Is this just the cutest puppy ever? Wears his heart on his little hind end. Love this!
But the next one is the dog for me! Just imagine having this little sweetheart. Walking him (could be a girl, I don't know for sure) down the street. One would never lack for a conversation starter!
Just think of all the attention you would get with this one at the end of the leash!
I would definitely buy this dog! How much is that doggie in the window ...... the one with the ... um, markings on his tail. I do hope this doggie's for sale.
My baby's getting married!! Aren't they a cute couple? I have been blessed with the best in-law children ever and Chad is no exception.
Can't wait to see them.
Early blooming iris just waiting to pop.
And here it is. Just in time for the tulips to start to fade away.
My gardens make me happy. This is day three of cloudy, gray days. I long to see the sun shine through. This weather seems to bring out the strange folk.
Phone rings, "Do you have any sites available?" Depends on the date you might be referring to. "For when?" I ask. The man says tonight in a tone that indicates I should have known that. His next question is about my location. I repeat my well rehearsed answer and then ask where he is, so that I can direct him to my park. He is already on the outer road leading him to my location, having followed the signs on the road. So, why did he ask, I wonder?
Within minutes I see him at my drive. It is an older motor home. I watch as he exits and starts toward the office. Attired in gray sweats, I note that the front of his pants are wet ....... as if he may have peed himself while driving. But, no, he wouldn't just walk into the office soaked in urine. Surely he must have spilled a beverage .........
It was most definitely urine I smelled as he approached the desk. "Do you have a laundry room? I am going to need one." says the man who wet himself. No argument from me. Soon as he parked he started washing clothes. Guess he was out of dry clothes.
I have been absent for a bit. Blogger has refused to let me play! I could read, but not comment or post.
I have been busy in my gardens. Every other year the local electric company contracts to have the limbs trimmed near the lines. I very graciously let the trucks dumb the chipped wood here. Free mulch for me. Not as fine a mulch as I might like, but free. The last truck was cedar and it smells amazing. I hauled 55 five gallon buckets up to my side yard and mulched non-stop for 2 days. I need about 30 more buckets to finish my project, but the rain is keeping me in today.
So what interesting events have been going on here? Repeat business .... or so he said. I didn't remember him, but I will now. The man came in and said he needed a spot to park his fifth wheel. Okay. I wait to see if he is going to elaborate ..... does he want to dry store it, is he traveling and needs a site for one night ........ He just stands looking at me and then says, "It happened again. I just threw my stuff in the truck and left. I haven't had a shower in two days." I try to keep my expression neutral and it must have worked, because he then said, "It's me. I was here a few years ago when me and my old lady had a fight. She is back at it again, so I guess I'll just stay here and try to find work."
This is way more information than I need to hear, but I have concluded that he is looking for a spot to rent on a monthly basis. So, I ask, "How long do you think you will be needing a site?" I thought it was a reasonable question. He says, "I don't know. Who knows what she is going to do next?" Not me, that is certain. I explain to him that I am booked solid for Memorial Day weekend and do not have a long term site available. This seems to confuse him and I have to explain two more times.
"Well, can I stay until then, maybe about a month?" I grab a calendar (big, wall size), as I think I will need a visual aid for this next explanation. He finally gets it and asks me again if I remember him from his last fight with the "old lady". I don't. Since he made the comment about "finding work", I am a little anxious about how he plans to pay for a week and the merchandise piling on the counter. I am relieved to see he has cash, as I am still sitting on a bad $425 check from the last victim of "old lady" abuse.
He pays and goes to park and I head back outside to my buckets and mulch. Ten minutes later he is back. "Water? There ain't no water." says the victim of spousal abuse. I tell him I will have the maintenance man (aka He Who Plumbs) come help him. He Who Plumbs was being He Who Tows (him being a man of many titles), so I texted him with the problem and he gave me an ETA.
I gathered my buckets and rode back to my mountain of mulch, filled them and headed back when the phone rang. It was my new tenant. The water was coming through our hydrant just fine, the problem was his plumbing. Just hang onto this little nugget of info, it will appear later in the story.
The rest of that afternoon and night was uneventful and I went about my business the next day with my mulching and digging weeds. I am always happy when I have my hands in dirt. Unless I am sewing, then my hands are clean. And that is exactly what I was doing when the phone rang. " Is this Kan-Do Kampground?" asks the woman. I answer in the affirmative and she introduces herself as the wife (old lady) of my newest tenant. She wants me to go rouse him and tell him to call home. It is very important she tells me that he call her. She goes on to tell me that she has heard a lot about my park and I murmur appropriate thanks and end the call.
I had no intention of going to the site and waking this man. I planned to have He Who Mows and Tows do this. I put it on the list of non-emergency chores and keep sewing. A couple of hours later, who should appear, but the now awake tenant. I suppose he was going to ease into this "looking for work" thing. He told me he had been asleep all day and he purchased three cans of Coke to help himself wake up. I informed him about his need to call home .........
