Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  I am tired. I finally succumbed to fatigue and took a nap after the trip to Walmart to pick up RX. Of course we picked up other things, needed or not. HeWho hit the cookie aisle ..... We stopped and picked up a pizza for "lunch" on the way home. I am not hungry now that it is time for another meal. I am not preparing anything, having told the only other person here to fend for himself, adding that he should clean up after himself. He seldom does (clean up any messes he might make). He must think little fairies come in the night and magically take care of everything. While we were out today he was moving in slow mode, while I was all about grabbing what I needed and getting back home. He said, "What else do we have to do?" He should have kept that thought to himself. I began listing all the things I had to do and then I started listing things for him. You might recall that he built a gate for the back yard fence LAST YEAR. I keep moving it out of my way and sometim...

  I ask for very little help around here and it is safe to say that I do the bulk of the work that gets done here. I enjoy working outside after being held captive all winter. Would I like some help? Why, yes, that would be nice. I don't mind giving very explicit instructions, nor do I mind being asked if one is doing what I wanted BEFORE one simply does whatever he thinks will do. HeWho swears I will cut my hand off if I use the saw, decided to install the the main shelf of my coffee bar. This is the FRONT right corner where HeWho knows it all, connected it to the leg underneath. There are two screws there, see them? Of course you do, it draws your eye straight to it .... and not in a good way. Plus the holes he left when he realized he was not lined up for the leg. Classy. This is the other side, same thing here, an attempt and then the actual screw. I was outside all day planting and shoveling rock and painting pots and I came in to see this. It took all my self control not to s...

  Mr. BoJangles, the cute dog. Yes, I am sleeping. Mom likes to sneak up and take my picture. Remember, I told you I am quite photogenic, even when I sleep! Mom and Dad left us last night to go eat wings and play Bingo. They left me in charge, it was my turn. Us dogs snoozed while they were gone and I am happy to report that we did not pee anywhere inside, not even on the pee pad Mom left in the hall! Mom rained kisses on all us dogs. I was in charge and thought I deserved all the kisses, the other two, not so much. We were outside a lot yesterday and I took note that Mom seems to have fallen behind in her poop scooping duties. We all noticed that it is getting harder to find a good spot in our yard ...... Mom says that us dogs sure do make a lot of poop and she wished it had market value. I am not sure what she means. I have heard her say the same thing about dog hair. Mom is very confusing. Mom says she is going upstairs to work in her She Shed today. She said she would like to t...

  Tulips are blooming!! Such happy colors brighten my day. I love Spring. I usually forget what and how many bulbs I stick in the ground in the fall. It is fun to see where the heavy rains may have moved them. We have had some significant rain of late. The spring at the bottom of the ravine has wider shore lines as the water is gushing audibly. Upon opening the door to outside it is hard to determine if it might be raining, the spring rushing is s loud. It is quite satisfying to just stand, watching the water flow, then looking up to the mountain view from my porch. My dwarfs face the rushing spring and serenade it, looking a bit worn. Maybe a nice soapy bath to remove the dirt and loose paint, then a new paint job is in order. They will be happier when the hosta and lillies pop up higher and surround them. Peonies coming alive. I wonder where that blue piece of pottery came from. This one of three peonies I planted last Spring. A bit blurry, this is the sycamore tree I brought wit...

  As I was washing dishes, with an attitude, I am listening to an audio book. Well, trying to, above the roar of the TV. His new favorite show is reruns of Last Man Standing. As annoying as that is, I am pretty sure I would find it too quiet to multi-task in the absence of HeWho annoys me. In the midst of my pondering, I forget that I just fried up four pieces of low sodium bacon in order to create a BLT (hold the T, as I am out of tomatoes) to deliver to the man in front of the TV. This loss of momentary memory caused me to pick the gas burner cover up with my bare hands. I stifled an excited utterance that was particularly salty and instead said my favorite new expletive "well, cheese on a cracker". Don't know why, since no one noticed that I was holding my hand under a very cold stream of well water gushing from the spigot. I listen to my audio book and suddenly feel silly about being so annoyed. The book, The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger, is a cautionary tale abou...

