Looks like another long night here at Casa Poops. I'll catch ya'll when the internets come back up ^j^

Not bad for an ending to a soggy weekend on Pecan Lane.

It's cold and rainy....perfect weather to pile up in the house and do mindless things. I ran across an old videotape last night of a big party at the day job from about 15 years ago. Somebody in maintenance filmed it and managed to get plenty of nice butt shots on the young gal...which was most of us at the time. My boss is in the dunking booth holding her nose and I was on the stage shakin' my tail to Achy Breaky Heart. Lawd. I saw the faces of several people who have long since died and many who have moved on to other jobs and lives. I'm sure the patients got taken care of just as well, or better, than they would have if we had not gone to the effort to have some fun as a group. Happy team players = happy customers.

I got out of the flannel around two and me and the BG went to visit the grands. She showed us the pictures of she and her buds in downtown Nashvegas around the legislative plaza. A real learning experience, for sure. The one senator who was opposing the bill they were watching didn't show up for a scheduled meeting with them, but a 73 year old social worker did, so it was all good. She and her Dad have had a together type experience with the court system this week. That went well also.

I totally bricked on tournament brackets this year so it's a good thing I don't gamble the real green. Put too much faith in the home teams ;) No, actually there's been a lot of good play and they got beat the hard way. I've learned from redneck friend and bosslady that as long as you play your heart out the win isn't always what matters.

The evening is mine to blow as I choose, which means I'm in for the night. Maybe some old pictures next?

Keep the faith kids.

^j^

I passed on the kudzu bar thing this afternoon for the opportunity to play outside and burn daylight shit. I can still see the glowing remains of pine needles and pecan branches out front. Dang I love spring! The megapile is dryin' out for a couple of weeks before we fire it up. That will most certainly be a special occasion. Ya'll bring your chairs and coolers. And any fire extinguishers you might have laying around. PASS :)

We talk about the damndest things at work when we have the time. This afternoon the subject was high school teachers screwing their students and accountability, not necessarily in that order. Rumor has it that a couple of female teachers have been canned recently for gettin' in on with teenaged boys. By the time we went back to work there were no less than ten opinions on the table and nobody was right. I like that kind of dialogue because, frankly, I am all about the gray areas of life.

Mama got delivered back home this afternoon from her girl trip all safe and sound. According to her, they talked until the wee hours and ate a lot of ice cream. Sounds good to me. They stopped on the road for a burger today and were chattering like magpies when one of them noticed that a guy a couple of tables over was laughing with them carrying on like schoolgirls. He told them he was a preacher who had two funerals to do tomorrow and they brightened up his day. Ain't it wonderful how Big Ernie works in the oddest of ways?

The mighty Mississippi river is about to crest and has already spilled all over everything back to where it used to live. My friend the riverman is doing a highwater tour from Memphis to Greenville next week with a few brave souls in a dugout canoe. I'm just saying...I hope a snake don't bite 'em in the ass.

Ya'll be careful out there.

^j^

Cute as hell ain't they? Babygirl got home awhile ago from the current session of legislation in Nashville. Sounds kind of interesting. Thanks to big ernie she's home to sleep with that spoiled rotten cat of hers before she heads to court in the morning.

Yep...Daddy's in a pinch. I gotta tell you and be honest about it...I admire him for what he's accomplished in the past couple of years. Dude went from homeless guy strung out on meth and crack to working two jobs straight just to make things right with the people he has hurt. Thats' a step somewhere amongst the twelve, I believe.

The day job has slowed down a bit and I'm loving it. More time to talk about life and love and all that shit. George's wife has been in what you call in the "widow fog" for the past month, according to one who knows the feeling all too well. Dang, I hope she'll work for me when we go to visit our cousin/niece-or-nephew in Virginia this fall. They charge us a dime now for a cup of ice at work due to the rising cost of petroleum based products. Ha...I'll show them. I recycle. A good friend of mine is on the way to southern FL this weekend to stand by her son. Let's pray about that one and be specific. Joshua is his name.

