I was going to cut some wood...But....

My Sister in Law's tenant passed away just a while ago and she wants the place quiet for a few days for his friends and family.  So it leaves me at a bit of a loss for the rest of the day, as far as serious things to do.  I could go split some of the wood we already have but...maybe I'm just a bit lazy today.  I am also thinking about how my back felt later yesterday after cutting some wood.  McManus used to complain about parks making their hiking trails steeper, I know the feeling, my chainsaws seem to be putting on weight!

This time of year is a bit hard for Brandi, her older brother died years ago, when she was about 16 this time of year.  Her oldest brother died this time of year a year ago and I think there is another death in her family about this time of year so it isn't a time filled with good memories for her.  Even though her SIL's tenant was not a friend of ours we know it will effect her SIL and it will give her more work.  SIL was cleaning up her tenant's affairs, the cleaning up his bills, and some other issues.  Good for him in that she is a very honest person without the baggage that some family might have Don't bother asking me how I know: I know what my sister did to my mother's estate and that was from incompetence and not wanting to "offend" (a nephew lived rent free in a  house for about 18 months, not what he or his parents agreed to..."But his Grandmother would have wanted it that way" says his mother...I don't think so, my Mother would send cash or checks to a grandchild to even up what she gave them compared to the other grandkids just to make sure that she spent the same on each so unless she could have made sure to provide a house for each she would not have done it for one).  I also know how my wife's youngest brother robbed his father blind and then tried to dump him on the VA...but he had always been a thief even as a young man, his parents bailed him out several times.  I get the impression that the tenant did have some issues with his family.  Who doesn't?

Children do have to watch out and pay attention to what is going on in their parent's lives.  Even aside from getting their fair share of the estate (if any) one would not want one's parents being stolen from by a brother or sister...or even a stranger.  Even a short look at the news will reveal stories about older people being ripped off by strangers convincing them that they are helping a niece or nephew or buying a roof job or driveway sealing.  Or somehow they are going to help someone from Nigeria get their fortune...and they will get rewarded.  I never thought anyone would fall for that but we read about someone reporting it to the police a few times each year.  We used to get letters telling us that we  had won something in Canada...after checking with the Post Office we found out that it was a common but "low cost" fraud and no one was really interested in doing much to stop it since there was far bigger frauds going on that they didn't have the time or money to pursue.  When times are tough one does get tempted to fall for this type of stuff so I expect to real more about people falling for such things.

I think that all families are dysfunctional to some degree.  "Leave it to Beaver" families do not exist in the real world.  I think my mother in law spent a good part of her life somehow thinking that she was being cheated by not having a "Leave it to Beaver" or some other fantasy TV show life and she didn't understand that real families have problems that don't get fixed in thirty or sixty minutes (minus the time for the commercials) or even an  hour if it is a very complex problem with worthy of a two part story line.  All families have problems, the important thing is what you do with problems and how do you deal with the results of the problem solving.

Somehow I've drifted off writing about sex, swinging, hotwives and cuckolding.  Not sure quite how it happened.  I know for various reasons we have not been having much sex recently.  Don't know when that will change.  When it does change you will be the third or fourth to know.  I'll guess Brandi will be the first to know, then either me or her lover would be second and if it is a lover I'd guess I'll be third so...