Where does it go?

The good Lord only knows! While Waylon was singing about money, I think this applies to time, too. Like weekends especially!

Where the heck did my weekend go? I got off work early Friday, it was really hot and muggy. I made a delivery for the boss in a near by bedroom town to a customer who's order was two days later than planned and had the rest of the day off. It was only an hour but it was MINE!

I was on my way home and saw a local group I have contacts in was planning an event over the weekend and pulled in but no one was there yet. I made a note to show up the next day and see if my friends made it.

I continued on my way, anticipating a completed fence and and empty basement. I went by a sign for an Ice Cream Social and Bake sale for a local church out in the wild woods. I decided I would spring for treats for the whole crew if they wanted to follow me back to the place and kept heading for home.

There were three trucks, one towing a trailer with fence rolls on it, and six men still working in my yard. I walked the fence with the boss and found that, aside from missing the front corner by about a foot, (no biggie) that they had STOPPED the fence just before the roses and continued on the other side of them leaving a chunk of old fence with gaps on either side. This would not contain my dogs and would not stop funky neighbor kids from getting in where they could bother them, either. Then they cut a hole in the fence to accomidate the bird house and missed the fence line by almost a foot on the back. Not happy.

I discovered that men want payday more than ice cream and strawberries but I took the boys. I picked up some banana bread too, one of my favorites. The mom and her foster grand girl were there so we got to visit.

The boys were going to the grand's house for the weekend. We went home to get their stuff. I looked at the basement. Where they had cleaned was excellent. How they missed a whole area of shelves and crap on the floor, I don't know, but they will be working on that today. They were going fishing and camping on the river for the weekend and looking forward to it. I decided to treat them a little more and took them out to dinner before I ran them home. It was a hit and I didn't have to cook in the heat.

After I dropped them off I ran back to the local event and not only was my friend there but her friend that is also my friend and word that one man I hadn't seen in over ten years was going to be attending the next day. I met some of their friends and visited til late before I headed home. I planned on going back the next day.

It was strange, all over again, to go home to an empty house. This time there was a little relief in it, along with the grief, though. I still have trouble accomadating company more than a day or two and may send the boys off on Wednesday, if we get the dog pen done and the mulching finished. I have a nephew coming to stay awhile and another coming to work off a freezer this week so I can let them have some time to hang in town if they want to.

Saturday I wanted to get the house tidied up, get some things in town and do my laundry. I started with laundry because I can do that, have my morning coffee and get my online stuff done while feeling that I am doing a chore. This is good. When I got offline and started sorting out clothes I ended up in the closet pulling a suit, a man's winter coat, semi dressy, and more of the mate's unused stuff out and preparing to send it on. Then I decided I was going to buy a bed any minute now so I stripped the sheets off for washing. The blankets needed it, too. And the underskirt had to come off if I was getting rid of the bed.

Next think you know I am hip deep in cotton and combinations of cotton and have several loads to run through. The dresser needs to go upstairs. I have to empty that off tonight and have the boys haul it up there, too. Curtains, carpet has to come up, ARRGGHHHHH! Over load.

The mate's eldest called and was bringing the white truck back, she has a car again, yay for her! I was going to keep just one but I do need one for humans and I needed a load of mulch, and hand to haul a trailer this weekend, too. So I think I am keeping both for now. She and her friend came over and then back again. We got to visit and that was good.

I was just thinking about dinner when the mate's nephew called. He and his girl were breaking up. This was bad. They are the ones that took our female white boxer a year ago or so. I worked out a satisfactory arrangement for her with him and then said he could stay here for working off his rent. He is good with that now but I am betting he joins the military before the week is out after a few of my lists of chores to be done. ...LOL

Back to chores. I messed around until it was getting late. I finally got a shower and went to town about ten thirty. I was debating "shop or visit" first on the way. I decided that if I still had to shop that I would not stay as long with my pals and that would keep me moving.

I had dressed to fit in and hauled a few gifts for my pals along as well. I got over there and found everyone was learning a new dance. It was a bit of a walk but I got to watch as they worked out the kinks and even made it look pretty good with the help of a very patient instructor.

Then we went to watch others dance and my male friend, now aka Eel, was also dancing while a live group played. He was amazing and so were several of the others. I really enjoyed it. After, he and I got a little caught up with each other. It was so nice to see he was getting along well. I met his roomie, too. She was a nice girl trying to get her life under control, as are we all.

My two lady friends and I got to visit and enjoyed hanging out together. I could have had more fun if the bugs were less and the cool breezes more but it was a nice time sitting out under the stars and wandering around in the dark meeting new people and trying new things. I need to get there in the daylight sometime when the vendors are around. It was great good fun. Thanks, friend, one, two and three and families!

