I got home from work a bit early and started picking up the house a bit for Patrick’s annual Halloween screening of “Dead Alive.” As I took a bag of recyclables out to the can, I noticed the yard waste can was FILLED with branches…and the gardener wasn’t due here until tomorrow. Then, as I walked back through the backyard, I noticed the destruction. My night-blooming jasmine bush had been chopped way back, and not done nicely. I walked back to the trash cans and realized the yard waste can as well as the regular trash can were both filled to overflowing with branches from the night-blooming jasmine.

The only person who was here today was the pool guy. The jasmine had grown quite large and was leaning over the pool. It seems he felt that was not a good thing and took it upon himself to trim it way back. It was still blooming and I had specifically told my gardener not to trim it until it was finished blooming, so I was relatively certain it wasn’t him. Thus, the pool guy is the culprit.

I just can’t imagine why he would have done this on his own without consulting me. Of late it seems he causes me more work every time he does anything. The last time he cleaned the filters it took me half a day to clean up the mess he left. And now this. I called his voicemail and left a nasty message, letting him know he is NEVER to trim any of my plants and that I am paying him only to clean and maintain my pool, not deal with anything else in my yard. It looks like I’m going to have to empty both cans and spend Saturday morning chopping up the branches so that they will all fit in one can. As it is right now, I will have no room for any regular trash unless I do some major consolidation. I would hate to get rid of the pool guy, but he is really testing my patience.

After this nasty Halloween trick I received a wonderful treat that calmed me down and made me smile. Check out Soula’s website link on the right and you will see the cutest little Halloween pumpkin ever! Oh how I miss that little guy. I need to figure out when I can make another trip to Seattle.

Lots of Patrick’s friends showed up (most in great costumes!) for his party tonight at my house. And so another treat awaited me as I spent the evening visiting with lots of old friends. My family room was turned into a media room, with a large screen (sheet) mounted over the back windows. We had people in the back yard, family room, dining room and kitchen. I think everyone had a good time and mostly what I did was visit. No cooking, just putting out some chips and dip, and cutting up some apples for dipping into some caramel. It was a fun night and I’m looking forward to another get together around Christmas.

So Happy Halloween to all. The treats made up for the one trick…and at least the jasmine will grow back.