On peach salsa, neighborhood punks, and poor craftsmanship

So I've nearly finished off the various snacks and stuff I received over the holidays. One of the more odd items I received, at least in my opinion, was a jar of peach salsa.

Just who puts peaches in salsa? Was someone mixing up a batch of salsa, realized they didn't have enough tomatoes, peppers, chiles, or onions? They had some peaches laying around so they said, "What the heck, let's put 'em in."

So I tried it earlier and it was... okay. It tasted very much like regular salsa, but with a tangy sweetness. Personally though, I'd rather use peaches in pie than in salsa. Just my opinion.

***

Over the last couple weeks, we've finally been having some real winter weather here. Well, kind of. We might have some arctic temps and it might snow, but it would be followed by temps in the 40s and 50s a day or two later.

We had a small ice storm Thursday and again yesterday, followed by a dusting of snow... maybe an inch of the stuff. I watched the weather at noon today and it is supposed to reach the upper 40s tomorrow, so it will all melt again.

This afternoon my doorbell rang. I looked out at my driveway and didn't see a car parked there, so I knew someone had walked to my door from somewhere else in the neighborhood. I decided not to go to the door because it would have to be either a) Jehovah's Witness folks, or b) neighborhood punks looking to clear my driveway.

The doorbell rang again, and then again. Then someone pounded on my door. Then silence.

I went to the window to see two neighborhood punks walking away carrying a snow shovel and a broom.

Now I'm not against neighborhood kids trying to earn a dollar or two, but come on. There wasn't even enough snow to cover my driveway. I'm not sure what these kids thought they were going to do. Maybe they watched the weather too, and realized the snow would melt tomorrow, so they had to try and scam some folks out of some cash today.

Even Betty, my nearly 90 year old neighbor, refused their services. If she can get out and about without a problem, then everyone else should be able to too.

***

Over the last couple weeks, I've been working on the hallway which connects all the rooms on the first floor of my house. A couple weeks ago I pulled off the nasty wallpaper revealing an even nastier butt-ugly yellow paint job. Last weekend I painted the ceiling. This weekend I thought I could paint the walls after repairing some imperfections.

Not so fast there, Surly Scott.

After picking at the walls a bit and trying to fill some spots with spackle, I found out that two of the doors in this hallway must have been widened at some point. Whoever did that work must been an even worse craftsman than me. It seems he used a hammer to remove the excess drywall, instead of a saw or other tool which might leave an even finish.

I had to remove some of the moulding around the doors because some of the old damage was visible under the moulding after the wallpaper was removed.

I was told that the son of the ninety-something former owners thought himself a handyman. I've uncovered several examples of his "repairs." I hope he kept his day job, as he sucked as a handyman.

Whatever. I've got more spackling and sanding to do. There still may be a chance that I can get a coat of paint on these hallway walls this weekend if I stick with it. Bye.