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April, longest month, ever.
So far it feels like it's about 90 days in, and it ain't finished, not hardly.
The Missus Herself went out to California back in early March, she returned after three weeks. It wasn't even a week before I was flying out to California myself. I think I was out there for ten years.
What?
Thirteen days?
Preposterous, lemme check my calendar ...
Well damn, so it was.
Flew back to Little Rhody last Saturday, slept fully twelve hours on Easter Sunday. I awakened to realize that I had no idea where I was, what day it was, or even what time it might have been.
Took Monday off to go see an eye surgeon (yes, surgical things might be on the horizon). Took Tuesday off, just because I could, then returned to work on Wednesday.
I worked Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, then Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday ... (You get the picture.)
Lawn looks like crap, I think there are gazelles out there, so I called my lawn guys.
"Uh, sorry, left you a message, damn, wrong number. Sorry Sarge but our truck broke, we can't afford to buy a new one, or even a used one (gee, thanks Brandon) so we're out of the lawn care business."
Well yes, that sucked.
In the market for a new lawn team, they're available for double what I was paying before. Again, let's go Brandon.
So either I cut it myself ...
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.. or I suck it up and pay the extra shekels. Yes, that's going to hurt.
(For those who might be wondering, I despise yard work, in all its many forms, the smell of fresh cut grass, while not really bad, makes me want to hurl. Too many lawns mowed as an impressionable young lad made me "dislike" the cutting of the grass.)
Then I had to fill out the expense report from Hell. The hotel sent me a weird looking receipt which didn't quite add up, then our expense report software had two entries for hotel charges. That alone took me over an hour to decipher. What did they use, an Enigma machine to do this crap?
Anyhoo, got it done, then sat down to write another gripping tale of World War II, which, I must confess, not many of you seem to read.
Sigh ...
I doth perhaps protest too much, what I'm writing ain't exactly Tom Clancy.
So you get this post, more whinging on my part, more suffering through it on your part.
Oh well, I have Friday off (when I'm not interviewing prospective lawn care specialists), perhaps my Muse will return to the fold and stop meandering off on her own.
One can only hope.
Again, sigh ...
I look forward to your posts daily, I usually read via Feedly. Not sure if that shows up as traffic.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoy the WW2 series, great stuff thanks for sharing.
Ah, don't mind me, just that on occasion I like to put on my hair shirt and whine a little bit. Every app, human, robot which touches the blog shows up as traffic.
DeleteGlad you're enjoying the series.
Hmmmmm......appears you have experienced a bit of Groundhog Day Sarge. Good thing you were in the USAF, playing in the dirt like the Army/Marines might have to led to exposure to grass with digging foxholes.......:) Looking forward to see how the Dunkirk lift goes. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteYes, Groundhog Day, that's what it feels like!
DeleteDunkirk lies just over the horizon ...
I read daily via facebook, starting by going to yesterday's post, then to newer post, and check back several times to review comments. I don't often comment because your regulars are much more qualified in that line than myself. There is a site called "Around Town Bristol" that may be a source for landscape services. Old Guns
ReplyDeleteI'm on "Around Town Bristol" and already have a couple of solid prospects.
DeleteI don't know who's been feeding you a line but your fiction is good stuff and there are a great many of us who really look forward to it! If you can get your muse to show up semi-regular you might have something to do besides going to a job that has four Mondays in a row...
ReplyDeleteI can't help you with the lawn guys... but you might look for someone who can afford a trailer, a used car with a hitch and two magnetic signs for the door of the used car... (Not an original thought, I once saw a picture of a nice BMW towing a trailer with magnetic signs on car door...some kind of contractor :-)
Have a good Friday & hang in there...
If this whole bog was sarcasm
Man, getting the Muse to work regular hours, it's like herding cats I tell you. Not to mention that "real life" has been damned busy as of late. I'm sure that "this too shall pass."
DeleteActually, I think your WWII writing is your best stuff and have been disappointed with so few posts lately.
ReplyDeleteWork and other things have hampered my ability to just sit down and write lately. Frustrating it is!
DeleteCan't say the word "disappointed" has ever occurred to me WRT your writing; I'll gladly take whatever you and the Muse produce, when and as you produce it.
DeleteI'll own to revisiting "To the Rhine" lately when I really start jones'in.
