Pleather .... NO!

Snow kept me glued to my chair watching old movies yesterday. Fat, wet flakes blanketed the grounds and the park was lovely to look upon. From inside my warm abode with logs crackling in the fireplace. It snowed so hard that my little dogs took one look out that door and turned around to stay inside. No frivolous potty breaks yesterday.

So, today, I hopped into the shower straight away. Grocery supplies are low. I have been lazy, people. I have not properly stocked my larder. The biggest tragedy being the lack of dog treats. Shame on me.

HeWho is the giver of treats to the critters. They have a routine and upon his return form his morning McBiscuit, he doles out the dental chews. I am the giver of the eats and the water .... the necessities of life. I am also the one who keeps those critters clean.

I tossed the keys to HeWho acts as my man-servant and he started the vehicle, then came back for the broom to sweep all the snow off my hood. He had already filled it with fuel. I don't do this, as I am a delicate being and I have someone who loves me enough to do it for me. Really not delicate, just don't want to.

I opened the mail before I left. I got my Medicare card today! Feeling special, senior citizeny, I hopped on the interstate and pointed my car towards Walmart. Not in the market for clothes, I perused the clearance racks anyway. I got a pair of sweatpants for $1. Who could walk by that bargain? Not me. I picked up a cute little (not that little, actually) top for another dollar. It was like I was in The Dollar Tree! My clearance shopping did not stop in the ladies department. HeWho now has a $3 flannel shirt. It was only fair.

One thing I did choose not to buy, despite the amazing price and the fact that it was my size, I just could not see me in pleather leggings. No need to make thunder thighs shine, that only makes things look larger. I did have a good laugh, though. Some people looked at me and kept their distance. Okay by me, I don't like to be crowded.

The moral to the story, well, there are two:

1. If you want your space, act a little crazy, people will leave you alone. Unless you happen upon a kindred spirit, then you will have someone to laugh with you.

2. Fat people do not wear pleather. They should not wear pleather, that is. Really shouldn't. 

Pictures!

Cujo is rarely photogenic, but he is quite handsome here. I took this on our trip. Cujo is a good traveler, knowing he will be close to me for the trip. He knows he will have endless opportunity to smell strange smells and bark at those people he perceives to be a threat to me.

Wall-E here with his boy, Gavin. The dog was ecstatic to see Gavin. Gavin was equally happy to See Wall-E. Wall-E is a horrible traveler. He hates the entire process. When he sees us carrying stuff to the RV, he slinks off into a corner, like we might forget to load him if he tries to become invisible. On the road he is nervous and shaky. He wants nothing more than to dig his claws in my arm and back while he buries his face into my shoulder.

Eddie's first trip. He loved it. He wanted to sniff every square inch of the camper, then settled in to watch the scenery flash by. He especially enjoyed the attention he got every time we stopped. I am not sure if people were enchanted with him or just wanted to talk to me to see why we have 4 dogs.

Toni Louise wasn't particularly happy to be traveling. We had to put a baby gate between the driver's area and the back. She is definitely the dog of HeWho rescued her from euthanasia. She thinks she is supposed to be with him if she can see him.

I had to ride in the back with all the furry children. I tired sitting in the navigator's seat, but found it too uncomfortable with 3 dogs in my lap and one whining to sit in the driver's seat. I opened the sofa bed and piled all the dogs on it with me.

See, I told you I figured out how to download my pictures. I kind of found it accidentally, truth be told. 

The Phone

I pick up the ringing phone and say, "Kan-do Kampground ...." I wasn't expecting a person to say anything, as lately 90% of the calls are solicitors. But, this was a live one.

"Is this a campground?" I reply in the affirmative, wondering why she thought I answered the phone identifying that it was, indeed, a campground. "Oh, do you have places to park campers in?" "With water and all that?" I fell into my speech about the amenities included with a stay here. "Well, how much is it to stay there?"

And this is where it became impossible to communicate. After ascertaining that she had no idea about the electrical needs for the unit, since she was calling for her son. I quoted both prices for an overnight stay. 30 amp is $31 and 50 amp is $35. "So, it costs $50?" She seemed to think that was okay, but I repeated my pricing. I asked her what kind of camper she had. "Oh, it's little, only about 24'." I told her that she would need a 30 amp hook-up and asked when he (her son) would be camping.

This is when I found that he wanted to live here. I told her that the monthly rate is $400 and asked how old the camper was since I won't take junky long term campers. She was freaked out about the $400 monthly rate. When she thought it was $50 nightly, she was okay with that. 

Didn't matter anyway, camper was too old and her son won't be living here .....

Birds and Bees

Last week when the sun was shining and the birds were singing, a bee entered my humble abode. He was buzzing around all the plants in my kitchen as I was preparing supper. I pointed him out to HeWho happened in to tell me where he was about to go.

I wanted the bee to go outside, as I don't fancy being stung in the night as I sleep. I handed him the fly swatter. But he would not kill the bee! When I asked why, his main reason was that he did not want to get stung or mess with my plants. But, then he decided to educate me about the benefits of bees.

According to him, the bees fertilize the plants! When I asked how they did this, he looked confused, but then assured me that it had something to do with their legs. Perhaps he meant pollinate? 

Snow Fall

I had to be up early today for my appointment with the insurance agent for my Medicare supplement. It is March and the days of lazy leisure are dwindling.

