This evening I came home hoping for peace and quiet, maybe even a bit of serenity. I realize it’s my fault for reacting in a negative manner, but I did. I need to write it down to cool off.

My husband paid the contractor for the full paint job, even though it’s only half done. The man has a PhD in business management and a J.D. (law degree) but he doesn’t have enough common sense to withhold part of the payment until the job is done. It will be sleeting and freezing cold in the Place Down Below before it gets finished now. What was he thinking?

Secondly, the garden was trashed again. I went to water it, and green plastic coated wire had been left on the ground, blending in nicely with the brick work. Sproing, it wrapped itself around my knees and ankles. I stepped back to free myself, stepping on lead pipes which had been left alongside, twisting my ankle. Thankfully the slob who is doing our painting had also left his step ladder in the walkway, so I had something to grab to keep myself from falling headlong on the concrete.

What is so damned difficult about picking up a little bit at the end of the day? Would it have challenged his masculinity to have left his sweatshirt over a chair instead of over a tomato cage? Would his testicles have shriveled if he had moved the tools from the brick wall around the garden to the table where the rest of the tools temporarily reside? Would moving the wire, the pipes and the ladder to the wall separating the properties from one another have caused severe emasculation?

No, I say, no, no and no!

My husband’s comment when I came in with a twisted ankle and a scraped elbow? "You should watch where you’re going. There’s construction out there." The construction, mister, is on the other side of the house. Why the hell is all the shit cluttering up my garden? His response: "What do you expect me to do about it?"

Well, I seem to have used up my quota of rhetorical questions for the day, and I feel calmer now. I did warn you I was going to rant. If you have stayed with me this far, thanks for your support.