Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  There was a chill in the air this morning, definitely fall weather. I like Autumn and normally would have been ecstatic over the beautiful day we are having. My grief hangs over me like a shadow. At every turn I expect to see my fat little dog waddling towards me. I woke this morning to no feeling in my right arm. Sometime during the night I must have reached down to pick Cujo up in my sleep. I don't remember waking to look for Cujo, but I must have. He had a habit of getting down for water. He could get down with no help, but couldn't jump up without my help. Eddie has never tried to jump from the bed, preferring to wait for my assistance. Bo can jump either way, as can Toni Louise. My right hand was so cold, don't know how long it hung down from the side of the bed. My armpit hurts, too. Not as much as my heart, though. It is far too quiet here. The dogs only barked once today when the mail lady dropped off a package and then it was not with the usual gusto. I caught a

  This is a picture of Cujo the day I met him and he chose me to give him a furever home. HeWho suggested we did not need another dog was smitten by my sweet boy. Need is not the issue, unless you might be thinking that Cujo needed a home. What a handsome specimen he was. A timid creature who ate so fast he would throw up. He shied from other dogs, as well as humans. He mainly wanted to be held. By me. He became my contant companion, following me where ever I went and waiting patiently at the end of the day for me to lock up and return to his space. He grew old and gray, losing his teeth and vision, but still wanting nothing more than to be snuggled next to me. No longer running and playing with his furry siblings, he was content to just sit in my lap and bark at them occasionally. He barked at HeWho everytime he left or returned. I would scoop him up in my arms and soothe him and sometimes grew impatient with his bark and would scold him. Last night we went to bed as usual. Cujo was r

  It rained last night. I should have known it would for several reasons. I spend a good amount of time and energy watering my newly planted mums and all the rest of my gardens yesterday. My arthritic joints were screaming all afternoon and into the night. When I visited the bathroom in the wee hours, I saw and heard the raindrops on the skylight. I limped out of bed this morning, thinking I might not get much done today. I lathered on the miracle gel Diclofenac and brewed the coffee. The dogs and I were lounging in front of the TV when out of nowhere, HeWho got up earlier than usual said, "You ready to go to Murphy?" "Do I look ready to go anywhere?" I replied, looking down at my robe and slippers, my hair standing on end. Besides, we just went there yesterday for my eye appointment that didn't happen. "Why do you want to go to Murphy?" I asked, although I was only half listening while I was watching a Netflix movie. We do not drink well water, our do

  When I made the appointment with the opthamalogist the day they contacted me from the referral my nurse practitioner sent to them, I was amazed that it was for a Saturday. The first date she chose was the Saturday I had company and no way would I spend part of my time in a doctor's office, so she offerred this Saturday at 8:40 am. I did offer a question about the day of the week. Seemed odd to me, but she assured me the date was for a Saturday. I was sleeping soundly when the alarm aroused HeWho on his side of the bed. He is not prone to awaken one gently and he shook me when I didn't want to crawl from under my covers. Even Bo thought it strange to be up at this hour. He never gets me up before 7:30 and I have gradually pushed him to 8:00. The dogs and I have a routine upon leaving our sleeping quarters. No matter how urgent my needs are, we head to the back door to go out and then I take care of myself. I leave the door open a I make coffee and gather up my phone and lap to

  With the weekend of visitors behind me now, I am back to my gardens and getting them ready for fall. I planted 24 mums yesterday, less than $1 each, thank you very much! I do love a bargain. I have high hopes that they will return next year, even though they were tagged as annuals. Our climate here is very similar to what it was in Missouri and they came back in my gardens there. We are not nearly as hot as it gets in a Missouri heat wave and that is okay with me! We haven't used the air conditioning in well over a month. It was 46 degrees when I woke this morning. The air was crisp and I was forced to grab my warm furry robe as I made my way to let the dogs out. The forecast we get is from Atlanta and not necessarily anywhere near our actual weather. I donned long pants today before I went out to check my gardens and poop scoop my dog yard (an unnecessary task according to HeWho is not allowed to mow that particular yard). I trimmed the hedges by the fence and raked up all the d

