Yards in the Sky

It's a gorgeous day and I am grumpy because I am in PAIN from my severe muscle pull. Wah wah. I am not going to let it stop me from the life I am accustomed to: waking early for preparing my husbands breakfast lunch and dinner, writing, baking cooking, writing some more, walking my dog, washing blankets sheets and clothes, vacuuming the cellar stairs, fishing trash out of the bushes, basically taking care of my life. I love to take care of things. I am an urban farmer in the city. I love to shovel snow, greet neighbors, put out salt and sand, rake and sweep.

I am grouchy because there's no such thing as a real weekend around here. My husband's world never stops. So doesn't mine. His with full time teaching and grad school. Mine with my art. Sometimes I feel like we live like absentee room mates. Going out to eat hasn't happened in a decade. And we have to say no to anything that involves money or keeps us out past our 7-8PM bed time. We get up before 4 AM.

We are lucky to have survived the lost decade, the 10 year financial storm THE GREAT RECESSION. We are still in our beloved home of 20 years, although it is in desperate need of repairs. We discovered by trial and error that home owners insurance is mandatory yet it is a complete SCAM.

The neighborhood has improved tremendously in the past six months. The slumlords were shut down by the city for running apartments with no water or electricity. One of the worst slumlords sold off his ramshackle "CASH COW" apartment houses. Now there's three good landlords fixing things up, managing the properties, screening tenants instead of renting to the charismatic CASH COW drug dealers. It finally bit them in the arse!

There's still the guy who pees sitting on his third floor porch where it seeps through the white vinyl second floor easy chair down to the ground level. I can smell it a mile away. Disgusting. Hello, health department?

Guys love porches. They leave their pit-bulls chained up on them, they BBQ on them, they love their yards in the sky.