Who is Bob?

This week was one of the most beautiful since we arrived. In fact, it reminds us of the cool spring days we often experienced in Southern California. Jacksonville is awash in color from the early spring blossoms. One tree in particular has either brilliant white or pink blossoms and when they fall they leave a carpet of color at the base of each tree. I need to find out what type of trees these are.

Perhaps Bob knows what they are. Who is Bob? Well my first experience with Bob was last week as I was holding little Camden in my arms and noticed a man walking around our lawn sprinkling fertilizer. As quickly as he appeared he again vanished before I had a chance to talk to him. You see, our rental agreement states we are responsible for lawn maintenance. I thought maybe I had misread the agreement so I went to the garage to find the document when I heard a leaf blower. Once again the man was very quick, and by the time I got out the door, his back was to me with a leaf blower. I yelled and tried to chase him down the alley with Camden in my arms, but with only socks, I could not catch up to him. When DeeAnn got up from her nap I explained what he looked like. Several hours later I returned from an errand and DeeAnn told me she found out who the man was. It turns out she saw the man outside again and ran out to thank him for the fertilizer. The man looked at her bewildered and said he was our next door neighbor, the man she was looking for was Bob.

Turns out Bob lives a block from us and has a landscape business. But after some months all his clients were in the Nunan Square development. Needless to say we now see Bob everyday mowing and blowing almost every home, except for ours. Turns out, Bob is really expensive, and instead I could buy a really nice mower in a matter of months.

Rather than buying that mower I discovered that one of the other neighbors, who also does not use Bob, has a mower buts hates to mow. So I offered to mow his yard in exchange for using his mower. He pays for gas and stores the mower and I do both our lawns. Last Wednesday Bob saw me mowing the lawns and he watched me from afar trying to figure out who the new guy was in his territory. Perhaps when I get tired of mowing I will go back to Bob and see if he will give me a good price to get the “new guy” out of town.

Several people have given me grief over not providing an update on Camden, so here it is. He is growing and gaining weight, he sleeps (sometimes) looks around for a bit before crying, eating and then going back to sleep. He has not peed on me yet and seems to be good at keeping food in his stomach and not on the back of my shirt. His brothers like to pat and kiss his head, or at times hold him with an occasional kicking or falling on top of him during this demonstration of love and appreciation. All of this will change, of course, once they realize that he will want to chew on their Legos or pull legs off army men. Other than that, he is a good baby and we love him but can’t wait to experience his personality.

Gavin has started a business. He wanted to earn some money so we brainstormed and he now is part owner in a company called “Little Cowboy Express.” This business is a door-to-door marketing services for local business to our neighborhood. Gavin and Ethan dressed up in their cowboy outfits and passed out a brochure to all the businesses in town. They will hand deliver flyers or coupons to the 65 homes in our neighborhood for 5 cents per door. He currently has 2 or 3 verbal commitments and is waiting for brochures so they can get started. It’s rather strange, my sons have a job but I’m still looking.

I actually do have a few things I’m working on to generate money besides making my kids work the neighborhood. But while we pursue direction, seek patience and enjoy the time together as a family your prayers are coveted and desired.

We also appreciate the comment posted to last weeks blog!