Thursday, July 31

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Stomach issue seems to be resolving. Whew!

I slept well.

I didn't have to do anything pressing, with this heat. Close to 30 C today, and humid.

I stayed indoors mostly, aside from necessary animal chores, and did house stuff most of the day.

I folded Mount Laundry, started some more, changed the cat litter, and took washed throw blankets outside to dry and hopefully smell nice.

I hate to say it, as much as I love the fuzzy fleece blankets, they smell awful very quickly. They seem to foster bacterial colonies. They're good for a few weeks after washing, and then they smell a lot like...us.

Then in the evening, I had to get into gear when it cooled down, to try and get something done. The grass is getting quite long, since we've been focused on other things.

So I mowed for a while, and let everyone out into their pastures during that time. I also turned the water onto the garden, and I asked my Sweetie to pick more raspberries since it was cooler.

So, we were busy busy for about two hours.

I did work with Dandy for a few minutes, and he is making progress. He's a fast learner.

Then we spent some time on the swing in the twilight, with a fire in the pit.

I was a bit annoyed with my Sweetie though, since he didn't want to bother putting away the long seat cushion for the swing since it "didn't look like rain".

We had agreed that we would put away the cushion when we are not using it (it is stored in the surprisingly clean back of our horse trailer when not in use) so that it lasts longer. UV damage would shorten it's life, and a friend told us that if those things get wet, they are never really dry again, or they get kind of musty.

We JUST BOUGHT this swing, and already my husband is getting lazy about something we agreed upon together. These things aren't cheap, and you know what? If the cushion DID get a little gross, we are the kind of people to just keep using it because we'd feel stupid that we let it get that way, and feel like we had to keep using a yucky cushion.

Then we wouldn't feel like sitting on it, we'd let it get worse, and we wouldn't use the swing anymore. Another piece of garbage.

Also, good luck trying to even get a replacement, I bet it would cost almost as much to get a cushion shipped to us than buying a whole new swing.

So that annoyed me. Why be lazy about something that takes two minutes to do properly? The cushion weighs nothing, and the trailer is right beside the house.

So that kind of tarnished how nice it was just to sit outside with a happy little fire.

Then we came inside.

Comments

[ratunderpaper]

Just preserve the swing cushion yourself. It isn't worth the trouble to rely on someone who isn't invested enough in keeping it in good shape. He'll be good with something else.

[gottawonder]

Yes, I did just put it away myself, but it's getting so that I'm spending a fair amount of time just putting things away that he leaves lying there, because "it's fine".

I got after him a few days ago because when the nephew was here, and they had backed the trailer up to a pile of tree branches they were going to take to the dump, my husband asked me about a pallet that was also on the trailer.

Was it going to the dump?

I looked at it, and said we might use it to stack firewood upon when we get the wood pile organized later this summer.

A couple of days later, when I went to mow that part of the yard, lo and behold, all he did was dump the pallet onto the lawn and drive away. He didn't come back and put it over by the wood pile, just left it there.

I was furious. There are now piles of things all over the place again because of the movement of stuff out of the quonsets and taking down trees, but he's just strewing things without consideration of preserving what is already kept nice and tidy. He's spreading disorder to every part of the yard again, and I am cracking down on it again.

I'm tired of him acting like a child, just getting distracted from one thing and jumping to the next without FINISHING anything.

Putting things away is a grown up's responsibility. When you use something, like the swing set cushions, they get put away when you're done. It's not up to someone else to do that.

The same with considering the clean up and putting away of things he is working on, or things he put somewhere for the moment. As a grown up, you are the one who must come back and tidy up after yourself.

I don't know why he doesn't have this ability. He just dumps things where he's standing and walks away from it.

[ratunderpaper]

Agree, completely.
Realistically, though, someone of a certain age is unlikely to change their ways. Picking up after a grownup who should know better but can't be arsed to do the simplest of tidying is a drag, but the alternative is to leave the stuff and live with it. I know well the dump-and-walk-away scenario.

[gottawonder]

I do intend to put away the cushions if he won't bother.

I certainly don't want them to get wet and disgusting. I actually want to have nice things.

[ratunderpaper]

Right - if relying on someone who doesn't - perhaps can't - see the value in nice things will cost you something nice, you may as well just preserve the nice thing yourself.

The extended denizen family sees absolutely no point to having nice things. To them, there's something prideful or sinful in wanting niceness.

[gottawonder]

I don't understand buying something nice, then leaving it out in the rain so that henceforth every time you go to use it, it will be damp or smell bad, or both.

Anyhow, I know.

[ratunderpaper]

Or buying a nice rug, but stomping all over it with muddy winter boots, or not cleaning it if you drop your slice of pizza and make a stain. We don't have to continue.

[gottawonder]

I hear you.