Entropy

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The leak in my water system drives me crazy. I was able to blackmail my youngest brother into helping me try to locate the pipe we buried because we buried both pipes to both houses in the same ditch. That was a long time ago. Maybe ten years. The 18" (45.72 cm) deep ditch that runs just to my house from the paved road is at least one hundred and fifty yards (137 Meters) and then it continues on to his two houses.

The original ditch ran through the piney woods left after two hurricanes in a row tore down the original pine forest. Man, what a drag. I literally built my house in a handsome pine forest. Too bad it went away. The problem for me now is that the woods have overgrown the remnants of the ditch and covered it with pine needles and other debris, and we can't tell where the pipe is to check it for leaks.

We've had problems before. Our other brother ignorantly had some construction work done that ripped through the pipe where it goes under the road around the family pond, and my youngest brother marked it with a big rock when we repaired it that tiem. We used the stone he placed and the place where we fixed the break a year ago in the pipe where the tree roots broke it, in order to line up where the pipe had to be located on the other side of that road through the woods. We hope it's located where we placed the marking tape.

We tied bright pieces of florescent orange marking tape around the trees where we figured the pipe ditch pretty much has to be. Now I gotta clear out all the trees and bushes that have grown over where the ditch is or could be. Hopefully, with the brush out of the way, I can walk the ditch line and find the leak. This is a lotta work for an old man, but what else I got to do but fix the leak. If I don't fix it I'm just paying the county water department the money I need to live on.

This involves what the Enneagrams label my "chief feature", that is, in the larger sense, avarice. Greed. It's hard to figure in my case. I'm only greedy about having the minimum money or food I need to withdraw from society and contemplate my own life. Other than that I'm fairly generous. I get yelled at for giving stuff away if I don't use it anymore. It's my stuff. I'll do what I like with it. I like giving stuff away, but not if I need it to get away to think things over. What irritates me is giving stuff away and the recipients sell it for spending money instead of using it for what they claimed.

When it comes to that, however, as when a leaky pipe costs me that money I need to stay independent, I'm urged into action I might ignore otherwise. If I die from heat prostration in my attempt to dig this leak out, so be it. Okay, so I'm somewhat of a drama queen. Big deal! People respond as if it matters.

I did have to stop and come inside my house and turn on the air-conditioner to cool off. I'll take my second shower of the day soon, because attempting to locate that ditch line out in the woods with high humidity is a sweaty job. I'm eat up by red bugs (chiggers). I use Clorox bleach to kill them, but there are lots of them and chlorine bleach can't be all that good for my skin. They will be around until I quit going out in the woods.

The upside down tomatoes I planted, that survived the tragic fall they had when the handles to the plastic buckets I used broke, has started bearing tomatoes. Since I've stopped eating bread/gluten I can't make tomato sandwiches anymore, I resorted to eating them raw like I would an apple or a peach. Straight from the vine. It's the only vine-ripened tomatoes I've eaten in years that I know about. Tasty.

They are very tasty. Not that it matters that much, I'll be dead soon enow, but before that glorious event I wanted me some vine-ripened tomatoes. It might have been due to the variety I planted, but none of the tomatoes that got ripe were big enough for a one-slice tomato sandwich. If I'm around next summer I'll plant a different variety and see what they do.

Something happened that I didn't expect to happen. The fig tree/bush I bought at Lowe's a couple of years (maybe three years ago) that died and came back to life twice, finally put out some more leaves. Three to be exact. I guess the roots survived.

Last fall before it frosted, but after the three leaves it produced the spring before fell off, I covered the stem the leaves had shown up on with leaves and pine straw to help that little branch survive the winter. This last spring I removed the straw, and the stem had a couple of small green buds on it. I thought it would take off.

It did no such thing. I guess I shouldn't have uncovered the stem that had the buds on it, but let it find it's way through the pine straw as the weather warmed up. I think maybe uncovering it made it vulnerable to the intense sunlight of the lengthening spring days. I'll cover it again this year, because that seemed to help, but next spring it'll have to grow through the pine straw I cover it with or just fucking die. '-)
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