"Tired" is an Understatement

I had a half a day off today and it felt like a two week vacation. Last week I worked every shift the restaurant was open except two lunch shifts. By the end of last night I was a zombie.

I slept til noon and hopped on Johnny for a trip around the front of the subdivision. One of the officers from the HOA called me last week and left a voicemail asking if I was going to cut the front again this year.

I went up today and cut all I could on Johnny. The deep culverts on either side have to be done with my weed eater. I have bent two blades on my mower trying to cut down in them but there are so many exposed large rocks that it isn't worth it to me to tear up my mower on a yard that isn't mine. It takes me an hour to cut on my mower and another two to weed eat.

For this they pay me $20.00. Out of that twenty I spend five on gas. When we moved in the subdivision 14 years ago my oldest son, TJ cut it with a push mower for $20 and did a semi crappy job.

Now they have a 50 year old woman picking up all the trash every time she turns into the street...cutting it and weed eating it with not ONE stray weed left sticking up when I am through and still pay me $20.00.

I decided to do it this one time and then am sending the HOA a letter requesting $50 a month. I am going to plead my case in a positive way...

"I live five houses from the front of the entrance. I pick up trash any time I pull in or out. I spend at least three hours on cutting it and use my own mower and gas. I am doing it for the same price they paid my son 14 years ago. I keep it nice and neat which keeps our subdivision looking much more attractive to anyone that may ride through thinking of buying a house here. I truly do not think you can get anyone else to do the job I do maintaining the front for less than $50."

We'll see what happens.

We were slower than a snail at work tonight which made my two week vacation seem like three. I hated not making a lot of money but I needed the rest and the owner made us all dinner on the house! Free Range Chicken with a home made dipping sauce and yummy garlic mashed potatoes. I made a little bit of money but had a restful night and got my belly full.

I know why we were slow..."The weather."

In Georgia all you have to do is MENTION bad weather and the state shuts down and battens their hatches. In the Winter just mention "Snow or ice" and the store shelves are raped. In the Summer mention "Severe thunderstorms" and all the lawn furniture is put in the garage and the stores sell out of candles and flashlight batteries.

We're simple folk here in JawJa. It doesn't take much to rattle us. We listen more closely to the Meteorologists than to our Preachers!

When I was little my grandmother would call my Mother every time a weather alert was issued. It was like she thought we couldn't watch the TV ourselves and she needed to warn us of the impending doom we were obviously unaware of.

I'll have to say I got my Grandmother's "Weather Gene." I am a weather freak too. One year when a tornado ripped through our part of the county I had all three kids and the dogs stuffed in the laundry room with a flashlight and radio as I stood by the front door and watched mesmerized as the trees all blew sideways at a ninety degree angle. I just couldn't quit watching! Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me...She is a Mighty Beast.

Tim came home fom work that night and had to park his truck two miles away and walk home because of fallen trees and downed power lines.

A storm is rumbling in as I type. I hear the beeping of the weather channel from the TV in the den behind me.

The only thing that would freak us Georgians out even more is if there was news of a possible shortage of Rebel flags, Cammo jackets and chewing Tobacco.

I am proud to be a Georgian. I'm not a red neck (well maybe today, it was sunny while I was cutting grass) but I know what it means to be a type cast Georgian .

"I know ASS- rite!" could be the "Type Cast" State motto.

Of course there are lots of us that don't meet the "type cast" standard but if you took a poll, there are more of US than THEM.

I still like being ME and being a Georgian.

I may not be a Southern Belle, but when I am riding "Johnny" with the wind of cars whizzing by me not two feet away making my own subdivision look better...I feel like the "Belle of the South with a brand new Blade."

Am I really that sad of a person or do I just answer the question "What's Kelly Cotton all about?"

I don't think I'll ever move away from the South...who could they possibly ever get to replace me?

Til next time...COTTON