  Last week we indulged in fried fish of the all you can eat variety. We found the first serving to be more than we could eat. So, instead of St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage that I had planned, HeWho had a taste for more fish. It rained all day and HeWho was cold all day. It got up to 54 and I refused to fiddle with the thermostat, so he sat in his favorite spot in his heavy Carhardt coat and an afghan. If he thought I might take pity on him, he was wrong.  He was determined to venture out in the rain to go eat, though. The server told us to sit anywhere we liked and I slipped into the first booth. Won't do that again, as the storm ramped up and it rained harder accompanied by a gusty wind. Every time the door opened, the cold air hit us. For awhile, the wind would blow in every time the door opened and would literally take my breath away. Then it took our bill away and it landed on the table behind us. I said to the nice man in the booth that I was trying to give hi...

  Hi everyone, it is me, your favorite story teller, Mr. BoJangles. Since we are all friends here, just call me Bo, the cute one. I have been stuck inside a lot lately. The air outside is quite cold. I don't mind it as much as Eddie does and would like to stay out longer, but not all by myself! I like to run and run and chase Eddie and Toni in my yard. They say it is too cold. Mom doesn't think it is too cold, but Eddie pointed out to me that she wears shoes. Do us dogs need shoes? I don't know if I would like shoes, but if it meant my playmates would stay out with me, I am willing to give them a try. Our Dad agrees with the other dogs and he wears shoes ... this is confusing. So, we play indoors. As you must know, if you read this, Mom recently washed all my wubbies, so I have lots of them to take to Dad. He will throw them for awhile, but he tires of the game faster than I do. Toni has a secret lair behind Dad's recliner. She dragged one of our blankets back there and...

  Cool temperatures linger and I itch to have my hands in some dirt! Tulips are coming up and some are trying to bloom. I hope the cold snap doesn't hurt them. Old fridge, new fridge sitation is the same. I have said my piece and it is time to move on to other issues. I have successfully unloaded the RV fridge and most of the meat resides in new fridge freezer on the porch, while all manner of beverages are in the refrigerator section. This forces HeWho to actually go outside to get a refill in his cup ...... or, so I thought. He is slowly bringing his beverage of choice into the house and putting them on the top shelf of old fridge. This brings me to today's thought ..... Why is it that men put absolutely EVERYTHING on the top shelf? The top shelf holds tall items. I suppose I could unload this fridge (again) and rearrange the shelves, so that the tall shelf would be in the middle or on the bottom. Or ... maybe I should put labels where everything should go? No matter, as I am...

  Although we were promised a phone call with the window of delivery time yesterday .... no call. Since they were coming from Tennessee, I assumed we would get a call this morning and it would be an afternoon delivery. I was awake in my sleeping attire sipping my magic elixir when I heard the slam of a door outside. Barely 8:30. I knew it was the delivery before I looked. As you already know, if you read this, HeWho sleeps until the crack of noon was abed and the dogs were going wild.  I woke the sleeping man and threw on some clothes, just the closest things I grabbed. Then I spent 30 minutes unloading the old fridge. I wasn't pleasant. The men fiddled and measured and HeWho knows better told me to hurry up, while he and the delivery men stood chatting and watching me. Excited utterances may have flown from my mouth. I completed my task and started on last night's dishes. I always leave them until morning, as the hot water helps my hands to get moving. My house, my rules. Whi...

  Another delivery attempt is set for this Thursday for my new refrigerator. I hope they can accomplish it this time.  I like to do things in order. In order to get my extra space in my cabinet, the new fridge needs to be in place. In order to finish assembling my coffee bar, new fridge needs to be here. In order for the lady of the house to be happy, new fridge needs to be in place. This one of the pieces of the coffee bar. This will be the sides that hold up the main shelf, or table top. HeWho will be sawing off one side to create two "legs". The side most visible will be wider, with just about 4" for the other side leg. The top is cut form this same board. The two shelves will be cut from the other piece and I will have some left to play with. I used bees wax for the finish. I love it! I didn't want to use poly, as it will yellow with time. The bees wax is perfect! I might make a charcuterie board out of a piece and finish it with olive oil. I doubt I will be sett...

