Friday, August 16, 2013

~A CRANKY POST...

I wouldn't even take the time to read this if I were you.
I am just sounding off! 
 
I don't know.  Maybe what's wrong with me is that it's hot and miserable here day after day!
I thought the worst was over..it isn't!  Not by a long shot.  I should have known better.  I mean we ARE considered part of the desert here..
So...
A week or so ago..they decided (somewhere at city hall..I suppose) to black top our street.
Since I knew this was to happen (those orange cones up and down the street warning us) I thought surely they would send in that blasted street sweeper (I say blasted, because they do a terrible job every week and I have to go out and clean up their mess!)  before they put down the the black top.
We have a huge pine tree by the curb that drops needles and giant pine cones, and this is the time of year the needles are thick.  I don't mind cleaning them up...but I do mind picking up the dropped trash from the entire street because they don't know how to use the sweeper properly. 
I knew our neighborhood was not kept as nicely as other parts of town..not by a long shot...but this was WAY too much!
 
I heard them coming.   So did my neighbors.  I looked to the left to see one of them had brought a lawn chair to the curb..and was waiting.  Several of us were.  Then I saw them come around the corner.
 
Since I don't know what the equipment would look like I only recongized that a truck was coming..and thought it was the street sweeper coming to clean the street before they laid the blacktop.   But..it wasn't.  Nope.  They were putting down the that black sticky hot tar...and were coming STRAIGHT UP MY SIDE OF THE STREET. 
It kept coming and I kept watching as were several other people.  Suddenly I realized it WAS NOT the street sweeper but the actual truck and men that lay the black top..and...would you believe they went right over the top of all those foot long needles?  Yes, with me yelling at them.."STOP! STOP!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!  STOP!" 
They didn't stop.  I've never seen such a mess on a street in my life.  Piles of black needles and leaves etc.  I yelled at them that I was going to report their behinds for doing what they were doing!!! 
Yes..I did that.
 They finally stopped...and I gave them the rough side of my tongue!  I let my Irish show BIG TIME!
They were smart enough to stop work, and drive off.  Shortly another truck appeared with shovels and trash cans and they started trying to scrape the black sticky pile of needles off the street.  They were able to make the crooked line of the blacktop fairly straight again..
 
A couple of hours later the black top truck showed up again and put down another layer of blacktop..
...and stopped.  Now there is a line in front of the house where they stopped. 
The street looked better before they started!
 
There is a slight bump in the road right near the big old pine tree.  That tree was planted by my husband when the one the city planted died.  So it is close to sixty years old now.  I love that tree.
Still...every week they go over that little bump and drop everything they have picked up before they get to our house. 
Idiots! 
 
Did I tell you it's been over a 100 degrees for several days in a row now! 
Grrrrrr...
The tree roots grew into the sprinkler system and the mess on the parkway is where PH and my son in law worked on it and fixed it!  It's all clean now...no more mud.  And the grass is pretty once again.
It's always something...isn't it? 
Every time I look at that street I cuss.  I do!  Darn it!!!!
 
They must have gotten a bargain on the trees they planted on this street..because they are the ugliest things I have ever seen.  What's so funny is that here and there they stuck a palm tree in the ground..another messy tree.  Oh well.  At least they are trees....I guess.
I'll feel better tomorrow. 
 
 
 
 

17 comments:

  1. I would send a link to your blog and an e-mail to the powers that be concerning roads, & maintenance in your area. I would also send it to the local paper, then see what comes of it. Good for you & your neighbors.

    Also, hot temps make me cranky too. I hope it cools down for you soon. It is sweet to see the pine tree thriving there for 60 years.

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  2. So sorry dear Mona.
    I am proud of you for giving them a piece of your mind. Too bad they made a bigger mess...oh geez as my little grand-daughter would say.
    And that awful heat, I hope it cools for you soon. I wish you could come visit me, we have been in the upper 70's for weeks now and it's perfect.
    However we are supposed to be in the 90's next week..ugh. humid too.
    Big big hugs dear friend,
    Cindy

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  3. It would take me ten pages to comment on your comment. Suffice it to say giving the street workers a piece of your mind Mona, made my day . . . idiots, I say when some of these people come out to do a road job. IDIOTS! I get a bit irrational trying to get the road workers to understand what and how the roads in our "little piece of heaven" need to be maintained . . . they just don't get it!!!! #<%£¥?!$ - get my point (phone visit needed for us)

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  4. WhoooHoooo-It's tomorrow-Hope you are feeling better. Maybe Wendy the Good Witch flew over your street and fixed it while you were sleeping? No? Oh-sorry to have gotten your hopes up. Well, maybe the Wicked Witch of the West can put a hex on the street sweepers so they see every speck of dirt and stay till it is all picked up....it's either that or they lose their manhood-ya know what I mean? xo Diana

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  5. the street sweepers here just push the garbage around. and you get tickets for parking on the street the days they sweep. our tax dollars at work!

