I have to contrive to get us farther away from FAR Manor for vacations. As I wrote last year, the evil of the chicken houses has a gravitational field that extends as far as the timeshare. Her reassurances last year about the chicken houses not getting in the way this year, as expected, didn’t pan out.
To put it briefly, we’re back at FAR Manor until tomorrow evening. Well, we had to come home last night anyway, so Daughter Dearest could get to school today (and to deposit Big V at her place). They brought in a fresh batch of chickens (to only one house today, instead of two) and we had to distribute them. This only takes a half hour or so, plus the hour of preparation, but the preparations are done so all we have to do tomorrow is dump the birds, get a shower, and run awaayyyyyyy.
Our first stop was at Big V’s… but guess who was walking along the road that way too? The Boy showed up down at Big V’s about the time we were ready to leave. He was making the right noises, as usual — but the tone also seemed to be a little more on-key this time. Is he starting to grow up at last? His job is winding down (and his boss getting arrested didn’t help), but now he’s hooked up with Big V’s hubby and his lawn care — I guess they needed someone more than they needed to not give him one more chance, I suppose. But he’s nearly done with the financial end of his probation (he’s completed all the other requirements), and he has actually hooked up with some people who are renting a house. He primarily wants to get his act together (he says), and get to where he can chip in on the rent. He says he wants to quit drinking, and claims to have poured out what little liquor we had in the house (probably down his gullet) to avoid temptation. He seems to be willing to do things our way, even if he’s not terribly happy about them, at least so far. Give it a week.
So now we have a TB02 to deal with. I invited him to come back to the retreat when we go (thinking it might be easier to keep an eye on him). He declined, mainly because he’ll be working in the morning. Daughter Dearest will let us know if things are not going as agreed, and we can get back quickly (although we won’t be happy).
But this trip home isn’t all bad. I got my beer bottled up, and I was able to use my shaver and find my sandals, both of which I left here. I suppose I’ll get to appreciate the peace and quiet when I finally get some, starting tomorrow night.
Monday, September 10, 2007
5 comments:
Comments are welcome, and they don't have to be complimentary. I delete spam on sight, but that's pretty much it for moderation. Long off-topic rants or unconstructive flamage are also candidates for deletion but I haven’t seen any of that so far.
I have comment moderation on for posts over a week old, but that’s so I’ll see them.
Include your Twitter handle if you want a shout-out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
LinkWithin
Sending you relaxing thoughts, far! Hope the rest of your vaca goes smoothly, and you don't have to go home again.
ReplyDeleteI just read your TB history, and it made me want to pass this along, far. This may impress TB not at all, but for what it's worth. . .I had dinner with three judges a few years ago and they got to talking about the appearance of defendants. I was appalled as ALL THREE judges said they made up their minds about defendants the minute they saw them if the people were dressed in a way that seemed disrespectful to the court. No leeway for poverty, none for ignorance or inexperience, or just youth. If a woman came in with a short skirt and a low-cut blouse, they assumed she was guilty as charged. Ditto for a man in baggy blue jeans and a t-shirt, etc. The judges seemed quite proud of their "ability" to make snap judgments. This is why lawyers insist on male defendants getting a haircut and wearing a suit and female defendants looking like schoolmarms. That kind of judicial attitude isn't right or fair, but it is the way it is, and if TB goes to court stubbornly insisting on "expressing himself" in his clothing, etc., he will be arguing with reality, and as somebody wise once said, "When you argue with reality, reality only wins 100% of the time."
ReplyDeleteTB should be come a salesman, he seems to sell you guys a load everytime he comes home. :)
ReplyDeleteSolar
Sounds like you have your hands full, far. The boran boy is only 8 so we have a little time before we'll deal with the issues that you are facing now. Good luck with the boy's court appearance and have a good vacation.
ReplyDeleteHey hey all...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth. If I had my druthers, I'd be on a beach somewhere right now, but the mountains are good too. Vacatious interruptus is officially over now that we've gotten away again. One middle school football game (our side lost), and we bailed.
Nancy, that's scary but I've suspected as much. We've been around that road with him before — I guess you saw me writing about how the judge wanted to nail him, but didn't want to throw out the only plea agreement on the whole freeking docket. I pointed out that if he keeps the hair in a ponytail & just shaves the beard, and gets into a graphics arts career, he'd probably be OK since "they" expect creatives to look like that.
Solar, I said long ago I was afraid he'd end up in sales or politics!
Boran, it turned out that he didn't have to go. They probably would have subpoenaed him if they could have found him; but we couldn't have helped with that at the time, either. Boran-boy probably won't give you much grief until he's at least 12 or so.