Stuff's been going on!

Yes yes... it's been awhile... I know. I've said it before though... I just can't sit down and write. Not that what I write is ever worth reading to begin with, but at least it's not boring. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for Miriam to post about our trip to DownCounty, but she's been consumed by the "MAN" and his need for power and has been chained behind a desk all week. They don't even allow her to see the sun until fridays. I hear they might release her to return home on the weekends, but just in case thats a lie we've planned a rescue which of course I won't go into detail about in case they're reading.

(Miriam, this line is being typed with special invisibility so that only you can read it..... Come friday... the phone will ring... when the caller asks for the MAN of the house..... say, "The MAN is Gone", hang up and immediately move away from the windows)

LOL.... like we would plan anyones escape... HA Ha ha.!! Anyhow, since she's been otherwise ocupado, I must appease our loyal readers, who have been holding their breath so to say, for the latest news and tales of adventure. Stuff's been going on and if I don't take the time to recall it, I'll forget it. It started with Miriam telling me she was out of jars. I called Mom and we cut a deal... Miriam and I would drive Down County and clean out the cellar in exchange for the jars that were still down there. We recovered almost 500 jars. From Half gallon to pint size, most being quarts. Rusty lids and moldy food... lets not forget the snake sheds and the mouse poop. We carried and dumped and stacked and swept and sweated and got splashed with really gross stuff, but in the end, the truck was full and Miriam beamed with excitement. Even Mom and Dash got involved. I wouldn't have believed it if Miriam hadn't caught it on camera, but Dash was so happy he was in the truck bed giving kissess. OK, so not everyone is into puppy tongue... LOL especially when you see where he's had it. He just couldn't help sharing in the excitement. When we were all done... we had moved the old dry rotted shelves and carried out all the snake skins and even swept most of the floor. We had it so nice we even got Mom to go down and take a look. I'm not sure if this caused an kind of emotional distress for her, because even being reassured it was free of snakes, she didn't stay down there long. Later that same evening, Cathy made a surprise visit with JR and was also surprised to see US. I hadn't told but one person I was going and that was by accident, although I'm glad I did it. I generally try to make my visits short and sweet and without notification to all the branches of the grapevine. My business is my own and until I'm no longer labeled and treated as the "baby" of the family I really don't care to listen to what most of my mothers children might belch out as their opinion. So, to keep it friendly, I keep it distant. I'm not sure if I ever told you this, but since I'm the youngest of 13 and I came along so much later in the family, I was spoiled rotten. Yep, got everything I ever wanted, was never corrected for anything, and would talk back and scream and well I really should have been euthanized as a child because I'm clearly evil. I can only assume these character traits are correct... or maybe it's just jealousy on the part of all those middle positions in the family. Who really knows... who Cares!! I'm living and enjoying MY life. If I was anything as the last child I was blessed, because I came along after all the mistakes had been made. I got the better end of the deal as far as I'm concerned. I've learned from watching other families, that the youngest always has this stereotype to overcome. My only real beef with being called the baby.... It doesn't matter that I'm 44 freaking years old... no matter what I say in the presence of any of the hierarchy, it's considered unimportant or trivial or worse sarcastic. YOU WANT SARCASM.... I've got it in boatloads if you think you can handle it. ARRGGHHHHHH !!! See what talking about family does to me>???? Makes my eyes twitch!!! Back to the really nice visit we were having... Cathy and JR showed up... WOOHOO!! Miriam got JR to do the dishes. he actually did a great job and he looked cute doing it, but in my head I was watching him perform surgery. he wasn't standing over a sink... he was ruling an operating table and performing another DR Jimbob miracle. Hey, it's the right of every grandparent to fantasize!!! How can we expect our children and grandchildren to reach for higher goals if we don't encourage them? Seeing JR run around the barns always makes me sad, but in a good sorta sad way. I can still remember when I would play around and in those same barns... I also remember a lot of work in those barns. JR will never really understand what those barns mean. Yeah, he'll one day be able to grasp at the history of tobacco farming and maybe understand the concept of all the work involved, but he'll never feel it in his soul. This is where I feel that sad but sorta happy feeling. JR evolved from this farm and although it may be falling into disrepair and one day belong to someone else, it's given him one important thing....strong roots. Fortunately, he doesn't have to grow here.... he can grow anywhere, and as long as