A frog in my throat…my “watering can” throat.

  Thursday AM McGyver and I were loading stuff to take up to his aunt and uncle’s house..Den put plastic on their screen porch screens here and we were taking them back…Also, they a bad leak in their hall when it rained the other evening.  Dennis went up on their roof and discovered that all around their chimney, the bricks were pulling away and they need the chimney rebuilt…Uncle Jr. thought he had enough of the original brick still stacked in the corner of his garage, so Den and I were also on a mission to see if there were enough brick.  We hauled out the bricks and stacked them up outside their garage..You can see by the following photo how they look laid up, as the garage is all brick just like the house…

Yep, we hauled out 140 brick (Aunt Jeanette was sneeking a brick or two until I caught her…after all, she will turn 97 next Thursday!!)…Looks like they have plenty of brick..and have found someone who will lay a new chimney for them.  Den is pretty handy, is not a brick mason…although he did lay all our brick on our front porch and fireplace.  When it comes to someone elses he prefers to let the pros do it.…Uncle Jr. and Aunt Jeanette’s home is vintage 1955, and after 57 years, some things are in need of replacement…McGyver is going to calk some of the valleys in the roof for them.  He can do that easily .  After hauling all that brick,  it was time to get some groceries for them, take them to pay their taxes and pick up their prescriptions at Walgreens…Dennis is the chauffeur for this adventure..and trust me…it is ALWAYS an adventure!!  Afterward, we all gather around their kitchen table for some snacks , and a few adult beverages..

  Check out the wonderful retro 50’s décor..wall roosters and all…I especially love their wall rotary dial telephone (just over Jeanette’s head) , and the Formica kitchen table with the vintage light over it…Ya just don’t see this stuff anymore, eh??

 

Watching Hurricane Isaac come onshore in Louisiana made feel very grateful that we don’t live in a flood area like that.  It must be sooo discouraging time after time.…Much as we have visited there, I don’t think I could do the “standing on my roof” boogie.  I couldn’t handle waiting for a helicopter to pluck me off,  with the possibly of doing a high wire act,  swinging in mid-air above rushing water..Kudos to those people…You are in our prayers…We use to go to Florida almost every summer when our kids were small, starting the 2nd year Walt Disneyworld opened…Here are a few memories from a trip we took with good friends in the 80’s.…

 

Left, Den and our good friend Dave Ikonen…They took catamaran sailing lessons for 1 hour and thought they were Captain Hook and Mr. Snee….Right photo are the 4 of us… Den and I in the back, David and Sue Ikonen in the front…These photos are from about 1988….I can tell because my 2nd, 3rd and 4th chins were not yet an issue..

 

Left, the Ikonens and the Caves… Left to right around the table are David, Sue, myself, Den, Pete Ikonen, Terrie and Chris (our 2 girls) Kelly was in the Navy at this time.…The photo was taken at Aunt Catfish’s in South Daytona Beach..Picture on the right are the 2 “Big Kahunas”, David and Dennis, enjoying a beer outside the Caribbean Resort Food Court…

 

Ahhhhh yes, two men relaxing in the motel room…David, pretending he was a surfer dude..and McGyver,  who was looking just too studly for words…Please notice our cocktail “suitcase” open on the table…Inside were all the necessities for survival , just in case drinks at the hotel bar were tooooooo pricey for us “el cheapo” touristas!!

 

 

 

 

 

David, Susan and Moi….Gosh I wish I still had those sunglasses!!(and that body).

 

I shall now spin your heads around to yesterday morning at our house… I was outside and decided to give our homemade urn fountain a drink, it was getting dry…The night before, I left my watering can out on the deck with some water in it, so I grabbed it and began dumping the water in the fountain…

But..nothing came out of the spout…Sooooo, wondering what was the hold up, I tipped it up high and peered into the spout from the open side …and this is what I saw….

 

Holy Crapoly!! If you only knew just how much I FEAR toads and frogs, you would understand why I immediately dropped said watering can and ran off the deck… I WAS laughing…at myself…I was also hollering, ”DENNNNNNNNIS!!!!! OMG, COME GET THIS THING OUTTA MY WATERING CAN!!!!”…He almost bumped his head on the overhead door of the Hiker basement, which he was getting something out of…”WHAAAAAT IS IT NOW?????”… (McGyver hasn’t much patience for my fear of frogs and toads)…He was looking at me like I was nuts as I told him of the little “spout toad” tightly stuffed up inside the watering can…

“Helllllo up there…I see you and I am NOT going to kiss you, hoping for a Prince Charming…I already have my Prince,  and certainly do not need another…”

FYI, to get this photo of Mr. Toad, I lay flat on my stomach on our deck, (as far away from the watering can as possible),  stretched my arm out, hit the zoom on my camera and snapped the picture. Then I jumped up and ran to the other side of the deck…Hey, I figured I had already P.O.’d this guy enough… and I had a feeling he was one toad’s breathe away from jumping out at me…Shortly after this photo, McGyver (A.K.A. Prince Charming) came riding up on his white Reebocks, saving me from the evil toad and my embarrassing stance for getting this photo… (I’m glad Den didn’t grab his cell phone and take a photo of me taking this photo…Now THAT  would have been one for the family album!)

Long story short, Den shook the water can a few times, said toad hit the water inside with a splash,  and got poured out onto the soft grass, living to hop again, and scare the bejesus out of some other big toad sissy…

We had an email from FD5, John and Bridget…They are gonna be North of where we live in their Mobile Suites, coming to  beautiful ??Illinois, and a little town called Sublette….They are coming to visit us here at the Cave Dwellings this Sunday morning…We have met John, but not his wife, Bridget…or their Beagle, Fred…We are really anxious to see them and get a big wet Beagle howl and kiss from dear Fred….As you may know, I will get some pics of us all…There is a possibility they will drop in with Fred tomorrow AM also …..Fred the Beagle truly has a “dog’s life” with  John and Bridget!! So life has been pretty exciting around here lately, and the Sandwich Fair begins Sept. 5th, next Wednesday…Actually, our son, Kelly was born on Sept. 5th and will be 42 this year… giving a very real meaning to the term “LABOR DAY” for me..

“Kissing the frog to get the prince is a waste of a perfectly good frog”.~ Jim Benton

I heartily DISAGREE!!