  Our very first visitors arrived Friday afternoon. My son came to see me! He surprised me by arriving earlier than he said he would be here and I have smiled so much since then, my face hurts! It all ended too soon, but we have a fun packed hectic weekend. We ate lots of food, we laughed a lot and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. More company arrived Saturday when the one and only sister of HeWho came to our humble abode. We were bursting at the seams! We enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant called Grits and Greens. I was too busy eating to take pictures of our food, but you must take my word that it was excellent. After a meal of gastronomic southern delights we headed to the ice cream parlour, of course! At $6 a scoop, this better be good! I did not partake. Being lactose intolerant, I didn't think it would be a good idea, but everyone else loved it! I am missing everyone now. My new great-granddaughter, Alondra was happy to hand feed mealworms to Dora, the turtle. Dora has been

Cujo here. Things here have been crazy. Mom has been working outside all day and leaving us dogs in the care of HeWho is our Dad. I do not like this one little bit! Mom was right outside the deck today in one of her gardens. I heard a dog barking. It wasn't me. I looked around, it wasn't Toni Louise, but she heard it, too. Eddie and Bo were sleeping, but they jumped up and we all quirked our ears and listened .... I thought I heard a yelp, then a lot more barking and it was getting louder! I heard Mom call out to HeWho is our Dad and us dogs were at the ready! That barking dog was in our yard!! But, our Mom is not afraid of other dogs, so why is she calling HeWho is our Dad? This is certainly an unsettleing mystery! Really, I do not know why she called HeWho is our Dad. It took him forever to get out of his chair and open the door. Us dogs nearly fell out when he finally opened it. I saw Mom and she did not seem upset or frightened. She pointed to the driveway and told HeWho is

  This what the embankment looked like when we moved here last January. This is yesterday. The pile of debris at the top will be burned. In October a man with a big machine will be cutting the end off where I have cleared the trees. As you can see, HeWho never sufficiently buried the drain pipe and it will be replaced and I will have a new space to park my car! Well, after a few tons of rock are spread. The big rocks will be relocated to other spots yet to be chosen. This is up on the embankment before a She Shed had arrived. The trees were bare and you can easiliy see the neighbor on the road below our drive. The ground was covered with years of dead leaves and fallen limbs, as well as pieces of underpinning left there by who knows who. That was then, this is now. As you can see when the trees take on their annual foliage, the neighbors are hidden from view. I think the view is nicer, too. Pictures cannot convey the feeling of this place, though. The temperature drops under the trees

  "One of the dogs threw up in the bed last night." says HeWho would claim to be the master of my universe. I was sipping coffee and moving rather cautiously, not wanting to anger my back any more than it already was. "Where?" I say. "In the bed" says HeWho. "No, where IN THE BED, I want a location." I say, knowing I should have been more specific. I would have thought It would be clear, but I should know better. It was at the foot of the bed on his side. Before you ask, I will be quick to assure you that he did not attend to the mess. I would have to be extremely ill for that to happen. I should say that he has been the dishwasher all week. Wouldn't you know that I had just changed the bedding. It went through the bedspread, both sheets and the mattress cover that is waterproof, thank goodness. That decided my chores for the day would be with the washer and dryer. Of course it is raining and that eliminates use of the clothesline. The machin

  I have been in a slump of late. Totally uninspired to write. Or .... maybe too tired? My daily labor has my back aching through the night. If I sit too long I can't get staight up. I have to rise in increments. And if I am standing, I might as well be moving. I hiked up the drive yesterday, just to look around. I haven't had to water things since it has rained overnight all week. As the lilies and iis are dying down, some blooms still seem to be happy. I planted a flat of small mums, careful to buy ones not in bloom yet. No pictures of those yet. One of the two maple trees I brought with me that are thriving. It will need a good pruning soon. Gotta shave those branches to make them grow tall. I need more mulch. I only bought 5 bags last time because I was in the car and HeWho insisted that only 5 bags would fit in my trunk. He was loading while I paid. I didn't argue about it, but I got 12 bags in the day I loaded it myself. He seems to have very little spacial concept ab

  Today was rainy and drab. I decided to clean Dora's habitat. While I was busy washing all her rocks and toys, I let her roam through one of my gardens. She enjoyed herself exploring one plant before moving on to another, until she was getting a bit far and I picked her up. She has grown quite a bit this past year. You might recall that she was the size of a bottle cap when she was found in the murky waters left by winter in the pool.  She had already gotten a bit bigger in this picture. She is just as spoiled as my canine loves. Her favorite food is mealworms. Not the dried ones, but the more expensive ones that have to be refrigerated. Not only that, she prefers to be fed by hand. She will thump the side of her habitat when she sees me in the morning. If I approach, she runs up the ramp out of the water and stretches her neck to look up at me. I usually have her can of mealworms at the ready and carefully pinch one of the cold dead worms between my thumb and forefinger, then off