The fallen pine is no more, thanks to KT and Bubba. Oh, and me. Amongst the three of us we chopped that thing into little pieces and piled it all up for a future bonfire. Note to self: * make sure city FD coverage is current* Last I saw of the trunks they were on the front end of a tractor chain headed for the dump. Mom is at Lake Barkley Pickwick with her childhood friends and Daddy is more than likely watching Gunsmoke in his recliner.

Me and some other idiots are planning a 35 year reunion for the DhS class of '73, bless our hearts. Basically that consists of staying in touch with everybody as life brings it to us. Everytime I watch " That Seventies Show " I cringe at the lengths we went in order to vent our frustrations with the war and our government in general. What were we thinking?&+*

I'm good..how about ya'll?

Lord have mercy and bless their hearts....my beautiful floral Easter photos got counterpointed with a full blown comment straight from the Left Behind crew drawn from the book of Revelations. I'm not sure, but I think it was a GOP spammer *snort*
I reckon I'm now a threat to the Republican party because I tend to think that their last eight years in power have been a bunch of poop at our expense. So, sue me for that surprise!tax!refund! advance on next year's payback for the privilege of paying for a war that I was against from the get go. If I thought it would help things, I would gladly give it back.

Today was a Monday and also pap smear day. Gotta keep my date every three months with the gyn, ya know? We have regressed from low grade dysplasia to ASCUS during the year and a half courtship amongst me and him and the pathology group making the cytological call on the state of my cervix. I must say that I feel much more secure knowing exactly who is looking at that stuff rather than thinking that it's being run through a pap smear mill somewhere in outer Mongolia. The day job has its' perks in spite of the aggravations.

I worked on the pile'o'pine that is my front yard this afternoon and made a little bit of progress. The rest will have to wait on a guy with a chain saw. I've always wanted one, but just KNOW that I'd shoot my eye out with it so I call in professionals like my brother and KT. I'll have to pay them back with fresh asparagus. Did a little work on that area of the ranch today too. There's this big old mess of multiflora roses and honeysuckle all wound around each other and through the fencing next to the bed. Ouch!

BG is gone to a legislative conference in Nashvegas for a couple of days so I've got custody of Lily the cat, in addition to the precious canine threesome AKA Faith, Butterbean and Sam. It's looking like a crowded night in the old queen sized bed this evening.

Hope they don't mind my snoring.

ZzzzZZZZzzzz

I've often wondered what it would have felt like for those on funeral duty at the tomb that morning. It was obviously empty yet there was no way that it COULD be. How wonderful for all of us that it was~~

I've spent most of this weekend so far cleaning. Something about having new floors makes a girl want to keep the rest of it lookin' decent. Just a little more paint, and it'll be (finally) where we want it. I've lived in transition for several years dreaming about it..

Another transition has been my acceptance of the good things in life. Oddly enough, the more I reach out for them the more I'm given. There was a time when I wouldn't have given you a cold beer for the chance to ever see daylight financially even after the emotional stuff got sorted through. I am wise spiritual enough to know that there have been people praying for me along the way and that's the only way I have kept the faith. Thanks ya'll and bless your hearts. Every one of you.

We'll be eating with the grands at Mary Lou's for Easter dinner. Me and Mom are both way too tired to do all that cooking:) A new tradition is born! I'll be sure to remind her about the preacher's Easter greeting to her in the ER that day which came from the title of his sermon.

"Surprise!"

How ya'll doing this Good Friday? I'm tickled to be home in my jammies with the dogs nearby, knocking the sawdust out of my bedroom closet. Simple Man gal. Cheap date. I'm currently jamming with Bonnie Raitt and thinking about what this day is about. A couple of years ago I was working at the sawmill when I got a call to meet Daddy in the ER because Mama had been in a wreck. It was Easter Sunday, but the preacher took a break in between early and late services to come and pray for us while she was laying there crying and bleeding on the stretcher. That was her last drive before she became Miss Daisy. She seems to be enjoying the ride :)

As fate would have it, I ran into redneck friend at the intersection by the mission store this afternoon and we commenced to drinking some beer and watching basketball at the kudzu bar with the afternoon crew. Most of our brackets are busted already thanks to upsets. I hate it when that happens, ya know? Especially on the second day of spring. My boss and her hub are nestled away in a mountain cabin with the most spoiled rotten dog in the world over towards middle TN where his momma lives. I talked to her from the road early this morning. The other boss? Talked to him yesterday on his way out of town. Flu season seems to be easing up...life is good for us out there on the front lines of sneezing/fever/muscle aches.

