Today. I get a text message from the 15 year old.  Can I work for some money? Umm, well sure.  How much will you pay me?  How much do you want? $100.

Lol.  This kid's version of working is to walk around in circles for 2 hours claiming he doesn't have this or that and can't do anything and then go up and watch tv or play the guitar and then come back down saying he's working - which he is not - and he wants a hundred bucks from me.

He steals money from his mom's purse to boot. Like the 20 he took 2 days ago.  Whatever the case, I replied no. 90? No.  Later - 10.  Okay.  I'll give you 20 if you do everything - large amount of work actually.  But he's done much of nothing around there for quite a while, if he actually wants me to give him money, he's going to have to work for it, not just screw off.

"I'll have it all done by the time you get here".  Ummm, that's a lot of work!  He hadn't even STARTED working by the time I got there, he was walking around acting like it but doing nothing.  I found him upstairs watching tv in mom's room after he claimed he had started.

No, he didn't get any money.

16 year old.  Has done very little around there for going on 2 months now.  It's to the point that I am starting to do his work because it needs to be done.  Gaping hole in fence.  I asked him to go look at it yesterday.  We were in the woods pickup up stick and such to make a pile for winter. Strike that: I was picking up sticks, he was sitting on one of the four wheelers texting his gf.  He rides off, comes back and says yup, it needs to be fixed. Just blankly staring at me stating it, knowing full well it's his responsibility.  I said nothing to him.

I came over today and set about doing it myself.  He "intervened".  Well nobody told me to do it!  Stupid answer.  Just pure BS and he knew it.  No, I'm going to do it I replied, you don't want to do anything around here, I'm going to do your stuff. And, I didn't tell him, I'm going to suggest to her that she take his phone and truck privilege away from him and oh well.

Next I am going to do the bush hogging.  He claims no one can drive that tractor. BS again.  I have operated cranes, forklifts, backhoes, trackhoes and graders, I can certainly operate a simple tractor.  But that wasn't his point I found out.  He is the "only" one that can use it.  Who cares, too bad, so sad.  You'll destroy the brush hogger. I hope not, I reply, but I am going to do it anyway.  Two children - 15 and 16 - totally abusing their mom.  Verbal abuse of a kind that is beyond any scope of sanity.  Especially Josiah.

House a disaster today. After Josiah just got the stuff and walking down there - who knows what kind of job he did, half assed I'm sure because he allegedly fixed that same fence a few months ago - I went in and worked with Nathan to clean the kitchen.  He wasn't mouthing off but he wasn't happy either.  But then again, who can be happy in a house where a 15 and a 16 year old are unloading shit?

Andrew - the 11 year old - the only one that really kept his attitude good.  After he had done a lot of stuff, I gave him 4 bucks and said this is for keeping a good attitude.

Whatever. A day in the life and times of.

ben