Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  I was going to post a picture of my new grand-dog, but my phone and laptop refuse to play nice with each other. She is very cute, a little black and white Boston Terrier puppy, who's name was Scarlett, but has changed to Birdie. She had the name Scarlett when my daughter, Adrienne, got her, but after being with her, she decided to call her Birdie. I always think you need to be with a puppy for awhile before you name it. It will come to you. I didn't name Eddie, which is odd, since he was my Christmas gift. I let HeWho choose his name, then when Eddie had been with us for about 3 months, I added the Charming before the Eddie. Eddie is possessed with the most charming personality and earned his name.  When I got Oscar, he already had a name. I bet there are quite a few doxies named Oscar, them being "hot dogs", but I decided my Oscar was an award. Oscar was quite regal and sure of his own importance, becoming the alpha of my pack immediately, so it was quite fitting t

  Chatting with my canine contingent just now, as I made myself a peanut butter and raisin toast sandwich. They could smell the peanut butter and looking up at me longingly. I grabbed their licky pad an smeared a big spoon of peanut butter for them to lick all of the crevices and said to them, "Look, you guys, this is plant based protein!". They don't really care, but I was just making conversation because it is what I do and they like the sound of my voice. HeWho usually says "huh?" when I say something to him can apparantly hear my dog mom voice and said "Has it always been?" I suppose he was thinking of all the products marked "gluten free" that have always been gluten free. I hope that is what he was thinking, because, what is peanut butter? Ground peanuts that come from a plant. And .... this is proof he can hear me when he wants to! Just the other night in the wee hours when all the world is asleep except me, I was watching a video on m

  Last weekend we had the pleasure of entertaining family. I always find anticipating company will push me into a frenzy of cleaning. While that may be off-putting to some, it is just an incentive to do all the things I have been putting off. Doesn't matter if it is family, I still like to have everything in order and I really appreciate my efforts after the visit has ended. Of course I don't have the room necessary to actually bed down extra guests, there are plenty of other options available. Air B&B's hotels and such. This part of the family belongs to the HeWho side of the family. His cousin and his family that we have not seen in many years. A party of 7, they chose to stay in an air b&b not far from our tiny abode. I like to cook for crowds, but the stove situation did not allow that to happen. I have a very large old library table on the porch that can easily seat 10, but it is still too cool in the late afternoons for that to be comfortable. So, as a result,

  When last we spoke, I was anticipating company. HeWho asked me to cut his hair and trim his beard. I was otherwise occupied with dishwashing. He offered to wash the dishes, but I figured it would be easier to just do them right and not have to redo them. I was a little on the tired side when I finally located the clippers and accessories. I asked HeWho to get them, but, as usual, he acted like he didn't live here and could locate nothing. Then, he grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around his shoulders! Sometimes I wonder about his train of thought process. I removed the towel and got out one of the dog towels to drape the man with. Who, in their right mind would think a towel used in the kitchen would be a good vessel to catch hair in? So, it was in this state of mind that I was cutting the man's hair. It was like cutting the hair of a toddler! He wants to move around. Finally done with the hair, I started on the bushy beard. I was using a comb to pick the beard up and then

  The delivery of the new stove went well without a hitch. It now sits in my kitchen proudly awaiting a cook. I was so happy, I decided to make biscuits the very next morning. I turned the oven on to pre-heat, then went about getting all the ingredients for breakfast together. HeWho came into the kitchen and remarked that it was really hot in there. I turned to look at the stove and realized the cook top was hot and no burners were on. Someone who assured me he knew what he was doing put the wrong orifice thingies in the oven and upon opening the oven door we saw flames! I turned the oven off and asked how many more trips he would make to Home Depot to get the correct ones. I am always curious about things .... He fiddled and diddled with the stove and discovered that one of the burners did not work. He called for a repairman, but they told him they would just bring a new stove ......... IN MARCH. I would cry, but that would accomplish nothing. I don't even want to talk about this

