It’s downright chilly.
I’m working, as when not?—and take breaks to go out and take advantage of the wind to use a plastic kitchen colander to sift rocks and gravel for the dry stream bed.
Which got me one of those odd drivebys—the usual chap out of work, wanting a job; but he sounded better than some. He swore without asking to get the roots out of the ground as well as the weeds, and offered to work for 10 an hour. Well, I’m out there sifting hand-rocks with a damn colander because we’re trying to save money and not buy rock, but there is one monster job he could do—moving all the gravel that’s grown up with weeds below the retaining wall, so I agreed for 2 hours. Naturally he had another job he had to get to, but would come back. We’re not so sure of that. We’ll see. He claims he’s trying to get jobs to get his electricity back on. We’d believe it except that the sales pitch is too polished and he started immediately waffling around on price and such. So…we’ll see whether we get the gravel moved. I did not pay him in advance.
Well, you never know. He may show up if he doesn’t find anything easier to do.
That is my take on it. He also needs something that will pay his electric bill, and if he found one that would, I wouldn’t think badly of him. No electricity on a 45 degree night is kind of difficult.
but not as bad as a 20 degree night with no heat at all. Wake up to a 37 degree living room….brrrrr…..I’m saving my pennies and nickels for heating oil….
I don’t have the highest opinion of my fellow man, so forgive me for being the jaded skeptic.
I don’t buy it. Sounds like he was offering to work so you would take pity on him and say “Oh no, please take this instead,” and hand him some money. Or get you to pay in advance and disappear. Worst case he was casing the neighborhood for things to steal later.
Being a State Contractor for a broke state. I have had to do odd jobs and handyman work to keep my business going between contracts in the last year. Painting houses, building decks, moving furniture, cutting and clearing brush, mowing, that sort of stuff. Work is work, not my preferred way to make a living, but if your regular jobs dry up, you take what you can get. Or charge much less than you’re used to to keep it coming in. I have been working since I was 14 and have never borrowed money from anyone or owned a credit card. If I don’t have the funds, I go without, period. Or save until I do.
I get the client to sign a work agreement and always set the price beforehand, but don’t ask for payment until the work is completed to their satisfaction.
I try to do them as quickly as possible A)to get paid quickly,though I have had to wait months after billing to get paid sometimes, and B) to free myself up to take on more work.
So his logic seems a little sketchy to me, if he was honest about his intentions.
Have him show you ID, or pay by check. Be kind to those who need it, but don’t be taken advantage of…
We’re wary, and I share your opinion. He didn’t show up. And we didn’t let him closer than the front curb, no ‘may I use the restroom?’ and no yard tours.
I’d be really hesitant, especially when he said he had another job and would get back to you. If he already had paying work, he would be doing it, not out looking for more.
He didn’t have enough money to keep the electricity on, yet he could tootle around in a car looking for someone who might be willing to hire him for a few hours? Most people go where they can likely get work, or at least be seen by many prospective employers, and stay put, not drive around burning expensive gas and putting miles on the car they can’t afford to repair. Count me another skeptic.
The last few times I’ve seen people asking for handouts, I’ve generally given them sandwiches and something to drink, not cash. Sometimes they’re appreciative, sometimes not.
It sounds like the temperature is finally getting down to the point where you and Jane can work on the grounds again without killing yourself from overheating. Now if only the gale force winds would taper off.
sounds very suspicious, what a shame though, wouldn’t it have been nice to get that job done! my experience with odd job people is to never pay until everything is done to your satisfaction. been had once!
Not sure about the electricity story. I know in RI as long as you show intent to pay they can’t turn you off.
One of the advantages of living in the woods is that we don’t get people looking for work or handouts.
It’s still in the eighties here but the humidity is way down; it’s my kind of weather. The wind has died down, so I’ve been standing up potted trees etc. I’m hoping for one of our long golden New England falls.
I’ve just come in from planting some perrenials we purchased three Saturdays ago, the day before our drought broke with four days of rain. That Sunday the rain started was the only free day I’ve had at home until today, Labor Day. I figure it’s ok to labor on one’s own projects and the day is certainly gorgeous here in New England, as Smartcat just said. In this “Nod to the Workers” Day, I think it is doing work for employers that is improper, not pleasurable work for oneself. So now I am going to putter happily on my novel.
