Moving Right Along

Electrical work continues when it is not raining. Kitchen receptacles are in (for the most part), light on the back porch, outlet for the freezer, and the control panel for the washing machine has been replaced. Hallelujah! Had loads waiting and ready to go. Since I brought home a roach on a previous trip, you know that I was not eager for more trips to that raggedy place.

Still need to get the heaters put in the other areas. And, yes, more brick! We're (like I'm driving nails) having to build housing for them in the bedrooms because there is not space between studs as expected. Poor Mr. Cannon. He's trying to borrow a super-duper hammer drill to get this job over and done with. We're convinced that the house will rot before it will blow over. Everywhere he drills is brick. I'm thinking about prying off one of the exterior boards to see what is underneath. With my luck, however, I'll see brick initially and then, when everything is ripped up, have a gigantic mess on my hands.

Speaking of demolition, I single-handedly took out the railing on the side. Sure did. I had leaned over it earlier to put out the dog's food and it was very loose. So it needed to be replaced. I was told that the spindles were rotted and couldn't be saved. Someone must have disagreed because after I laid them out for pick-up, someone took the spindles and left the handrail. Hmm. Maybe they aren't rotted up front after all. Maybe people don't want the added time and effort to remove and reinstall them. Hmmm. I kind of like the open space off the back door. I think that area can be worked with and made to be quite pretty. I'm playing with ideas.

Not much happening at Wally World. Except for returns. In droves. Hours are being cut back drastically. Understand this is normal during the period after Christmas. My budget can't stand any cut-backs in hours. The search for more gainful employment continues.

Miss Willie, a greeter, is a retired hairdresser from Kansas City, where she owned her own shop.Her husband, a barber, is from Ripley and they returned here, opening a beauty and barber shop. They retired about ten years ago. She says that if he closes his eyes today or tomorrow, she is going back to KC. She suggested that I try Ms. Thompson, who owns a shop in Ripley. Thompson is married to the Black undertaker and is a soror. The family has both ends of the Black community sewn up; make them pretty in life and in death. Now, I haven't been too successful in cracking into the sorority life. Asked Ms. Drain to tell her daughter that I was interested in attending meetings. Doubt if that request will ever be made or acted upon. Understand that Ripley is not too open to outsiders. And that you are considered an outsider regardless of how long you live here. Granny Gee claims to have been blackballed by the sorority and not accepted by the Eastern Star. She has long family ties in Henning, grew up there, and lives there although she has lived elsewhere. May be something else to that story but...as she says, I'll learn about the folks here. I'm doing that. However, I'm not really interested in becoming a part of the social fabric. I'm more interested in fixing my house and living comfortably. And being able to exchange a word or too, now and then.

I was sucked in royally by the RPD. Saw a police car parked across the street and thought that it was just the fellows taking a break. Saw it again and again. Started to walk over and ask if they wanted a puppy. The car never moved. Finally dawned on me that they had parked the car there as a deterrent over the holidays because: 1) the school would be empty for an extended period of time 2) the newspaper would be locked up longer than normal 3) the library would be closed longer than normal 4) Lafayette is a "major" thoroughfare and would discourage drunk drivers. Silly me. It is still there.

I'm off to check on the brood. Big Boy now has a collar and has been tried on a leash. None of which he likes. He is greedier than his mother, if at all possible, and when she gets a dog biscuit, he wants one, too. He parks in the dish so that she doesn't get near it. Saw a recipe for a "flea-proof" breakfast: eggs, potatoes, sardines, garlic, etc. Faithfully fixed this meal for the pooches. I must be crazy. Those ingredients belonged in my pantry for future meals. Cindy lapped it up. Big Boy had to be force-fed. Understand fleas don't like the garlic. May be something to it. Cindy dropped to the ground like a stone and began rolling to get relief; Big Boy's hind leg is going to fall off from scratching. I think from now on, I'll just add minced garlic, or garlic water, to the food and forget all the rest of it.

More later. Be safe.