miles in the days...

Twice this week I went to my mother's to "help" with fixing up her property that she had let go into quite a bit of ruin.  At once point, there had been a pool.  Now, there is a swamp with the remains of the pool's walls caving in.  There was an old hot tub that has been rotting for years.  The whole wooden fence is about to fall over and can be smashed if my son kicks it.  The pond that was behind the pool area is now so overgrown that you wouldn't imagine a pond is there but for the small patch of algae fill puddle visible.  The entire pool area has been used for years as a place to let the dogs do their business, so the whole area smells like shit.

So, this describes the focus of work in the two days that I was there.  Firstly, she bought a new hot tub to replace the one she had.  The first thing she wanted to do was to "help her" move the old one out so the new one could be placed there.  I took a crowbar and ripped off the rotting wooden casing and had it down to just the shell.  I took the shell, and since there was no one there to help me at the time, tipped it on it's side and slid it 15 feet from where it was to where it now rests leaning against the side of the house.  It's out of the way, but let me just fucking say that that shit was fucking heavy!

I  set fire to small pieces of the wooden pieces in a pottered thing so as to dispose of that.  I think I drank about 8 beers through this process but was working to hard and it was too hot for the alcohol to take effect and I remained sober... oh well.

Her next task was to have me "help her" move the vinyl fencing she bought years ago to replace the decaying fence she has.  I pretty much moved it on my own with a little bit of help from my wife with the posts.  In all, my mother just played with the kids and drank.

Today she was only a slight bit more help.  I did the heavy stuff and she pressure washed where the new hot tub is going.  On the upside, I was paid.  Now, I'm fucking tired and just don't feel like doing a damn thing but have a drink and watch a movie...  of course I have to make dinner first and wash the dishes and water the plants and plant the bamboo and... oh, fuck!