The Princess was complaining that she spent 3-1/2 hours in some counselors office today because she had to declare her major (?) and then go over what classes she needs for the next semester, etc.  She then was in the library doing homework for 3-1/2 hours, looked up, saw the time and realized she had to run to get ready for work and get there on time.  When she picked up Chewlee, she said she had about another 2-1/2 hours of homework and study to do for a test tomorrow.  She said, *I'm NEVER gonna get to sleep!*  Boo-hoo.  As bad as I feel for her, we have all had our burdens.

The Beast goes to the cardiologist in the morning.  I didn't realize he was down in Gadsden so it means he will have to be out of here by 7:20am to make sure he gets there in time to fill out the inevitable paperwork before seeing the doctor.  I'm hoping it all comes out okay and we can get that surgery rescheduled ASAP.    The idea of his having a cancer growing inside him just freaks me out.  I want it OUT NOW!  He's just too good at taking care of the yard and trees to lose. 

Chewlee was cute riding home from preschool today.  She was in a great mood.  At one point, she looked around and said to me, *Isn't this a great day?  The sun, the trees, it's all good.  Don't you think so, Gramma?*  She busily called out to me the different sites we drive past....*there's the pond, Gramma. Oh, you missed it!*  *Look at the horses!  And they have their babies out, too.  Isn't that cute?*  *Look at that forest, Gramma!   Oh, you missed it!*  She just loves to tell me all the sights I missed seeing.  I keep telling her that I can't look when I am driving and there are a lot of cars on the road, too.  I need to make sure we stay safe.

When I asked her why she thought she had to wear a seat belt, she told me, with gestures, *To keep me from hurting my head and my arms and things.*  I told her it was to keep her safe and that I had to watch the road and the other cars so we didn't get into an accident.  She just said, *Good!*  And that was that!

She is excited about taking a plane trip with her mother in June.  She has no idea when that is but they already have their reservations and tickets to go.  She thought I was going too and was disappointed when I told her I wasn't going with her.  But I told her she was going to see more cousins and would get to stay with her cousin, Hunter.  I hope Hunter is as excited but he is a bit older than she is.  Once she gets used to all the new faces (well, many new but she does know Jimmy and Renee and she may also remember Hunter from our trip to Aunt Marge's birthday party in North Carolina a couple months ago).  She was the belle of the ball that day.  All kinds of people wanted to take her pictures....most of them to have on their phones.    She just loved talking to everyone that day.  She had no trouble falling asleep that night when we got back to the motel.

Papa made us some milk shake after dinner tonight and Chewlee was there to watch him do it.  She watched (and tried out) some cherries and some of the banana he put into the blender and ran back to tell me what she had eaten.  She also informed me that he was making a big mess.  She then said, *Papa can do that if he wants.  He told me so.*  Then she sat here quietly afterward and watched TV while sipping her milkshake out of a straw she had picked out very carefully.  She had one leg crossed over the other and looked so adorable.  She would get up every once in a while to give me a hug.  No reason.  Just because she wanted to.

When the Princess came to get her, she ran around to get her shoes on and gave me a goodbye kiss.  As they neared the door, she told her mother, *I forgot my hug!* and ran back for a hug from me.  She CAN make me nuts at times (like when she spilled my coffee for the second time....and kept telling me, *....but I said I'm sorry, Gramma!* because I was mad.)  But she can also be so observant and talk so intelligently that she just startles you at times.  That's my baby girl forever.

I'm not sure just what got into the Beast today but he sure wasn't acting normal.  Maybe it was the fact that he was relieved over the surgery being cancelled, even if only temporarily.  I got up earlier than expected (by him), did a few minor chores and then went back to bed.  They say older people don't need a lot of sleep...bullshit!  I can't work on just 5 or 6 hours of sleep.  I can, however, function for a while on it and then need a definite nap for a couple hours.  After that, I am fine.

Today, after the nap, I was treated to the Beast making (from scratch, no less ) chocolate chip cookies.  It was his project and I didn't stick around.  He didn't ask for any help and I didn't offer.  They came out decent, if not very shapely.  I had no idea they could be the shapes some of his were.  But, like I said, they were tasty.

We did go out and inspect the garden, especially the seeded areas.  Many of them are starting to sprout and that is always a treat.  Looks like the beets will do okay and the carrots.  The corn looks like it is taking hold after slumping a bit.  The thunderstorms helped a bit, I think.  Plants seem to do well after one.  I don't know if there is something in the rain that is produced being different or what but even my flowers are doing pretty darn good.  Chewlee will be ecstatic.

