What's Going Down At The Ranch

I know that like me, you're more than likely feeling a little shaken from the news of the last week. You're probably also like me in that you want to hold your loved ones just a little bit closer. I just learned that my brother and his family had a fire in their house today. Thankfully they were home and caught it in time so they are okay. If it had been during the night or when they were away, things could have been truly tragic. I know that my family is feeling fortunate that things happened like they did.

Big ole storm clouds are brewing tonight so I've got to clean out that danged Christmas closet in the hall again. For lack of a better place, it's our makeshift tornado shelter. I think that I spend more time with those decorations during tornado season than I do at Christmas! My next house is going to have a basement storm shelter, mark my word. And every time that we take to the closet, I swear that I'm going to buy another scooter helmet. Back story: Okay, so the Mister is from Kansas where the mighty winds come whistling through the plains quite often so he's not scared of tornadoes. But me? I saw the I-Max movie about tornadoes and let me tell you, I know that they're bigger and badder than I am. I even started bawling when I watched it. It was a life event for me, I kid you not.

Anyway, every time that the tornado sirens go off, I make him put on his scooter helmet. And then I put on some random motorcycle helmet that we own even though we've never owned a motorcycle. I then yell "WHAT??! I CAN'T HEAR IN THIS HELMET!" the entire time because it completely seals my ears shut. "ARE THE TORNADO SIRENS STILL GOING OFF? WHAT?? I SAY I CAN'T HEAR IN THIS HELMET!!" In other news...

Son of a....

The kitties have officially destroyed our beloved couch.

We did the best that we could with blankets and throws and limp-wristed discipline but a couch is no match for four demon cats from the depths of Hell. Here it was in its glory days:

Ahem, y'all. Note the tuxedo cat on the left side of that photo.

A man in a van came and took it away and is going to replace that beautiful fabric with a thick vinyl. Le sigh. You know how when you accidentally break something vintage and you think "Great. This (whatever it is) has lasted for sixty years and then I go and destroy it!"? That's the way that we feel about this couch. 

In happier news, we're finally starting to work on our patio which has been a huge mess since we moved here thanks to hackberry tree sap. The Mister discovered this amazing stuff (not the technical term but you know..) that you can put under the trees to make the sap go away. Or it kills the bugs that create the sap. We're super stoked that we might finally be able to use the patio. Well okay, for the two weeks out of the year that mosquitoes don't pick you up and carry you away if you dare go outside.  I marvel that some of you live in areas of the country where you can actually go outside for most of the year. What must that be like? 

So, I've been mother-henning some herbs and having a great time potting little plants. I didn't have quite as much fun with the power-washing of the patio and can still feel my teeth vibrating. The Mister has been cleaning and spray painting all of our old pitiful patio furniture. Funny story for you: He works at a place that has a nice spray paint booth so he has been taking our chairs there to paint them. Two college aged kids came into my husband's studio at completely different times and he said that both of them sat down in one of the patio chairs and tipped over and fell into the floor! Two separate incidents of kids just falling out like rag dolls into the floor. 

The offending chair: 

(Insert menacing music here.)

He said that they didn't seem to understand the logistics of chairs that tip to the front. What the heck is going on with kids these days when they can't sit in patio chairs?? Those damned video games have made them off-balance, that's what. Pong never did that to us. Why, we could sit in chairs AND play video games at the same time back in my day! I don't even know how to explain the lack of understanding that these kids have for patio chairs but I do know that I'm not inviting them over for any cookouts.

Did you know that I once bought a haunted chair in a thrift store? I sure did. I am going to put that on my list of stories to share with you guys soon. 

I've rambled enough for now. Join me next time when I show you one of the coolest cars ever!

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha