I was shocked last month to see that the rental house on my cousins' farm was so badly in need of paint. It has a wood roof - flat shingles, not shake, that are painted red, white trim, and yellow siding, but now they are gray. I contacted the people who stained the outside of our house earlier this summer and paid them $6000 up front because they knocked $1000 off the quoted price if I paid up front.

They were eager to get started on it before the weather got bad or the leaves fell off all the surrounding cottonwood trees. The guy called me from the work site on September 22 and said they had started on it. I drove by there on October 3 thinking it would be all done and only the trim is done. What the heck?

I got in touch with him this morning and he said there was a death in the family so they had to go to Nebraska and clean out the house and get it ready to sell, and then a dear friend of his in this area died so their hearts are broken and they are grieving. He said he has been in communication with the tenants so they know the situation and he would get started on the project again tomorrow.

A few hours later the painter called me back and said the tenant had just called him and yelled at him for not working on the house for so long. He felt like the guy was threatening him. The renter told the painter that he was sorry for his loss, but everyone else in the world only gets three days for a funeral, not three weeks.

Oh. So he wasn't really communicating with the tenants, he was hiding out from them, too.

I told the painter I'm sorry I paid him all the money up front since now I'm in a weak position. He told me my investment is safe.

I told him I would settle the tenant down, that he's a nice guy, but he is no doubt anxious to get the project over with. When I talked to the tenant I told him I don't want the painter to use feeling threatened as an excuse to not finish the job.

It wouldn't help to have Mr. Troutbend here - he doesn't deal with managerial issues.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow when the painter said he'd show up and get to work.