Gotta get back to the closet. Ya'll keep the faith this Easter weekend. It's what the whole thing is about.

^j^

Hat tip to Yaya for this most sentimental of holiday greetings *snort*

We are waterlogged once again here in Poopieland but safe following a wild couple of days of weather. That very same weather that dumped up to a foot of rain in Missouri and killed 11 people. Yes, I feel blessed. No tornado touchdowns. Just a lot of wooden mess to clean up in the yard. I don't think I have EVER experienced such high straight line winds as what we had last night. I woke up about 1:30 this morning to thunder and lightning and a sound sort of like the house was about to take off for Kansas. There are some things that were on the porch that will never be found, and the already ailing four or five pine trees gave up the ghost and crashed on down on top of the buttercups and iris. Anybody up for a chainsaw party? I also found, when I got up to investigate, that the dining room door had blown open and the floor was covered with water from end to end. Nothing a few towels couldn't quickly take care of.

My buddy Jim bestowed upon me the You Make the World a Better Place award over at his b**g and I am tickled to be in the company of other such thoughtful bloggers. Thanks Jim! What are ya'll eating tonight?????????

Yesterday was not only the birthday of the grand kween of the kudzu bar but also the grand opening of the newly constructed patio, just in time for her party. No furniture yet, but that will come. Good thing it wasn't there last night, or it would have blown plum over into the kudzu by the river!

Another Diva and Punkin sighting today when I least expected it and was not prepared with the camera. Ya'll are gonna just die when you see this chick, bless her heart. And by the way, bless mine too for not having anything better to do than stalk a nutcase and her dog. A good Sugardaddy would probably cure that. But then again, maybe not.

The fact that I've been off for two days makes hump day all the more wonderful. As my friend Mahala over there in Frog Pond Holler says "Hump it real good!"

As you were.

^j^

....springs buttercups!

Mine was swell 'cuz I wasn't pinched even though I didn't wear a speck of green. Well, except for that shot the dentist gave me. That was more like a sharp stab in the roof of the mouth, bless my heart. After that I managed to do a little yard work and cook some supper for the traveling babygirl. Talapia is always a good choice when pressed for a quick and easy menu.

I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but I've lost fifteen pounds so far this year and haven't done anything different except ratchet up my activity level a bit and take green tea caplets. I reckon I can thank the sawmill for part of that, but the rest of it is due to home improvement and walking around the yard seeing things that just HAVE to be done because it's spring. Some time ago I quit the latest greatest statin for my cholesterol and substituted flaxseed oil. That number went down as well. Could it possibly be that the uber drug companies are making a killing at the expense of consumers? Hmmmmm. My HDL remains terminally low, but thanks to olive oil the triglyceride level is reasonable and the LDL is low as well.

Which brings me around to the price of oil and politics. About a week or so ago I ranted the biggest bitchfest you ever saw about this government in general and the Bush administration in particular. It never got posted because ya'll come here for the laughs, right? I'll give you the short version with bullets.

1. Get the eff out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who have served there did so because they were misled to believe that it would make a difference in the "war on terror". Not so. It's all about supply and demand of oil for soccer mom SUV driving and big fat honking trucks in America. Ride a bike, for God's sake. Take a walk. When Dubya's motorcade brushed right past Cindy Sheehan in Crawford that day,a little piece of my belief in this country died. Just as it did when the government failed the Americans on the Gulf Coast after Katrina.

2. Nobody lives forever, even if Terri Schiavo's family thought that she should. She had absolutely no comfort in her death, thanks to Bill Frist et al. When for-profit medicine lobbies on the basis of political power, everybody loses spiritually.

That was about the extent of it. Can't bitch much about the stock market because I've got nada invested. If I did? I'd be cashing it all in and burying the bucks in a jar in the backyard like in the old days. That's how much faith I have in the economy of the US at this point in time.

You'll never find it so don't even bother to dig.