Then, for whatever reason possessed him, the Beast went up to Walmart (for *a few things* he said we needed) and came home with premade pie crusts, ice cream, and a few other things.  I just shook my head.  He decided to bake a pie.  Now you must understand.  Baking cookies from scratch was a first for him.  So was making a pie.  Again, all I did was dig out the pie plate for him, the rest was all his doing.

I heard the timer on the oven go off and hoped it turned out okay for him.  I was busy cleaning the guest bathroom.  About the time I finished that and sat down at my computer, he came in carrying a bowl that contained some warm pie and vanilla ice cream.  That was the end of the night dessert and it was really good.  I told him he did a good job.  He said he was sorry it looked so bad (it didn't hold together well because he cut it while it was still hot) and I told him it was just us here so who cares?

The Beast went to bed early because he has to be at the cardiologist's office bright and early tomorrow.  Thankfully, there was no *no food or drink* order for that or he would have been unhappy.  He can go without food but not without his coffee. 

So ends the day here at the Brat Farm.  It's looking more and more like this will be a good year for us for a change.  It's taken time...and work...but we will be getting busier as the season wears on.  That's the bad part about having a bunch of fruit trees and a large garden.  It's also a lot of work but the rewards are many.  Especially the wonderful taste of everything when it's picked (and eaten) at the proper time.

Love you all.  Hope you have a great day.  It's *hump day* so the week is halfway gone.  The weekend will be here shortly and some rest and relaxation.  Or, at the very least, a change of pace.    Drive carefully. 

As I mentioned yesterday (Sunday), today (Monday) the Beast had to go in for his pre-surgery exams.  They did some blood work, took a chest X-ray, gave him a 12-lead EKG which prompted them to do an echocardiogram on him.  Apparently there was something they found that they didn't like because the surgery was called off until after he is cleared by a cardiologist.  They said the echocardiogram might be normal for him but since they don't have one to compare it to, they need him to get clearance from the heart doctor first. 

The nurse called the doctor that was going to do his surgery on Wednesday to let him know.  I don't know if they ever did get to the C-scan to check out his kidneys, which the urologist was curious about.  If not, I guess they will do that when they reschedule him.  The earliest would be next Wednesday.  He will see the cardiologist on Thursday morning at 8:30am.  I will say one thing.....I really think he was a bit relieved over the cancellation.  He hadn't realized how quickly it creeped up and, suddenly, there it was!

Me?  I just know I have a bit of a reprieve from his *recovery* time.  Men are a pain when they just have a cold but give them a real illness or problem and they can make your life absolutely miserable.  The Beast is a professional at it, too.

Somehow, I doubt the Beast has an actual problem with his heart.  In fact, when he told me they did an echocardiogram on his heart, I said, surprised....*You mean they actually FOUND one?*  He laughed, which surprised me a little but he told me that was what he had told the girl that did the test.  He said he told her, *You mean you found it?*  She laughed.  Little does she know....... 

Other than that, my day was uneventful.  We were expecting rain early today.  The sky sure looked like it but then it got sunny, bright and HOT!  It didn't start raining here until it was dark and then we got some really good thunder and lightning rolling over us.  Took the storm about an hour or so to pass over us.  I don't know if it's done yet or not because I hear distant thunder every once in a while.  But it did cool us down a bit so we will sleep good tonight.

The Beast got all the fans installed in the other windows in the house so the house stayed relatively comfortable all day even though we had a high of 84.  Tomorrow will be cooler (high of 68 they guess) but the cool front will be passing us by because our temps will be in the mid-70's on Wednesday and it will continue to climb after that.  I'm going to break out my shorts once again and start checking the garden for signs of weeds.  Some of the flower seeds Chewlee and I planted are popping up and I need to thin them out a bit.  I'll just be moving them is all.  Chewlee will be so tickled when she gets to see them.

Today wss Sunday so I was up, bright and early, to take Sheepie to the bus station.  We got there about a half hour before her bus was scheduled to leave only to find out that it was going to be about an hour late.  That wasn't a disaster because she had a layover in Nashville that was a bit more than an hour so it meant she would get there and probably go right to her bus that would take her home.  What bothered me was that she wouldn't be able to get herself any lunch which meant she would get home hungry.  I gave her some cash so all I could hope was she could at least grab some chips or something before she got on the bus home.