"Why didn't she just call me on my cell?" he asks. I am beginning to feel that I should add an additional charge, since he seems to view me as his counselor. He gets his cell out of his pocket and curses. "She had my phone shut down! Now how am I supposed to call her?"
I hand him my handset from my land-line. I am behind the desk and the store is not huge by any means, but I fully expect him to retreat to a corner for privacy. But, he stands there looking at me as he calls her. I don't want to be a part of this conversation, but he doesn't move. I pick up my little Cujo and start talking to him and move to the door to give the man some privacy. But, it is , after all, my store and my cash register right there!
I can't help but be privy to this tearful reunion of a man and his old lady. Yes, he was blubbering about being sorry and how much he loved her and how did she think he felt being here all alone with nothing to do but sleep? The "I miss you" and "I love you" continued, until finally he returned my phone and grinned at me. "It worked! I am pulling out and going home."
It was only 10 minutes until closing time and he says he will be up after he gets all set to go for his refund. I stop him and tell him we can take care of it right then. Now, my receipt clearly states "no refunds", but I don't enforce it unless I have good reason. I adjust his charges to daily, instead of weekly and return his portion and lock up.
Fast forward to today. I have totally put this incident out of my mind. I run my errands and come home. While unloading my car, the phone rings .......... guess who. He wants to tell me that my hydrant is not working. He says he checked it before he left and it was the problem, not his plumbing. Then he wanted to chat about his reunion with the "old lady". I cut him off, telling him I had another call ....... all the while wondering what he did to my hydrant.
Can't seem to download pictures today, else you would be enchanted with my lilies .......
Nothing bothers me too much and I sit here sipping my V-8, in a Vicodin haze. I must say this the best V-8 I have ever had! Could the Vicodin have enhanced the flavor?
In addition to the pain from the void where my wisdom tooth once resided, I seem to have a foot malady as well. I have no idea what may have bitten my heel, maybe a spider. I tend to my gardens in my beloved flip-flops, so all of foot is bare as I am kneeling and digging. I didn't really notice anything other than an itch until Wall-E, the wonder dog was following me too closely and stepped on the back of my shoe. One of his wickedly long toenails grazed my heel and a pain shot all the way to my leg pit ( as explained by a young Adrienne ....... this is where your legs meet at the top). I stopped my voyage and took a peek at the heel, thinking it might need stitches. But, the skin wasn't even broken, just red and swollen.
My daily routine now includes soaking the heel in Epsom salts twice daily. It seems to be improving and the really good news is that my potted plants are loving the foot soak water! You didn't really think I would waste it by simply pouring it down the drain, did you?
In spite of my foot-ache I still managed to mow my back yard yesterday. The dandelion stems are taller than Cujo and he must feel like he is in the jungle as he goes about his daily business. Since I always remove any toys and other obstacles out of the way, I allowed the dogs to stay in the back yard with me while I mowed.
Cujo has gotten used to seeing the noise machine making row after row of nicely shaved grass and he likes to watch, from a distance. Wall-E and Toni Louise like to bark at the mower as I go along. I think they have a contest to see who will bark the loudest. Old Oscar sits on the stoop and watches, impatiently waiting to go inside, thinking than any entrance to the indoors is reason for a treat.
As I was finishing, Toni Louise was totally engrossed in what I thought was a stick or a toy that she had found. She was right in my path and refused to move. No amount of verbal persuasion seemed to work. She kept her head low to the ground and would look up at me when I called her name, but she did not move. I had to stop the mower and as I approached she stood up with her prize in her mouth. A dead mouse covered in dog saliva! Looked like a fairly fresh kill, although I am no expert and did not intend to check for body warmth or stiffness.
I wish Martha, the boy cat, would stop bringing gifts to his canine friends. All I can think about is Toni Louise licking my chin that morning!
It has been hot here at the campground. Seems like it was freezing one minute and suddenly it is in the 80's. A million things to do and the dandelions just keep popping up and standing at attention.
Time is a precious commodity here. There is wood to be split and stacked, grass to be mowed, fences to fix, tables to paint and bathrooms to clean. I try to do nothing through the middle of the night except sleep. I have had a toothache for awhile now. Tried to ignore it, I really don't have time for such things, but today I succumbed. I had an 8:00 am appointment.
I was not looking forward to sitting a spell in the dental chair, having a good healthy fear of dentists. I was the first patient of the day and arrived with minutes to spare. By 8:40, my wisdom tooth was gone and I was walking to my car with a bottle of pain pills.
Not one to waste a trip to town, I had carefully listed all the supplies I needed to pick up the night before. The pool is filling and will soon be full of swimmers. Those swimmers will be wanting rafts and balls and swim rings. They will hungry and thirsty and I aim to please. Still numb with Novocaine I made my first stop, only to realize the store was not yet open.
