Our next door neighbors are proving to be pack rats. Within in a few weeks of moving in, their backyard looks like a city dump. The back lanai has three sets of mattresses and a filthy run down sofa. Honestly, who likes living like that? If you have no use for it then throw the garbage away. Why hoard it?
They remind me of a family that used to live next door to me when I was a small child. Their name was Dirtack. Pronounced Dirt Ak. They lived up to their name. The parents headboard was solely made of empty beer cans. They had a coffee table that was a semi tire. Their pool was a cess pool. The water was black! They never cut the grass in the backyard and the grass was almost as tall as my dad's waist. I don't know how they could find anything back there. Their front yard looked like a mechanics shop with all the torn apart cars.
We lived next door to this family for five years. The city took their house away for non payment of taxes and when the city came in to clean everything up, they were all dressed in hazmat suites. They found three dead dogs in the backyard along with car parts and lawn equipment that had rusted during the winters. Oh, I am sure there was more but that is all that I remembered. Even a five year old child like myself knew that wasn't a way to live.
I have now officially named our new neighbors the "new" Dirtack's. Yesterday, the man of the house, brought home a rv. This rv looks like it has been sitting in a backyard for decades with no maintenance done to it at all. Chris talked to him about what he was going to do with it. Apparently he is going to restore it and have the rv repair guy over tomorrow to look at the mechanics of it. Meanwhile, it will sit in the backyard like it looks like it has always done. The guy was telling Chris that he and his family would like to start camping and the rv is big enough to accommodate his entire family. I am guessing that the rv will sit until they move again. I don't see that rv going anywhere anytime soon.
This morning, while Katie and I were leaving, I saw the guy bring home and park in the front yard a food trailer. The kind that you see at carnivals and get elephant ears from. I can't wait to find out what he plans to do with that. Chris will have a fit if the guy tries to feed people from his front yard. Our yard will look like a parking lot and Chris will not tolerate that one bit.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Out with the old, In with the new (sort of)
Chris has sold the truck that we were given by my parents.Well, not really given to us, I have exchanged car payments for cleaning their home twice a month for three years. Still, that isn't a bad thing. We might not have the truck anymore but my parents still have another year on their cleaning contract. Which is all good. People are starting to take heed of my services in the mobile home park that my parents live in.
It was important that Chris had the truck earlier because he was working. Now that he is unemployed and going back to school, the truck wasn't an economically sound vehicle to have. We are not down to one vehicle, we were given Chris' parents Exterra. Chris' mom bought a new vehicle ( I can't remember the name of it right now) and they had no need for the Exterra so it was passed onto us.
It is a lot better on gas than the F250 and I will be the one driving it mostly since all my cleaning supplies will fit much better in it than my Malibu, which was also given to us by Chris' parents 4 years ago. The Malibu is a 2001 and only has 82,000 miles on it. The Exterra has less than 53,000 and it is a 2004.
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Surprisingly the Malibu's trunk is deep enough to store most of my equipment in but it made unpacking and repacking the equipment a time consuming chore. Not that I wouldn't keep doing it if I didn't have the Exterra. The Malibu will be the car that Chris drives back and forth to school in. A lot less money wasted in gas, that is for sure.
I am extremely grateful to have the kind of parents that we do. They have saved us from the headache of having car payments and/or allowing us to barter other services so that we could have safe and sound running vehicles. That is what family should do for each other. That is what we have always been taught and learned by example. If our kids ever need that kind of help, I am hoping that we will be financially sound to be able to do help just as our parents have helped us.
It was important that Chris had the truck earlier because he was working. Now that he is unemployed and going back to school, the truck wasn't an economically sound vehicle to have. We are not down to one vehicle, we were given Chris' parents Exterra. Chris' mom bought a new vehicle ( I can't remember the name of it right now) and they had no need for the Exterra so it was passed onto us.
 |
| Exactly like the one we now have |
It is a lot better on gas than the F250 and I will be the one driving it mostly since all my cleaning supplies will fit much better in it than my Malibu, which was also given to us by Chris' parents 4 years ago. The Malibu is a 2001 and only has 82,000 miles on it. The Exterra has less than 53,000 and it is a 2004.
Surprisingly the Malibu's trunk is deep enough to store most of my equipment in but it made unpacking and repacking the equipment a time consuming chore. Not that I wouldn't keep doing it if I didn't have the Exterra. The Malibu will be the car that Chris drives back and forth to school in. A lot less money wasted in gas, that is for sure.
I am extremely grateful to have the kind of parents that we do. They have saved us from the headache of having car payments and/or allowing us to barter other services so that we could have safe and sound running vehicles. That is what family should do for each other. That is what we have always been taught and learned by example. If our kids ever need that kind of help, I am hoping that we will be financially sound to be able to do help just as our parents have helped us.
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