  Hi Everyone! It is me, the cute one here with another story to tell. See my new shirt? The back has a word on it, I don't know if you can see what that word is. So, I will tell you, it says BOSS. If you aren't jealous, you should be! I think Eddie might be jealous. It is hard to tell. Just like our Dad after his surgery when he developed an abcess, Eddie has developed an ear infection. He lays around just as much as our Dad! He says he doesn't feel so good. Mom has been cleaning his ear and then putting medicine in it with this long tube thing. Eddie doesn't like it, but says it does make his ear feel better. In case you are wondering how Mom knew Eddie's ear was going bad ...... she sniffed it. Yes, you heard me, she lifted his right ear and sniffed, then she lifted his left ear and sniffed. I suppose we could call her an equal opportunity sniffer!! I made a joke! She told Eddie that his ear stunk and then she made a face. She sniffs our ears on a regular basis. ...

  I woke early on the day that really was Sunday. I thought about going back to sleep as I watched Mr. BoJangles through the slit of one eye. He was on my pillow watching carefully for my eyes to open. He stared for awhile, then settled to nap himself, his eyes closing. But, the refrigerator was coming today!! You will be happy to know that suddenly Dish came back on the air. I doubt there was a cyber attack, I would surely have seen that on the computer somewhere, probably everywhere. But that's the information they put out there for subscribers who called. Just like Covid became the most valid excuse to miss work, cyber attacks are the new go-to excuse for bad service. Of course this didn't happen before HeWho had called Direct TV to subscribe. I was more concerned about unloading my fridge and reloading and wondering just when it would arrive. I don't really know when the call came to set the appointment, I was busy arranging a spot on the porch to put the old one. Excit...

  I woke this morning and treated myself to a lone cup of coffee. I want more, but it makes my heart skip beats and that makes me feel horrible and weak. In my younger days I could down an entire pot. Those were the good old days! So, as I sat sipping, I contemplated the day before me. The sun is shining and it is aready 50 degrees and forecasted for low 60's. T-shirt weather for me! I was making a mental list of all my chores and what to pull from the freezer for supper ...... I was struck by panic!! Today is Sunday, isn't it? My new fridge is coming today and I have yet to unload the old one!! Or clear the path for the men bringing it! I gulped down the remaining coffee and rushed to the shower. I had seen myself in the mirror an my hair was sticking out at odd angles. I looked liked a deranged person! While this is okay for HeWho rarely notices what I look like, it is not okay for strangers. I do not want to be a topic of conversation for the men coming with my fridge. After...

  We have not seen the news in a week. You know the saying, "no news is good news". I don't know who thought this was a clever saying, but it just doesn't make sense when you think about it. We usually watch the evening news and there is no lack of it out of Atlanta. You can watch the news starting at 3 in the afternoon straight through until 7 pm. It is not that we are boycotting the news. We are Dish subscribers. Have you seen them on the news? According to the message Dish has on the automated phone message they are under a cyber attack. Of course, we can't watch the news, so we have not verified this. Must be true, though, because we can't get local programming. We are so bored, we watched the first episode of the Beverly Hillbillies. Saw some Archie Bunker through new enlightened eyes. That was on Prime. We can still get Netflix, so we aren't totally without entertainment. I do miss our routine, though. We watch TV in bed and I am in charge of silenci...

  Progress on my coffee bar is non-existant. Just as well, since we had to go purchase a new refrigerator. Delaying the installation will make it easier for the delivery of the new fridge. That is me, trying to shed an optimistic light on my frustration. The rain yesterday and today brought cooler temps, so I will refrain from hiking up the drive to play in my She Shed. I ordered some decals for the vehicles. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to locate my car in a parking lot. I can always hit the alarm button on the key fob, but then everyone looks at me when I approach the car. I wave at them as I drive away. Looks like my Oscar. Oscar would have been the most likely one to chew through the trunk to stick his head out. I miss my old boy, he was mean to everyone except me.  Since the delivery of the new appliance is imminent, I should be tossing the contents that are out-dated. A nap sounds like a better idea. I think Eddie agrees. See his dandruff? The Claritin doesn...