Rural Scene: Forsythia and an Old Truck

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out than to fade away
My my, hey hey

It was morning, and I had my bike, and I was noodling around the neighborhood. You know, checking things out. Which trees are pink, where the birds are, which yard has the prettiest daffodils. I wonder sometimes when people see me with my camera on my bike, do they ask, What's that girl taking pictures of?

Well, it's just what you'd think. Spring is springing out all over, and I'm here to document the grand show. There's golden forsythia in our yard, and everywhere. There's even some in this shot, surrounding that old truck. It would not surprise you to hear I snapped this photo on Tow Hill. I have a friend who covets this old Dodge. Well, here ya go: See anything you LIKE? :-) There used to be a little matching mailbox I adored that's gone now (bonus autumn truck-and-mailbox scene here).

In other news, my husband talked the carpenter guy who fixed our shed into taking on a few handyman type tasks around our property. He did a wonderful job on the shed, and with its new metal roof, it ended up looking way better than it ever did, even before the tree fell. So on this day, the shed guy came back and fixed our front steps. (So we find that there has been a silver lining to the whole tree-fall thing: who'd have known we'd get a handyman out of it?)

Our front steps have been sort of falling apart over the past few years. The steps were uneven and slanted, and as it turns out, they weren't even really connected anymore. We bought rubber tread guards but they barely helped. In winter, when it's icy, those slanted steps have been a death trap. The railing was loose, not sturdy nor very functional. My husband and I were worried that he or I, or someone else coming up those steps, would eventually fall through.

The guy who did our shed repair also does some handyman type work. He gave us a reasonable estimate on shoring up the front steps and securing the railing. On this sunny afternoon, he came back and did the repair work. It took a few hours and cost a couple hundred bucks. No biggie.

Now the steps are straight again, and supported, and not dangerous as all get-out. You grab the railing and it actually holds you steady. It's a big WIN. Next up: the repair work from the tree that fell on the deck a few years back. We tried before to get the deck work handled but alas, that did not work out.

I don't know what YOUR experience has been with general contractors to date, but ours was appalling until now. We had one guy come in and provide estimates right after that 2021 tree-fall on the deck. He asked for cash money up front for materials (which we made ready for him but he didn't show up), scheduled an appointment to do the work, and then never came back and refused to return our calls. It was beyond disappointing. So yeah, now we have a guy who will actually DO it. Hooray!

So let's just call it all a big fat WIN, shall we? I will!

My soundtrack song for the image above, which I see so often on Tow Hill, as I ride my bike up and down it, is from Neil Young's album Rust Never Sleeps. Here is My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue).