I Just Want To Play In The Dirt!

Years ago, like 10, I think, I was driving my grandson, Gavin, from his home in Minnesota back to the kampground to spend a month with us. He was almost 3, a man of few words. We left very early in the morning, saying tearful goodbyes to his Mom. I cried and his Mom cried, he was pretty stoic.

But, that's not the point of the story. Gavin was seated safely in the back seat, in his car seat with a DVD player attached to the back of the seat in front of him. This is 9 hour drive, and while I knew he would sleep some of the time, I was a little worried about his wakeful hours and boredom. He did take a long morning nap and when I noticed his big brown eyes looking at me, I asked if he might be hungry. "No, I just want to go to your house and ride the 4 wheeler with Papa." I stopped anyway and bought the child some food, which he did eat. All that long, long drive, his answer to every question I asked was the same ..... "I just want to go to your house and ride the 4 wheeler with Papa."

He did stay a whole month and was such a good little guy until the very end, when he was missing his Mom and was familiar enough to tell me he was not going to take a nap, he was not going to pick up toys and he might have had a tantrum or two. That is not what I remember, though. I remember the sweet feeling of a sleepy boy in my lap, those laughing brown eyes and the smell of his skin when I put him to bed.

Once again, I digress, because this story is about ME! I want to embrace the single-mindedness of a three year old. I don't want to check in campers, I don't want to pick up all the trash they toss to the ground and most of all, I don't want to answer the phone! I just want to go outside and play in the dirt. I want to pot plants and pull weeds and yes, even mow. But, I don't want to deal with any interruptions!

This day did not start well. I got up at my usual time, 5:30 am with Cujo and Eddie. They will usually run out and do their business and then wait at the fence, watching until their cat, Martha, leaps down to join them in a race to the back door. I then scoop Eddie into my arms and with Cujo on my heels we head back to bed for an hour or so.

This morning, Martha was waiting at the back door, where he had just yakked up his midnight snack. Martha likes to weave in and out of my legs when he comes home and I tripped over him as I tried to grab Eddie and prevent Martha's midnight snack from being a morning delicacy for Eddie. I succeeded in that endeavor and was just cleaning it up when I looked over to see that Cujo had found the remnants of BugsBunny and was eating the hind quarter. Crunching the bones. He ate it as fast as he could to keep it from Eddie and as much as I appreciate that, I was not happy when he vomited in my bed during our little morning nap.

I pulled the bedding and woke HeWho can sleep through the sound of a dog vomiting. I started the laundry and fed the canine contingent, then poured the coffee and sat down to try to put my mind in order. I looked at my phone to see that I had missed a call at 7:25 am. I listened to the message and then called the caller back. It was still quite early, I normally would not call anyone before 9 am. It was a would be camper with reservations a week away inquiring about flooding. Now, while I do know that some of the surrounding areas not far from our location did get significant flooding, we did not. As far as I know all the roads that were closed in St. Louis are now passable and beyond that, I couldn't tell you much about the route you might be taking.

I was thinking to myself that this same caller had called me before with same query. She asked if I would check her reservation and I asked for a minute to get into the office ...... "you weren't in the office last time I called, either." I know, pretty benign statement, but it did annoy me. (Last time she called I was mowing the dog park with the push mower. My office does not open until 11 am, so that I can tend to my outside chores. The phone is always on my person, though.)

I had not even had a cup of coffee and I am not all that nice before coffee. She wanted to know about the road conditions. She then said she was coming from the east and I realized that she is on Eastern time and I am on central. She seemed to be annoyed with me and I told her that I had just gotten my day started, as it is an hour earlier here. I don't know if she cared or not.

Things just continued to get worse. Wall-E peed in the bathroom floor. It is, after all, the bathroom. Feeling like I was just cleaning up one mess after another, I escaped to my garden and picked another bowl of strawberries and 4 spears of asparagus. Then I set HeWho in motion, prioritizing his tasks of the day and checked the bathrooms.

Despite the many signs that ban smoking in the building, the men's room toilet is backed up with cigarette butts. If that was not annoying enough, I went to get the chemicals that would open it up (plunging did not work), only to find that it was gone. We keep our cleaning supplies in the laundry room and have never had a problem with theft. I had just restocked the toilet tissue and paper towels and can now see that we will need to build a closet with a locked door. HeWho says that someone has been in his beloved barn. Looked to him like they were going to pilfer an auger, so perhaps they were having plumbing issues? I suppose the chemicals were easier to use.

Whenever I have a problem pop up that seems to repeat itself, I always look back to see when it starts and then look to see if a permanent tenant has come in around that time. Makes sense, you know. I know where my problem lies, I just can't prove it. I just want to stay in my own little world and play in the garden.