Reasons #45 and #46 for why I hate renting....

After the fire and while we still lived in the temporary apartment, the landlord put in a new roof (rather than painting Angie's room which still has soot stains around the vent). To be fair, it did need a new roof. However, I have been pulling piles of rusty roofing nails out of our driveway (in addition to the bits of broken glass I keep finding). They know we have a child. Why couldn't they be bothered to ensure that our yard would be safe for her?

And then lets discuss what they did to the flower beds.

On the shady side, they dropped screws from the old gutters. In the course of planting this year's bed, I've found at least thirty in the front of the bed. I haven't managed to dig much around the very ugly shrub at the back of the bed.

On the sunny side, they placed a large pile of rounded stones at the base of the drain, wich covers some of the vines and the wild strawberry, but was necessary. However, directly in the middle of the bed, where I had several pretty flowers, they piled a huge mound of dirt. Not soil from another part of the bed. Sandy, yucky dirt with rocks burying my flowers. The tiny rubies dianthus blooms every year as does my other dianthus. Somehow they managed to just miss the hydrangea I planted last year. Why couldn't they throw the dirt behind the other ugly shrub (the twin to the one on the shady side)? Then at least it would have killed the weeds rather than actual flowers because nothing grows in this dirt.

I must remove this mess before I can plant on the sunny side.

And they tore down the wooden window box leaving a ragged edge and then painted it a darker shade of grey than the house (which has white trim). I had flowers in a coconut liner. They were just tossed to the side in an unattractive lump.

They seem to have a sentimental attachment to this house (it belonged to the wife's parents I believe) but you would think that they attachment would lead to some sort of desire to keep the property attractive and in good shape (don't even ask about the condition of the driveway).