Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Long, Hazy Dazy Days of Summer are Here.

My Dad has been going crazy these past few days. He started out by buying us a new lawn mower. A really nice, expensive electric mower which has wheels that can be adjusted by moving ONE, very easy lever.

Then he mowed the front lawn. (I mowed the back).

He then weeded and completely turned over three of our gardens. (I weeded one and a half).

He has purchased and planted tomatoes, squash, herbs, some sort of melon, and a crap load of various types of flowers.

He even sprained his ankle part way through all this.

And he's not done. He wants to make our yard "look so good that people stop to look at it."

Hey, that's awesome Dad. You do what you gotta do! 'Cause I sure don't have the time to do it!

***


Grumpa's actually doing a good job at being a grandfather these days. He's interacting more with Cherry, including doing the horsey ride on the leg thing. The other day while I was mowing the back lawn, Cherry woke up and instead of panicking and running to get me, he actually picked her up and changed her diaper. She was totally freaked out though, and screamed the whole time, probably not having a clue who he was in her half-awake stupor. Hearing her screaming, I ran in to rescue him/her, and was able to calm her down with some formula and by *ahem* re-changing her diaper. (He put it on backwards. hee hee hee)

Having my dad here is going ok over all, but even though he's doing all this work in the yard, I find it seems like I'm still doing more work with him here than if he wasn't here. There's more dishes and more mess, and I feel guilty when I'm relaxing and he's out working in the garden, so I'm working more outside than I would normally. (Which is probably a good thing, but DANG, I'm tired these days!) I am glad he's here, but it's not making my life any easier. There are bonuses (like the yard), but it's not easier. And I guess I'm a little worried that the "big girl" room isn't going to get done, because he's always working outside and doesn't seem to interested in working on the room, and it's not like I can just go into "his" room and start sanding and painting without him there to help or approve.

One thing though, about him being here, that IS making things easier, is I'm not stressing about the yard, which I was before. I was trying to arrange free babysitting so that I could mow the lawn, and trying to figure out if it was going to be possible to mow the lawn with the baby monitor on, etc. Now, I don't worry about that. Which is good.

***


Armondo called the other day. He had good news and bad news. He called me from Ucluelet, a small community on the west coast of Vancouver Island, close to Tofino. He was in "town" because one of the guys on the boat had broken his foot a few days before, and had become useless, so they had to travel close to 200 miles to shore to drop the guy off. Since they were losing a day of fishing anyway, to bring the guy to shore, they also took the time to get a freezer fixed and Armondo was able to call home.

So, good news: Since that guy has been let off the boat, they are now a man short, which means Armondo, and some other dude, have to pick up the guy's slack. Which means the two of them make their regular wages (Armondo's being a little less than a regular crew guy, 'cause he mostly cooks), AND, they split 50/50 what the other guy would have been making for the remainder of the trip. Apparently, this is the first time in this boat's history that a guy has had a "raise" on his first trip!

Bad news: Well, at the beginning of the trip, they left a couple of days late due to electrical troubles, and now they've lost a day due to taking this guy to shore, AND, they might end up being a day or so behind because they have to pick up this guy's slack, and it's "quota" fishing. MEANING, Armondo might miss Cherry's birthday.

If he DOES miss Cherry's birthday, that will mean he will have missed this year, Valentine's Day, My Birthday, Our Anniversary (I think), Fathers' Day, and her birthday. He'd better not miss her birthday! In fact, I told him that if there's a chance that he's going to miss it, that he'd better jump off that boat and swim. I didn't tell him what would happen if he missed it.

Things won't be too pretty around here though. My Dad thinks I'm a bitch for harassing Armondo about missing these occasions. He's all "Armondo's out working hard for his family, making money to support his family and get out of debt, and here YOU are hassling him about missing these dates, when he already misses his family.. blah blah blah"

Well... You know what?!? Armondo didn't HAVE to go fishing. He WANTED to go fishing. In fact, if he hadn't fished at all this year, he would have only missed Valentine's Day due to working at a job that he HAD to work at. I didn't tell Armondo "No, you can't go fishing, because I hate it when you go away, and really, the money isn't that much better than when you were working in a restaurant making sushi and making tips.. .and.. and..." No, I let him go, because he LIKES it.

And darn it already, maybe if he would just "Show me (all this) money" that we're supposedly going to be rolling in, then maybe I'll start to like this a bit better, but for now, I don't see it. In fact, I crunched some numbers last night, and the money he's making right now has to cover paying back our parental leave money for these weeks, plus pay for all of July's bills, AND, pay for all of August, because if he goes out fishing again next time, we won't see another pay cheque until the end of August. Oh, and then in Sept, we have another dreaded three mortgage month.
And after doing the number crunching, it turns out that we'll have a total of $250 ish extra dollars for food and gas. And I don't even want to mention how much we owe on our credit cards right now. That raise better be a good one!

Did I mention that he actually got offered a new Sushi Chef job at a different restaurant that paid $2 more an hour than his last sushi job and that had nice, regular 8 hour shifts?!? He chose to go fishing instead.

***


The last couple of days have been HOT, Hot, hot! I'm not a huge fan of hot weather. I always seem to burn in the sun, and sunscreen makes my skin swell. I often get heat exhaustion and blah blah blah...

