Welcome Mats

I think it would be fun to own several of these door mats so I could exchange them as the mood changed, like the weather. The one that sits at my front door is made out of old tires and does have a little shape but no personality. It really does a good job of saving those who do come to my front door as we have morning fog that leaves a residue on the porch that makes it slick. It has to be washed off with bleach water if the sun doesn't come out and warm things up. I am always afraid of someone taking a fall so usher each person out my door with my words of goodbye and 'go carefully'. I don't want any one to break a leg on the way down my three steps, or do a skating act on the porch itself. I wonder what it would cost to buy a half dozen or so of these mats. I'm thinking costly but soon son Michael is coming with his friend Jayden and they will replace the porch boards with that new 'trek' composition wood and that should solve the problem . . . I hope it will solve the problem. Meanwhile there are lots of things on my honey do list. Yesterday, as I was crossing the street from the post boxes, a young man in a truck stopped me to ask if I needed my hedges trimmed. Of course I do as Chon, who usually does them, is off on vacation and they are much too tall for me to tackle. This young man was looking for yard work to do. He had pictures to show me of a hedge he had cut down and it looked like he did a good job. I asked him to come to the back of the garage to see the ditch area which the city put in back of all the houses on our streets some years ago. They got the 'rights' from all of the property owners, dug the ditch then left the home owners with its care. "Not Fair" I cry over and over, but no matter who I ask no one knows how to fight city hall. The land is eroding around the ditch so I asked the young man if he could fix it. "Sure" he said, "No problem, an easy job, just make some frame work and fill it full of cement and that will shore the side up." Then he said he could do it for twelve hundred dollars but when I said that was much too high, he came down to five hundred and wanted to do it right then and there. I told him I would have to consult with my son first so make it in a week. I gave him my name and number and he left, but . . . he called me fifteen minutes later to say he was at a store and was pricing out the items needed to do the job and he'd be right over. Well he came over saying it was two hundred for the materials but he had no paper work. He had no last name to give me. He had a friends name. He didn't want have a license or insurance and I said no. He left upset. I locked the door and felt sad at the desperation I was feeling coming from this young man. He told me he was married twelve years and had five children under eight . . . he really needs to go to work!

So today, if you meet a scam artist, or a desperate person looking for cash money, beware . . . the need is going to become greater if our people are not put back to work. There will be a lot more scams, and a lot more desperate people. So when you put out your new door mat be sure it has the right words . . . no soliciting . . . better still . . . show me your license. How sad we do not have the old timers when a hand shake said it all. It's Tuesday, that has a nice ring to it . . . NCIS is on tonight, followed by the new one that isn't all bad. Tune in you might enjoy the cast and crew as they do a good job. I'm lunching out today wish you could join me. Hugs to all.