October 19, 2012

  • Neighbors Come Calling.....

    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    Today, of all days, the Beast decided he was finally going to tackle the problem of stripping off the wax from the floor.  He had his bucket filled with the stripper and water (in the tub, of course) and had most of the furniture moved around and out of place.  Thank goodness that one of the neighbors, who wanted to stop by, called beforehand.  The Beast had just enough time to get the furniture back in place before she and her daughter came by.

    The neighbor that called had gotten to know the Beast from his runs around the circle with Baron.  He always attracts attention due to both his size, musculature and shiny coat.  Plus, although he looks ferocious, he's so damned friendly (except to snippy little dogs) that it surprises people.  He has seldom reacted badly to people but not to anyone living in this neighborhood.  We trust his feelings and make sure the people know that his deep growls mean *stay back*.  He obviously likes the neighbor because Baron was vying for her attention and the Beast finally had to put him in our bedroom and close the door.  I was really afraid he would knock her over.  He's such a muscular and heavy dog.  He's not fat but muscles weigh more than fat.

    I found out the woman raised seven kids.  However, she had four boys and only three girls.  One of her daughter's we've known for quite a while (I think since they moved in three years ago).  I thought that was kind of neat that she moved her family close to her mother.  The other two daughters live nearby.  I didn't get to ask about her sons (yet).  She kept apologizing for not coming over sooner or being helpful while I was so sick and then recovering from my surgeries.  She gave me the cutest card saying how glad she was that I seem to be so much better now.  She said my coloring is so much better than when she saw me a few months back when they passed the house in their car.  When she left, it seemed very natural to give her a hug and thank her for stopping by.

    The Beast then got serious and OMG!  My house is a real disaster area.  He's got the floor polisher (but it has the pad you use for stripping underneath it) and the vacuum cleaner is out so that he can vacuum around the edges of furniture that he really can't move yet (and he gets the cobwebs, too, while he's at it.)  I have two buckets sitting out.  Not regular buckets.  No, no, no.  Try those big buckets with the mop presses in them.  One is for rinse water.  The other has the stripper in it.  Then you have to imagine that half the living room has furniture from the dining room squashed into space it shouldn't be.  You have to kind of thread your way through the mess to get to the kitchen. 

    When my niece, Tara, came by for a food dropoff and a visit, Chewlee got so excited.  She loves Tara a lot but was disappointed that Chance wasn't with her this time.  Tara had a free day today so she cooked.  She made some vegetable soup, super light corn bread (yum...sweet corn bread), some dinner rolls that were still warm and some cookies she had made.  She kept apologizing for the dinner rolls because they didn't rise as much as she had hoped but they were delicious.  Even Chewlee ate two of them.  So we didn't have to worry about dinner tonight AND she brought over an extra container that she put in the freezer for us for another day.  It's so nice that she loves us and thinks of us all the time.  She's not a bad cook, either. 

    Chewlee brought over a half dozen baby dolls for *us* to play with and have a tea party with them, too.  That's straight out of a Max and Ruby episode on NickJr.  **Sigh**  She was a good mommy to such a crowd and put them down for a nap even.  She borrowed two of my nap blankets for them since it was *kinda cool for them to be comfortable*.    She wouldn't eat any of the veggie soup because *I only like vegetables at MY house!* 

    Tara went out and picked some of the veggies still growing on my plants.  I had green and red peppers, banana peppers and cherry tomatoes.  There's still more out there but they need a few more days growing time.  She was really surprised and came in saying, *Who in the world would believe you still have veggies growing in October?*  We found it isn't unusual here in Alabama at all.  Hell, even flowers will still be growing that usually only last through the summer and die off when the temperatures hit in the 60's.  We've had temperatures down in the 30's at night for over a week at a time.  Seems our plants are really hardy.

    We did find out that Baron is a strawberry fan.  Chewlee got mad at him for eating a couple strawberries on our plants that she had her eyes on.    I have to check and find out if they are good for him.  Seems kind of a strange thing for him to eat, if you ask me.

    Love you all.  I'll be living in a mess for a few days but we won't have Chewlee tomorrow (Saturday) so the Beast should be able to get more done than he can if she's around.  Kids have no patience AND Chewlee is an eating machine so there's a constant trek to the kitchen, the fridge, the pantry and back to my computer room when she is here.  I hope you have a great (if busy) Saturday.  Be careful driving.  There will be lots of people out shopping on Saturday so don't be a statistic.