^j^

The howling just never ceases with Lily the cat who is woman...hear her roar! I'm beginning to think she just likes the attention..ya know? Me 'n BG watched her climb yet another tree this afternoon after I got home from you-know-where. It was NOT a good day to be an old gal wearing cheap tennis shoes on concrete floors for nine hours. By the time Hank came on the teevee, I was ready to consider a career in propane.

To decompress, I walked the yard with a beer, noticing the newest sprouts and calling 'em by name. There was some nice background noise from the birds..saw a woodpecker and lotso crows plus a handfull of fat doves. Dang...I adore the way they coo at nobody in particular. It's a joyful song, even though sometimes it sounds sort of sad. Kind of like life, I guess.

Me and my friend Meanie went up to the nursery on a mission today to draw some blood from a baby and we failed miserably, even with the help of a real nurse. RT came to the rescue and all was well. Meanie is mom to a booger jawed infant herself by the name of Izzie...short for Sara Isabella. The RT hero has not one but two beautiful daughters and a hunky hub. It's always good when somebody you can count on has your back at the sawmill.

Remember Diva and Punkin ? Another co-worker reads the poop occasionally and had something to share with me the other day. It seems that my description hit a nerve and she confessed that Diva is her cousin of the black sheep variety. Lawd...the girl has a name and all! I still prefer to think of her as Diva, though. It just suits her spandex mini-skirt self better than Nicole. I gotta wonder what's on her IPod that brings so much joy to her voices.

How 'bout those brackets ya'll? I do so love me some down to the nut-cuttin' basketball action particularly when two home teams are still scrapping. It's March and it's mad. Gotta love it, even if you're not a betting sort of gal. Anything can happen and that's what I love about it.

I'm outta here. Ya'll sleep well, and if you can't? Get some dawgs to snuggle with.

..you cover the bottom of the ancient rainbow vacuum bowl with plastic wrap because it leaks and duct tape didn't work and you can't afford another one. But then again, you might just be a smartass middle aged country gal with a lot of sawdust to get rid of. Sometimes we just figure out how to make things work for the moment, ya know?

A great big shoutout to my sistercousin Debbie and my newest out in-law Ronnie up in Kentucky. The got married today after several years of thinking about the pros and cons of wedded bless in between raising chickens and making stained glass windows and such. I was planning on attending the nuptials and snaggin' me a Kentucky sugardaddy but..you guessed it. It's my scheduled weekend at the sawmill. Business was steady today as I'm sure it will be tomorrow. Everybody and their brother decides to get sick on Saturday and Sunday, bless their hearts.

I was real proud to hear that Idgie survived the nasty weather that hit around Atlanta last night. Lord knows we couldn't live without her wit and humor, not to mention her editorial skills. Ya'll wanna make that girl happy? Send her a picture of some cows or some kudzu.

These longer days are really throwing me for a loop because I have to wait until a respectable hour after dark to climb into the bed with the dawgs. This normally involves much pushing and shoving to get 'em out of my spot and into theirs. They love nothing better than when I'm up and about and they've got the whole queen size to their ownselves. In MY spot, by the way.


Watch out for leprechauns and green beer. I hear they go well together in a kinky sort of way.

Mama needed a couple of teaspoons for a pork project. Something to do with orange juice. Still got some leaves frozen from last summer so I scooped some out for her right there on the spot. Sheesh...do we love our parents or what?! Daddy came by this afternoon to see me and the critters. As you know, the cat is in heat and a total nuisance. The dogs are finally gettin' up off their asses and playing outside like everybody 'oughta do when it starts greening up in the northern most west Tennessean kind of way.

Anna and Conner came out this week to feed the horses. They both dropped the fruit in the dirt because they were afraid of those big old nasty horse lips. And the teeth. Trapper and Pride loved every bite!

I have to work relish the opportunity to serve sick and dying folks this weekend. I bitch about the day jog a lot but it's a great chance to meet patients where they are and make a difference in the lives of them and their family members. Getting to know them as people rather than bill #s makes it all worthwhile. Besides, when somebody is sick who do they wanna see?? A familiar face you can trust is a good start.

