Another issue: The carpenter's helper who was touted as being a good farm hand for us for occasional work...has been less than ideal. He came on time one day; the next he was late and finally called with car trouble. He promised he would be here yesterday morning.......no show; no call either. He has really hurt himself with us. I told DH who paid him at the end of the first day....he now had gas money so wasn't quite as eager to labor. He is not a teenager. I don't allow much slack for unemployed adults who behave like this. He set his wage and we paid it. Be interesting to see how it plays out. He also lost a pair of our pliers in the fence line somewhere. I told DH we should have been suspicious of his quality of work when he left a roll of fencing and another tool when he did the 'clean-up' on the chicken run!
One soap box comment: This is one of the many things wrong with young people today; they don't know how to put in a day of work. They are not good to follow through, as in calling us. OK, not all young people, I know that, but we have had several experiences with hiring them on the farm....not very successful.
Back to the machinery: The old farm truck that was loaded with the fencing tools that the boys took back to work on the fence decided to not start.....way back on the farm. DH charged the battery; it started the next morning once and then wouldn't again. He unloaded the tools on the trailer and hooked it to one of the tractors. Monday we will have the truck towed to the mechanic....an expensive fix I am sure.
Such is life on the farm..........
I saw my first Tiger Swallowtail yesterday on the white hesperis. I took a picture of one on almost the same day last year, so it wasn't early.
My single variegated heliopsis Loraine Sunshine is still with me. I need to save some seeds this year. They won't all be variegated though. A safer bet would be a division or a cutting.
I started the day planning to mow around the kitchen garden area....then I saw the awful lot of cheatgrass and wild carrots about 2 feet tall in the Garage Wall Border and started pulling that. I have about half done and feel very good about it. I need to plant that border more thickly with self-seeders....the best weeding tool is allowing no bare ground in the beds and borders! I have lots of seeds I plant to just sprinkle around when I get finished.
Then I moved to the Cellar Bed and did the back half of that one.
The front half requires very little because it is wall to wall with plants.
Blooming there now are chives, Barb's iris, clematis Henryi, lunaria, and Clarence iris and one lonely yellow aquilegia.
I spread one more bale of mulch hay around some trees and shrubs in the front yard. I see I have already nicked my lovely Amur Maple with the string trimmer. I hope the mulch will take care of that problem.
The Amur Maple is a lovely small tree with tiny fragrant blooms this time of year, the bees love it and so do I. It also has good fall color.
Another one I am enjoying is my bird-planted sassafras by the bird bath. It is a yellow green this time of year....I never noticed that last year.
I whole heartedly agree with you about some people and their poor work ethics. I don't have much tolerance for lazy people or people who don't show up when they're supposed to.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers so beautiful. I especially love the yellow aquilegia.
Send them thar birds over here, I need another sassafras tree! Looks like one of the two I bought isn't going to do anything.
ReplyDeleteThat's not just young folks, it seems..... The salesman with whom we worked on our roof was about the poorest supervisor I ever saw, you know the story on that! We've had some shingles come up around the chimney and Hubs called him about it. He had already forgotten who we were, and, since it was Saturday morning, he told Hubs to "remind him on Monday", and he'd send somebody out to look. Sheesh.
Nobody wants to work these days. You can't even give stuff away that requires a little work to fix or prepare (example: used ceramic tile or black walnuts).
We have been lucky on finding a good helper. He has helped DH on the farm for several years now when needed. I also have him help me in the spring and some in the fall. He didn't know a flower from a weed when he started but does a pretty good job now and can do about anything if I first show or explain to him what I want.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid one stand of my Loraine Sunshine wasn't going to make it but once I got the chickweed/henbit pulled from around it there were all these spriggly looking leaves coming on. Couldn't believe the difference the next day-it just needed some light!!
Bronchitis/allergies acting up today-must have got a snootful the last two days working out-was very windy!
Is that your storm cellar (mound) in the background of the sassafras pic? I like how you've covered it with soil and grass? ground cover? Looks like an Indian mound! Your lawn looks nice and tidy and really green and everything is looking like a regular park. :-D
ReplyDeleteI hope your truck is fixable and doesn't cost too much to do so. Hope the worker shows up. It really is too bad when people don't keep their word. It's rather aggravating and they really don't care. He 'might' be back when he 'needs' more money.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are pretty and I love the tiger swallowtail. Your sassafras looks very spring looking too.
Enjoy your gardens and don't work too hard, especially the hotter it gets. Although maybe you aren't having to deal with that yet. :-)
Have a great week ~ FlowerLady
I would have no qualms about hiring him again and telling him up front that he will be paid when the job is done and done to my satisfaction. If he doesn't like those terms you haven't lost much. You can only hire those kind for jobs that have no time crunch.
ReplyDeleteI sure miss the sassafas. Wish I could have one here in Florida.