Surprise, Surprise...

I went to Austin to visit my kids for four days.  My son performed in a show some friends of his put together, and he wrote and performed a rap song...in gold lame pants and spray-painted blue shoes!  It was fun and interesting...I got tired just watching them run around the stage.

While I was there, the temperature, with the heat index, was somewhere around 105 degrees.  My daughter doesn't like to use her air conditioner, mostly because it runs up the electric bill, but also because she's used to the heat.  My son, who shares the house, finally decided he needed an A/C for his room, so we went to Lowe's and bought one.  I'll let them work it out.  They're good at compromising with each other, and Dan is willing to pay extra to stay cool.  On my last evening, my daughter finally relented and turned on the A/C.  I think my red, sweaty face convinced her that I'd have heatstroke if she didn't cool things down!

I almost made the trip home Sunday in six hours.  Usually, I get home six hours to the minute, and that includes a gas/potty break.  But I hit the Kountry Korner store in Marquez at a late shift change and had to wait 10 minutes to buy a Coke.  That put me home about 15 or twenty minutes later than usual, but I was in the door by 5:30pm.

My inside cat greeted me with strident meows.  She followed me around all night, even climbing in bed with me, which she hardly ever does.  But I figured she would have her kittens soon, and she did--between my knees, under the coverlet on my new bed!  I slept through the whole thing.  I'm just grateful I didn't roll over on them. 

When I was in junior high school, our family dog, Lady, had her puppies in bed with me.  I slept through that, too!  I had to sleep on the sofa until she moved the babies. 

The four kittens are beautiful, and, as I hoped, one of them looks like Buddy, the tomcat who disappeared about a month ago.  So, I have a replica of him, though nothing will replace him.  My awful neighbor gave Buddy to me--the only remotely "nice" thing she's done since she moved in.  He was my "puppy cat" and followed me around.  A sweet tomcat.  I miss him.

I'll take a picture and post it as soon as things calm down. 

Thinkin' About the Weather...

I should have followed my instincts and not planted my garden before Easter Sunday. It's just an old farmer's tale, but I ignored it this year. A student's boyfriend came over and tilled up some ground (I paid him for it, so there's no impropriety here!), and, in the process, the tiller belt broke. That should have been a hint, or, as I point out in my lit classes, "foreshadowing." I ignored it.

So, I planted my garden on Friday and then spent the entire weekend covering and uncovering the plants to protect them from the COLD temperatures. But, hey, what do I expect? This is Louisiana, and it's APRIL, for crying out loud--no way should we expect freezing temps. Tornadoes, yes. A freeze, no.

And, since we have had temps in the eighties during the daytime (until this weekend), I had turned off my heater. When I turned it back on for this latest cold snap, it wouldn't come on. Which means I had to call the heating guy to come look at it.

All together, a weird weekend.

But it gets better. Several members of my family, including my parents, spent the weekend in a cabin at Grand Bayou, which is about ten minutes away from my house. I've seen more of my family this weekend than I have since Christmas! They actually stopped at my house on the way to the cabin and on the way home. They never come out here because it's "too far" (which is silly because I drive 90 miles round trip nearly every day and no one thinks it's "too far" for me!).

Right now, I'm sore from trying to mow an acre yard with an electric mower. The guys who normally do this for me told me they would do this two weeks ago, and I haven't seen them since. I pay them well, but I guess they don't need the money that badly. But I hate when people promise they'll do something and then don't. That makes them liars, and I don't like liars.

I've been mowing the yard in increments; I managed to get a majority of the front and about a third of the back done, and I did it over three days. My next purchase? A riding lawnmower! Then I won't have to listen to people promise that they'll get it done. I can just take a ride around my yard and mow the grass at the same time.

But I did plant a yellow rosebush, my favorite color roses! Let's hope it survives the weather!