I am thrifty and not willing to waste even a drop of fuel (it makes me cringe to watch He Who Mows put gas in the mowers .... it always overflows). I meandered to another store next door and found tomato plants. Four for a dollar! Made me so happy. After stocking up on the pool supplies, I ended up at WalMart. Still feeling no pain, I took my time strolling the garden area. Nothing called out to me and I headed to the clearance plants .... or what I call the rescue center. I did rescue some petunias and some pansies, though I would have preferred perennials.
I gathered all the necessities and headed to the check out. I could feel the Novocaine leaving my face and lips. I carefully separated the tax free items from my personal purchases and was starting feel some pain.
I was throbbing when I started out to my car. I always park on the same aisle and use the same entrance when I go to WalMart. Always. But, for whatever reason, I decided to park at the secondary entrance. I even told myself as I walked into the store, to remember which door I came in.
Now, minus that tooth of wisdom, I went out the door I normally use before I remembered my whim. I had made it to the check-out with just one shopping cart, but the clerk had decided I needed two. I was in pain and did not object. The dentist had said it would be best not to do a lot of bending and lifting for a few days.
So, there I was, pushing one cart and pulling the other, looking for my vehicle. The cart I was pushing seemed to defy me as I tried to maneuver the parking lot. I tired to reverse the order of the carts and the second one had a wacky wheel. I can only imagine how entertaining it must have been to watch me hunt down my car while fighting with those carts.
Did I mention that the parking lot slopes down towards the store, so it was an up-hill climb. Finally finding my car, I starting loading. As I was heaving the giant bag of dog food into my car, the second cart got away from me and I was forced to chase it. Go ahead, laugh. I am quite sure it was amusing to watch.
As I loaded the last of it, I felt a little "pop" in my jaw as I bent to remove the bag of flea/tick killer from the shelf under the cart. Yes, it was the clot in the hole left by the wise old tooth. Brought tears to my eyes. I seriously considered popping a vicodin right then and there, but decided against it. The 23 miles of interstate awaiting me needed my full attention.
I am now home, fully under the influence of my vicodin. The refrigerated items has been safely stowed away and I am sitting here happily rifting in my drug induced state. I hope I don't run out before I heal.
April is finally over, it is official! The rains have let up for an absolutely gorgeous weekend.
As I have alluded to in previous posts, Murphy's law of misfortune has plagued the kampground of late. The "new" fridge is still not fixed, waiting on a part, the Pepsi machine lolls with cans of tepid sodas waiting to be cooled. Another part ordered.
The April showers and the chilly weather has kept me out of my gardens ........ Yesterday the grounds were finally dry enough to get the mowers out and I mowed and mowed with my trusty push mower, while He Who Mows was whipping through the larger areas on his big mower. We did not finish. I left the dog park til this morning, knowing it was far enough away from the kampers to not disturb anyone at 7 AM.
I noted a truck with a travel trailer that I did not recognize in a site I had not assigned. I pointed this out to He Who was about the business of finding fuel for my mower. I hinted that perhaps he should go and have a little chat with the occupant and maybe get payment. "It is early, just watch it." says He Who is loading gas cans into his vehicle.
I finished my dog park and went in for a cup of coffee. I took my coffee out to play in some mulch and enjoy my gardens. My favorite coffee drinkers came up for our Saturday morning session that I look forward to all week. We lingered outside, enjoying the gardens and I see the truck with non-paying tenant coming round the curve to leave. I start walking towards him and wave my hand for him to stop and he blows right by me. I yell, "HEY" and he keeps going. He Who Mows at 12 mph (clearly violating my speed limit) happens to look up at just the right time and gives chase to the man in the truck pulling the trailer that neglected to pay.
The truck ignores both of us and keeps going. This happens more often than I care to think about, though, not so blatantly. He Who Mows came flying up to me and told me to watch the truck to see which way he was going on the interstate and the next thing I saw was the little VW burning rubber, heading for the exit.
My buddies and I went on in and had our coffee, all the while wondering about the situation. It was appalling to think that someone would steal so blatantly. It is only $25, but it does add up. Clearly, law enforcement is not going to give chase to something considered trivial to them. It was brought to my attention that perhaps He Who was speeding might end up with a ticket to pay for his efforts. That would surely have been the icing on Murphy's cake.
But ........ I got a text from He Who fancies himself to be Andy Taylor (not Barney). He caught the perpetrator and retrieved payment!!!!!! No speeding tickets involved! Has Steven Murphy left the premises? This is a good sign. I think he should have doubled the price for all the effort it took to collect, but he only got the $25. I am happy with that.
Perhaps Steven Murphy hitched a ride .......... he was headed west .........