Maybe but yourself a goat or two for your lawn.
Boat Guy
Just moments ago I hired a new guy, we'll see how it works out. Much less than the other offers, now to see if he can deliver.
DeleteMy lawn gentleman quit cutting my grass last year but didn't bother letting me know or returning my phone calls. Getting someone else tripled the cost so I bit the bullet and bought a commercial size zero turn mower. I love it as it is my 3 1/2 hour zen time to solve the world's problem and recall good memories. I'm retired now so the time is my own, if I was still working my solution to cutting 4 acres would be different.
ReplyDeleteHey I love the WWII stories!
As retirement looms, I am considering doing it myself when that event occurs, after all, I will then have the free time available.
DeleteBut for now, I'll pay. Otherwise, where would I find the time to write? 😁
They do have robot lawnmowers, dontchaknow.
DeleteI see they do ...
DeleteI wonder how long it would take to program for my yard. No doubt the poor thing would go insane and drown itself in the koi pond.
i, for one, come to your blog every day HOPING for another installment of your combat writing. it took a while to catch on with me, but once i figured out what you were doing, i was hooked. spent an entire weekend binge reading everything i had missed.
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work. hopefully, once you reach that golden era of "retirement" (no things do not slow down, you will be busier than ever)
you will have more time to devote to your muse.
The Muse requires constant attention.
DeleteI'm a lurker, I guess that's the term, I read you daily. I don't often comment, maybe once or twice in the last6/7 years. I love your war fiction.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it, more is on the way.
DeleteYour WWII writings are good but I'm holding off. Soon, I will start with the first one and read all of them at once. Why? Your writing sucks me in emotionally so best to do it in one sitting.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone!
DeleteWe're being told here in Minnesota to have "No Mow May" for some reason. Maybe that will disrupt the wide-spread reports of "Jumpng Earthworms"?
ReplyDelete&I'm still mowing my own "lawn", mostly a steep hillside. I should rent a rototiller, flatten it, and reseed. Not this year.
Love reading both your fiction and you adventures. Thank you.
No Mow May? What's that all about?
DeleteI really do not know what the "No Mow May" is about. Aha! It's a catchy slogan to "save the bees and polinators" thing, imported from the UK. The details (as usuall) are somewhat better than the slogan. https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may Good we don't have a HOA.
DeleteInteresting. I'm all for it. The Missus Herself on the other hand ...
DeleteProbably not.
Concur.
Delete👍
DeleteBeen under heavy mortar fire here at the Casa, so am not posting. Life will slow down eventually they tell me. Stay in there. Your war stories are excellent, better than Clancy's by far.
ReplyDeleteKeep your head down, eventually they run out of ammo.
DeleteWe'll be here.
Any Middle-schoolers or High Schoolers in the area? They might be willing to hire on, but I'm probably dating myself with that idea.
ReplyDeleteNot a chance. Even if there were, it's kind of a big job. Hauling the clippings away, trimming, edging and the like. If there were kids in the neighborhood, which there aren't. Modern times ...
DeleteSorry for not commenting this week much. My concern last week about my Daughter's long gestation flu came true. Been sicker than a dog. I did read and like the Sniper storyline. But then again, there hasn't been any of your historical fiction posts that I haven't liked.
ReplyDeleteI'm also with you on the lawn mowing thing. I did that Junior High through High School. Don't want to do it any more. Fortunately, I made a wise investment and bought a riding mower. Mrs. J loves to use that. I love to let her.
It has been a long month, I don't know why. January through March flew by, this one month seems twice as long as those combined. But I do have a subject for Monday's post running around in my head. It'll be filed under YGBSM.
Cheers, and keep up the good work writing. All else will fall into place.
If I can't hire a guy for a reasonable fee, I just might buy a riding mower myself!
DeleteGet well soonest!
Enjoy your writing immensely and check back every day normally!
ReplyDeleteI had a service mow my front yard the past two years (shoulder problems/surgery made using the push mower a literal pain), but did the back yard myself since it is 95% riding mower. The front yard has several areas where the riding mower won't fit. Now that I have retired, I am doing the front also due to the reduced income and the increased cost of living. Let's go Brandon. Good luck on finding a lawn service for a reasonable cost. My wife wants me to hire out the front yard but I finally had to put my foot down and say absolutely no.
