What is Your Worth?

        We have contacted landscapers throughout the years but have never been able to afford the asking price.  The last bid was at 8,000.  Uh, that’s twice the amount I was willing to go – though I thought it was still too high.  Since then Richard has been watching DYI videos on what we can do. 

        While we were watching the DYI landscape videos, we heard our censors go off to indicate that perhaps there was more presence than just the turkey in our yard. Two youth were at the door announcing that they were willing to do some landscaping work.  I let Richard know.  He ended up hiring the kid who said he would replace our pipe hose for 50 dollars.  That’s a lot of work for only 50 dollars – but Richard accepted his offer.  No written contract.  No credentials.  The kid is a high school drop-out.  But he did it.

        He weed wacked the hill in the back and offered Richard a hundred dollars to cut out beds so we can plant.  Richard told him he would not want to do it for a 100 but perhaps 100 per quarter and divided the land.  It’s been quite intensive labor – probably more than the kid had bargained for.  Richard has given him a few advances as we really are getting our money’s worth.  Perhaps Richard ought to offer more incentive - like twice the amount if you can get the project done by a certain date. 

        Thus far the kid has labored in our yard each day, but the amount of time seems to lessen each day.  He’s not what I would call dependable.  Fortunately we are paying him by the project and not by the hour.

        Richard had told Don (not his real name) to take Sunday off as he did not want to be responsible for breaking the Sabbath.  Only Don does not share our same standards and worked while we were at Church and took the day off on Monday.  On Monday Richard told Jaime and I to help him move rocks to cover the pipe. 

I hoped that Google would not come by to take pictures while I was bending over.

        I don’t know how often Google updates their maps and residential sites.  When we first moved into the house we currently live, I remember looking up our WV address on Google and seeing my neighbor bent over in her yard.  It reminded me of a yard decoration that some people might have in their yards.

They have updated the WV location since, but the address we have now has not been updated in the last six years at least as the house is white with blue trim and we have changed that to green trim.

        I remember taking a break and sitting down to create this post.  I was so tired that I couldn’t even think.  I ended up going to bed majorly early (like 6:00) and haven’t made the effort to even start the post until yesterday and it was only a start.  I knew that I would not get through everything I had at least had the sense to brainstorm on Monday.

        I don’t know what happened on Tuesday. I had a busier schedule today than on Tuesday but still found the time to get the majority of this post written – hoping I’d be able to proof read and add pictures today.  So there you go.  A half baked update on my life right now.

Taking in the View

          I’ve seen many landscapes in different view

                   from my friends houses

                   Medford pear orchard

and during drives beyond city limits

and touring the coast or McMinnville

            

I have missed some views

such as the solar eclipse two years ago             

but the skies were filled with smoke

from the fires that had burned that year

          I have missed seeing stars

due to the heavy clouds and rain

though my view of the sky has been

spectacular this year

Fog can be eerie –

not much of a view when

it envelops us

  

I’ve seen both nature and manmade

                   I watched a person above a cherry picker

reach up into a McDonald’s sign. 

That was interesting.  

Never had seen anything like it before.  

A bit freaked out at the       

mass size the “M” appeared to be.

I have viewed different works of art

including paintings and quilts. 

I have had the opportunity to view

“dressed” vegetables

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have

to view pictures online to see family members

who are so far to see each day in person

I am grateful that daily quotes

that uplift and remind me

that I am a child of God and

His point of view matters more

than what any human may think

There is definitely a different point of view

with each religion and scripture read

          I appreciate the differences

My favorite point of view for book reading

is first person. 

I like the creative approach that some authors

have used,  such as

the “Dear Mr. President” series.

R.J. Palacio’s “Wonder” or

Rob Buyea’s “Mr. Terrupt”

in which several characters take a turn

at telling the story – written in first person

and different points of view.

One of his characters likes what he refers to as “one dollar words”

which is another way to view

spelling and math combined

I have gone on countless job interviews

and Jenna was able to interview Bill

for an assignment last year

She has also used a creative approach to book reports

          by pretending to interview         

a character from whatever book       

she may be reading.

I have always tried to review my work

before I’ve turned it in. 

Our county newspaper is called

The News Review. 

Jenna had her picture taken and

put on the front cover on

                      August 8 this year.

Michaela's story

            There is a small group of us who meet at the local coffee shop once a month as we wait anxiously await for the pool to open for the summer so that we can get in our water aerobic workout.  This morning someone had made a comparison of rounded mountains compared to jagged mountains (I personally refer to the rounded as hills and the jagged as mountains) and how different the landscape appears from inside of a helicopter.

            Michaela had come out to clear the dishes as we were taking and casually joined in our conversation.  17 years ago she had been living in the bay area and got to be pretty good at driving around Oakland and San Francisco.  She delivered documents and had earned quite a reputation for her ability to have her deliveries made on time.  But over the years she realized that she was bothered by the amount of time it took to get from point A to point B.

            Here, in Myrtle Creek (actually all of Douglas County) they talk in minutes.  Point A to point B is 5 minutes, not 5 miles.  But in San Francisco, Salt Lake, and Portland, I would imagine, they talk in miles.  Because even though common sense tells you it should only take a certain amount of time, the time is actually not consistent from day to day or even hour to hour.

            Jenna's school was two miles south of where we lived.  Some days it would take me 20 minutes to get there.  For the most part it took longer coming home.  Same distance.  Not same time.

            Michaela decided she had had enough.  Three hours for under 30 miles.  That's not right.  One day she said she had had enough.  She and a girlfriends decided to pack their bags and head north - though they didn't really have a destination.  She said she obviously wasn't taking the "time" into consideration as they had left at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday.  Perhaps just the reinforcement she needed to "escape".

            I can't remember what town she said they were at when she got off the exit and pulled over to the first vacant lot.  It was after 2:00 in the morning and she had to close her eyes - even if it was just a few minutes.  It was longer than that.  She had fallen asleep.  When she woke up, she looked around - not fully knowing where she was but believed she was somewhere in Oregon.  She wanted to continue a little further north.

            When they had passed Seven Feathers casino in Canyonville, she made a mental note of it.  She had worked at the casinos in Tahoe so she had the experience.  They kept on driving until she saw a bridge (I'm guessing the one that leads to the 108 ramp to/from I5.  She said that was the place, and they crossed the bridge and found a place.

            She ended up not working at Seven Feathers because they felt she was overqualified (From what I understand Seven Feathers is not a great place to work for;  almost everyone that I've talked to has labeled them as "too cheap to pay much more than minimum and lay off workers left and right so that they don't have to deal with pay raises" so I believe that's why they told her she was overqualified; they didn't want to pay her what she was worth)

            She landed a job as a bartender for six months, but when she refused to serve an underage drinker who threatened her job, she got let go and so was hired by another who had been watching her and knew that she had been let go unjustly.  She said she's been working at the coffee shop ever since.

            It is gorgeous here.  Clean.  No traffic.  Awesome!