11/6/06

* * * So I thought Rick was going to kill me on Friday. He and Nance showed up and we hung out at the house for a while, then went out for a late breakfast/ early lunch at Cracker Barrel. After, we decided to go to Scottsboro to check out the Unclaimed Baggage store, and since Rick was driving and I (supposedly) knew where we were going, it was up to me to instruct him where to go. Let’s just say I had him cutting across three lanes of traffic not once, not twice, but THREE times. I guess you could say I suck at giving directions. I ended up getting in trouble with Fred because he left work early so Nance and Rick could see the house while it was still light outside (which I’d asked him the night before to do), but when he got home we weren’t there. He’d made it sound like he couldn’t leave work early; how was I supposed to know he’d not only leave work early, he’d do it without calling me to let me know he was on his way? Fred told Nance that the only thing that could be done to repay him for having to wait for us was if she’d get on the tractor. And she did! Fred was nice, though, and didn’t make her drive the tractor or anything. We showed them the house and the grounds and babbled at them both about our plans for every single room and probably bored the everloving shit out of them, but they were nice and pretended to be interested. I promise you this: if you come to visit me in the next few months, I will babble incessantly at YOU about our plans for the house, too. And Fred will probably insist that you drive the tractor around the back forty. We took them to our favorite “Not haute cuisine or fancy in any way, but cheap and good!” country restaurant (and I coveted Nance’s ham and cheese sandwich and wished I’d ordered that instead) and swung by the Starbucks in Athens on the way home to check for half-price Halloween merchandise. (Confidential to Nance: The Starbucks in Target didn’t have half-price Halloween stuff, either. I checked for you!)

“Lady, why you wearing Elmo on your feet?” Once back at our house, we watched Mission Impossible III (is that right? III? Have there only been 3 of them? It seems like there have been SO many more than that.) and then talked and made Maddy and the rest of the cats show off for them. Fred spread catnip across the carpet, Mister Boogers got high and acted like an ass, and Miz Poo just sat there and smacked anyone who got within smacking distance. After a while, they left, promising to come back in the morning on their way out of town to pick up Maddy. And naturally I made everyone pose for a picture first. Don’t I totally look Photoshopped in? That’s RickBlur on the left (of course you remember him from his visit to Alabama a while back), NanceBlur next to him, me, then FredBlur. I kind of half-hoped they’d skedaddle out of town without picking up Miss Maddy, and I got teary-eyed for a moment at bedtime when Miss Maddy settled down next to me. But then she woke me up Saturday morning at 5:45 by biting me on the back, and I wished Nance and Rick would just show the hell up and take her away already. I do miss the little brat, but I know she’s going to be spoiled rotten in Pennsylvania so I’m not worried about her. Besides, it gives me an excuse to visit Pennsylvania, right? So I can check up on Maddy’s welfare and make sure they’re not beating her too much. * * * We worked at the house all weekend, of course. Saturday I did some painting inside (doors and the shelves in one of the spud’s closets) and then worked outside for a while. Fred had occasion to visit Lowe’s on Friday morning and while he was there, he bought me a new toy. My very own little chainsaw! Before. After. After we had lunch, I finished taping around the top of the spud’s room so Fred could paint the trim, and then I went outside and worked on more of the lawn behind the shed and garage. There’s a fairly decent lawn back there, but a lot of weeds and small trees have popped up, so I chopped a ton of them down with my chainsaw (the chain only came off once, which I consider pretty good for me) and hauled them to the burn pile. There was a lot of difference when I was done (or at least when I gave up for the day), but naturally I didn’t take any pictures so you’ll have to take my word for it. I want to work on the area along the ditch behind the shed and garage (the ditch pretty much marks the property boundary) and clear it out on Tuesday, and then maybe next weekend I’ll be ready to clear the yard next to and behind the house so I can actually mow the lawn there. We shall see. * * * Dear Julie, Waldo, Geneva, and Sadie: Please be nice to your new little sister. Or she will… Pull out the Matrix movies and…   tell you what she really thinks of you.   She’s good for snuggling with; just don’t get too close to her when she’s wide awake. You wouldn’t like her when she’s wide awake. xoxo, Robyn     * * * Spidey is not sneaking into the fridge for a cool bottle of water and a nice apple. NOT. You don’t see Spidey. Spidey was never here, you understand? * * * Previously 2005: No entry. 2004: No entry. 2003: So, Jackie, how’s the weather up there in Vancouver Washington? 2002: My life. So very exciting. 2001: Instead, when the question was posed to him, he looked at me as if I were perhaps mentally deficient. 2000: Have I mentioned that I love that man? 1999: And when you’re not good at something, unless you’re hugely delusional, you pretty much know that you’re not good at it. Even if you don’t know, there’s always someone more than willing to point it out to you.]]>