Whine festival

Dear Holesinmyjeans,

I try not to whine more than 4 days a week. Today is one of those days and since you're such a good listener I thought I'd whine to you.

Yesterday I watched one of the Oprahs I recorded with my DVR. I love Oprah and my DVR (no whining there). The show was about people who did nice things for others. One fellow took donated cars, fixed them up and gave or sold them to less fortunate people, often single moms, for very little money. Another person collected pillows and bedding from hotels who were just going to throw them away, and gave them to shelters. Another retired couple opened a free health clinic and had many other volunteers from their community helping. It was a feel-good show. Made me want to do something for people who don't have all that we do.

Ok, here I go. James and I own a small house that we used to live in. We call it the cottage. It's a rustic home but cozy. When we moved to the house we're living in now we weren't ready to sell the cottage. A friend/acquaintance of ours was going through a divorce and was struggling and needed a place to live. We offered her the cottage. We didn't want to heat it and take care of it so we let her live there rent free. She's been there 2 1/2 years and it has worked out really well. She keeps the place up nicer than we did and the only thing we've had to do to it in the last 2 1/2 years is put a roof on it. Recently she told us she was getting married and they wanted to stay in the house. We told her we were going to start collecting rent in June. We told her this a few months in advance. That was fine with them. Yesterday, June 3rd, I told her we'd like the check by June 7th. She emailed me this morning and said they were strapped for money and would pay us the 21st. I was really disappointed. The rent is not high, they both work full-time and they knew a few months in advance this was coming. I'm feeling a lot different than I was yesterday after watching Oprah.

Okay, here's another one. A group of teenagers (mostly 19 year olds) camped down at the river over Memorial Day weekend. They were friends of Adams. Most of them had camped down there before and cleaned up after themselves. Today James came back from the field carrying one of our blankets that was left on the picnic table. There were bottles, cans, cups and plates left down there too. He said it was the messiest anyone's ever left it down there. I wonder if I was that inconsiderate at that age. Probably, but that's neither here nor there, is it?

On Saturday a young man knocked on my door. He opened the door without waiting for me to do it, which I thought was a little weird. He asked if he could fish from our property. I asked him, "who are you?" Most people introduce themselves first, especially if they want to ask a favor, don't they? He told me his name, where he lived and who he lived with. I didn't know them even though they live just across the creek. I told him of course he could fish and to have fun. He then added, "oh, by the way, Melinda (his mom? aunt? whoever he lives with) says the weeds are high outside our fence at the corner and it makes it hard for her to see." I told him if she wanted them cut she was welcome to come do it. I wanted to say something else but I controlled myself. There's lots of poison ivy there and I'm not getting into that. Wouldn't you know it, the county came by that same day and cut the banks along the road. I hope she doesn't think I did it for her.

So you see, Holesinmyjeans, I'm not the generous person you might think I am. It's not always easy to give freely without expecting a little thanks or appreciation. I'll never be a Mother Theresa.

I may re-read this post later and delete it because I feel bad talking about these people. We'll see.