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  6. Oh girlie, take a deep breath and go sit on your back patio:) I know those guys just don't think! Have a blessed and calmer day, HUGS!

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  7. Can't say really anymore than you said in your post. Town Workers, City Workers are the stupidest people in the world. I personally think 90% of them took a "DUMB CLASS", get paid excellant pay, leaning on shovels, etc, while one olde guy actually works or digs a hole. Most of them do not know what they are doing, especially the sweepers - could you even begin to imagine how they would sweep at home????? - now, if you put a woman in charge of sweeping, don't you think it might be different, neat, clean, really swept? + the heat of the day sparked that Irish side of you, Eh, Mona dear. Hope its cooler today and great photos too. lol n hugz to you n PH :)

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  8. good for you!!! I want you on my side if I ever get in a fight, thats hot weather, I'm surprised the black top ever hardens!

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  9. I'm proud of you. You are the only woman I know that can stop a construction crew with her beautiful voice.

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  10. Most of the men on street crews are not necessarily hired for their smarts. Unfortunately.....

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  11. Good for you MONA!!!! We have some really smart (Ha Ha) here also. I think it is a requirement for the job. It's always the easy way for them.
    I thought that our hot weather was gone, but NO here it is again. I have COPD so when it gets hot I can't get my breath and have to stay in doors. So I tend to get a little cranky also. Get a cold glass if tea and relax on your lovely patio.
    Be Happy and have a great rest of the weekend.
    Mary

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  12. And here I was, wishing I were out yard-sailing and going for pancakes with you!! Or even LIKE you, so far away.

    Baw. What a sticky, frustrating situation. I had a deja vu to something I hadn't thought of in YEARS---our little country-town streets when the very FIRST black-top was laid down, and how that deep black scent rolled out through the neighborhood, and it was truly some kind of tarry stuff put down RIGHT ONTO OUR GRAVEL ROAD. I do believe that the several ladies who got "trapped" in their yards because the trucks went all the way around at once just MIGHT have topped your own "blessing out" of the workers with such lack of foresight.

    I So hope you're cooler, in body, mind and spirit, and can enjoy the rest of your weekend.

    love and,

    rachel

    PS I'm trying to imagine you with your temper up, or even raising your voice.

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  13. Oh how I wish I could have been there seeing You giving them a hard time :-) :-) :-)

    You have the right to be cranky when they're doing like they do and that heat bjust is too much!

    Have a great day anyway :-)
    Christer.

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  14. Mona it is hard to believe how people don't care about their quality of work anymore.

    I am so glad you stopped and said your piece. Someone had to do it.

    Hope it gets resolved girl.

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  15. I'm so sorry you were having such a bad day..and equally sorry that the heat is so bad! I would really go nuts. I remember visiting relatives in Whittier when I was young and seeing a palm tree for the first time..I was facinated by it! Ok, I'm playing bad guy here. I'm thinking that the guys on the crew were told to do what they did from a "higer up"...and they don't get paid much to think...just do. Plus, I imagine the heat was bad for them too. So, I would cut them some slack and tell the city counselors or Mayor or the supervisor of the road crews what the problem is..maybe it won't happen again. I hope you're feeling better by now and I hope this problem is solved! You are much to nice a lady to make your blood pressure rise up so high! Love ya Mona!

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  16. Good for you Mona. Tell them what you think. I would have love to be behind a tree and seen the commotion.???????

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  17. Mona, I agree with the other comments that you did right by telling the workers what you thought of their work, but also concerned that you could injure your own health by getting so unnerved. It!s not that I disagree with you at all, because you were right in stating the job was done so poorly. Perhaps complaining to higher ups might also yield some results. As for the workers, perhaps they not be the highest paid or smartest folks, but also not right for any of us to judge and I for one would not want to have their jobs. And, hit days tend to make everyone hotter under the collars.

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