Gosh, it has been wet down here in Central Texas. It is going on weeks since we had a full day of sunshine. I do not state this because I am complaining. It would be the complete opposite of that vector. You see a few weeks ago I planted flowers in my little six square foot garden. It has been a plan that took years to get accomplished. Not that it was so hard. Even though I did scoop every shovel full of dirt that went into the six foot garden… twice…. to place it there. Well, it took a garden tractor, two wheeled wagon(which I assembled myself) , and my Dad’s surveyors kit that was setting in the garage at the house when the brothers distributed all the tools that my Dad had accumulated amongst ourselves.
Last year I raised pigmy corn, pigmy stringbeans, and some pretty big butter squash. Don’t know why the beans and the corn turned pigmy on me but the butter squash cooked pretty good in the oven, I am reticent to say that it was the seeds in both the good and the bad crops. I thought I had fertilized adequately. I tended to weeds( my likely to the detriment of the vegetables). I watered faithfully.(What does it mean when the leaves turn brown?) I am from Iowa where it can go weeks without rain and the gardens still grow. So I thought that if it was watered regularly with lots of sunshine things would grow by leaps and bounds. Such was not my experience I am sad to say. The corn row was a cute little site with its pygmy little stalk and it pigmy little tassel, and of course the pigmy little ear replete with silk at the upper part of the ear. I never got a brace root. Possible since I did hill up on a lay by either.(Old farmer talk that my peers might remember). I heard my Father and uncles all say that in August and my friend, Raymond (Junger) Jungerson, referred to it many a times during our pinochle games at the town pool hall.
That was one year of work. Good thing I have no limit on budgeted time. I tend to be over budget on everything else starting with the bank. First Federal Home Mortgage & Hage(FFHmM&H) was not even eligible for the federal bail out offered by Obama because even Bernie Madoff told people not to invest in this fly by night outfit. FFHmM&H is only slightly better shape than dba Knotty Pine Construction (aka K. Hage) a general contracting company and its small but ever growing subsidery, Kbox Keepsakes. If you added all the assets of the two companies one would figure that bankrupcy was in its future.
You know the saying that the a boy’s toys do not stop they only get more expensive. As a friend of mine once said to me about the tools in his shop, “I have enough tools to make a space ship to the moon with all left handed threads. I would like to think that way for my shop tools as well. I said I like to think about it I did not say it was true. Thank goodness that the First Federal Bank of Ellen(FFBE) had a moment of clarity and helped finance the whole show for another season. It has been ten years for FFHmM&H and FFBE working hand in hand. First it started with organization. FFBE is wonderful on computers and spreadsheets. It is a good thing too. Knotty Pine Construction would be dust in the wind with out the ongoing support of FFBE finacially and providing reciept records to let me know the cost of the project. It takes a good construction foreman, master mechanic, and surveyor to keep up with the one and a half yard total production for the entire plan. Maintenance on the lawn tractor, yard vacuum, and two wheeled trailer would cripple a man more than me. That is why I take it to a mechanic when trouble starts rearing its head. I have a rare talent. No matter how big and no matter how long I worked a machine I have always managed to break dpwn. Never was much good at fixing. One way to assure that nothing breaks down is to not work the iron. This is illustrated by the hour meter on my five year old lawn tractor that has less than a hundred hours on it. It is not even broke in yet. It takes a good man to purchase something nice like that and not use it.
Yes, it is spring in Central Texas and the flowers are blooming. Even the ones that I planted weeks ago. I had a neighbor compliment me the way the flowers were growing in the flower box. Thank goodness for the weeks of rainy weather because the truth be known if it hadn’t rained I think I would have managed to kill most if not all the flowers by now. The saving of the flower garden from total mismanagement can be contributed to my complete dislike of work and rainy days in general. Some people have worked harder than me but I don’t know any one that is harder on themselves then me. I looked at that garden every over cast morning. The days of rain kept me from messing with the flower bed. Now after weeks of rainy weather I am happy to announce that despite my best efforts to completely kill my freshly planted spring flowers they are growing and the neighborhood friendship is too. Because of the flower garden I met a new neighbor this week. I sure love spring showers!!
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