Chewlee didn't get dropped off until around 3:30pm.  I was glad the Princess didn't have to work another double.  Even SHE runs out of energy eventually.  She was mad at Chewlee because she had written on herself again.  I'm not sure if she got caught while she was doing it but at least there wasn't much this time.  Papa gave her a hard time about it when she told him she had done that.  She was looking for some sympathy and told him that her mommy was mad at her.  When he asked why and she told him, he gave her NO sympathy but he did say it mildly when he told her he could understand that because it wasn't a good thing to do.  She isn't supposed to write on herself...just on paper.

We went to lay down for a bit when she seemed tired (around 5:30pm) and I know she wasn't down long.  I felt her get up and I was almost asleep myself.  Then she started to *take care of me* by putting some little blankers on me, getting me a pillow and patting my on the shoulder and telling me to go to sleep.  I knew that was not going to happen because she can get into real mischief left *alone*.  I started asking her to get me this and that until she finally got mad at me and told me, *No, no, NO!!!*  I just laughed and told her, *Now do you see how you make Grandma crazy when you do that to ME?*  She just shrugged her shoulders and laughed.

After we ate, I put her in the bathtub so she would be nice and clean for bed later.  Her mother had to close the restaurant so I knew she wouldn't be picked up until almost 10pm.  We were watching Jurassic Park 3 and she was curled up in my lap when the Princess got here.  Chewlee had picked it out to watch and she was saying things like, *Oh no!  The plane is all broken!*  *Watch out, watch out!  The monster is coming!  Run! Run!*  She really gets *into* the action. 

She told her mother she wanted to go to bed now and close her door.  Her mother told her no problem because she was tired, too.  She gave me her juice and told me to put it into the *fridgafrator*....I love how kids say that.  It's just adorable. 

Please remember that I am writing this on Saturday evening but you don't get to read it until Sunday.  Sunday is the day that Sheepie gets on the bus and heads home.  School starts for her tomorrow.  Today we had Teach over for dinner and I found out that not only does he not like green beans but he was also allergic to strawberries and that's what our dessert was.....strawberry shortcake.  Aunt Bratfink told her that you do NOT marry a fussy eater.  She knows!  The Boy has been frustrating enough for her with all his weird eating habits and his refusal to eat certain foods.  He also is not the least bit adventurous about trying something new.  Although he has actually learned to like a few things he had never had before Bratfink came into his life, his *likes* are very limited and drive Bratfink crazy at times.  C'est la vie!!

Teach introduced Sheepie to his favorite aunt today.  She thought that Sheepie was sweet Teach told me.  I told Sheepie, *Good job!  She has no clue as to the real you, does she?*  Then we all laughed because we are always teasing her about being a nag or a bitch or a brat....depends on the situation.  She does take it in a good natured way, thankfully.  At least she doesn't pout.  THAT would drive me up a wall.  AND she couldn't survive the Beast without having a bit of a thick skin. 

I had Chewlee all day almost literally.  She got here about 9:30 am and didn't leave until 10 pm.  Her mother had to work a double today so she was tired (and stinky, she said.  I took her word for it.)  Chewlee was in a strange mood today.  The weather was wonderful but she didn't want to ride her bike outside.  She mostly stayed inside but did go out on the deck a few times.  She spent some quality time with the Beast out there for a change.  That gave me time to get the kitchen cleaned up, dishes in the dishwasher and put things out for the*etc.'s* for our hamburgers that the Beast grilled.  Figures they would be a bit overdone.  He blamed it on not being able to time it because he couldn't find his watch.  That man loses more stuff!  He also can't find his reading glasses I found out yesterday.  I looked around a bit without any luck.  He probably left them at his brother's house.  **Sigh**

Chewlee was into *let's pretend* today.  She gave me a *ball* and we played catch.  I would bounce back in my chair when I caught it.  She found that incredibly funny.  So funny that she got hiccups from that deep laugh of hers that she gets when she is really amused.  Then, every time she hiccups, she says, *Sorry!* like its some kind of faux pas she's made.  Too funny!  We did that for about 15-20 minutes and I finally begged off and told her she threw the ball so hard, my hands hurt!  So she came over, looked at my hands, caressed them gently and said, *I'm sorry, Grandma!*  Yeah, she really believed it. 

Because she ate so little of dinner, she got mad at me when I wouldn't let her have some salami a bit later.  I found her on my computer chair, crunched up and when I turned it around, she looked at me with her mad face and said, *I'm mad!*  I said, airily, *Oh, really?  Well, *I* am mad at YOU!*  She got off my chair, stomped over to  her Dora chair, fell into it (for effect, I am sure) and crossed her arms across her chest and tried to ignore me.  I let her.  The one thing I know is that she can't keep it up for long.  She's just too much a lover and not a fighter.  Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, she came over, gave me a big hug and told me she loved me and then had to sit in my lap and lean back on me while we watched a Godzilla movie she picked out.  It's been a while since we watched one but I guess she missed him. 

