Wednesday, August 1, 2007

The last day of July.....


...was not the best day of July! Once again I have been laid off. It happens in the mortgage business. Between June of 1999 and December of 2000 I was laid off three times. At least this time I had a good six and a half year run. Oh well. This is exactly why I kept at least 100 vacation hours on the books and took out the biggest home equity line of credit I could and didn't use it. Well, except for the little bit I used to buy my car last year. I would rather not borrow money, but I don't have to worry about not being able to eat or pay the mortgage until I find a new job. The worst part of being unemployed is having time to do things, but not wanting to spend any money. Like going to the fair, which is where I took the picture of the carousel horses.

Gripe for the day: Arundo Grass. http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=112 Nasty stuff, and my neighbor (who is otherwise a very nice man) planted the shit. Right next to my yard, so of course I have it too. He thinks it's bamboo. It's NOT bamboo!!!!!! I've been burning what I've cut down in my little outdoor fire pit. I read somewhere that it was used as a building material in the Philippines. What can you build out of big grass? A grass shack maybe. And, rats are living in it on his side of the fence. I can't even put up bird feeders because the rats come over and eat the bird seed. Chance has killed a rat on occasion though. Good dog!


Heard on this evening's news: In a story about a group of people who made plea bargain agreements for some crime: "They received sentences ranging from 12 months to a year in jail." Yeah, okay.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, my, I don't envy you! I'd say you have a pretty unneighborly neighbor. Anything that encourages rats (and snakes) near my house is not my cup of tea. I caught your blog address from your Garden Secrets e-mail and wanted you to know you are not talking to yourself. You've got a fun blog that I enjoyed reading.