Thursday, January 27, 2022

A Good Day Was Had In Lloyd


This morning Maurice woke us up. She jumped up on the vanity in our room and as clearly as if she was speaking Human said, "Get UP! Get UP!" I mean really. 
Finally I looked at my husband and said, "Honey, I think Timmy's in the well."

The sun was back at work today, blueing the sky and setting the last of the Bradford Pear leaves afire.


I was in the most cheerful mood I've been in for quite awhile and then I got a text from Jessie saying that she was keeping August home from school and so both boys were home and what were we doing today? I answered her, "Come out and see us!!!!"
And they did. I was so happy. 

Mr. Moon and our friend Tom had arranged to get together this morning to work on that step railing. Tom has tools and skills that would come in helpful and when the boys got here, the men were already hard at work and immediately gained an audience. 


They spent a good part of the time they were here watching the guys saw and sand and shape and...oh, I have no idea. But it made a lot of noise and was obviously fascinating. 
Jessie and I made everyone a lunch and then I read the boys a few books and then we played Parcheesi! I had looked up the rules and how to play before they got here and we had a grand time for about thirty minutes at which point Jessie and I began to wander in our minds a little bit. 


I remember all of the Parcheesi that my grandmother played with me and I told Jessie, "God, I never realized how patient my granny was." August lost no interest. Levon played on first one team and then another and then he decided to go back out and see what Boppy was doing. 
By the time that we had called the game for Jessie because she got one of her pieces into the home section (you're supposed to get four to win), Levon and Bop were heading across the street on the four-wheeler to borrow a tool from neighbor Paul. 



So we walked on over there too and had a nice little visit with Paul and his wife and their doggie, Stella who was beyond excited to see two boys. She fetched a tennis ball for them for a little while and then she grew jaded about that and laid down and chewed a stick. 
Both boys got to ride home on the four-wheeler with Jessie and I right behind, just in case someone fell off, I guess. 


No one fell off and that battery that August is leaning on didn't explode and once again, Boppy was right and they were fine. 
I think that men just don't feel quite the same way about children as mothers do. I mean, men would definitely throw themselves in front of a train to save a child but then they let them ride four-wheelers and trust that they'll hold on whereas all women can think about is how we grew those human beings in our bellies and then labored to deliver them safely into life and then fed them with our own bodies and checked on them every time they fell asleep to see if they were still breathing.
And so forth.
You know. 

There was a little more carpentry observation. 


And then it was time to go home. There were nuts and raisins and four M&M's apiece for good-bye treaties and lots of silliness as they pulled away. 

So it's been a very good day. 
We are all a little freaked out here because it's supposed to get down into the mid to lower twenties on Sunday night. We are not in the least prepared for this sort of arctic insult. I know- go ahead and laugh, but that's just how it is. We'll be dropping dead on the ground from the cold, pipes will be bursting everywhere, azaleas will be nipped in the literal bud, and we'll have to take pick axes to the chicken waterers. 

Stay tuned. 

Love...Ms. Moon



30 comments:

  1. What a rich day for everyone. Great to read about. I agree about men and children, however devoted. I remember my sister having high anxiety when bher husband waded into ocean waves with two toddlers behind him. He insisted they knew to stay close, but the waves could easily have swamped three year olds while he happily failed to check. She ended up in the water with them despite being freezing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a good day to me….my great grandson always wants something to take home with him. Sometimes it’s a Beanie Baby, sometimes it’s a pretzel. Are they taking a bit of us with them because they’ll miss us? I like to think so.
    Our grown grandson and his sweet fiancĂ©e came to see us a couple weeks ago. When they left they said they’d take turns driving and drive the 1100 miles home straight through. Hubby clapped him on the back and I asked a million questions…do you stop to potty (Grandma verbiage I know)? Be careful stopping at rest areas. Can I put some snacks together for you? They all looked at me like I was nucking futs (LOL), but I’d wager you understand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course I understand! Women just worry. That's what we do.
      I think August and Levon just want M&M's mostly.

      Delete
  3. Looks like a mighty fine day, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I used to marvel at the eight or nine men in the neighborhood, conducting their intermasculine business up and down the road, on four wheelers and lawn mowers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. finally, a nice day. Nice days are such teasers! It is still only January.
    Your family is gorgeous. all of them I mean really, what a lucky pile of genes you have there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And Lord, it's dreary again today. Ugh.
      We do have some cuties in the family.

      Delete
  6. All in all, a really good day :)
    I do hope though that your pipes don't freeze.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, Men have a different viewpoint about Child Safety for sure. Most of the Bad Ideas our Kids and Grands participated in involved an Adult Male Relative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Men are just big boys, aren't they? Here- hold my beer.

      Delete
  8. If Maurice follows the trajectory of my sweet former-feral tabby, she will augment "get UP!" with "how much noise will these small heavy objects make if I knock them off the dresser onto the floor?"
    There is no lingering in bed when the sweet tabby wants her people up. Maurice may be heading in that direction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's Jack that mostly knocks things off of surfaces. He goes through phases of doing that. I think Maurice just really wanted someone to get up and put food in her bowl. And then to take a nap in Mr. Moon's lap.

      Delete
  9. I can absolutely see that your home is just heaven for those boys!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ugh. I do not envy your cold weather. How is it that you're going to be colder than we are, when we're on the same latitude as Labrador?!

    Glad you had a great day with the boys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right? Colder here than there? That is not right.

      Delete
  11. Oh, yes, I worry a lot more about the grandkids' activities than the males in our group. My sons will say, "they're fine, Mom" while I am saying, "watch out. slow down. be careful."
    Hopefully, together we instill a good balance of "try stuff but do it carefully"!
    Glad you all enjoyed the day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly- "try stuff but do it carefully."
      I think that Jessie hits a really good balance with that. And those boys are really little mountain goats.

      Delete
  12. Oh, this cold! We had a water main burst on our quiet brick street. Of course the temperature was -6. It does not sound like fun for chickens or people, either one.

    I had to laugh at Bohemian's reply. Yes. Bad ideas are fomented when children and adult male relatives collude. I remember gasping at something, can't even remember what, and Tim telling me, "That's how they learn."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. God- that sounds exactly like something my husband would say.
      -6?
      Uh-huh. No thank you.

      Delete
  13. Sounds like a fine day but I expected a picture of the new railing. did they not finish? I hope your pipes don't break as they did ll over Texas last winter when we had a week or more of those temps. The plumber says it's better to drip the faucets than to turn off the water. All the water pipes had to be replaced over at the shop last year because they literally exploded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope. Railing not nearly finished. There is a lot going into this project involving many tools, paint, and cement.
      I hope that if we let the water drip everywhere it'll all be okay. Burst pipes are not anything I want to do deal with.

      Delete
  14. For the boys, watching Glen and Tom was like being at school. Do they teach kids how to make step railings at school? And riding on the 4x4 vehicle must have been like riding on a monster truck - well a baby monster truck anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fun school. Man school.
      And I think you're right about the baby monster truck. They love that!

      Delete
  15. Those boys are learning so much! You can see it in their faces as they watch Boppy work. I wouldn't be surprised if they grow up to be very fine carpenters, which I think is just about the most romantic and artistic and practical vocation there is.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We play Parcheesi a lot. Do you all play Sorry? It's good with the younger grands before they graduate to Parcheesi. Same basic principles simplified.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.