landscaping

First let me say River City Rain was the most dependable in terms of bidding my landscaping job. Daniel Morrow got back to me promptly and communicated well. He was honest in his description of what would happen concerning the work crews, timetable and products used for my sprinklers. I also want to say I was trying to get my job done "on the cheap" since I don't make much money and wanted that to be a guiding force. This review is what a homeowner can expect when utilizing River City Rain. I had called seven landscape companies, and found out the world of contractors is kinda of a "He's just not that into you" relationship. Most never return your calls and when they set up appointments, they either don't show or are late. Daniel Morrow was neither, he does what he says and returns calls. I like that in a landscaper. I gave him a drawing of the work I wanted done, and a written description of what they were to do and what I would do myself. Although River City Rain was not my cheapest bid, I felt working with the owner justified the additional expense. I am pleased with my backyard automatic sprinklers.
This is an account of the work done by River City Rain landscape company of Sacramento. Daniel was the most easy to get a hold of so I based my choice mostly on that feature. When I gave him a copy of the description of what I wanted he instead wrote me his own proposal. Daniel's contract was very professional concerning homeowner/ liens/ legal info. I won't post all the stuff, it's all readily available. He outline verbally who would show up to do the actual work and we scheduled a walk through with the team leader.When that happened the team lead was sharp, polite and it seemed like he listened well as Daniel and I walked him throughout the project. I was told they'd be at my house to start work around 9 o'clock Monday July 2ND. Well, that day came and went and I didn't hear from anyone. This made me nervous since I had already paid them 10% on a job that was going to cost me several thousand dollars. The next day they showed up at around 10 am.

I gave the team lead a set of the plans I had drawn. He and another man worked hard all day there and it was really heating up in the Sacramento area, so I set up a mister fan for them and gave them ice for their cooler. Then worried they'd collapse out there.

The next day was the 4th of July so, of course, no work, but Thursday a whole lot more showed up and the most ambitious of men was the smallest who, sorry I didn't get your name, but every time I glance out there you were up and about like a beaver in a waterfall, even when one man was flat on his back laying in the grass. I say looked out because about this same time, a motorcycle I had ordered 6 months ago arrived at the dealership and I was scrambling around to get the financing and insurance in place to get the deal done, so I was spending time on the phone and Internet to accomplish that and couldn't spend any time assisting the crew in my yard.

The team lead asked me where I had purchased the existing bark so that ( I figured) it would match what was in place. I gave him the number and he ordered the bark. The photo shows my bark on the left, averaging about 1 1/2 inch pieces and theirs, is..., well..., shred seldom pieces, stuff that breaks down in matter of months, while what I originally had was pieces that have a good year or two staying power.

The rock is a bland grey, no color, looks like road Ric rack, though I didn't specify what to use, you'd think they'd understand this is er...ah... landscape.

The open trenches they left are a tripping hazard. My rose bed was not recovered in the bark, landscape fabric exposed and thrown back. The team lead used my drill motor to put a hole for wiring to my garage, I cannot locate it now. My hand maul was on top of my wood pile, now missing. I was picking up Corona lite bottle caps on my patio, I don't drink Corona lite. The bottles I didn't have to deal with. They were not left on the job site. I had to pick many rocks out of my lawn, though they did pick up the tarp, though didn't fold it up.
The backyard gates were left unlocked and open on two occasions and while I don't live in a particularly high crime area, the town I live in is higher in burglary than the national average for it's population. I always lock and close my gates.

The last day the one lone man finished it was so close to when I have to leave for work, that I was unable to check the job they did, so I paid the total bill and left for work.

I can dance

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Vunerable mothers

My mother is sick. Really sick. Went to emergency on Wednesday. They removed her gall bladder, but the surgeon said her liver was highly damaged and the gall bladder he got was atrophied to the point it looked like tissue paper. I found out last night, the doctors are suspecting a blood disorder that is attacking her vital organs. They are unable to address it and need to send her to a teaching hospital for evaluation.

When I went home, I scoured the net and couldn't find anything of help or hope. or even information for that matter. That was a surprise to me. I thought the Internet knew everything.

The other issue for me is that I'm not at the place of thinking this thing could claim my mother's life. She doesn't seem to be a candidate for this. I'm not in place to let her go. I know lots of people my age don't have their parents. I get that people in their 70's die all the time. My grandfather is in his 80's and not missing a beat. (Yeah! I see that. It's my mother's step father, grandma married a youngster.) And grandma just died 9 months ago. Near her 90's! So I've been naive to think my parents will just easily go to the 90's or 100's.

