July 23 - “One of THOSE …”

I had to make one of THOSE phone calls first thing in the morning. I was checking our Discover bill and noticed one charge that I never authorized. Well, sort of. It was from the pest control people. They did come out back in May to spray the inside of the house for roaches and to treat the outside for ants. The roach part went fine. But the guy told us it was too windy to spray for ants. Interesting, but somewhat reasonable. He assured me the office would call to reschedule. That’s the last I heard from them. No call. No statement. So I forgot about it and continued dodging and squishing and spraying ants as they appeared in my path. And then the charge came. It appears to be a charge for both services. At least I hope it is. Otherwise, those roaches must be wearing military grade protection and require some super spray to penetrate the armor. I called at 8 a.m. and left a message. Waited a few hours for a response. They finally called. I explained the situation. And it went right over the pay grade of the person I was talking to. A manager had to call me back. That one actually happened in a timely manner, and she offered to refund our money or respray. I told her it couldn’t be a respray if there had been no spray in the first place. We took the refund.

 

We did get after that backyard project. But not before we took a two miler to start the day. I tell you, that wife of mine is an absolute slave driver.  And the funny thing is, she always inquires as to my health - the current level of pain in my back, hip, and knee. Sounds sweet, right?  Well … the thing is … she doesn’t inquire until we’re a good half-mile into the hike. Not like I can opt out at that point, right? 

 

She had a definite image in her mind as to what this little bed would look like. Perfect circle around the tree. She even got out the tape measure to determine the radius at each brick. No eye-balling for this project. We got it marked out and the grass all dug up. It was a dirty job … so yup .. my turn. Actually, she worked at it as well, so we were both pretty filthy. I then stayed away when she dug up some of her lily bulbs and moved them over there.  She got it done, even though she had to crash on the swing for a while afterward. We didn’t get to the mulch, though. Had to leave something for another day.

 

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

 

Father, please grant success to Chris’ new backyard endeavor. She sure works hard back there. Amen.