My waking hours of late have been lived in the garden as God intended, now that it's spring. There are seeds to sow, weeds to pull, flowers to plant, weeds to pull, grasses to mow, weeds to pull, and fences to mend. Not to mention, everywhere I look there are weeds to pull. Who has time for email?
So when Mother Nature went all Antifa this weekend I decided to hide out in the house and clean out my inbox till the fire and brimstone monsoon got tired of rioting and looting my yard.
After retrieving payment receipts and other items of importance from the junk folder, I perused the Olive Garden specials, Costco ads, State Farm correspondence (with Melanie, not Jake...she's not a guy, so...) then a message from Pat with some landscaping quotes for our homeowner's association and a few questions from Ellen for our next HOA meeting.
But I don't know Pat or Ellen and I'm not part of an HOA.
I ignored the HOA emails at first, but when Amit alerted the neighbors of a bear rummaging through David's and Vinny's trash, I became emotionally involved. Are bears common in their area? Will these people be safe? If they buy mulch, will the local wildlife vandalize their investment? Why hasn't Sarah or Brian responded? Have they noticed my email address cc'd on these emails? Do they suspect my unintentional eavesdropping? Are they Jeremy Renner fans? What will happen with the playground area? Is the county or the HOA responsible for the berm?
At the risk of being removed from the thread and living out the rest of my days in unsatisfied curiosity, I introduced myself in a "reply all". As it turns out, Ellen made me feel at home, Larry has already spoken with Fish & Wildlife about the bear in the area, Steve offered to let me chime in on landscaping, and I'm feeling pretty cool about being in an HOA.
