You are over the hill when your back goes out more than you do — anonymous

This one hits very close to home for me. About the only time we go out anymore is when my wife tires of my cooking and insists on eating out.  That is a weekly occurrence for us.  On the other side of this saying is my back and it seems to go out a lot lately. The reason for that is because of the season of the year. For those of us in the hinterland Spring entails a lot of preparation in the yard and garden area. We have weeds to be pulled, gardens to be tilled, plant beds to be mulched, decks to be re-stained, etc, etc.

When I was younger, meaning a couple of years ago, I managed to get all this sort of thing done by myself. Now I have to reach out to the bulletin board tags at the local supermarket for help and even with that my back still flairs up 🙂  My back just isn’t what it used to be. Well, it’s still a back but with a lot more nerves in it, it seems.

The supermarket tags bring on another topic in these annual chores. If you don’t know what supermarket tags are they are the notices, usually handwritten, offering help with chores. They usually have tags that are partially torn with the phone number to call. All you have to do is tear one-off and give them a call when you get home. I have been using the services of these guys on and off for a few years now but seem to have a basic problem. But first a little filler here…

When we started renovating our 1925 farmhouse twelve years ago my wife flatly announced that she is going to die in this house. She says she has moved around enough in her life and this is it. She is not moving anymore.  Staying here in future years is dependent on getting some help with maintaining the two plus acre homestead and that means visiting the supermarket bulletin board. But it seems that they only come back once and then don’t return calls after that! How come I can’t get someone to come back to help more than once or twice? It sure would be nice to have someone who I could rely on to help when needed.  I’m pretty sure I pay well over the going rate in this area (almost twice the minimum wage) so I don’t think it is because of the money.  I do have a couple of guys that work together that have become regulars this Spring. They are good workers and seem glad to have the extra income. I am hoping that they will be available in the future. They both also happen to be hispanic. Maybe there is a link here……