Friday night we went to band practice and auditioned a new drummer. I think we have a winner. He's pretty good and he seems like a good fit personality-wise. And he seems to like us. Now we can get down to business and get some gigs.
Saturday was crazy busy. Dede, Jono and Mike came down. The boys helped with tree sales and Dede wrangled Dad. I barely saw her all weekend. It's great when the Leeces are here because they're so good at keeping Dad busy while the rest of us sell these damn trees.
Today wasn't quite so busy. But we're selling 'em and the fields are starting to look thin. It's actually kind of fun since none of us really cares about the bottom line. We're making deals and making the customers happy. I spend most of my time driving the Christmas truck around the farm. Lindsay decorated our truck with tinsel garlands and I added a small fake tree to the top of the rack. I attached jingle bells to one of the back wheels. It looks quite festive. The kids like riding in the back and I like taking a pause at the top of the hill to admire the view. It doesn't have power steering so my arms are getting a good workout.
Tonight Dad came down and made some trouble. Just his usual maddening meddling. I casually gave him some cashews and it seemed to help. He got concerned that we had too much money on the premises and wanted me to make a night deposit. We can't really do that because we're not set up for it so I left for a while to make it look like I was gone taking care of business. What I was really doing was some Christmas shopping at Gottschalk's.
Thank you, Leeces, for making that long drive down. Over and over throughout the day Drew, Stacey and I say thank God for Dede. I know that Dad enjoys her visits and it makes things so much easier for us. David's influence also makes things easier because Dad listens to him. And we depend on him for his medical expertise (Alzheimer's, spider bites, whatever) So, thanks, you guys. We can't say it enough.
7 comments:
So, the last 3 days have been muchly uneventful. Business is slow and Dad has been fairly agreeable and uninvolved. It's been Drew, Jim, me and the cutters most of the time. I'll be glad when we're all done. Have I said that already? Like, 50 times?
Kyle came out for the day. He got it in his head that the "lemorange" tree out front has the potential for generating fabulous wealth if its fruit can be marketed properly. So, this afternoon he and Lindsay baked a lemorange meringue pie. We haven't tasted it yet but it looks delicious.
He brought a video of the first pencil tests from Korea of his new cartoon show, Moobeard, The Cow Pirate, soon to be seen on Nickelodeon. Oh yeah, pretty exciting stuff. The young animator is on his way. We watched it a couple times and Kyle provided the voices. What a very cool thing. I'm happy for him.
Right now they're all watching some other video but what they really should be doing is serving us that PIE!
Ok, tasted the pie. It has a grapefruity flavor that doesn't quite work. Still, as pies go it was really good. Pretty impressive for a first time pie.
In front of our house across the driveway is a row of citrus trees. One of them has reverted back to its root stock. The fruit looks like a big, lumpy lemon. Kyle has named it the lemorange. Last year Lindsay made lemorange-ade which wasn't so bad. I don't think lemorange desserts are going to catch on, though. It might better be used as a marinade for meats. We could start experimenting but really I think we should just cut the tree down and improve the view from the front porch. Besides, a lemorange cookbook sounds like something that would be featured in the Gallery Of Regrettable Food.
bszrk- Needs no explanation.
Boring. This job is boring. Yeah, I feel like complaining.
It's so dry and dusty around the sales shed. My teeth feel gritty half the time. My hands are dry and are covered with tree sap and dust most of the day. I'm breathing dust.
I'm tired of saying the same thing over and over. Every time a customer comes in you have give the same spiel. "The trees in these two fields are all tagged with prices. You can take $5 off the price you see on the tag. We have a field in back that you can drive to where all the trees are $30 or less. We can cut it for you or you can cut it yourself. If you want to borrow a saw we'll need to hang onto your driver's license or you can leave a $20 deposit."
Then there are the additional instructions. "Yes, the field is in the back, way back past the house and the barns, just go straight up the driveway and you'll see the trees."
" No, you don't have to put an additive in the water. Just make sure it never runs dry or the tree will seal itself up and won't take in any more water."
"While I'm cutting, could you please pull on the tree away from the direction of the cut? That way, the saw won't bind. Pull harder. Keep pulling. Almost there. Ok."
People want to know why things are different his year. "Yes, this is probably our last year. Our Dad is getting too old to do this and none of us want to be tree farmers. Yes, it's sad. End of an era. High water bills in the summer, high labor costs, the trees aren't profitable."
These are just a few of the conversations that get repeated over and over throughout the day. I'm tired of the sound of my own voice.
Dad's been pretty good lately but he's still a bother when he's in the sales shed. He still grumbles about the prices and he tries to micro manage us. Even his schmoozing with the customers isn't as jovial as it used to be. Now he just confuses people.
Ok, I'll think of some more complaints some other time. I guess I'm done for now.
When I worked at the bank we were told to wash our hands frequently because money is very dirty. I didn't know books had the same problem. Makes sense, tho.
You'd think that handling dirty money and dirty books would be more fun.
uqaxuqa- Mayan diety
You could be working with Jody...she'd probably not like you as much as she didn't like me. LOl.
It will be over soon.
xpbjwb = seen in a personal ad
xp=operating system
bj=blow job
we=white boy
ok that should be wb!
woqat = sad loquat
Hmmmmm, Dad or Jody? I think in this case it's better to stick with the devil you know.
Today he came down loaded for bear. He'd been talking to Bud Lyon (somebody please call Bud and tell him to stop talking to Dad!) and I guess Bud told him he was getting $8 a foot for his trees. We're priced at around $6 a foot. He started going off at me as I was walking up the hill to help a customer. Since I wasn't available he started in on Jim, who was leaving to go pick up Paige. He waited until I was done helping the customer and then started yelling at me about giving away the farm. I told him I wouldn't talk to him about it, call David. He did some more barking and then went up to his house.
Later Drew showed up and I took the truck to the back field for a while. I was probably gone for about 20 minutes. Dad had calmed down (Drew had had a few words with him) and sales were being handled in the usual way. Same prices, same discounts.
Sales were steady. Dad was hanging around a lot at the end, probably to make sure we stayed open until we squeezed every possible customer out of the day. We closed at 9.
Jim and I both feel crappy right now. Sometimes dad is such a mean old bastard. But we'll get through it. One week to go.
wiasolk- Why a sulk? Do you have to ask?
Post a Comment