May Day

So far a nice start to May. The day turned out sunny and nice and we got to have a nice gathering with friends at someone's house, hiked in the woods, and visited with their 30+ chickens. Two very exciting and very much anticipated things happened today.

I called Zach at work to tell him the news on our end and he delivered good news of his own. Stella came home and had just been visiting us. Zach had just checked his bank account and the "free money" from Dubya came in.

So yes, Stella came home. We had known it was imminent because her son had been by a couple times in the last week to prep things for the homecoming. Then yesterday she showed up in our driveway. Jacob was freaking out excited. He was doing the Marlon Brando impersonation thing out the window to summon her, and then there she was, like a mirage of Jacob's, at our doorstep. We sat on the front porch for a few minutes chatting before she had to get back to getting "the yard in shape."

In the first minute of her arrival she started in on the "Is he in school yet?" line of questioning. Actually, now she directs the questions at Jacob because she knows I am a lost cause. If you don't know what I am talking about, I've previously written about the fact that Stella does not approve of my plans to homeschool Jacob. Why she cares is beyond me. So now instead of directing her assaults at me, she quietly works on Jacob while she thinks I'm just out of earshot. "Don't you want to go to school and play with all the other kids?" she goads him. I've asked her to stop making these comments to Jacob, but what can you do?

In the second minute of being in our presence she informed me that the leaves which Zach put on the side of the road across the street from her house (where she'd previously told us to put them to be picked up by the town) weren't going to be picked up because they weren't in bags. Apparently she'd waived down the town truck earlier that day and inquired about their policy. They only pick up loose leaves in the fall. So what to do with our leaves that fall on the ground after the snow has already started? Anyway, she didn't miss a beat, "They're starting to blow in my yard and are making more work for me" (not true at all - they are weighted down by the fact that they're half decomposed from being under snow all winter and not blowing anywhere).

In the third minute of her visit she was quick to list off three 'jobs' she had for Zach to do. 1) Cut down a huge limb that had fallen; 2) Cut down a tree; 3) "Take care of that hill" (whatever that means). Some problems I see with this are 1) Why is she telling me this? 2) Why does she expect these free services out of my husband? 3) If she wants us to cater to her needs, shouldn't she be a little nicer?

Anyway...I was trying to think of something wise to say here. I will come up with it one of these days. Maybe mayday would have been a more appropriate title?