ANYWAY, what I DO like though, is that we didn't sell our house. I love my great big maple tree in the front yard that shades the whole yard. I love watching my kid run around the yard with a huge smile on her face as she chases the cats, dogs, and picks dandelions.

But most of all, I love my river. Where we live, we can just step out our back door, walk for about 90 seconds, and we have access to a nice, clean, cool, (but not too cool) river. Right by our house is a nice shallow patch, and a rocky little beach, and if we just head up or down stream a little, it gets deep enough for a good swim. Our little access point is just far enough from the public access points that we can have privacy, but close enough that we can wander down to the sandier beaches if we feel so inclined.

Cherry's still a little wary of the water. I have a friction burn on the back of my neck from her pulling on my bathing suit and trying to cling onto me. Yesterday we went into the water for the first time (I'm always scared at the begining of the season because I'm a wuss in cold water) and then we went again today. Yesterday, both Cherry and Jacy were total little wimps, crying and sputtering in the water, but today Cherry was a little bit better, and Jacy actually swum out to us in the middle of the river, in water that was several times deeper than her height! I was pretty proud of my little poodle. Sure, I had to pick her up every time she swam out to us, so she wouldn't drown from exhaustion, but still, I was proud of her. (Can you picture me, standing chest deep in the water, 11 month old kling-on in one arm, and a poodle in the other?!?) Annie, of course, is totally fine in the water and just swims around us and explores the river banks on the other side, and such. Ozzy hasn't joined us at the river yet, but I'm sure she will one day soon. She usually follows us to the river, in years past, and log-hops until she gets to the little beach. She then mows and talks to us while we paddle around. It's always pretty cute. We'll be going back to the river again tomorrow. It's the only thing that keeps me sane during these hot days!

***


Don't forget to go say hello to my renter. I picked her out esp for YOU guys. I chose the blog that seemed the most likely one that YOU guys would like. So please, go say hello!

ttfn!

8 comments:

Kim said...

That is nice that your father is getting your yard work done. I would love to be able to let someone else do mine somedays. Especially in the summer, when the grass grows so fast and it is always hot.

My cousin's husband works on a boat, but as the captain for chartered fishing boats. He ould be gone for 6 months at a time and then back home for a little while. It was hard on her to have him gone so much.

That sounds nice to have a clean river so close to swim in. We don't get in any water around here clean or not, because of the alligators:o)

CeCe said...

Kim~My dad really seems to like the hot weather, he really seems to be enjoying himself outside. And yes, it is hard to have the hubby away, but I do know I have it better than some, like those who have husbands away at war. Do you not live close to the ocean though? The ocean water is really nice down there, isn't it? I'm not overly fond of the ocean beaches in my town. Most of them are rocky. The next towns in both directions have really nice, sandy beaches though!

Kim said...

The closest ocean beach is about 1 1/2 hours away, we are right in central Florida. The last time I was at the beach was as a teenager. The beach was never a favorite of my parents so not on our list of places to visit:o)

K. said...

I don't think you should feel guilty if he is doing yardwork and you are inside. It just might be his way of showing his apreciation for your help during this time in his life.

Erin said...

It's nice that your dad is doing yard work for you, and at least trying to interact with Cherry. Good for him!

Money woes - I'm with you. It's so stressful sometimes, isn't it? Makes me wish I was a kid again.

Hope the swimming was great!

Celena said...

Kim and Fab~But you both have pools in your back yards, right?!?

K.~Yeah, you're right.

Debambam~THANK YOU! Glad someone understands what I'm thinking!

Erin~Well, I don't know if I would want to be a kid again. I'm having more fun now, but yeah, money woes suck! And thanks, the swimming is great!

Laurie~Too bad I don't like sushi :P It's where we met though. I was a waitress and he was the sushi chef in the same restaurant. And yes, our little house is lovely. Just... little.

Maidy said...

Look kiddo, cut Armondo a little slack. Yeah, it rots when your man is away for special occasions. And I can empathize with you 100%. Geo used to be a trucker and he was on the road a lot when Dinker was born. But I had to remember that it wasn't like he was out blowing cash on stupid stuff or hanging with floosies. He was w-o-r-k-i-n-g. Believe me, Armondo may want to go on the boat, but I'm sure he misses his family, too. He's looking at the possibility to make really good cash. And you're looking at him making a steadier living at a set price on land. I did the same thing with Geo (making possibly lots of money driving with no benefits vs. getting a steady job with benefits). It will suck if he misses Cherry's b-day, but I bet he would rather be at his one year old's b-day party than cooking stew for a fishing crew.

Send your dad down here to Philly. Our backyard needs a mowing BAD! It's sarting to look like Cambodia out there.

I'm jealous you have a clean waterway near your home. Closest I get is rain runoff in the street after a deluge.

Anonymous said...

I totally understand the frustration around Hubs WANTING to go away to work rather than NEEDING to. It happens here all the time. I know Ryan just thinks that this is how he can do the best for our family, but I want him to understand that sometimes it is better for a family to be close and have time to spend with one another.

We don't even have kids, so I'm sure it is even more frustrating for you with Cherry to think of.

One thing I am sure of is that both of them think that they are doing the right thing for their families, and that supporting their family is a way to show love.

Men have weird thought processes.