  While awaiting the newest stove delivery I have been working in my She Shed, but the last several days have been overcast, damp and chilly. This has kept me inside. I tired quickly of Netflix and TV in general. Idle hands make me anxious, so I employed the help of HeWho sits and got down all the boxes of photos to sort. I have been saying I would get to them one day when I had nothing to do ..... Strolling down memory lane with each stack. I kept stopping to text pictures to my kids and laughing with them. Then I hit a stack that made me profoundly sad and happy all at the same time. It was pictures with my sister on a cruise with her friend that became mine, too. We had so much fun despite me being homesick. Here we are departing. The winds were high! This is my sister. My big sister, always ready to take care of me. My only sibling. This is Gloria, partner in crime to my sister's antics when I wasn't around. Three three of us indulged in a rum drink called "the Love Co

  So, you may recall that the delivery did not happen on Tuesday, but was supposedly changed to Thursday. I was skeptical. I was right to be skeptical. HeWho patiently waits on hold, was told that the stove had yet to arrive from Atlanta. They were unaware that he had been notified by text that the stove had arrived in Murphy the day before ad was ready for pick up. When he confronted the store manager with this bit of information, the excuses began once again. The delivery truck was already out for the day and nothing could be added. The stove did not arrive before 6am and therefore could not be added to the day's deliveries. Judge Judy is apt to tell a witness that if you tell the truth, you don't have a need to remember what you said earlier. Finally, HeWho has had enough! He told the liar on the other end of the phone to cancel the order and refund our credit card. I was listening and can tell you I have never heard such relief in a man's voice as the liar's had. He

  No stove. HeWho made an inquiry on the phone and was told Thursday. I am still not looking for it to be delivered. I think we may have to get an attorney to get the stove and our money for stove #3. Here's the part where you wonder if the attorney fees will be worth it. Back in the 80's, lots of people wrote bad checks. Attempts would be made to collect the money, but only checks over $40 were worth pursuing. The company I worked for would not file charges against repeat offenders unless they exceeded that magic number on one check. People who employ this method of obtaining goods knew this and were careful not to go over $40. That would be like $100 nowadays. The only thing you could do at store manager level was post the names of bad check writers for all to see. Like shaming them might work. Bad check writers had no shame, so it didn't work too well. You could also refuse to take their checks, then they would complain to the corporate office and we would be told to bac

  Guess what did not arrive on Friday? Or Saturday, or Monday? Rumor has it that it will be delivered today. I will believe it when I see it. Maybe we should just load up the #4 stove and take it back, dump it on their loading dock and let ME go in for my refunds. They ended up refunding $900 in cash to HeWho would not leave until they did. They still have the equivalent of two stoves held hostage. Enough of that. During the warmest part of the day I have been working in my shed. When it is cloudy, it stays too cold inside the shed, but when the sun is up and shining on the front of the shed, it is quite pleasant until it starts to cool for the evening. Watching movies on Netflix makes for a nice distraction when it is too chilly out. Then there is U-tube. I got sucked down the rabbit hole watching someone transform an old shirt into a dress for a child, then watched some quilting. Out of nowhere came the toenail videos. I found this fascinating, as I have always hated to see patients

  Yesterday, I fully expected to have a working stove. It did not happen. I readied the defective stove for pick-up and went about my chores of the day. HeWho would lay abed until after noon was up by 10 and also expecting a delivery/pick-up. It was scheduled for the afternoon and we were to expect a call about 45 minutes before arrival of the delivery team. The morning left and noon came with no call. I hiked up to my retreat and finished hanging all my thread holders on the wall behind the intended position of my sewing machine. Fate smiled upon me, as I found the manual for my machine! The more I put things in their permanent home, the more things I find that need to be put away in places where they can be readily seen. I have some curtain rods I bought at thrift stores. They will serve as holders for spools of ribbons and such. Now I need to find a place for bias tapes and other things wound on similar pieces of cardstock. My goal is to store them where I can easily see all of them

  Well, there's a two hour interval of my life I will NEVER get back. I will never, ever shop at Lowes again. They could have a buy one, get one of the entire contents of the store free and I would not enter the doors. The morning started out to be a pleasant one and I had plans to hike up the drive to fulfill my itch to organize my She Shed. HeWho tried to call Lowes to verify the pick up of the defective, bent framed GE range and the delivery of the new one. While on hold he checked our bank account and verified that Lowes has yet to process the refund on the first transaction. That flipped my switch. I got online and had a "chat" with the complaint department at Lowes headquarters. I want to say I chose that route because I can be more succinct and make more sense in writing than I can in speaking. Really, it was because no one answered the phone. I layed out my complaint in the order of events. The delivery men plopping the aplliances on the porch to let the old peopl