I'm so angry at the Boss I could throw him across the room. When he's away for the weekend, he's supposed to check in with me every day for messages. Since he left for Texas Thursday, I've heard from his girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend and his ex-wife. And his son. And his brother. Not a word from him until this morning, when he called me as if it this were just another day.

He missed a chance to look into a job that bids today. It wasn't even advertised until last week, and I found out about it from another contractor. It's a duplicate of a job we bid last year, so it would have been easy for him to throw together an estimate, if only he'd known about it. Now it's too late, another opportunity gone.

Just before he left he'd placed a call to an office in Sacramento, desperate for an answer to a question about one of our jobs for the state. So he drops out of sight, leaving me to explain to the state official why he's done all this research into finding an answer for a question that is suddenly not so important after all. That's going to make him really eager to go to a lot of trouble the next time the Boss needs something from him.

And that's how it went for most of the weekend. People wanting to shower him with lavish gifts and loving attention, or something of that sort, and he's in Texas doing what? He's in Texas helping his girlfriend's daughter get ready for her wedding. I don't have any further details and I'm not inclined to ask. It has to be something to do with tools and lumber. Building a gazebo, maybe? Or a scaffold? Or a gallows?

The last thing he said to me this morning was that he'd call me before he left Texas tonight. His plane took off two hours ago. I'm still waiting for his call.

My landlord came by yesterday, to cut some weeds. He knocked on my door to see how things are going. Did I think to inform him that the well water he'd offered me a sample of before I moved in so I could have it tested turned out to be laced with arsenic and polliwog poop (or something)? No, I did not.

Did I mention that I have a greater variety of bugs living in my house than I even knew of before moving in? No, I didn't.

Did I tell him that the kitchen floor is so out of level that the refrigerator door swings violently in one direction or another as soon as you let go of it? No.

"Fine," I said, "everything's fine." I did let him know that I was going to have a gardener give me an estimate on turning my yard into something more manageable than the jungle it is now. He made no comment, but I'll pursue his possible participation in the cost at a later date.

While he was here, though, he knocked down my side fence and cut some of the weeds at the far end of the yard. I suppose I'll have to wait for the next holiday weekend before he'll go any further. I don't think the weeds will wait that long to take over, though.

Besides giving me an excuse to take frequent breaks, my recent back problems have given me a new perspective on interior decorating. The only chair I had that could be adjusted to the most comfortable position was the lounge chair I bought that never made it out to the patio. So while I've been icing my back so often these last few days, I've moved the couch back out of the way and set up the lounge chair in front of it, at a convenient TV-watching seventy-degree offset angle.

Now I'm thinking about where I can stash the sofa when I get a recliner to put in that spot in the family room. I'm thinking there's space in the front bedroom, where I keep office equipment and supplies. The sofa could serve as a spare bed, in case I ever have an overnight guest. (I have a real spare bed, in a real bedroom, but you can't find it under the boxes of books and videos and other as yet unpacked Mystery Stuff.)

Yes, I think a reclining chair, with all the trimmings, has to go on my wish list. The list is getting ridiculously long, considering what meager funds I have to work with. If I could imagine everything on the list into existence, I'd have a perfect setup for working and living in this place. I've been flirting with the limit on my credit card a little too often lately, though, and it's making me nervous. I'm way too easily tempted. They shouldn't make it so easy to get so deeply mired in debt.