When we first moved here in '84, the extensive quite expensive renovation included carpet, paint and wallpaper which made it look brand new. BG was four years old and living in wide open spaces like most kids only dream about. Our house was the place to be for most every celebration. When she was about five or six, KY cousin gave us a Schnauzer named Max who never got his ears and tail clipped or groomed. Dude looked like a furball most of the time. He bit BG on the face his first day here because she woke him up, and it took her a loooong time to not want to send him back. I recall finding his little baby teeth stuck in the carpet. At her birthday party, she and Katie took off down the road on bikes toward the dead end looking for the then absent Max. Katie's mama and I heard their screams at the same time and we took off like scalded dogs to where they were sobbing hysterically. There had been a storm on Friday night and the neighbors were out of town so no power outage had been reported. Poor Max ran right smack into a live wire and got fried to a crisp..the girls found his smoking collar on the edge of the pasture. Oddly enough, it is from this same exact location that terrier mix extraordinaire Oscar came to be a part of our family. Coincidence? I think not.
I ripped the old nasty carpet up by hand and pitched it out of the dining room on top of the hydrangea bushes which eventually recovered. That was one nasty fire, ya'll. After that, we walked on bare wood with carpet remnants for several years. NEVER without socks. One of my father's last managerial gifts to me was new floors for this old house, including several rooms laid with laminate. I learned the hard way that pets and carpet don't mix. That was about the time somebody started noticing that he was "slipping" a little in his judgements. Mama just thought I deserved it and it might lift our spirits. Gotta love 'em. Note to landlord and designee: The 10K floors are clean for a change. Catch 'em while you can!
Walking the yard is sheer joy these days with warm sunny skies and growing things to uncover. Yes, I realize it's just January but I'm going with the card I've been played and taking advantage of early spring clean up time. If an ice storm slams us next week, so be it. Yesterday was foot massage day for mama and she loved it and reveled in the joy of being served. That's not her nature, by the way. We have steady stream of convo about what pills when and at what time when I'm the one who counts them out once a week. Her sight is long past glasses, so she gave me several pair of her old ones while we were cleaning out drawers. It is odd and poignant looking at the world through her former eyes.
^j^
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