Tomorrow (Wednesday) the weatherman and Weatherbug are predicting we will hit triple digit heat and I won't even discuss the heat index but they are saying it will feel like 116.    I'm sure we will have some power outages because people will be suffering and think that turning the thermostats down will actually make things feel better.  All that does is make severe demands on the power plant since the A/C units won't be able to stop running.  Oh well.  C'est la vie!  I am one small voice.  I will deal with what I have to deal with if it happens.  It's the reason I did my meat shopping today and got it into the freezer (what I don't plan to use in the next day or two) so it will all be nicely frozen if and when a power failure happens.

The Beast is officially happy.  Our rain barrel actually has some rain in it now with what we have had the past couple of days.  I could have sworn he did a happy dance.   

The Princess is eagerly awaiting the 9th of this month when she officially turns 21.  She had plans.  She is going to go to a Mexican restaurant and order her first (legal and public) Margarita.    Normally, with my girls, I would take them out to a bar and buy them their first legal drink.  It was a kind of rite of passage I could share with them.  But, I think the Princess has friends, ya know!    That's kind of an inside joke in the family.  Just had to add it here in case she reads this before her birthday. 

Chewlee has been cranky the last two days when her mother picked her up.  I know she's not taking a nap at preschool but she claims she lays down on the floor with her *ti-ti*.  She probably is since the rest of the kids take their naps but, if there are any others like her that just hate to give in, I'll bet you she's a ring leader at getting up or talking a lot to them.  She does what SHE feels like doing. 

We made a trip to Walmart.  She always likes doing that and she didn't expect any toys or special stuff.  She knew I was going to get her some of *her* juice and reminded me I needed to buy *sketti-o's*.  She even asked for a couple of the ones with hot dogs in them.  She usually likes the regular ones with no meat in them but, once in a while, she likes to have the hot dogs.  I've often cut up a hot dog and added it to her sketti-o's for her.  I actually think it's better than what's in the cans but she eats a lot of good stuff, too.  She definitely loves vegetables.  All kinds of them.  She loved helping me pick out fruits and vegetables when I was shopping.  She knows what I have so she will be asking for some later in the week.  I have the day off (Wednesday) because it's the Princess's day off so Chewlee won't be here until Thursday. 

We are hoping the Princess will be getting her car back by the end of the week.  She hates driving the truck and Chewlee isn't crazy about it either even though she can see more out of it's windows due to the difference in the seats and the size of the front window.  She likes being in the car because it has automatic windows and she can put hers up and down.  The truck windows are crank type and, when she is strapped into the booster, she can't reach it. 

He will often sit in front of us, as if protecting us from someone, and will have a low throaty growl going on.  Other times, he goes on instant alert and will have a very audible growl going on.  There is no telling when this will happen but most of the time, we can kind of get the same feeling from the person he is reacting to.  It's not racial like you see with some dogs...it isn't because they smell funny.  It's because he senses something is *off*. 

I remembered something that happened when Chewlee and I were shopping once.  I had forgotten about that until we started saying that dogs and children had that kind of instinct about people.  It popped into my mind and I told Bratfink about it.

We were shopping in Walmart and Chewlee was her normal, happy self, saying *HI !* to everyone when she wasn't giving me shopping advice.  A couple people had stopped and even talked to her and she was bubbly and answered questions about her name and her age.  Then, we turned down this one aisle and a woman that was shopping and headed towards us, stopped and went to talk to Chewlee.  She cringed and moved away from the woman's hand and got this awful look on her face.  I knew she was very uncomfortable so I hastily moved away from her and down the aisle.  When we got away from the woman, Chewlee said to me, *I don't like that lady, Gramma.*  I told her I could tell.  I said to her, *Do you know her?*  She shook her head and said to me, *She's not a nice lady.*  Very matter of fact.  Done.  Over.  That was her whole comment.

But, later, when I was getting ready to check out, I almost got in the same line with the lady and Chewlee had a fit.  She almost was crying and telling me not to go down that line.  She pointed over to the side and said, *That one, Gramma...that one!*  So, I did and then I noticed the woman she had said was a bad lady was in the line I had almost gotten into.  Chewlee calmed right down and that was all to it.  She did, however, watch the woman leave the store.  I saw how intent she was looking toward the front of the store (Chewlee) and saw who it was she was watching when I swiveled my head in the direction she was looking.  It has always made me wonder just what it was Chewlee instinctively knew about that woman that was not apparent to the rest of us in the world.  Did other children see it too?

How sad that children are given such a *sixth sense* and that it passes as they grow older.  It would sure help the rest of us avoid bad people in our lives, wouldn't it?  But I suppose that would make it too easy.  Shame though, don't you think?  Whatever the reason, I trust that about kids and animals and pay attention.

It was hot, hot, hot today.  Temps up to 98 at one point and a heat index of 108.  Humidity was something like 83%, I think or higher.  Then we got rain.  It only rained about a half hour or slightly less but it dropped the temp down 10 degrees.  For a whole hour!    Then the high became just 93 but the humidity was only 43%.    That surprised me.

I think it's rather funny that the Beast and I have survived 46 years of marriage.  It hasn't all been good.  We went through a really bad patch there for several years but, despite it all, here we are.  I've given up on expecting anything like that from the Beast.  He was too deprived of it as a kid and never learned to be sentimental about anything, not even people that loved him.  I'm not even sure how deeply he is capable of loving but we have settled into a comfortable way of life that suits us both now.  I think the one thing that tickles me is how he loves little Chewlee.  I think he's never been able to enjoy a child the way he has her.  And she loves her Papa.  She's such a cute little person and I am enjoying watching her personality develop, too.