I need to service my riding mower and sharpen the blades on both the riding and the push mowers next week. I found out day before yesterday just how dull the blade on the push mower was, and just how out of shape the arm that had the shoulder replacement was. Didn't expect to be anywhere near this sore.
Getting older ain't all that much fun, but it beats the alternative I guess.
DeleteI did find a guy, younger fellow, who made a very reasonable offer. Now to see how he works out!
Sarge, I read all your stuff, WWII or otherwise. I don't always comment, but I read.
ReplyDeleteThis month my thing has been bursitis in the left elbow. Have to hold it above shoulder-level or so to manage the pain, & I've done 24/7/365 pain since 2008. This pain deserved commendation: very effective.
I have the opposite problem to yours: I love mowing, & find it relaxing. I have about 1.5 mowable acres, & like to do so, but lately every time I get 2-3 dry days, it rains just before I can get to it, and my yard holds water. It doesn't dry out quickly. Add to that the high-port-wing attitude, & mowing's been out lately. Maybe this weekend.
I thought bursitis was for old farts. How do I have it? I feel about, I dunno, 28 or so...I think.....
--Tennessee Budd
Bursitis, ouch!
DeleteSigh. Traveling = late the the party...
ReplyDeleteSarge, I am shocked how time slips away from me on my one week a month that I travel back to see my parents and their place. And then the three weeks between that trip. I was talking with The Ravishing Mrs. TB and somehow managed to confused my trips. She has helpfully made a calendar; suddenly I realized that with a few days thrown in on the end for "vacation", I am there a great deal more than I anticipated.
Love gardening. Despise yardwork, but hate paying for someone else to do it more. My ideal world is The Ranch, which a combination of 90% riding mower or tractor and 10% a small patch around the house to make an actual "lawn" no more than 10' x 20'. That much, I can handle.
Travel, I get that, even though I don't really do all that much. Other than four trips of 2 to 3 weeks duration over the past year to San Diego, I don't have to be on the road all that much. But man, it wears you down.
DeleteApril'22 really has been extremely long. I agree and commiserate. So much you said in this post, I was also- geez - you TOO? (and I know it's pretty much everyone, everywhere!)
ReplyDeleteI pretty much never reply, almost everywhere, due to the gap between what my head says, and how it comes out in writing. I want it correct~ and succinct, but it takes a huge chunk of time to get the correct part (most important!) and that leaves succinct a distant memory? argh! TLDR seems horrible in many ways for all parties??
But, But, I MUST reply to your mention of "(unfortunate lack of comment) on your historical military fiction story lines."
So, Belatedly, I have wrote the following in my head MANY times in the last year, but it never seemed like the time to try to organize the THANK YOU! onto written word. All fault there is mine via stupid events of recent time, and I add, my close friends all know I long ago came up with a truism of zing, and sting myself with it also. "Good intentions are worthless!" (Caveat~ hugely always... but SOME, VERY few DO have merit;)
I came across your WWII vignettes last year? or maybe Fall of 2020? (recent in the scheme of things.) I did the back search and read all through it. Winter in the woods, Battle of the Bulge stuff... I was stunned. I mean really gobsmacked?
Truly, You fleshed out a number of events I was told by a friend, Jim Pilgrim of Clinton IA, who shared some stories with me, of his time there. No glory action, just events, and yeah, brutal, in honesty. But not told as such. I will drop ya note someday, with a list of some things he told me. In reading your posts, I can surmise- the events he told, were common to both living and dead there. He outlived so many.
I have made it a point to share his points with friends and my kids, as appropriate. I understood, why he told me. It's nuanced. but another time.
He passed Dec 2020. I miss him a lot.
Reading your broader storyline, really was impressive, for bunch more reasons than I can convey here easily. I will chuckle it off primarily as space saving. But from a total stranger to YOU, Thanks immensely!
To get to read your stories (free here, and I being seriously broke) was a great perspective boon, in time of pandemic bs and drama. At the time of my old friend being out of reach, to see life breathed into the past bigger picture was damn poignant. Therapeutic for moi. I'm humbled!
Your words travel SO further than you can know, but I'm happily here today to tell you of a one tangent.
Thanks Immensely and God bless! Thanks too, your partners here in this blogspace!
Rock On!
~ JohnO.
Wow. Thanks John.
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