Day one at Pappaw's

I'm sure there are words to describe how filthy the kids were after working all day yesterday in Pappaw's barn, cleaning it out in preparation for him moving. Whatever those words are though, they are probably lost somewhere in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of crap they hauled out of that barn and to the dump.

I probably could have made enough to pay for my new washer and dryer if I had just given them a tin cup and left them outside Dairy Queen when we took a late afternoon break to go for ice cream. Not only was the work filthy, but it was hard because they were trying to push dollies or pull laundry baskets with ropes through grass that was knee high and clumpy. It was hard to even walk through it, much less do what they were doing. And that's knee high to a 6 foot man.

My dad had bent the axis on the mower and it had two flat tires so that was our project for the morning. Of course then he had to take an afternoon nap before we finally got the mower fixed late in the afternoon and there was much rejoicing as I mowed.........about 4 strips before the belt broke. I knew it was going to happen though so that was no surprise. And in my sporadic wisdom, I made sure that the first (and only) thing that got mowed was a path from the barn to the dump and a path from the house to the barn.

I know my dad bought this mower, but really, he shouldn't be allowed to ride it. I think he has visions of competing in some senior citizens mower Olympics and the things he tries to get that poor mower to do are not natural. Every time he rides pushes it to the limit of machinery ability, something breaks and then by the time he gets the right part, the grass is knee high again.

I think he is suffering from sporadic wisdom too - but in the other direction. This grass should have been mowed at the highest possible setting and then mowed lower in a few days, but nope -- that would take twice as much gasoline to do it the right way so let's burn up a seventy dollar belt instead. That makes much more financial sense.

Anyway, the kids were a HUGE help and we are gonna do it again today. I called my sister in law and she is bringing the mower belt and staying to help for the day. She is a workhorse and we'll have to beg for an afternoon ice cream break, but no doubt lots will get done today.

So, I'm outta here -- I gotta go find some tin cans for my "Momma needs wanted a new washer and dryer" project.