Old Man Dan

Our neighbors' yard is immaculate. Pristine, some might say.

Our's, well, is not. It's new, though, and will take some time to get established. We understand that. I'm afraid our neighbor does not.

A couple of weeks ago, we hired someone to cut the grass because we don't have a lawnmower yet. He told us that he would do more weed eating next time, and take care of the bigger stuff.

We were fine with that.

Our neighbor was not.

Two days after the yard was mowed, I drove up and our neighbor was in our ditch line, chopping the weeds. Our weeds.

He approached Justin later that day and offered to cut our grass two times if Justin will clean their carpets once. Since we own the carpet cleaning business, we figured it would be a win-win situation.

Fast forward to last Saturday. I look outside and see neighbor Dan outside, wielding a weedeater. Then, I see his wife and 8 year old grandson walking the yard, picking up rocks. His son in law takes over the weedeater and Dan hops on the lawnmower.

2 hours pass, and he is still cutting the grass.

Sounds great, right?

In a way. Not really.

Here's the problem. Dan is elderly. I mean, really elderly. And, since he's had 3 hip replacements, he has problems getting around. I think he may have other health issues because he can't carry on conversations very well.

So, imagine my guilt when I see him outside working his tail off, in my yard, while I watch a marathon of America's Next Top Model.

But, when Justin talked to him that day, he said that he liked the work and he didn't have anything else to do. We let him. He wanted to do it, right?

When I left to go to the gym this morning, he was back- shoveling out the rocks that Justin and I threw in the ditch when we were seeding the yard.

That old man better not keel over in my yard.