A request

 Dear John,

It's almost 17 years since D (or as Lori called her, Snakewoman) had you escorted out of work and placed on a mental health leave.  It was my mistake - you had already made a comment that gave her an opening before you went for your 2 weeks of Reserves annual training.  Then I made a casual comment about you being stressed out (about the baby) and getting sick and coming home early.  She turned that into evidence that you were unstable and should not be at the lab any more.  That was September 30, 2006 - S was born 10 days later.  No wonder my blood pressure was high after her birth.  On the one hand, it was good - you were able to be home with the baby for her first 5 months.  On the other hand, it was hugely stressful to both of us to be dealing with that kind of work nonsense.  When you returned to work, it only took another month before you were fed up and found another job.  Too bad that job was in West Virginia.  I almost quit and went with you.  Instead, you had a very long commute for a year.  

You were stressed - we had had several miscarriages/chemical pregnancies before we visited the fertility doctor.  Then you had to watch me inject myself with heparin twice a day for almost 3 months.  You worried about everything already anyway.  And the responsibility of parenthood was quickly approaching.  But it was downright evil for someone who purports to be such an excellent Christian to use that kind of thing against you.  She's one of the reasons I have an overwhelming prejudice against Baptists.  (Our other coworker, who also had a part to play in that farce of your last year there, is also a Baptist, as is her husband (another coworker).  They're all fucking hypocrites as far as I can tell.)  Don't get me wrong - you were a fool to let the jealousy and needling make you act out.  But I will never forget their behavior.  It was a decent entry into your quest for VA disability, though, so it served some purpose in the grand scheme of things, I suppose.

S's birthday is coming up, and she asked if she could take her boyfriend to visit you.  I was surprised - she has not expressed any desire to go before.  She says yes when I ask if she wants to stop, but has never asked about it for herself.  (She texted me "Can I go see dad with (boyfriend) for my birthday?"  I replied "? At the cemetery?" She responded "No - at the ouija board.  Of course at the cemetery."  I have taught the sarcasm well...)  I'm never sure how she feels about things, so I am pleased when she mentions you or asks to do things like this.  Her boyfriend shares the name of the guy I dated before we got together, so that's interesting.  He's a bit of a fluffy haired idiot, but he's only mildly dramatic.  He's a year ahead of her, so I don't know how long this will last.  We were talking about all the nicknames you would have given him.  

I guess I need to drag the ladder inside so I can take a look at the bathroom fan.  It's making terrible noises again.  I hope a little WD40 will fix the issue.  I keep thinking I should call your friend to do some electrical work around here.  I would like to get some wiring for security cameras done...except I don't worry too much about security so it would be a waste of money.  I need that fan replaced.  There's the light switch in the basement I would like to have connected, as I won't be doing....whatever it was you had planned for that area.  I would like to put new lights on the garage.  I could probably do all of this myself.  I know it's not that hard.  But I remain unmotivated.

Our lawn guy offered to do aerating and overseeding for $550.  That seems pretty expensive, so I haven't responded.  The front really just needs dethatching and seeding.  The one side of the house needs nothing.  The other side and back could use the aerating.  I don't know - maybe next year.  The boyfriend offered to do it - I guess maybe that's what his dad does.  I know the boyfriend does yard work for his summer job.  

In other landscaping news, I don't know if our idiot neighbors neglected to point out the property line again, or if the HOA felt sorry for me and took care of it.  But the weeds and grasses under the red bud tree were all cleared out last weekend.  I saw that one guy who does all the yard cleanup in the subdivision next door last Saturday.  When I went out Saturday evening to walk the dogs, I saw that everything under the tree was gone.  I don't really like that everything was cleared out - we still had some butterfly bushes there.  But I guess free landscaping is free landscaping.  I didn't ask for it so I hope no one tries to bill me for it.  The foxes were digging in the berm behind there and displacing all the landscape fabric, so I bought some bags of mulch to hold the fabric down.  I didn't spread the mulch - just put the bags out there.  So now you can see that delightful arrangement from the street, since all the foliage that was blocking it out is gone.  Fall is almost here, and the foxes will go to ground somewhere.  Once they're less active, I can spread the mulch.  The foxes (I assume) also left me a squirrel tail on the driveway the other day.  A couple days later, I think S rolled over a frog with the car on her way home from the gym.  The wildlife action around here never stops.

Love,

A