She has her stubborn streak and her loving ways.  She amuses easily and has a laugh that gives her hiccups because it comes from deep in her belly.  It's adorable to hear.

Today passed for the most part like any day of the week for us with one exception.  The Beast went to Huntsville to find out about selling the 50 caliber flintlock only to find out they don't buy guns.  They only sell them.  I suggested he advertise it in the paper but I have a feeling he may end up keeping it.  He stopped at Publix to buy us the bread we love and it was so fresh and tasty.  He also bought various meats to make hoagies, as well as the dressing for it since he wasn't sure I had any here.  I showed him I have the exact same stuff the deli does.  He never pays attention.

I didn't get a card or flowers or a gift.  Of course, I didn't get him any either because I know better at this point.  First of all, there is no buying for him.  If he wants something, he buys it.  That makes it tough as hell to get him anything he needs.  It's what the kids complain about at Christmas.  What do you buy for the man who buys himself everything?  All you can do is buy him clothes.  He's not vain but he does wear out things so, if they ask, I can tell them what he needs that way.  That's about it.  I just get him new underwear and tshirts these days. 

Me?  Well, he would be totally clueless about anything that I might want.  It's not important to him.  So, I buy what I would like.  The last  couple years, I no longer feel bad about planning trips without him along.  I just tell him that I am going and that's that.  He seems to like it that way.

Do I still get sentimental?  Well, not about US...the Beast and me.  But I am still sentimental about many things.  I always cry at weddings, for example.  When my girlfriend, Jamie, got married last year during our group reunion to the man she had been living with and loving for many years, I cried.  I think it surprised her since it was a happy event.  But, I told her I love happy events and they make me cry.  It was just so....so...sentimental. 

Before I knew it, it was morning.  I heard the Beast get up, cracked an eye open and saw it was only about 5:45am.  So that eye slammed shut and back to sleep I went.  Let HIM be an early bird.  I knew I was going to have Chewlee all day so I wanted to wake up naturally or when she came in the door.  If I am not up, she comes into my room and wakes me so cute.  She grabs my eye gently and will lift it open while she whispers, *Gramma, I am here!  Wake up!* 

Today, I woke up at 7am by myself and got out of bed.  I relieved my poor bladder but I was awake.  I got up and found the Beast had just made a fresh pot of coffee.  He had heated up leftover for his first cup.  He is NOT a discerning coffee drinker, as you can tell.  Me?  I want FRESH, HOT coffee to get my blood circulating.  Often, I get up and the coffee has been in it's thermal container for over an hour and it's fresh tasting but....it just doesn't get my heart started.  I'll just sigh and make a fresh pot after asking the Beast is he wants some of what's left in the pot.    Like I said, he really isn't discerning.

I was wide awake and feeling good when Chewlee got here later.  She was in a bit of a cranky mood at first.  Baron was a little too happy to see her and wouldn't back away when she and the Princess came in the door.  She lightened up after her mother left and Baron had settled down.  Then she wanted to eat but, even though she had brought a big bag of fruit loops, she didn't want that for breakfast.  I asked her if she wanted eggs?  No.  Waffles?  No.  What did she want?  Noodles!  That's what she calls chicken noodle soup.  So, I gave her noodles.  She was as happy as a pig in...well, you know!  She just sat there, eating them and watching her cartoons.  I have a feeling the Beast is starting to like Sponge Bob and Dora.    He sat at the kitchen table and watched the programs along with her.

While they were both occupied, I went ahead and stripped my bed and put fresh linens on them.  In fact, I put the new sheets that I talked about a few days ago.  They went on easily and fit beautifully.  Tonight we sleep on them.  The dirty sheets went into the washer.  She spent a lot of the time in Papa's chair watching her programs before she decided it was time for us to watch our Godzilla movies.  She laid down on the floor in here and selected her favorite.  Did you guess which one?  Yep, the one with baby zilla in it.  But, since I was watching King Kong at the time (the one with Jack Black), just as she had picked out a DVD, King Kong was fighting a couple monsters.  That interested her so she leaned back on my legs to watch.  When it got really exciting, she turned and said to me, *Oh no...what should we do?  What should we do?*  Then she crawled into my lap, grabbed both my arms and wrapped them around her while the fight continued.  She cheered when King Kong finally won and had killed both Tyrannosaurus Rex monsters.  She also knew that King Kong was mad at the lady for running away from him. 

We watched our movie almost to the end before she told me to turn it off *for now*.  Then she decided we both needed hats.  She has one here that goes to an outfit I bought her so that was hers.  Mine she made out of a face cloth and she had to keep fixing it because it just wasn't fitting me right.  That's when she decided HER hat should go on MY head and SHE took the face cloth.  When she put it on her head, she ran to the mirror and laughed!

The Beast did almost nothing today except to work on the 50 caliber black powder rifle his dad had given to him years ago.  He decided he would clean it up and see if he can sell it.  Since his dad was such a jerk most of his life and nasty to him in particular, there's no sentimental value to it for him.  He, Beast Sr., had made it from a Thompson Valley kit and he did some beautiful work on the breach of it.  But, I have always known, the Beast really didn't have any real feeling about it.  It's a flintlock with a constant delay in the ignition so it always gave the Beast fits whenever he fired it.  It had a hell of a kick if you moved it away from your shoulder just as you were sure it was going to misfire or not fire at all.  It gave the Beast one hell of a bruise a time or two before he stopped firing it.  But someone might like it, who knows?

Chewlee was ready to go home with her mom today but she knows she is coming back for a couple hours tomorrow when her mom has to go to Huntsville for that interview.  She will be coming very early in the morning so I am heading for bed as soon as I get this posted and ready.

Love you all and I wish you a great Sunday.  Here's hoping you have nice weather and some fun for your day.