Sunday I was determined to pay back the neighbor guy for the loan of the mower by getting the yard done for him. It was the least I could do. The neighbor came out to visit just as it started to drizzle. I stopped a minute but begged off so I could finish before the rains came. I was carrying my little trimmers to get tree branches up out of the way of a human on the mower. I went to use them on a branch a little bigger than they liked and the damn things bit me. I got a nasty blood blister on my chord hand, ew and ow! But I got it done before the rain.

Sunday was a bad day inside my head. Father's Day. A day of visitors and grilling, gifts and fun. Not this time. My Dad is gone, and the mate is gone. The girls didn't call. I wanted to call all of them to see how they were dealing with their first Father's Day with no father. I decided they wouldn't want to talk about it with me. We would just cry. I did call #1Son to wish him his first Happy Father's Day at home and I let it go at that. I didn't call the mate's dad as I would have just cried and he would have been bummed, too. I just skipped it. I guess we all did, for now.

I continued in the bedroom and with the laundry. I got the back porch tidied up and swept. I went out to try and get the "!$*&)*" saddle bag opened again. I was melting in the heat and had just broken out the drill to bust the lock with when a friend called. He had the trailer sold and the buyer on the way. Crap.

I had talked the kid that got the bike out of the trailer for several reasons. The main one was that this was the largest bike he had ever driven and I didn't want him getting distracted with the trailer until he was solid with the bike. I was going to let him discover he didn't really need it on his own. With a wife and two kids he would almost always have a chase truck anyway. I was, however, supposed to give him dibs. It was a holiday and a Sunday, he wasn't around to ask. But I had asked friends to try and help me sell the trailer. I couldn't tell him to tell the guy to head back home. Quandry. I decided that, knowing my situation, the kid would say "go for the money".

I called the place the trailer was stored at and then set up a meeting place with the friends and customer. It's a good thing I had the S10 back. I showered up as I was all sweaty from cleaning in the heat. The good friend at the storage place helped me load it. The guy was putting it into another truck so we just backed our tailgates together and the guys rolled it over. I offered to buy my friends some dinner as well as giving them a cut of the sale I knew they needed.

The buyers were great and easy to hang with, we had a nice dinner filled with quips and jokes and laughter. But I was really inside my head with the fact that I was odd man out and the mate was gone. I guess I am trying to learn how men just don't show emotion. I am tired of crying everytime I deal with something of the mate's in front of people. My friend, Brother Boy, doesn't show his pain and he lost his child. I can keep my grief more private, I think. Maybe. I hope.

While I was shopping the other night I found cyprus mulch in cubic yard bags for very cheap. Now that I was in town with the truck and money all at the same time I headed back for it. I got as much as I thought it was safe to put in the truck and the guy threw in one busted bag.

I picked up some everbearing strawberries to add to the garden and got one pot each of honey dew melon, cantalope and watermelon to stick in, too. I grabbed on pot of blue lobelia (sp?) because it was pretty. Then I decided that the inside corners of the fence will be flowered. So I got some seeds of delphinum and such in blues for one of them. I even remembered that we had broken the rake and that I wanted weed killer for the fence line. Woohoo!

I got home through the rain, put the veggies and fruits in the garden and set the rest aside for later. I will have strawberries any day now. The rasberries are heavy with fruit to come. The rhubarb may never be the same, it's still pretty trampled. The mini rose is heavy with buds. The other roses are beautiful this year. I need to move the iris to the new location and I think the lillies are going with them and the tulips and the daffodiles....one garden instead of many is the goal but I am going to put climbers on the fence and curved for the lawn mower patches to fill in the corners for ease of mowing.

The Grand called just as I was getting in the house. He and the pal were going to come out in the morning. That meant I was cleared for the night. It was getting late by then. I had managed to tire myself out enough that I just left everything else in the truck for the boys to unload and went in for the night. I played the music and read a little then headed for bed. I forgot to set up the coffee and I didn't care when I remembered

So the fence guys are back again today, patching and capping and adding in fence at the back corner where I used to have fence but now don't. It's just to keep the neighbors on their side of the fence, it doesn't serve any other purpose at all. Without it their junk piles fall and blow into my yard though and I want it back the way it was. It' going to be rough to refer them. I will get photos but blugger (sp intentional) hasn't been letting me hang my pics.

And the boys are back today hauling and helping out. The nephew will be here tonight, too. It is looking pretty busy around the homestead. Busy is good. I don't miss my friends, I don't have time to be lonely. And I am getting a lot accomplished. Happy thoughts to all of you.