Sheepie kissed and hugged her goodbye before she left with her mother but I don't think Chewlee accepted the fact that she wouldn't be here tomorrow when the Princess drops her off.  I'll have to tell her for a week that Sheepie went home to her mommy and then reassure her that she would be back to visit us once *big kids school* was out for the summer.  I've gone through this a time or two before.

I wish you could be here when she starts talking about things she is wondering or worried about.  She really thinks about things and she's so articulate that it makes your mouth drop to think she isn't even four years old yet.  Close but no cigar yet.  Actually she's only about six or seven weeks away from turning four but still........amazing vocabulary.  I suppose it's due to the fact that she's been around adults for most of her life.  And we seldom used baby talk around her.  If she hears a new word that appeals to her, she will ask what it means.  Then she thinks about it.  Then she starts to use it.

Like the other day.....we were out on the deck and I was showing her how my dogwood tree (finally) bloomed.  She looked at it and said, *That's wonderful, Gramma.  It's so beautiful.*  The new word for her to use was *wonderful*.  She knew what beautiful was and how to use it for a long time.  That was pretty much the only word she used for things she really liked such as any flowers, all dolls, some dogs, etc.  They were all beautiful.  Now it's wonderful, like it's a miracle of some sort!..

Sheepie is all packed up now except for what she will need in the morning.  She and Teach are watching TV in the living room.  I'm getting ready to pack it in for the night since I didn't get MY nap today.  Chewlee never napped but she did get comfy and very quiet for about an hour.  Then she had recouped her energy and off she was like a race horse out of the gate! 

The question for the day was *Do worms have lips?*  I thought it a strange question from Chewlee when I picked her up from preschool.  Today they had a picnic outside and a Bike-A-Thon for St. Jude's Hospital.  I have no idea just how they raised money by bringing their bikes to school but they called it a successful day.  Chewlee just said things were a mess.  I don't know if she was talking about the picnic or not but she said she ate until her belly got big.

I picked both her and her bike up.  The teacher that went outside to locate Chewlee's bike told Chewlee she had a hard time finding it because it didn't have her name on it.  Chewlee said, *I have my name on my bike.  See?* and she pointed to the name *Barbie* on the frame of her Barbie bike.  We both laughed at that.  It has a carrier that normally is supposed to go over this little bar  across the front of her handlebars.  It was off it for some reason and I was handed both it and her helmet to put in the car.  When we got home, I just put them both on the coffee table and didn't think anything of it.

A bit later, Chewlee yells out for me to come and see something.  She kept beckoning me closer and pointed to this little worm that was on the coffee table.  It looked like a baby red worm.  I put it on a piece of paper and put it in the dirt outside.  I wondered how it got in the house AND on the coffee table when I got this idea.  I opened up the *purse* and what did I find?  About six more of those worms in there.  It seems Chewlee had come across some of them (and she told me a couple other kids found them and gave them to her) and decided she was going to keep them.  When I told her that the purse wasn't a good place to keep worms because they didn't have any food and they belonged in the dirt, she got very upset with me.  She got this mad face on and had both hands on her hips and told me that she would have put dirt in there and would give them food and they would be fine.  She was just a bit upset that I had let all of the worms go in the yard.

But she DID finally ask me if worms had lips because she was probably trying to imagine them eating.  I told her I didn't know and she gave me this incredible look like she couldn't believe I said that.  I then told her that their mouths were so tiny, I couldn't see if they had lips or not.  She looked at me and told me that she KNEW they had lips or they couldn't eat.  She thinks they also have teeth even when I tried to tell her they didn't.  She said, *You can't see them but I know they have little, tiny teeth and they can bite you if you are mean to them.*  When I asked her how you can be mean to worms, she said (and she gave me this accusing look), *When you drop them on the ground, they get mad.*

She noticed the Beast had a boo-boo on his forehead and dragged me out to show it to me with the words, *I need you for just a minute...*  When she asked the Beast how he got it, he told her that I had kicked him in the head.  Well!  Talk about her getting mad at me.  She yelled at me for being mean to Papa and she told me that SHE could kick me with her sharp toes and how would I like that?  I told her that Papa was telling a fib so she dragged me out there and asked him if he was lying to her.  He smiled and said, *I was only teasing you!  Ha! Ha!  I fooled you!*  She told him that wasn't nice and marched back in my room with her arms folded across her chest.  She then threw her arms around me and told me she loved me.  Her way of apologizing, I guess.  She also told me that what Papa did wasn't nice and if he did it again, he would have to have a time-out. 

