Won't You Be My Neighbor?

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Another cold miserable day here ...... but thinking about this girl makes me feel better. I love this age. So easy to make them happy with little things, like coloring books.




The girl has attitude, as you can see. This is my Jailynn. She possesses that attitude of my baby girl, Adrienne. She says what ever pops into her head. Cannot imagine where they got that from!

Here she is being silly, wearing her daddy's glasses. Her daddy is my handsome grandson, Danny. Missing them today.

It is dreary outside and the water situation persists. Lack of running water excuses me from many daily chores. Dishwashing and laundry. Mopping is out, as well as cooking. Showering sounds wonderful, as my feet have been cold all day long.

We have a problem with the well. I hear tell that the well will be yanked up this weekend to look for a crack in a pipe. This worries me, the yanking up of the well-works. Sounds involved, doesn't it?

Remember back to last Spring. The winds had demolished the fence. The weak point being the gated area that faced east. Once the gates had been blown down, still dangling from the standing fence, the weight helped the wind take the rest down. You will recall that Mrs. He Who Repairs voiced her opinion about putting doors and gates in wind's way. She suggested that the gate be on the north side. You will also recall that He Who will heed advice in a perverse manner, did not put a gate in the western facing fence section ....... he did not put a gate in at all.

I mention all these recollections because, I now realize that they will be taking a section of fence down to access the well, as it resides inside my fenced area. The east and west sides of the fence have garden beds that would suffer from the destruction of big equipment. The only side left, is the north facing side (the house being on the south side). This is the location someone suggested for a gate. But ....... there is all manner of manly junk and wood stacked yay high blocking the way.

This leaves one to wonder what He Who and his cronies will do when it comes time to remove that panel. Will they wisely choose to move some of the stuff blocking the northern section ....... or will they take the path of least resistance and risk the wrath of Mrs. He Who collects junk and destroy a garden bed or two?

I will be home. Depending on my level of unrelenting nerve pain (a Shingles gift), I will either be outside with a watchful eye, or I will simply pull all the shades and hide inside, preferring not to watch.

Besides the garden beds I so lovingly tend, I am also wondering if He Who Plumbs knows what he is doing. 40 years has given me many examples to draw from, but I will not recount them for you here. Not right now anyway.

Other than the well situation, things remain uneventful here. Boredom has set in and my hip and back refuse to play nice in front of the sewing machine, not liking the cold floor or the swivel chair. I have been fashioning rag rugs with worn out sheets cut  (ripped) into strips. I am happy with the results. So much so that I have launched a search to find more article to rip into strips.

TV and audio books help, but I have been forced to actually chat with telemarketers and toy with them for my own entertainment. The salesperson wishing to talk me into re-facing my kitchen cabinets was treated to a rant about having just done so and demanding to know why he thought they needed to be done again, wondering if the workmanship or materials were defective. I almost started laughing when I asked if the service would be cost-free, since they must have done something wrong.

I was feeling guilty about wasting that poor man's time and answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. The caller identified himself and said he was my "neighbor" He admitted that we had never met, but said that his pipes were frozen and he wondered if he could borrow my washing machine and dryer. Borrow. He said borrow. I thought maybe he was wondering if my laundry facilities were open. The machines are coin operated and cheap. I cannot figure out how to change the rate in the thing that accepts quarters, so I am stuck at $1.

I told him that my facilities were open year round, but that we were also having water issues and suggested the laundry mat in town. In reply, he says, "Oh, I was just wanting to borrow them, I don't have any money."

Yes, but no. Yes, I do understand what you are asking, but the answer is no. Really, maybe I should just take a ride to the nearest neighbor I do not know and ask if I could "borrow" their bathroom and kitchen. After all, I am the "neighbor".