Clean the yard/Save the Greenhouse (It’s White)

I wrote this Sunday
edited it Monday
between naps.

Yesterday was a
forced march
clean up the yard
afternoon
that I imposed
on my men/boys

How long does
it take to complete
a chore really?

Two piles of leaves
have been sitting
in my driveway
for over a month
and I want them
gone
today.

I need to see
the driveway
again, something
must be clearable.
A small patch
of black top
is all I really want.

Not really

I want it all gone
BEFORE IT SNOWS!!
ARRRRRRRGHHHH!

Do you know how difficult
it is to shovel around
stuff when you can’t lift
anything and you won’t be
doing the work, because you
can’t though you want to?

I like working hard.
I love accomplishing manual
tasks that my body
screams at me for.
It used to feel good.
Of course, I do less now.

It has been raining all day
and I ache like a sore tooth
after the pills and the nap
and the other nap.

My Bear will not
be doing anything other
than fending for himself
as usual. I’m getting
a lot of blank stare
again. Like I’ve asked
him to be President
or act like an adult
around teen boys.

My Child doesn’t
live here so he refuses to
participate most of the time.

The Silent Sentinel will just
stare as if I am speaking a
foreign language “chore?”
He did saw some log parts
yesterday and watched Girlie
so he earns some brownie
points, for doing what he
wants, not always what
I need or he needs.

Is there some
unknown fascination
with the bathroom
does it gurgle
popular music
does it have a
features menu
do they watch
movies on it?

I have a
friend who has a
high tech toilet
it has everything
except bells and
whistles. Most
importantly it has
a heated seat.

Of course that
was not the point
The point was getting
them to move was like
pulling molars from their
mouths and I was out there
before I had any help
surveying my needs
and wants and
started working
alone
because it
is so much easier
than dragging three horses
to water.

I unloaded the sagging
trough of water
from the side of my
greenhouse (that is white)
It rained so much the night
before that the rain had settled
into the top eaves of my hut
dripping water inside from
the overburdened plastic

Plastic is permeable
if you put enough water in it

Sure, build a green house
Grow your own food
Make yourself happy
in the dark of winter
It is the only thing that
seems to really make a
difference.
I go
out
side
and
feel
the
light
in
my
mind

While I putter
back and forth
pushing to complete
what can’t be done in
one day. So, I’m some
kind of garden nazi,
I think they whisper
about me when I
leave the house
before them.

My Child?
Do you have a coat?
“It’s broken”
Teen Translation:
That means no, so I
should be able to stay
inside where I have warmed
a chair and created a
permanent butt print.
“Have a coat,” I say
his bubble burst.

Bear? Have you found the rake?
“No, its broken.”
I just fixed it
in front of you
and you walked by it
five times so you wouldn’t
have to use it
to do a job that
should have taken you
an hour to complete
a month ago.
Do you enjoy
doing tasks slowly
so my head will
pop off like a
pressure cooker lid?

Why does this take
so long? Because
no one really wants
to do any of these
chores. If it were fun,
no one would call
it a damn chore.

Silent Sentinel? Would you come
out of the bathroom? You’ve been in
there for hours and I know you did
not take a shower. What
could you possibly be doing?

People make fun of women in bathrooms

Boys are worse.

Eldest Surly Reverie had a hot date, so
that was two and a half hours in the
bathroom, primping and preening
he is my little peacock.
Styling and trimming.
Inserting mesmerizing
contacts in colors
unhuman
He at
least
left the
door open.
(It’s Tuesday and
he’s not back from his orgy yet.)

When we visited England
my sister in law (now ex)
complained about the
make up that was left in
the sink. I looked at her
in
shock.

My brain was screaming
“You have a house full
of women and girls who
wear make up and you’re
looking at the only person
who doesn’t wear make up.”

I told her I would talk to
Eldest Surly Reverie.
“I don’t wear make up.”
She looked surprised and
wandered away.

I began to wonder
do I look like
I have on make up?

Is my dark skin
such a mystery
that I should
explain to my all
white inlaws.
No,
I am not
the one.

Now he (ex) has another
one who can explain
the mysteries and
complexities
of dark skin.