Some of our flower seeds are coming up and she was so excited to see them.  She will be haunting that planter now until they actually look like flowers.  She also discovered that one of the strawberry plants from last year is growing again and has little flowers on it.  When I told her that the flowers would turn into strawberries, she said she LOVED strawberries and couldn't wait!  But, of course, we all know she will have to wait whether she wants to or not.

She is starting to brush her own hair and is beginning to actually do a nice job.  The poor Princess was so tired when she got here to pick her up and Chewlee just wanted to finish brushing her hair.  She reluctantly gave me back the brush and left with her mother.  I'll get her back around 9:30am (Saturday is a long day...the Princess works a double) so Chewlee won't be picked up until after 10pm.  I'm going to have to get her to take a nap.  I may just take one with her. 

Love you all and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!  Teach is going to have dinner with us for Sheepie's last night here before returning home on Sunday.  We were just discussing the menu and the only thing Sheepie insists on us making is green bean casserole.  Teach doesn't like green beans () but Sheepie's answer to that fact was *more for her*.    I found out that Teach doesn't eat any potatoes except for french fries, either.  Strange guy.

The Beast was incredibly happy today as he went around inspecting all his trees.  The cherry trees are full of tiny little cherries.  The peach trees are full of tiny fruit.  The pear trees have quite a few pears starting.  The plum tree (yes, only one of those...LOL) is full of little plums, too.  The apple trees look like they are going to produce a lot of apples this year as well.  He's sprayed them all as directed and we hope the fungus that destroyed all the fruit last year is gone.  We spent enough money and effort combating it.  So far, so good.

He also built the stand for both of the solar panels.  I had to give him a hand with those.  His only worry will be wind.  Wind can get underneath it and cause a problem but it would have to be one hell of a wind if you ask me.  All we can do is wait and see what happens.  Now all he has left to do is hook up the panels to the storage batteries (he got a spare one to make sure we have power to spare in the event of a black out.  I can even plug in my tv and computer to it and not be disconnected from the world at large.  Isn't that great? 

My room is a nightmare because I had to move out all my bins from the closet here in my computer room so he could work on something.  I think I have one of the storage batteries in there but I haven't checked yet.  Chewlee thinks it's neat for me to have all this *stuff* in here.  I guess to her, it's exciting.  She was very worried about the *monster in the closet* but I told her I had to move him into the closet in my bedroom while Grampa was working in the closet.  She was relieved to know it wasn't loose in the house.  She really believes I keep one in there.  I think it's cute.  She makes sure the doors are closed whenever she comes over.  Now she won't go near the closet in my bedroom because she doesn't want to scare the monster since he's in a new place (her words).

Today she was ready to eat when dinner was ready.  The problem was she doesn't like stew.  No problem.  I made her some of her favorite soup...chicken noodle and she ate a biscuit with lots of butter and honey on it.  She also asked for some ice tea.  When I was surprised she didn't want chocolate milk, she airily told me she already had some.   

She tried to bargain with me about using a straw in her iced tea.  I had told her she couldn't use a straw any more after the third or fourth time she knocked over her drink because she wasn't being careful (like all kids).  She PROMISED she would be careful so I told her I would give her one last chance or else no more straws until her birthday.  That's the end of May so it's not like it's such a long time.  She really was very careful, too.  I'll give her that.

When I gave her a bath, she helped me wash her hair and then put the cream rinse on it.  She loves her long hair and likes the fact that the creme rinse helps get any tangles out of her hair.  She put some creme rinse on her hands and pulled her hair over her shoulder and gently rubbed it into her hair.  She said, *I'm helping you get the tangles out of my hair, Gramma.  See?* 

She gave me no trouble when I brushed her hair after she got out of the tub.  I was really stunned when I realized her hair (when straight) is below her waist.  Her mother keeps wanting to cut her hair shorter but Chewlee won't have it.  She likes her long hair and will flip it over her shoulder when it falls down over her shoulders.  It's so cute and so feminine. 

When I got dressed to go pick up Chewlee from preschool, I put on a top that's made what is called Empire style with wide straps.  It's the kind of top lots of girls and women wear to show off their cleavage.  I grabbed it just because it was handy AND comfortable.  I don't have to put a bra on to wear it since it has it's own band that keeps them from flopping down.

