Well, I have seen some interesting reads lately on the blogs, and as I have been driving thru town, also seen some interesting stuff. Never question what you see in the South. You don't want to know, because if you ask, you'll get an answer that you'll never understand. I got a real taste of things yesterday at "Mayor's Court". And the smiley face wasn't because it made me smile, it was a joke! Good grief! I feel like Lucy the Psychiatrist, from Peanuts, on Charlie Brown. My sign reads, "The Doctor Is In."
The county has been working on the road and gulley/ditches outside my house for the last two days. Labor is cheap--they are using county prison labor. I don't really think it is really the right thing to be working people in temperatures over 100 degrees in construction. I've been bring them out ice water and this morning brought them baked good-apple turnovers. I know that I would appreciate someone treating me decently. They are coming from a minimum security facility near where I live-about 15 miles south. And they were thrilled to get the fresh iced water and baked goods. I had two guys on construction by the side of my house and they went to the road behind my property to share their wealth with their coworkers. I packed enough for a crew. I just am pretty bothered about the prison labor details, especially in this terribly hot weather. It's so easy to become dehydrated. So, I felt good about doing that. Yesterday, they were just enthralled to see my dogs. They were absolutely infatuated with my greyhounds, Murphy and Bullet. And Bullet is so tremendously big for his size, at 8 months, he's well over 60 pounds, and comes up to my shoulders when he stands straight up. He jumps up to my shoulders and we are face to face. And he runs so fast, he really impressed them. Murphy impressed them with his race record of 143 races, and he raced until he was a full 5 years of age, which was quite significant, a fact that he never washed out. He won quite a bit. The greyhound racers have to retire at five years of age.
So, it has been an interesting couple of days, but I have been stuck mostly at home, because I couldn't get out on the road because of all the work. But the crew was great in getting the work done so my husband could get in and out with the truck and had access to get into the driveway. I always told them what time to expect him and they had the road planed and cleared off for him.
I have done a little correspondence; I have several other brothers but we aren't very close. Mostly, just my baby brother, who is 21, and living at home with my parents. He is borderline autistic, and has special needs, but if you didn't know it, when you physically looked at him, you couldn't tell. My parents adopted him when he was a baby; he was biracial, a SIDS baby, on the monitor for two years, and language development problems in school. He learned sign language first, before speaking. My parents are older, so if something happens, my husband and I will take care of my brother. I am executor of the estate. I am one of those people who come from a dysfunctional family--two older sisters that are estranged. I can't seem to locate my older sister without spending a bundle of money, but know that if someone happened to my parents, she would come out of the woodwork, like a cockroach. In any event, one of my adopted brothers, who spends some time at my parents with his wife, was in an accident about 3 weeks ago. He has a German Shepherd puppy--I guess she is about a year old now. They live in a suburb of Atlanta. He doesn't have much yard, but plays with his dog outside. Well, the dog hit him in the side of his face, and broke his jaw. But when he went to the emergency room, they said nothing was broken and he just had contusions. His whole face was squished in and was going sideways. (His wife is Spanish and sometimes it's hard to understand her English) This went on for a couple of weeks and he was in agony. The emergency room had just told him to alternate hot and cold packs.
He had a dentist appointment during that time and they sent him for an MRI which showed his jaw was broken. The dentist sent him to an oral surgeon. He had to wait because the jaw had started to head from the inside. So, they waited another week, and then had to re-break the jaw, and reset everything and put in some kind of a metal plate. They inserted everything through his eyebrow. That was really freaky. Something is always going wrong somewhere. I couldn't believe it was such a mess. I sent him a card and a note, but I felt so bad for him. And he has horrendous problems with his ex-wife with support and visitation issues for his daughter who lives in MD.
Anyway, that's my "believe it or not, story for the day".
I hope that everyone has a great weekend. We will be working at home, finishing closing off the bottom of our sundeck. My crabby miniature poodle will finally not be able to dig any more crater holes near the house foundation so I'm sure he will be looking for something else to drive me over the edge. And Bullet will be waiting patiently for my husband to be getting the hose out so he can play in the water. I've never seen a puppy who loves the water so much. He just loves dunking his head in the spray. And now he is learning about the sprinkler. He already has his old baby pool which he plays in as well. Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.
Regards,
Sweetie