My emotions are all sitting on the surface, I vacillate from anger to deep sadness in seconds. I slept 10 hours today, longer than I have in years. The days seem surreal. I catch myself staring blankly at nothing.

I hope this is all for nothing. Next week she should get out of the hospital and onto UC Davis for investigation and a smart doctor will diagnose her, they'll apply the answer, it'll all be figured out.

men without worth

A snip from the life of non-traditional workforce. This has happened to me before. Yet everytime it amuzes and baffles me. I got a work order to go check some problems on a pair of chart recorders for some cold boxes. When I get to the cold boxes the technician from the calibration lab tells me he can't access the program for calibration. I tell him: I didn't set these peticular chart recorders up with their parameters, but since I've set up a few, I begin scrolling through the menus on the interface. I discover there is a password in the program, that is anyone's guess. He tells me the chart recorders were purchased from another company and some of his co-workers have come across them in another area of the facility. He said they ended up calling the other company and getting access that way. I said there is a global password, and did he try that? At that time, the director for the area walked up and wanted to know when the recorders would be ready for production, where we were with these, what was holding us up, etc... The cal lab guy says why don't we pull the power off the recorder and remove the battery. I figure it can't hurt it, knowing there's enough residual in the thing for me to dash over to my office and get the manual for the recorder. So as I leave, the cal lab guy removes the power and battery. When I get to my office I look over the manual, and it says in very vague lanuage, a mention of a password jumper. So I go back to the recorders and there is noone there. I jumper the password on the main board and viola! I put the device in calibration mode. Then I set the password protection to default and go to lunch break. I go on break and then back to my office where there is an email from the director saying the Cal lab guy saved the day by accessing the recorder and cracking the password code. Hmmm? Now the Cal lab guy knows full well he left the recorder off. When he came back it was on. He didn't talk to me to find out if that whole power off suggestion of his worked. So what did he say to the director? I never told either the Cal lab guy nor the director that the password was reset by my jumper which I removed before I powered the recorder back in calibration mode. Let them marinate in their divine glory. (I know this is harsh, but if you met Cal lab guy, you'd catch how much more important he is than you.) He has the same manual I have, he can read, I presume, and find the very same information I did concerning password bypass if he ever runs into the same problem, or (snicker) call the former owner of the recorder!

home for the dogs

pinky's site

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, you know life. busy. real stuff. Grandmother died. guy at work commited suicide. Too many sobering events to feel like doing this part of my life. But my head lifts from the fog and I plow on. My friend, Pinky, just told me about her website, You have got to check it out. So cool. www.pinkyluv.com I just got done from running around there and must say, good job. I wish I knew how to add stuff like that to my blogspot. Dang it's tough to be a lone blogger in this medium.
I want to add some pics so I''ll have to hunt me up some.
I went and saw "Pirates of the Carabean, dead man's chest" Good movie. Always moving, always wondering how are they going to get out of that mess. The color, the scenery. wow. What a wild ride. A must see in a movie theater though, because of the vast spectacle of the ship and monsters. Monsters? I don't want to spoil the movie, but, yeah, you gotta see this on the big screen to get it's gist. It is a long movie, so don't do as I did and get the large soda. My bladder was howling at the end of the movie. And don't leave your seat before all the credits go by, there's a cherry at the end of the credits, I won't spoil, but stay in your seat to see a little afterstory. Worth the wait!

dating and his kids

I once went on a date with my steady man and his two teenage daughters. We got to the restaurant and ordered our meals. Then the one of the girls pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to talk on the phone to some friends while we were waiting for our food. She did not stop even when the food was delivered and even dialed another friend when that call ended.
I thought this whole display was very rude and just figured she was a stupid person who was clueless about social graces. I also thought both her parents were slobs for not telling her what was proper behavior at the dinner table. I also thought her father was a spineless moron for not telling her either, off to the side that evening, or politely while she was in mid-phone dialing to the next call, to put the phone away for at the minimum 15 minutes to be involved with the company there at her table during dinner.
Well, I googled her name just out of curiousity a while back and found that she has been on the deans list at some college on the east coast for three semesters. So I guess I was wrong about her being stupid, she's just a rude jerk.
Glad I don't have them in my life.