For the first time

July 27, 2009
I wanted to teach my eight-year-old neighbor a lesson about responsibility, and keep my flowers alive this year over the Pioneer Day weekend. We skip town because there is a massive influx of people who descend at the park across the street for holiday festivities every year. Basically this means we are prisoners in our own driveway and unless we hightail it out of town, can't go anywhere because of all the cars on the road. Alas, there is a price to pay for freedom though... we always come home to dead flowers. Since Jeff is our sprinkler system, they never get watered while we are gone and the heat usually fries them. So this year, I told Tanner I'd give him five bucks to keep my flowers alive. He was super excited at the prospect of earning some easy cash but when I told him I wouldn't pay him if I came home and they were all dead, the reality of the task at hand sunk in. Still the seal of youth prevailed and he started bragging to his older brother that he "might get five bucks!" The whole responsibility lesson must have worked though because I came home to find all my flowers still in bloom. Sadly, our gnome was the victim this year, of I'm guessing a watering mishap. Tanner still got the five bucks though but next year I'm going to have to up the requirements to keep our gnome from getting beheaded again.