I put a light white jacket over it since it was a bit windy and cool outside so you couldn't really see my *cleavage*.  We did our thing with Chewlee's snacks and got her comfortable for watching TV next to my computer chair.  A bit later, I took off the jacket because it was warm here in my room.

When Sheepie got back from her bf's errands, she walked in to let me know they were back, took one look at my cleavage and said, *Good grief, Grandma, your boobs got HUGE!!!!*.  I just threw her a look but from Chewlee's direction we hear in this small little voice, *I don't have big boobies.  Mine are tiny!*  All three of us cracked up laughing.  Chewlee just looked around at us all and didn't say another word.

We watched the Disney movie, *Tangled* and it was really cute.  Chewlee loved it, especially towards the end with the lanterns that float into the air.  I'm not giving anything away by telling you that if you haven't seen it yet.  When the movie was over, Chewlee jumps up, clapping her hands and yells out, *Good job!  We watched the whole movie!*  It just struck me as funny because she looked over at me and said, *Clap, Gramma!  We watched it all!*  and she came over to show me how to clap.  I guess I don't do it right as far as she is concerned.

She put the dvd into it's holder and then gathered up the dvd's that belonged to Teach so she could give them to him.  The two of them, (Sheepie and Teach) had run up to Walmart but Chewlee walked all through the house with the dvd's in her hand, calling out his name.  She finally came back into the room and I told her (again) that they weren't back yet so put the dvd's on the coffee table.  She did, reluctantly.  When they got back, she ran over to get them and give them to him....almost.  She had to give him some instructions on the fact that these were his and was the one on top his too?  (It was a rental).  He told her he had to take that one back but he would remember to take the others home so she gave them to him.

When the Princess came to pick up Chewlee and we finally got her shoes on her (don't you like my new flip-flops Gramma?  My mommy bought them.) she grabbed her blanket and started to run off.  Then she stopped dead, said she had to give Gramma a kiss (she forgot) and came over to give me a big hug and a kiss.

My life is now complete.  Today our *survival seeds* arrived and so did our solar panels that the Beast is going to set up to provide electricity should we need it.  In fact, he claims he will be able to set it up to provide the electricity for my computer and TV and it should save us lots of $$$ on our electric bill.  Somehow, I doubt this but you gotta give him credit for thinking.  It's just that I don't know what the hell path his thinking is traveling down.  Is he preparing for the total breakdown of the fabric of society?  Or is it the loss of future social security benefits and Medicare?  I'm really not sure.  I did do some yelling at him about enough being enough!  I told him that he was NOT going to die if he ran out of projects and I was really tired of all his spending.  HE was going to be responsible for our running out of money, not the government.  Especially with the way HE was going about things. 

Although he got a sheepish look on his face, he swore that he was done after this *final* project.  I just don't trust him.  But I am going to keep a closer eye on him for a while, regardless.

The survival seed package is enough seeds of vital nutritional foods for an acre of land.  It includes instructions on how to harvest the seeds from all the plants since they are not hybrids but *pure* strains.  I had no idea that pure strains did not self-replicate and had to be *encoursged*.  I guess it's like artificial insemination required.    I'll read it and let you know what new information I gain.

:*****Later*****

The Beast has been busy running wiring for the solar electric panels.  He's already hooked up a connection in my computer room and tested it out to see how much power my TV, computer and monitor draw.  He wanted to know how quickly it might drain the storage battery after dark.  He has to build a platform for the panels to keep them off the ground so we don't have a big, dumb dog stepping on it or, heaven forbid!, doing something else on it.    He hadn't thought of that.  If he puts them up on a platform, the dog won't bother it.

Chewlee was happy to see me when I picked her up today and almost forgot to get her shoes since they were out on the playground.  We watched some Sponge Bob while she nibbled on this and that but I couldn't get her to eat until it was just about time for her mother to pick her up.  Then she ate some chicken noodle soup.  She did one cute thing while she was here but I really have to beg off telling you for now.  The Beast is making me nuts in here and I am having to write this in bits and pieces. I'll write it up during the day tomorrow and post it so you know NOW that there will be another post up some time after noon. 

It cracked me up when I saw the Beast roll out the rototiller today, knowing how he really hated using it.  When he last used it was two years ago and he did just as bad a job with it that time as he did the first time he used it.  He learned nothing in between uses.  I had told him and explained to him the purpose of a rototiller and even reminded him of when we had seen one used correctly.