So we all made it outside
including Girlie who never had a nap
(whirling dervish of leaf throwing)
Better she throw leaves than rocks
until screaming bloody murder
she landed on a shoulder and
was gently carried to bed.
They put a lot of restrictions
on a little child while not teaching
her much at all. She learned the
word “NO” yesterday. Ugh, really.
Let the child play in the
damn puddle, why do you think
I layer the child in all those clothes?
As long as she is not a danger to
herself or other she gets to stay
with me when I’m outside, but
I have to give
simple
instructions
to my cadre.

A family therapist
told me once that I
use too many words.

I’m better than I used to be.

Now I say things like,
“Watch Girlie,” instead of
“Play with your sister
and let her play in the
puddles while checking
the temperature of her
hands every 10 minutes
or so by holding her hand.”

Sigh…

We had to realign the plastic
cover over the steel frame
which is held in place by a
long row a bricks and tall slabs
of granite pinning the plastic in
place up against bags of leaves
Sounds complicated, but
I’m working on the theory that
the bags of leaves are compost
that will eventually heat up in
the winter as they break down

Each bag has to be innocculated
with some active compost so that
the microorganisms will work faster.
I’m thinking about cutting a long
strip of plastic and creating a
weighted skirt filled with leaves
and bricks around the base of the
white greenhouse.

I also had to piece
together a frame
to boost the height
of the frame that
had the perpetual sag.

It is quiet now
so the winds have
died down. It may
be the perfect day
to build a door
Bending down under
plastic is starting
to hurt my tailbone.

Or, maybe, I needed
to wear more to keep
my arthritic parts warmer.
Perhaps I could patent
an arthritic parts warmer?
Like the suits in Dune
that keep the sand out
but the moisture in.

By the end of our
adventure yesterday
The driveway was clear
The boys/men were angry
and cold complaining about
fingers, coughing, groaning,
clutching their chests
and overall body temperatures
“Can we go inside now?”
They said it twelve times
before we were finished.

Are we there yet?

Girlie was awake
from her nap and
I ached from standing
ankle deep in the
cold mud. I stated
the obvious by saying
we could have been
outside during the day time,
but y’all move like
the bees in winter so
C’est la vie!
Get over it and
wear appropriate
clothing when you
come to my house,
you know we’re going
to be outside
no matter the weather.

They glare
They grumble
They never learn

What they don’t know
is that there’s more work
to be done
Every
Single
Day

They obvously have purged
memories of my working them
as kids. We owned a business,
it kept them out of trouble.
What have they been
doing at my ex’s house?
Getting into trouble,
failing classes,
not doing homework.
I see it has been a 3
year vacation from work.
Being a parent friend
does not instill a work
ethic or manners.

My Child,
The 13 year old got
fired by our
90 something
year old neighbor.
He was rude
He did a half-assed job
Then he went back later
to finish the work.
When you teach a child
to work, you have to
work beside them
so they actually
learn to work.
My ex doesn’t do
positive reinforcement.

Previously, I
explained to
the neighbor
that he needed
his medicine
for ADHD
She said all
he needed
was his mother
to straighten
him out.

Well she was wrong.
He is exhibiting
all the signs of
crazy teen
boy syndrome
after long term
verbal abuse
by his father
who starts out
giving him
anything he wants
while telling him
how much I and
his brothers hate him

Then restricting his
activities and blaming
me or any other handy
female for the punishment.
Creating an angry female hating
testosterone fueled teen age boy.

My Child unfortunately takes his
frustrations out on anyone, not
just girls, female teachers, me,
his therapist, his father and the
new girlfriend and my mother.

He takes out less on my
mother because
she scares the bejesus
out of most folks
including my kids.

She has that “I will
eat you alive” look to her
and she just might.

I’m the kinder gentler
version, who believes
in building character
through a manual labor
skillset. Remember,
this child should have
been expelled last year
but a group of well
meaning folk
decided to give him
one last chance to keep him
out of the alternative school
and created monster.
“If you do anything else,
you will be expelled,” he
was told. Yeah and when adults
don’t follow through, My Child
learned that adults are lazy and
can be manipulated.
Yup,
I still call him Machiavelian.

He does stupid things then
his punishment is that he loses
his iPad or cell phone.
He needs to do more
on the side of helping
people for free not helping
old ladies so he can get
money to buy shoes he will
grow out of next month.
My Child is six feet tall and
has the politeness of a
13 year old boy. This child
may not have the option of
ever living with me he is
more than I can handle and
he thinks he can get things
from me. He can get love
always and forever even if
he acts like a jackass.

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