By early, I mean 9 am. But, given the fact that I have been crawling back into bed and sleeping until 10 am every morning, it is early for me. I dared not go back to bed this morning after the 6:30 dog pee-pee time. I brewed my coffee and settled in my chair to waken. This confused the dogs, as well as the cat.

The dogs just jumped into my lap, but Martha, the boy cat, was miffed. Mornings are his special time with me. He likes to walk with me as I wait for the dogs to come back in. He positions himself between my legs and alternately rubs his entire body on one leg, then the other as we wait for his canine siblings to come inside. We all go back to bed and Martha waits until the dogs are resettled, then he slinks into the bed on the other side of me for a belly rub.

I showered and puttered about until Mr. Medicare showed up. I am all signed up and waiting patiently for my birthday before I have my check-up this year. The temperature seemed to have dropped dramatically while I was signing up. I just could not warm up.

HeWho was running errands (those McBiscuits do not come to him, you know) returned and built a fire. I was just going to sit and sip some hot tea til I got warm. My canines jumped into my lap and we all got toasty warm ..... and fell asleep.

I am not sure what woke me, probably the wind knocking stuff around. Opened my eyes, looked out the window to see that it is snowing! I am so done with cold stuff. I want to dig and prune and mow. Is this some kind of mean joke from Mother Nature?

All Is Well In My World

The flow of water running through pipes was reinstated very late last night. The canine contingent and I stumbled off to bed at 11:30. My plumber (aka HeWho plumbs) did offer to wake me so I could shower. Wake me? Why on earth would he want to do that? Let sleeping dogs lie!

I had a magnificent shower this morning. It was all I could do not to stand there until the hot water was gone. But I restrained myself and went on to clean the kitchen. And all the paint brushes. Feeling quite accomplished I decided to tackle the huge mess awaiting me in my laundry room/pump room.

First, I would need to describe what actually happened there. HeWho plumbs had reckoned the problem to be the pump. This prompted him to purchase another pump to pull the water into the system. New pump #1 failed. He diddled with the wiring and the breakers and on and on all day. Yesterday he arose early and returned new pump #1 and come home with new pump #2. 

This led to his discovery that the breakers were bad and assigned me to look up a federal pacific 2 pole 20 amp replacement. Not a daunting task with my friend Google. While I looked, he left and returned with one. Making me think he had given me some busy work to make me feel useful. I have no need to feel useful, I am content to be useless and go on about my reading and holding dogs in my lap.

Having identified the problem, but already having constructed a sizable puzzle of PVC pipes and elbows and lots of smelly pipe cement, he diddled more and finally succumbed to having a man with more knowledge help. This was when I gathered my dogs and retired to my bedroom. I stayed on after the departure of the helper. I would occasionally hear some noise, but I ignored it for quite some time.

I finally ventured out to check up on him. He was drenched, head to toe. EVERYTHING was drenched, as the pipe ruptured under the pressure of the water. He thinks he may have not waited long enough for the glue to dry. I left him to play in the water and parked myself in front of the TV, dogs in my lap.

This drenching happened THREE more times. He even changed one set of clothes, only to wet another set. I ignored all this, as it was getting later and later and I knew no shower would be forthcoming. Decided I would have all day to deal with the mess today.

Today is here. Did he use the mop or wet/dry vac to attempt a clean-up? No, he did not. He put a box fan in the kitchen, since the water went all the way into my kitchen and another fan in the laundry room. The kitchen floor was dry when I awoke this morning. But I have a long rug runner going down the middle of the laundry room. Atop this runner, anchoring it to the soggy floor was new pump #2 and all the glorious, convoluted pipe structure making it impossible to move. The rug was keeping the floor wet and water squished up into my shoes as I wiggled by the roller coaster looking construct to try to get to the washer.

I took what I could outside. My dryer sheets are wet, there is, in fact, a layer of water atop that appliance. The cat food is wet, the cat litter is wet and I have emptied the mop bucket  too many times to count. The fan is blowing in there now.

Unfortunately, on one of my trips outside to take wet stuff, I opened the gate to put some things away from canine curiosity and Toni Louise gained freedom. She ran, of course, and no manner of cajoling, promises or threats, appealed to her. I thought about chasing her, then just gave up.

I alerted her master to the situation and then went to the front door where she waited for me. These adventures do not endear her to me. But, all is well in my world. I have had a shower and my kitchen is clean.

I Am Not Having Fun

Rumor has it that there will be running water soon. I have high hopes. I really want a shower. I want to wash the dishes and rescue the last load of laundry that got caught up in water debacle.

The parts came in today. All efforts to pump with an axillary pump failed yesterday. After HeWho plumbs diddled with the wiring and breaker box most of the day, he finally had someone come to assist him. I took the dogs to my bedroom and hid out while this humiliation happened. My house is a wreck, with dishes piled up all over the counters.

For some reason, this does not seem to bother men. Bothers me, though. Good news is that I finally mastered downloading the pictures on my phone! Hooray for me!

My house smells like that nasty stuff used to glue the PVC together and I am wondering what we will eat tonight. It is already dinner time. Chinese? I will gladly skip food altogether if it means I will have a shower!

I just heard water gushing. We have water, but we can't seem to contain it in the pipes. Things are not looking too good for that shower. I can't complain, because none of my tenants have water either.

I am not having fun.