My Reply to Ed

Inside the House that Jack Built

I've posted photos here showing the mess Jack makes of our back yard.  Some of the problem is due to neglect, some of it he designs.  As an update,  the privacy fence ("privacy"  Ha!) is in the same shape.  He has cleared some of the wood piles, but about a fourth of the yard is still cluttered with wood and weeds. 

But I digress.  The reason for my post today is to give you a glimpse of the inside of our house.  There are a number of projects that need Jack's attention.  I do not expect him to do it all, but to make sure some one takes care of the maintenance.  Alas, Jack is a manipulator.  And because I am a person who enjoys order and beauty he gives such things as little attention as he can get by with. 

As for our relationship.  The yard and house pretty much reflect how that goes with him too.  On my birthday this year he offered to take me out.  I told him I would rather stay at home.  He usually goes out with a couple of men on Friday nights, but I asked him to stay home that particular Friday.  He strongly opposed me on that request.  I even appealed to one of the men (I use the term "men" with reservation here) he goes out with and explained I felt it was important that just for that night Jack stay at home.  The response I got from the guy, "If Jack wants to go out with us I will come and get him." 

This situation is unresolved as far as I'm concerned and here is the response I got from Jack when the subject came up the other night.  http://www.youtube.com/user/nolionsnack

Perhaps you will understand when I say, I need a cool change.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9SEO0uNQ1o&feature=PlayList&p=A176114E170EDA00&index=35

Not So Sexy Hamlet

If you watch television or go to the movies you may have noticed Hamlet 2 will be coming out soon.

Unfortunately there are people in our world that believe that the toilet is not the only place for crap.  They use film to, more or less, spread their waste products far and wide.

It's true I have not seen the movie yet.  But I don't have to go into a out door toilet to know the atmosphere inside is unpleasant (to put it lightly). 

From what I've seen on the television ads part of the movie involves a man dancing and behaving on stage in a way I would only do in the privacy of my own home.  (Note: I know, not all homes are afforded privacy.  I tend to write in terms of what should be.) 

So in case you have not figured it out yet, I won't be seeing this movie.  At least not willingly. 

And here is a list of reasons why ~

I rather be doing something constructive with my time and money.

I don't like to watch others making a fool of themselves, or watch someone being made a fool of. 

I wonder if this film is an attempted means of manipulation? ( Feel free to question me on that one.)

Now for a list of what I rather do instead of watch this film~

Go camping.

Play with our dogs.

Replace dead plants in my yard with nice, healthy, new plants.

Go shopping.

Make some small improvements in my home. 

Make some major improvements in my home.

Spend time with one or all of my sons. 

Speculations I have about people who make films like this one~

They take advantage of trusting people.

They seek to harm people who are vulnerable. 

They are frustrated because not all of their manipulations have been successful. 

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I think I have made it quite clear that I have a more than low opinion of those who made this film and films like it. 

But here is the silver lining. 

This film is a product of the Pied Pipers of Pain.  When you consider the source there is encouragement.

Some may have been hurt, manipulated, deceived, lied to, misled, etc. 

But believe it or not, things could be worse.  What if you were a Pied Piper of Pain?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update

Since I made my last post things have improved in our back yard.  Jack has cleaned up most of the wood debris. 

Perhaps he will finish the job he started on our privacy fence ("Privacy"?! , yeah, right.) 

Because we have dogs we really need some kind of fence in our back yard.  In case some one might wonder just what my problem is with the fence I'll include some photos. 

Jack started to replace the pieces of the fence that had deteriorated.

But after he repaired the section you see in the right corner, he pretty much abandoned the job.  After many months I used the fence pieces to make the rabbit cages you see in the post before this one.  I would call what he did here a "half ass" job, but he did not even come close to repairing half of the fence.

To make matters worse, he is currently feigning a conflict with our youngest son, John.  As Jack puts it, "He has not cleaned his room."  How do you spell hippocrit? 

I guess this is like Paul Harvey's,  The Rest of the Story.  There are unpleasant details about

The House Jack Built. 

Ranting or Venting?

Today as I thought about this post I decided to include the word "venting" in the title.  But when I sat down to write this evening I realized I could be "ranting".  So I leave it for you to decide.  Read what I have to say and then let me know. 

I start with a few photos. 

As you can see from these photos I have a problem with beavers building their dams in my back yard.  It has rained a lot lately, and I can see why they pick our yard for their dams, it floods easily. 

OK, we don't have problems with beavers.  What we do have is Jack, who has made these and other piles of wood and debris in our back yard.  I have not shown all the piles here, but you get the idea.  Not only are these piles of sticks termite fodder, weeds are growing in and around the piles.

We have some lovely trees growing in the area of the yard where he has left  piles of wood, but the weeds are getting to be just about as high as the young trees. 

And as you can tell by the weed growth, these piles have not been laying around for a matter of weeks, but months. 

Lest some find me petty.  I chose the petty to write about in this post.  There are much more heinous, much more serious matters that I have to complain about concerning Jack.  But I'm not looking for answers by way of my blog, just airing, venting, or ranting.  Remember, I'm leaving that for you to decide.

There may be some who would ask, If you don't like the wood laying around why don't you clean it up?

There are some situations where I do take it in my own hands to clean up messes he makes around our home. 

Case in point.  As I've mentioned a few times on my blog, we use to have over 20 rabbits.  I'm not sure what he did, but some how Jack got rid of all the rabbits but one.  He named the one he kept Betty.  For a while he kept Betty in a pen that she could dig out of.  And I had to rescue her almost daily.  Two of our dogs would climb the fence and run after her.  Eventually Jack put Betty in this pen.

Keeping her in this cage did keep her from being attacked by the dogs.  But it really was not a good place for a rabbit.  So I decided to build Betty a better cage. 

When I finished her cage and went to get her I was disgusted.  Her underside was coated with feces and urine, as was the layers of hay she had to lay in.  Betty was Jack's rabbit, and I had trusted that he was taking good care of her.  After I moved her into her new home I let him know, I would be taking care of her from now on. 

In her new cage she can move about a lot more.  I've included a PVC pipe large enough for her to crawl into.  Almost every day I move the cage to a different spot in the yard.  So she does not have to live in her waste.  And she gets to munch on fresh grass that makes its way through the wire floor in the cage. 

After I finished Betty's cage I made one just like it for NaNa.

I won't watch animals suffer because of Jack's neglect.  I'll resist writing about the dog house he bought for our dogs.  But it was much like the situation with Betty.  I bought them a new dog house and built a primitive shelter to provide more protection from rain and winter weather. 

So what do you say?  Ranting or Venting?