Hmmm… but if you are your own employer, then it might be verboten to work on a book today.
lol—so I’ve been out sifting gravel with a kitchen colander. Energy intensive, let me say. I’ve sifted about 5 gallons of gravel and I am now officially tired. I still have to clean the pond filter.
Well, it looks like I need to take out my peach tree. It’s got a really bad peach borer infestation (think beads and icicles of sap, and you have the right idea of the amount of damage), and half the tree was dead when I got the place. The nursery guys took a look at the pictures and said it would cost more to try and save it than it would to replace it.
So now I am pondering what to replace it with. It’s part of a trio of fruit trees (apricot, plum, and peach), so I am thinking it might look a bit odd to go with a non-fruit tree. I’m told that where I live is prime peach location, but my little Katie-girl loves to eat the peach pits, which can poison dogs (although the risk is more remote on a 60-pound dog that swallows them whole as opposed to a small dog that actually chews them up, since most of the poison is inside the pit). So I am pondering going with an apple or pear tree. I’d like cherry, but apparently need two trees for that. And then I got to thinking… I have a 6-foot slumpstone wall along the front of the house. Would that be too low for espaliered fruit trees, and can you do that with something besides apples? Or maybe I will just trellis up some vines on that part. Still haven’t quite decided that part of the yard. Oh, and the tree that I am replacing wouldn’t be espaliered… that just got me thinking about doing other parts of the yard.
And if anyone wants to see how Katie is doing, I have a very short video of her here (with Trinkett standing at the bottom… you can just see where her leg was amputated): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qy_LLPQf3s Keep in mind that I used to have to drag her outside and she would not get more than a foot away from the door! We start “obedience” class tomorrow. I’ve found a trainer that is used to dealing with shy dogs, and believes in positive training techniques, so we will see how well Katie does at getting bolder and more confident.
Where I used to go to college, there was a 5′ wall separating a courtyard from the street. There were espaliered pear trees in a planter along the front facing the school. I used to raid them periodically, because apparently no one picked them. I think you can espalier almost any tree with sufficiently limber branches; just keep them pruned right.
@philospher77,how wonderful to see Katie romping outside. She looks so happy. And Trinkett, what can I say? I am so very happy for you, and the pooch, that this is turning out well.
This may sound a little off the wall, but what about a fig tree to replace the peach. Here, where the winters can be nasty with much freezing and thawing, it is an old Italian gardening thing. They wrap and bundle them up for the winter. It depends how much time and energy you have or want to spend.
I also, have seen espaliered trees on five and six foot walls. I would think they would be easier to work on. 😉
CJ, try building a small frame and covering it with hardware cloth, choose the mesh according to the size of the gravel you want to keep. I do this all the time in reverse trying to get the gravel out of Seattle glacial till before planting. I usually find 5 to 10 gallons of rock per wheelbarrow full of rock-free silt with the wide screen.
Or, make a small box, maybe 16″ X 16″ out of 1X4, then staple the hardware cloth to the bottom, put your soil in the box, shake it, and there’s your gravel. You can also use that box for compost sifting.
I’ve thought about doing that. But that requires ingenuity, and boards. And hardware cloth…
Still, it is saner than standing out there with a colander smiling at all the people who stop at the stopsign.
A 1X4″ board at Lowes is less than $4.00 if you buy a six foot length. Hardware cloth doesn’t have to be exotic, I think a trip to the local hardware store would be one source. Putting the box together would be a matter of cutting the boards to length, then glue and nail them using butt joints. You don’t need to miter them, cut rabbets, or finger joints. Staple the hardware cloth, be done! If you don’t have access to a heavy duty stapler, you could get the small staples used for electrical wiring and hammer them in. As for getting the box square, if you don’t have a carpenter’s or speed square, use a magazine as your square, it won’t be as sturdy, but at least on the worktable, it’ll give you an indication of how close to square you are.
Hey, I’ve got a spare box I built for one of the beehives, but it’s the wrong dimensions. Want me to send it out to you and you can put on whatever size hardware cloth you want, or if you tell me, I’ll put the correct size on and send it out.
What an offer!!!!