Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Jose and Armageddon

Poor Scout. The clocks, which have been changed, say 4:00 but her tummy says 5:00--dinner time. What's with the delay, Mom???

We have a resolution (we think) of the gardener problem. The new gardener and Jose (the landlord) came and inspected the dead and dying plants and reached some sort of agreement. We will pay him the same amount we're paying the current gardener per month, and Jose will talk to the current gardener about not coming back anymore. It went surprisingly smoothly, thanks to Anne (Jose's wife, and the rational one).

Now we need to figure out the watering system. Yes, the one that dumps over 200 gallons a day on our lawn and dead and dying plants creating a part bog/part arid desert landscape. Jose called last night and said he was coming over to inspect it, but lo and behold, it was dark! What are you going to look at in the dark? So he shows up today instead. Sure, it's a great time! Thanks for asking! He borrowed my flashlight and did a thorough inspection of the watering system and then gave me an extended explanation, which I mostly tuned out, and ended with the news that he turned the system down to only water half as much. Hey, great! Then he asked "which turns on first, the drip system or the sprinklers?" As if I would know! I said "how would I determine that?" and he mumbled a little and talked about coming back. Then he walked outside and got all excited because the front sprinklers are on which apparently solved some mystery so he's coming back in 3 minutes to check on the back. Well, he came back and it's still inconclusive so he has to come back again. Whatever.

In the meantime, we're finally preparing for Armageddon. Not too long ago I said to Kevin "we should get some bottled water and a no-power radio in case of a nuclear strike." Kevin said "Okay, but how about in case of an earthquake?" Whatever. Anyway, instead of buying bottled water, Kevin decided to go to REI and get those giant 7 gallon containers and fill them up from the tap. I said "but the tap water tastes all chlorine-y when it sits around" and Kevin said "if there's an earthquake, are we really going to care?" I guess not. Then there was the debate about where to put them. Kevin wants them to go into the garage, in case an earthquake levels the house. I want them to go in the basement in case there's radioactive fallout outside blocking our path to the garage. We'll see.