Rain, Thunder, Lightning... the works.

We were up at the cottage for a couple of days, expecting to get the delivery of the soil we need to fill in around the edges of the bulkhead. They couldn't deliver the soil on Friday... it had rained up there before then and turned everything muddy. They expected to deliver the truckload this morning, but it rained again. Rather than play this day by day, we just cancelled the delivery and set up a new one in a couple of weeks. But then, if it rains....

As slow as everything can get down here with work schedules, it can be a thousand times slower up in East Texas. When you're up there, you're on "country time," and that clock has its own master-- and it's not you. Rather than get crazy about every blessed thing, you just have to accept it the way it is. "And that's the way it is...."--- didn't Walter Cronkite say something like that as he said his goodnight years ago on the evening news?


My husband tried to get the boat out on Friday, while the sun was shining, but after trying for an hour or so, he found out that he really needs help with the mast and the sail. At least until he gets used to it all. I can help him hold up the mast while he fastens it down-- as long as the boat isn't in the water while all of that is happening. There is a boat ramp just a couple of streets down from our cottage, and that's where the catamaran will have to be launched. While we're up there, we can leave the boat tied up at our dock, but my husband doesn't want to just let it sit in the water when we're not there. Our boat house has a lift, but it wasn't meant for this kind of a sailboat, so he's saving that spot for whatever motorboat he gets along the way. So the sailboat is once again tucked away in the garage up there, waiting for its maiden voyage.

I spoke to my cousin R while we were up there, and she couldn't stop laughing when I told her that I was in no way going to get on that boat. I told her what happened when I was on the whale-watching boat in Maine, so now she finally understands just how afraid I am of boats in the middle of water. She has also been on whale-watching boats and she loved every minute of it. But she's a water-baby.... loves to swim, love boats, loves cruise-ships. She told me to tell my husband that he's got the wrong cousin if he needs a First Mate on that sailboat. I told her she's welcome to be the First Mate on that and any other boat he happens to get. I will be content to stay on the back porch and read my books or do crossword puzzles, or drive into town and look around the antique shops.


Still a nasty day out here..... lots of clouds that look like they can open up and pour down rain at any second. But at least it's warm... summer is here, rain showers and all.


The lawn guy whose telephone is unable to dial a zero has not called me back yet. Guess I will be crossing him off of my list. I've learned the hard way that if you have to chase after a worker before they start the job, then heaven help you in finding him after he's agreed to do the job. So right now, we've got the landscaper with the mega-buck ideas that was here last week, and the mystery landscaper who has promised to be here in two weeks. Let's see.... did I say this job would be done by Labor Day? Let's change that to Halloween.