A few years ago a man I knew slightly called me up and asked if he could rent one of our cabins while he's building a new house. Although I didn't ask for details I figured that meant he was actually building a house somewhere and it was taking a little longer than planned and in the meantime he'd sold his other, very fancy, house. So I said sure, I could rent to him for a few months.

I also thought he had enough money to pay the $500 a month rent I was charging him, but that's another story.

Anyhow he starts living over there across my yard with his two big house cats. He didn't really move in per se, because the place was fully furnished, and he had sold all of the fancy furniture in his fancy house at auction, so he just brought his computer and cable modem.

He had this technique for getting himself invited for meals: he'd call and say he was making a pot roast in the crockpot and could he bring it over for supper, and I could provide the side dishes. Sometimes it would be steaks he was grilling, or an entree from Schwanns. Once in awhile when we had plenty, or I had other people over for dinner, I would invite him over and he didn't have to bring anything.

He always raved about whatever I cooked, and he'd say: "This is so good, I should hire you to cook for me." This was a funny thing for him to say considering he was letting his fancy house go into foreclosure and was filing for bankruptcy. It was also patronizing, like telling a person 'I ought to hire you to clean my toilets' because just because a person can cook or clean doesn't mean their services are for sale.

Over time I found out he is one of those people who thinks lawsuits are a good career for a person, so he is always looking for an excuse to sue someone, and I didn't want it to be me.

Fortunately his lease was for only six months and I made it clear to him that it was not going to be extended: he needed to move out at the end of December.

Mr. Troutbend had gone back to Las Vegas at the end of August so by the time December rolled around, it was just me and the renter up here, mostly ignoring each other, no more meals back and forth. But then it snowed really deep and we had to work together to start up the skidsteer and dig out the driveway, so I invited him over for soup. "I should come over here all the time to eat," he said, "I don't like to eat alone." I just looked at him because I didn't care if he liked to eat alone or not, I didn't want to have anything to do with him.

So I guess when I say I like having someone to cook for, to some degree it depends upon who it is and the corollary to that is that after awhile just about any routine can get tiresome.