Possumblog

So, pillows are good.

I found this out last weekend, when I heard Kids WB coming from somewhere in the house, and in a barely conscious fit of pique, pulled one of my pillows up over my earpan.

Heaven.

I decided from then on, I would do the same thing every Saturday morning to keep from being awakened by tussling children, insipid Japanimation, or my lovely wife loudly getting plastic clothes hangers or loudly closing the door of the armoire. Saturday is the ONLY day I get to sleep--every other day of the week, I have to get up an hour before everyone else and try to get them all rousted, and by Saturday I’m working on something like a 20 hour sleep deficit, and I want nothing more than to be able to sleep until I wake up the way nature intended. Yet, since everyone else GOT their sleep during the week, they all want to get up and do things on Saturday morning. Loud things. Loud, daddy-wakey kinds of things that make Daddy angry. And Daddy is not allowed a bit of righteous anger, because it Casts a Pall on the Morning.

That is, until I found a way to sleep through it all.

I woke up enough that I had the presence of mind to pull the pillow over my ear sometime before dawn, and there is stayed all the way until 8:30! I even heard Miss Reba come in sometime in the intervening time between when she got up at 6:30 and when I woke up, and as is her usual manner, she loudly opened and closed the armoire door to put away my grippies, and the only thing I heard was a muffled thud as the door was slammed home and the latch snapped shut. Heaven. I usually get the full brunt of the sound, which sounds a bit like someone dropping a sheet of plywood off a loading dock, followed by the sound of a Browning M2 bolt being drawn back and released. And I don’t know why she does that--the door can be closed quietly, but she never chooses to close it that way. Always loud.

BUT NOT WITH PILLOW-AIDED AURAL CANCELLATION!

Finally woke up, refreshed and chipper, went downstairs and had breakfast, and began the process of yardwork.

Filled up the birdfeeders, then got Boy outside and we started on the lawn. He wanted to do the front, and bless his heart, he did most of it, except for several lines of clever grass that managed to swerve around and miss being nicked by the mower blade. Kept trying to get him to get over a bit closer to those, but he couldn’t quite get them all. But hey, at least I didn’t have to do it!

On to the back yard. And by the way, what a beautiful day to do yardwork--cool but not cold, bright blue sky--the only bad thing was the dust. Still. Should get damped down a bit today with the rain, but Saturday is was a bit thickish. No matter, though--STILL a pretty day to be outside. SO, back yard grass, then all done by noon.

Hmm.

You know, the back looks really snakey. Lots of stuff I’d let go over the summer.

Since I’m a moron, I decided to do a little clearing. TWO HOURS LATER, I had managed to cut down three wild hedges and limb up the oak, sycamore, maple, and pear trees. The latter causing me intense scratch-and-pokeage as I tried to drag the branches over to the side of the yard. I know they have thorns. Yet, for some reason, I CONTINUED to jam them into my fingers and scratch my arms with them. Reached down one time as if I was picking up a feather pillow to put upon my head, and rammed one deep into my knuckle. Another time reached into a pile and got scratched up and down my arms like I was fighting with an expensive free kitten.

Stupid me.

BUT, it sure cleaned up really nice--the stone planter bed is almost nekkid of plant growth, and the trees look a lot fresher, and I have a huge pile of brush alongside the house.

Then it was Part Two--chemical devastation!

Drove over to Marvin’s and picked up a gallon of Roundup to douse those wild hedges, and various other stuff that’s growing where it oughtn’t, AND I picked up something else for a project--Styrofoam.

See, Lightning’s little cat condo is out there on the porch, and it’s going to get chilly as the months go on, so I decided to give him a bit of an enclosure to keep some of the wind off of him. Two sides and a top of blue insulation board I figured should do the trick, so I got a 4x9 sheet and squished it into the van, then got it home and began the construction process.

You know what? Cats don’t like you making scratchy sounds outside their cage. Lightning was inside while I was measuring and cutting, and he did not like it AT ALL. Every once in a while, he’d reach one of his gigantic kitty paws around, ready to destroy whatever it was that was behind that sound. The other drawback was the wind picking up. Ever try to cut a big sheet of foam while it’s getting blown around? Not easy.

ANYwho, got all the pieces cut and secured, then had to go BACK to the hardware store to get more duct tape, then made a stop by the car parts place to get some wipers for the van, THEN finished up the three-sided enclosure, THEN after Reba and the two older girls had gone shopping, got the lasagna out of the oven and got ready to go deliver a dinner to one of our folks at church who had been involved in a very bad car wreck. Rounded up the two younger kids, got them to help me carry stuff, and off we went. Delivered the food, chatted with the wreck-guy’s wife to see if they needed anything else and commiserate while the kids amused themselves by agitating their gigantic Doberman through the glass kitchen door.

Off then back toward home, and stopped and got some food for us, because the last I’d heard before we left, the girls were still heavily shopping. As is the normal way of such things, I figured they wouldn’t be back until late, even though Reba had said she was going to fix spaghetti for supper. I’ve seen enough such plans come to naught before, however, to know that we needed to go ahead and get something to eat.

Got home, walked in, and Reba was cooking spaghetti.

Oops.

Our stop at the fast-food joint did not engender any tender feelings toward me. Add to this the general frustration level of spending a half-day shopping and not finding what you wanted, and I can tell you, it was very quiet.

BUT HEY--at least I could listen to the Auburn-Florida game in peace! Am I right!? SURE I AM! (And she did get over being miffed--seeing as how the two smaller kids still wanted some spaghetti, and the laundry did get done without further intervention on her part. It’s all good.)

ANYway, what a game! And for once, I’m glad I got my score prediction wrong. In amongst all that excitement, children were cleaned and polished and everything made ready for Sunday.

SUNDAY, which came and went without incident--two good sermons and a wondrous thing called a nap, and NOT one taken during the things of an important ecclesiastical nature! Sat there in my chair after a good lunch and a read-through of the free newspaper that got tossed on my driveway, and dozed off in that droolish manner, with all the weird semi-conscious dreams that you get. And it was a pretty day, too!

All in all, one of the more better weekends.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at October 16, 2006 10:39 AM