Day: January 15, 2022

The Landscape Dilemma

Fandango16 Comments

“One doesn’t quibble about fees in front of others,” Tina said, “at least not around polite company. That’s an insensitive thing to do.”

“I’m not quibbling, haggling, or chaffering with you about fees, Tina,” Stan said. “I am simply refusing to pay you.”

“Well that perplexes me,” Tina said. “You signed a contract that you’d pay me my fee upon delivery. I delivered, so pay up.”

“You call yourself a landscape designer, but your design, if you can even call it that, is garbage. It’s a fucking disaster.”

“I glean from what you’re saying that you’re not happy with my design,” Tina calmly said. “Let’s talk about what you don’t like about it.”

“All you did was plant stalk after stalk if bamboo all around the yard,” Stan said. “Do you know how invasive bamboo is? Basically your plan is to turn my backyard into a bamboo forest.”

“True, but it’s drought resistant, environmentally friendly, and economical,” Tina said, a smug look in her face.

“Tina, the reason I engaged you in the first place was because my yard was overrun with bamboo,” Stan said, “Since all you did in your design was to add more bamboo, it’s worthless. I’m not paying you for that.”

“Well, fine,” Tina said, “but can I count on you to give me a good review on Yelp?”

Written for these daily prompts: Scott’s Daily Prompt (polite company), My Vivid Blog (insensitive), The Daily Spur (designer), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (disaster), Word of the Day Challenge (glean), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (stalk).

MLMM Opposing Forces — Tough Question

Fandango5 Comments

The senior accountant called his three junior accountants into his office. He went up to his white board and drew this picture on it.

“Now who can tell me what is more important, as accountants, to manage?” He asked.

The first junior accountant raised his hand and said, “Money.”

“Well yes,” the boss said, “but is it more important to manage how much we spend or how much we save?”

In unison, the next two junior accountants said, “Yes.”

It’s going to be long day today, the senior accountant thought.

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Opposing Forces Prompt, where the words are:

  • spend and save
  • senior and junior

Weekend Writing Prompt — 21st Century Hermit

Fandango17 Comments

I’m ready to go live in a cave
To insulate myself from the insanity
That has taken over the world
All I need is electricity
Heat, AC, and running water
And WiFi, of course

(Exactly 34 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “cave.”

SoCS — Saving for a Rainy Day

Fandango20 Comments

The good news is that over the last two weeks of December into the first week of January, Northern California, where I live, had a lot of rain. The state received more precipitation in the final few months of 2021 than in the previous 12 months, according to National Weather Service. We desperately needed it, as we’ve been in a severe drought for the past few years.

In fact, 2021 was one of the driest years in recent memory, but the state got off to a notably wet start in 2022. At the driest point of this drought in late October, almost 50% of California was at the Exceptional drought level.

That said, we haven’t had any measurable rain over the past week and there’s little to no rain in the forecast through the rest of this month. So even though we received significant amounts of rain, and the central Sierra Nevada mountains got record levels of snow, Northern California’s drought is far from over. And there is less than three months left of the “rainy” season.

In a clear sign that the drought persists, California recently adopted new emergency regulations aimed at stopping residents from wasting the state’s precious water.

We are without a rainy day in sight and now there are residential water restrictions in place with violation fines of up to $500 a day. Well damn, so much for my newly landscaped, beautifully idyllic backyard.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where we are asked to write about the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the phrase “a rainy day.”

FOWC with Fandango — Disaster

Fandango20 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to January 15, 2022 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “disaster.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.