Planting, Prepping, and 5 no shows

I might have mentioned that I listed on Craigslist a bunch of items that I had stored in my barn.  Oh my gosh the number of replies I received saying they wanted and had to have it.  Well in the end, it resulted in 5 'no shows', one very angry young lady who said it was not fair that I wouldn't hold the item until Saturday because it wasn't her fault she had to work, and 1 person who did show up.  These were Christmas decorations and at this rate it will be July 4th 2016 before I get through the list if I gave everyone 3 or 4 days.

In the past I have tried to be accommodating but it always ended with 'can you deliver it?'  I've heard so many sob stories and it's always the same problem broken leg, cancer, or their car is broke.  Listen I don't wish the big C on anyone, but if they truly had cancer, they had it before they contacted me and should have had a plan of action.  The broken leg thing kills me because every time I have gotten screwed by an eBay seller who didn't ship, it was always 'couldn't get to the post office because I have a broken leg' excuse.  Again, shouldn't they have a plan of action if they are going to sell online? I had a Craigslist buyer tell me his leg was broken and could I deliver.  When I said 'no' he showed up with two good legs and driving a car.  He had no shame what so ever.

So now I keep it very business like, no favors, no special deals, just here's the price, first person with cash, once sold I remove listing, and no contacting people saying 'sorry the item sold before it got to you on the list'.   That one bit me in the butt, too.  A young girl was furious that I sold something she wanted and that she contacted me when the item was still available because I said I remove items as soon as it sells.  She just couldn't understand that yes, she contacted me when the item was available but someone before her bought it first and I deleted the item as he was pulling out of the driveway. She just kept writing back to me saying that the item was hers because the listing was still up when she contacted me.  I am shocked how people can be over a 5 or 10 dollar item.

Because I was suppose to have all these people picking up items today, I had to do things where I could stop and start again.  So I planted all the sale plants except for the phlox and the hydrangea plant.  I dug up several old dead shrub stumps that finally rotted away enough that I could dig them up.  That leaves about 15 more shrub stumps but it was satisfying to get these out of the way because they were highly visible.

I also used the flat shovel to remove the sod where I am enlarging the flower bed in front of the family room window.  The birds nest spruce had overgrown the bed and I needed to make the edge of the bed a little more mower friendly with less severe inside corners.

The recent rain made it easier to scrape the sod up off the soil with the flat shovel. The rain has also made my grass seed sprout and it's filling in nicely.  See the round area of sparser grass in the photo. That's the area where I filled in a deep hole with dirt from the asphalt reveal behind the barn.

I also ran to Ace to buy some PVC primer and glue so we can finish up the furnace exhaust re install. So while I was at Ace I also purchased some top soil, manure, and peat moss for the south side of the barn where I plan to plant phlox.  The dirt is almost all hard clay so I've been slowly removing it so the phlox will have a better environment for their roots.  The south side gets quite hot so I need to add something to hold some moisture between waterings.

On the agenda for tomorrow is sand the corner board by the gas meter, caulk, prime, and paint the small area where the meter is located.  If there is time, we will glue the PVC back together for the furnace exhaust.

I'll also relocate the big rocks that edge my newly widened bed in front of the family room window. I did get the concrete splash pad in place and about 3 big rocks put in place before I stopped today.

AND.....I dug up more broken glass today while planting.  I have tried to keep all the broken glass and pottery that I have found.  I swear they just dug holes and threw stuff in.  Out of sight, out of mind.