Lost Causes part III

above photo...One of the 3 young oaks that we bought and planted this summer. This one sits near the front of our house.

For 2 years I’ve longed to plant a few substantial shade trees, but at $200 apiece they would have to wait. Turned out fortuitous as the distressed real estate market had a cascade affect that effected such businesses as plant growers, nurseries and tree farms. Our $200 apiece oak trees ended up costing us only $70 each. Naturally, had they been planted 2 years ago they would have been established by now and we would be seeing signs of new growth, but a savings of almost $400 helps to ease the disappointment. It will be at least another year or two before these young oaks will start branching out.

LOST CAUSES part III...

I suppose I should mention that Brad had a business partner, I’ll not use her real name so let’s just call her BP (Business Partner as opposed to British Petroleum) for the sake of clarity. In the overall scheme of things, BP turned out to be more a bane than a blessing. She knew the home construction business quite well as her husband was a builder/developer, she had helped him run his enterprise and that enterprise was now thriving, of course that was back in the day of the real estate feeding frenzy.

Fate can be fickle and unpredictable, by chance BP met and feel in love with another man and decided to divorce her husband for a shot at "happiness". Seems her first mate was a workaholic and the family always came after the business. Grounds for divorce ? Perhaps !
BP’s new love was witty, humorous, a dreamer and a talker of such charm I'm sure he kissed the Blarney Stone, not once but many times. Can’t say as I ever knew what this new love of loves did per say, had something to do with music or films but it didn’t bring home the bacon. BP realized she needed to find employment in order to pay the bills, so after the divorce she talked to Brad about starting up a construction business together.
From what I could glean she was suppose to take care of the financial end, do all the paper work and tend the annoying legalities, pull permits etc., thus leaving Brad to do the actual construction and job of site supervisor. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out that way, Brad found himself juggling too many jobs and holding too much responsibility while his partner was quite often away enjoying time with her family.
Guess I mentioned that Brad didn’t have a knack for picking out reliable, responsible, dependable people? Perhaps he was just too soft hearted or headed, or maybe he just lacked that special common sense essential in business that allows one to differentiate an honest hard worker from a talk a lot, but get nothing done slacker? Whichever the case it cost him dearly.
At the onset of their partnership BP’s ex got the impression that BP was bringing his floor plans and home designs to Brad and that they were capitalizing on what was legally his copyright. BP on the other hand felt many of these designs had been her brainchild and she had right to such. Naturally this resulted in a lawsuit and all the headaches that go with it; attorney fees, and lost time on the job site in order to attend attorney conferences and make court appearances.
All this just added stress that Brad didn’t need. As things began to stack up, and construction deadlines were not being met the business started to crumble. BP could sense the ship was sinking and decided it was an opportune time to bow out of the picture, taking a job with another builder and leaving Brad with the whole can of worms...conclusion to be continued

above photo...2nd little oak at side of home

Photo below...3rd small oak at the back of our house. It will be a while before these young oaks provide us with shade.

Lost Causes part II

Photo above... 2 years ago our home stood on a plot of land that had been farm land. The front of our land had been cleared of trees and bush, most beneficial for farming but not that desirable for a home site. In the span of that 2 years, we've added a number of elements to our yard. A crushed shell driveway and where there was once a mud hole there is now a cement stone planter that features a small magnolia tree. Slowly we will transform it into a lovely landscape, or at least that is what I hope.

As stated in Lost Causes, we were left with a new home and no landscape nor any funds for creating one. Our builder had misappropriated our landscape budget in order to complete the next house and get it ready for its Certificate of Occupancy. He was in a perpetual game of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, or John, or Charlie or whomever. It was a game he would never win.
Brad found himself working alone, nonstop trying to complete what is referred to as a "punch out list", those odd jobs that aren’t up to a new home owners approval such as ; touch-up painting of walls or trim work, doors that need slight adjustments, a window that doesn’t open...you get the picture. Trying to do the job of 3 men was taking its toll, but he had no funds nor anyway of paying someone to help knock out this list of odd jobs and the bottom line in home construction is that "Time is Money". Brad was aware of this, each additional day spent in getting a home ready was money out the door.

above photo...different angle of front of house gives a little better view of small magnolia tree.

During the construction of our own home we heard such a litany of excuses that I soon began to tune them out. "I’m sorry but this week I’ve been taking my wife to the doctors. She’s been having some frightening episodes. We’re not sure if it’s her heart or if she’s having anxiety attacks."... "Would have gotten that done this week but my wife’s mother was in the hospital" ... "Didn’t get that done last week as my dad passed away." ... "This week’s been a bear. My wife’s dad just passed away and we have got to go to his funeral next week, so we’ll be gone for about a week."

Let me see I’m sure there were a few other really good, heart wrenching excuses, oh yes; "Man the past few weeks have been such a strain! My grown daughter has moved back home and we found out she has a bad drug problem. We had to put her into a drug rehab program. It broke our hearts but we had to do it for her own good. So we’ve been seeing and talking with her doctors just about everyday this past week."

There was also the one where his daughter was ill and in the hospital, his father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, his mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer,his dad was diagnosed with dementia, he discovered he had an ulcer. Perhaps all of it was true and he was having the worst spat of luck imaginable, or maybe it was all fabrication, either way I had grown tired of hearing it and towards the end could no longer offer my condolences. After hearing so many excuses for so long I couldn’t decide if I should cry with him or laugh at him. Hard to decide if he was genuinely confiding in us or playing us for fools. Who’s to say ? ...to be continued