his roots stay strong he can achieve great things. So, farm or no farm, I can try be a reminder to him about where he came from. I can tell him about how I broke the chain for his mother who carried it even further for his success in life. He'll do well and even when all the barns have become part of this earth once more, he'll still have those roots. By that time he'll be the reminder for his own children and then his own grandchildren, of where they came from. Our government can fail time and time again, but as long as JR can go back to his roots... that centered part of his soul, he'll be fine. WHEW!!! I really need medication of some type!!! LOL I must be breathing mold or something... my brain keeps getting all squishy. Here we go again.... back to that wonderful jar collecting visit.!!!! Day two, Ask Miriam about ghosts? I'll say no more. I got up around 5:30 to take the pups out, came back in and played solitaire on my phone for the next hour. I finally decided to get up and shortly afterwards, Mom joined me. We tried to be quiet so as not to wake Miriam but it was only 30 or so minutes later a yawning, stretching, coulda stayed in bed another hour, Miriam, strolled into the kitchen. Did I say strolled.... maybe not strolled... that image indicates that she was in control of her movement. Maybe appeared is a better word. Yes, appeared in the kitchen looking for coffee!!! We talked about the night before (ask Miriam), and planned our morning.... including departure time. Two cups of coffee later, Tina, one of my favorite nieces, sent a text to inform me all roads out of the county were closed because of a bank robbery and we were going nowhere anytime soon. We fixed more coffee. Tina, (did I say she was one of my favorite nieces), arrived and shortly thereafter Reeny (?spelling?) !! Reeny is Jasons girlfriend. Jason is Tinas brother. If he knows whats good for him he better treat her right. In all the years he's been dating, she's the first one I've met and she better be the last, because I like her. I've spoken... I've counted to three. If he hasn't gotten lectured from anyone else, he better listen to me. She's a keeper. We visited at the kitchen table which is where most visits there take place. We took pictures, well Miriam took pictures. I brought my cameras, but never took them out of my bag. That's why up until this point of this posting the pictures have looked so good. They weren't taken be me. We all did the "pencil test" (ask Miriam). I'm totally giving her an opportunity to share her first DownCounty experience..... and the babies started coming... LOL!!! Now it was noonish and we needed to get going if we were to ever make it back to WV. Well we got out the driveway, but then returned with the mail.... then we got out the driveway again but went the wrong direction. I had to stop at the Post Office and I wanted Miriam to see exactly where she was in relation to the end of the state of MD. We drove to Point Lookout which is the end of the road... unless you have a boat.... then back to Moms... we forgot something, plus Miriam needed another hug... LOL. Finally we got on the road to WV. We made it all the way back here even going around the beltway and taking the toll road and never broke a single jar in the back of that pick-up. 500 jars, some full, some empty, all made it to there new home. Now they're sitting in Miriams yard waiting to be cleaned... Oh... I'm sorry.... waiting to be used.... well just waiting!!! Steve started a new project last weekend. After 6 hours of shopping between home depot and lowes we almost got all the parts we needed. The rest were ordered on-line. Here's a little look-see into what he's building. No, it has nothing to do with the bathroom or the sink. In the end, when it's all finished and working, it might cause a bathroom kind of reaction... LOL! I'll make sure I post the link to You Tube when we get it up. In the process of locating some of the tools needed for this project I had to clean out my shed. It was way overdue and I really wish I had done it sooner, but at least now it's ready for winter use.... more storage. Digging through all the bins and boxes I had in there I came across my Halloween decorations. WOOHOO!!! I love Halloween!!! The Ghost tours here in Harpers Ferry end right down the alley from our house. The tour group passes directly in front of our house which is at street level of course, but below our second floor front porch. For 8 years now we've been terrorizing those poor people. See, when the ghost tour is over and the stories have stopped, they finally drop their guard for the short walk back to their vehicles. Little unaware, that in the darkness that we call home sweet home, an evil is lurking to shock them right out of there minds. Well not an evil ok.... but we do slam the front door and flash the flood lights on and off. That's been enough in the past to make some of them pee themselves.... LOL. This year... we're going all out. Either look for the You Tube link or wait to see us in the news.... one way or the other, we're gonna scare us some tourists!! Now you need to either wait for it or hound Miriam for her interpretation of her first visit Down County. Of course you can't do this until after friday.... remember... she's still being held captive by the "MAN"!!!