Trail Trash

I went camping in Joshua Tree a couple days ago. On Monday, we picked an easy 2 mile hike out to an old mine. It was a nice day to hike with the weather being cloudy and about 58 degrees. So we're returning on the trail and most of the people we pass are families and couples. Then we encounter a group of 4 college-age kids. There is one boy, looking fairly normal and a girl with a Johnny Depp-Willy Wonka top hat and glasses in the front. The second pair is comprised of 2 girls in black bikini tops holding hands. Now the holding hands part I can understand. Nature can be very emotional. However, bikini tops in 58 degree cloudy weather in California is totally unexceptable on a hiking trail. Michael and I bantered about some possible reasons: drugs, boredom, Alaskans. My favorite suggestion of Michael's was that they were trashy strippers from Indio. I think I'll stick with that one. Regardless of the reason, their presence provided much laughter for the rest of the hike.

The Gardening Guys Suck!

So I had some gardeners earlier this year that operated out of Dana Point. They were called the Gardening Guys. I just got a letter from a collection agency for the Gardening Guys for a bill for July service that I didn't pay, plus late charges. I didn't pay because they didn't perform their services that month and we cancelled. So I call them up this morning and tell them that I think I shouldn't pay because of the above reason. The woman on the phone gets all righteous and says that they are a small business and that if they accepted credit cards, it would never come to this and that's why they have to get collections involved. So I say that if they had performed the service, I would have paid. We go back and forth on this. Basically, she said they don't guarantee a service date and time, so I'm supposed to pay anyway. And when I say that my current gardener shows up on the correct date and time, she says, "well, I guess that's why you switched." To me, that translated as, "we suck, but we take no responsibility for that."

Christmas Already?

Wow, it's the first of December! This year has flown by. I wouldn't have known December was so close except for the fact that my neighbors have had Christmas decorations up for about two weeks. Yes, TWO WEEKS! I couldn't believe it. They broke the unspoken, "not before Thanksgiving" rule. And I know they were egged on by the stores. I was looking for some Thanksgiving stuff last week to put on my table and the stores had eschewed all the Thanksgiving items for Christmas decorations! I mean, what happened to the last minute discounts that are on the shelves right before the holiday?
Whatever. To punish them, I'm determined not to go into any stores this year for my Christmas... hello, ebay and amazon!