by Eddie Pipkin
Do you ever get worked over a mistake someone else made – just to realize upon reflection that it’s your own darn fault? Apologies to the late, great Jimmy Buffett for paraphrasing his stolen “Margaritaville” lyric, but he captures the thought process so well: the one in which we want to blame our misfortune on somebody else until an honest evaluation allows us to confess our culpability. I have a great house-sitter for when I’m traveling, a conscientious young fellow who follows my instructions carefully and even takes initiative to keep things looking great, so I was mildly irritated to return from my last trip to find he had cut my grass waaaaayyy too closely; yep, he scalped it, with maybe no time to recover before Thanksgiving company arrives. But careful re-evaluation led me to admit I had failed to give him adequat