My yard is tuning into Easter egg colors like purple, hot pink and yellow. Lots of green too. Ya'll know that makes old Poops happy, right? BG had some famous folks all up in the hotel last night..sweet tater kweens on their way to Mississippi to march in the St. Paddy's Day parade down there. As Elpee tells it, the ones who put the balloons in their bras are official..the rest of the bunch is just security. I asked her how about us gals who don't have ROOM for the balloons and she didn't have an answer. It' prolly got something to do with blood oaths and friendship. I'm just guessin', though.

Once upon a time there was a bunch of us girls who met at Bev's place and dubbed ourselves the kudzu kweens strictly because there's so dang much of it over there by the Forked Deer river where the property sits smack in the middle of a flood zone. A lot of our camraderie has involved talking about men and how they do. We'll just call it our support group and leave it at that, umkay?

Debbie and Ronnie are gettin' married tomorrow and I gotta tell you I'm happy for 'em. She and I are the sisters we never had, ya know? Talked to Claude this afternoon and it was good to hear her voice again after all this time. Hat tip to Kay for having the number :)

The river exploration got postponed for a couple of weeks due to unstable weather conditions. Apparently the consultants don't like to get wet and muddy or else they're worried about liability and lightning. It'll all work out in the end.

I still don't know the name of that wild lookin' bush with all the white blooms. Maybe I'll google it. Ya'll should feel blessed that you didn't have to read last night's rant about the war. It wasn't the least bit purdy.

I'll be at work...holla if you need me.

^j^

Yes, I'm still here, but shopping for mace or a nifty little handgun to protect me from the evils of the world. I'm so naive, ya'll. Hatchet man could bust right in and murder us in our sleep but I feel pretty damn sure that the dogs would eat his ass up before he ever took the first whack. Don't mess with Mama and BG when there's a pack of wild canines just looking for a reason to attack.

In other news, Lily seems to be growing up and wanting to get laid which definitely ain't gonna happen in my lifetime. We've had enough litters of kittens born around here to last until the next millenium. The noises are pitiful, and I can sure relate to the mournful howls of a woman in need *snort* At least I don't crawl all over people and cry when I get that way. Gawd. She's sittin' on my shoulder right now purring for love.

We've had some glorious weather here on Pecan Lane and I've made the most of it piddling in the yard and sheds and sowin' a few wildflower seeds. Currently in bloom: daffodil, quince, forsythia and that bush with the tiny white flowers that I don't know the name of. If I post a picture can somebody name it for me?

Butterbean is barking at the moon again. I'm off tomorrow. All is well in my neck of the woods.

I got bored with cleaning this evening and decided to broaden my horizons, per se. When in doubt, head to the kitchen. I've never been much on green veggies unless they're disguised with something yummy. That asparagus patch out there is a sublime source of fresh produce but I can't get it down unless the crunch is gone and there's sauce all around it. Maybe if I was on Survivor or Lost and the other menu choice was raw bugs still on foot. Spinach is something that never caught my fancy until my good friend AKC turned me onto a tasty version named after Madeline. It's good, but I found something even better while researching here. Our only modification is to load it up with grated Monterey Jack cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Oh.My.Lord.

I get these emails at work from a professional organization that are usually quite boring and technical but today's missive caught my eye because of its' original approach to recruiting potential blood donors. In case you don't realize it, there's still nothing like the real thing..especially when you're bleeding to death or just need a palliative bump to make life a bit easier when you're suffering from a chronic disease.

I picked some buttercups yesterday and plunged their stems into some water with blue food coloring like we used to do back in the day.

We are almost back to normal around here. Well. As much as ever are :) And yes indeed..I was in a mood last night. A very bad one. It's all better today, thankyouverymuch. Must have something to do with sunshine and warmth. The snow went as quickly as it came but it was pretty to watch. A winter without at least one snowfall is like...uh...early spring.

BG is on spring break this week so she only has the night job to contend with. That's a piece of cake without the daily commute to classes. Notice the big smile above! Lily went outside with me this afternoon to climb a couple of trees just because she can. She's a climbing fool, that cat. All three dogs are learning how to not slide on the laminate when they play and their nails make a nice click-click-click letting me know exactly where they are at any given moment. Sam went over to the landfill dump across the road and retrieved this little toy dog that he has claimed as his baby..it squeaks when he shakes it in his mouth. His favorite activity lately has been taunting Faith with it just enough to get her to play a rowdy game of tugs.

