. I underestimate my own laziness…
Then I would like to plant some vegetables…probably in pots, because I’d just as soon not dig up the landscaping.
Meanwhile, today I’ve gotta finish the current elaborate business management study from China. It’s almost 10,000 editable words, which I expected to require a lot more time than it has. But in fact, yesterday, with relatively few interruptions hammering at me, I managed to get through most of it. All that remains are the discussion and the conclusion, which I should be able to power through fairly quickly.
After that, it’ll be time to finish preparing another week’s worth of dog food — the pork is already cooked and cooling, preparatory to grinding it and mixing it with veggies & starch.
And so, away…