Mom and Daddy dropped by to see the new floors and now they're off in the truck to check out the cows. Mama hasn't been in that truck in ummmm....years. She's up for arthroscopy on her bad knee soon so I won't be at all surprised if she signs up for a marathon after that. How totally amazing considering what she's been through in the past couple of years.

Ya'll have a good week and keep the faith.

^j^

The kudzu bar will probably fire me as photographer because I've been absent of late. I doubt seriously they'd find anybody else who would put out the effort and pay for their own beer while capturing it all for posterity. My bad.

Once upon a time I was a married gal who fell in love with a farmer from up north and decided it was do or die time. There was a divorce and a lot of hard feelings and the farmer still won't speak to me. Instead, he hangs out with and texts our mutual friend when he's not cruising the interstate in an eighteen wheeler. Also my bad.

I'm not quite sure what it is about me that hooks into guys who aren't available emotionally but I'm sorry to say that I think I passed it onto the kid. You know the type as well as I do...the ones who have baggage and reach out to you then disappear when you take the bait. Farmer boy was one of those...work guy was another. There was another one too..an Eagle Scout. His baggage is so heavy it takes a bucket truck to carry it.

Which brings us to where I am now. Single for six years legally, but a helluva lot longer in my head. Devoted Mom to a Babybird who is close to leaving the nest. Grateful daughter of parents who have taught me well. The quiet force in the midst of a totally dysfunctional workplace. Loyal to a fault. Failing eyesight and post-menopausal, all the while believing in miracles.

Keepin' the faith.

^j^

Okay then. I dreamed of a white Christmas, but noooooooooo. What I get is a white March the 7th. It's coming down like crazy with 3-5 inches in the forecast. Me and BG are hunkered down for the weekend with our new floors and lots of cleaning to do. That sawdust sticks like freakin' glue to glass and furniture. We've kind of been on auto-pilot this entire week so it feels good to relax. We spent Wednesday night, she and I plus two dogs and one cat in her double bed. Sounds cozy, huh? Butterbean doesn't care for "togetherness" so she slept curled on a chair.

I'm so tired I can't think of one more witty thing to say. Ya'll have a great weekend and I'll catch ya later.

^j^

These two handsome gentlemen are at the top of my hero list right at the moment. That one on the left is Brian. And the other one? Well, he's Brian too. In three days flat these guys transformed the creaky old floors of Casa Poops into a masterpiece of wood and vinyl. If you've ever been here, you would know what a miracle that is, right Hossie? Let's just pray that Big Ernie don't send a twister blizzard to huff and puff and blow the whole thing down.

The mighty Forked Deer river is flooded like is tends to be every spring. The better to see nature up close and personal like, I say. Back when I was a kid, we used to move to town for a week at a time when the water covered the road to school and work. That's probably why our trusty red Chevy station wagon had a hole in the floor. What a trip to see the road passing under your feet!

Ya'll hang on. It's almost Friday ^j^

Those boys do beautiful work but make a helluva lotta noise and a big mess in the process. If only I had a Sugardaddy to put me up at the Hampton Inn Best Western. *sigh*

Things are moving along on the home improvement front with two floors down and two to go plus some odd little cubbyholes like closets and a hall. Mucho plywood and sawdust ya'll. Amazingly the floors don't creak anymore. We do have a working toilet though..and lots of power tools laying around. Brian and Brian scored passes to fish in the riverbed this afternoon so it's all good. The Forked Deer is flooded as a mofo presently which means good paddling for Quapaw on their exploratory mission next week.

Gotta go find my mattress. I'll keep you posted ^j^

We might as well, huh? Let's see where were we last time I posted? Oh yeah..in the drenching windblown rain. Babygirl did, indeed, make it home from class with her two-clenched-fists-on-the-wheel can-do attitude. What can I say? She missed Lily :) We chatted, she hit the bed and me the shower. About the time I got halfway dry and began to crawl out the whole place went dark. I won't tell you what I said, but it starts with an F and ends with a K. Now remember, the house is a shambles and nothing is where it's supposed to be...most especially candles, matches and flashlights. And I'm nekkid with wet hair stumbling through the dark looking for ANYTHING to light the way. Here comes BG to the rescue with a lit candle from her room that smells like hazelnut. Ummm...ummm. Power was restored a couple of hours later right as she pulled out for work.

At 5AM, the rain was over but the snow has started spittin' here and there. Still don't have a handle for the driver's side door due to the ice a couple of weeks ago so I have to open it with a glove or something to cover the sharp metal edge of what's left. No prob when it's dry and it's light outside. Quite a feat when it's not. Humph...I wasn't even late for work.

This is what my house looks like right.this.minute.
Floor guys are gone to cut vinyl and staying until I run them off or the toilet is taken OUT of the tub and put back on the floor, whichever comes first. So guess what that means?

Yep..me out in the flower bed in the freezing cold snow taking a leak when nature calls.

I said don't laugh. Stop it! I hear you all the way over here on Pecan Lane!!!!

The heavens have opened up and blessed? us with a monsoon of epic proportions. If you're northeast of here, it's headed your way. Don't bother with the umbrella because the wind is so freakin' fierce it won't do any good. I'm playing remote ONSTAR* mom as Babygirl travels home from Martin to see her beloved cat on crack kitty and all the rest of us who live here. I certainly hope our fellow members of the Class of '73 know how much we love 'em to wade through the water to our reunion planning meeting this afternoon. We sure are having fun just talking about it! Next meeting will be at my house because it's too dang much trouble to get waited on where we've been going. With age comes practicality and orneriness. Don't tell me that's not a word. I know better.
Floor guys switched to Plan B today when they discovered that it will take a full inch of plywood cap to level the floors of this old house before the pretty stuff goes down. Work will commence early tomorrow morning when I leave for the sawmill and BG heads to Memaw's couch for the Tuesday nap. Looks like she'll have to crank up the fireplace since there's snow in the forecast. *sigh* Please remind me in July that I dared to whine about cold wet weather. Just don't be surprised if I wipe sweat on you.

Ya'll didn't really think I'd go a whole week without b**gging did you? Sheesh. Where there's a will there's a way. I've spent the major part of today creating my temporary command center in the one room that won't be worked on during Floorfest 08...the dining room. Never mind that the nearest live phone jack is in my bedroom...we've got long cords :)

I'm embracing this week as an opportunity to clean up the place a bit and knock some dust off of the old usual. We've got plenty of that in the form of bunnies and the plain old lay-there-on-the-furniture and be annoying type. It comes with the territory of living in a hundred year old house in the middle of a farm. I gave up dust and dirt for Lent.

Got a little sun on my face yesterday afternoon and I must say it looks better that way since I'm not much on makeup. I'm even wearing shorts today, but it won't last. The forecast is for thunderstorms and snow in the next few days. Where in the world do you see that kind of weather? Only in West Tennessee.

Ya'll have a groovy week kids. I'll be at the sawmill just like you.

Don't it just suck to be us?

^j^

As days go, this one was pretty terrific in an outdoorsy sort of way. Lily learned to climb the redbud tree and I got plenty of dirt under my nails with some pansies planted to boot. Seems that back in the late fall and early winter of 07 I was negligent on yard duty and the leaves have piled up hither and yon. We made a dent in that area as well.

I'll be AWOL the next week or so due to home improvement. When this whole floor thing is done we might even get up the gumption to clean out the gutters and climb on the roof to see how many shingles have blown off during previous wind events. It rages up here on the hill at the top of Pecan Lane.

But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China.

^j^

Laura over at Vitamin Sea has started a new meme featuring unusual sign pictures. Here's my sign as it was being installed using my brother's tractor!

Well kids, it's finally rabbit!rabbit!day on Pecan Lane. Is it just me or was this really a long February? Happens every year to those of us who are itching to get out there to dig in the dirt and wade in the water. There's something about the growing season that just helps us to keep the faith when it all seems impossible.

I've been dreaming lately, which is unusual for me. I suppose it's my way of dealing with loss and grief of which there has been o'plenty recently. It's funny..and not haha..how I spent two years and countless energy grieving the losses that I had experienced by the young age of thirty something. With Beverly's guidance, I found the strength to be present for the people that I love and say it when I feel it. Living life that way leaves one with very few regrets and a full heart.

Love ya...mean it.

^j^