No More Lumps

When we bought our house we noticed a couple of things that would quickly have to change; 1) The shower head in our master bathroom ("master" bathroom which is about the size of a porta-potty) and 2) the chandelier in the kitchen were unusually low. The first couple of tries in the shower resulted in me getting down on my knees to rinse the shampoo. Even Becky would have to bend down. Didn't take long for us to replace the shower head with a detachable head. Not necessarily ideal but at least this way we didn't have to rip out tile and redo anything. The chandelier in the kitchen came down to about my left armpit so you can imagine how many times I bumped my head on that thing. I think something was trying to tell me that helping out with the dishes was just bad for my health. We should have known things would be bad when the neighbor across the street told me the previous owner was only about 4'10". Something had to give...

Today was the day that something was finally done. We got us some ceiling fans recently and my brother-in-law Vidal was on vacation this week and came and helped me install a couple. Neither one of us is an electrician by trade but he at least has done this before in his own home. Me on the other hand... I'd probably be smart enough to go and do some wiring while stepping in a puddle of water. So I stuck to the screws and the blades of the fan. We made a great team and got 2 of the fans installed. We still got 3 left to do but those will come later this week. At least for now I can have my oatmeal lumpy and not have lumps after my oatmeal. Life is good... and a little cooler these days.

New Neighbors

We figured when we brought baby home that Coach was going to have a little bit of a tough time adjusting to his new baby sister. We still don’t know if he’s adjusted yet or not. The first couple of days he would circle around us and bark but he’s been pretty quiet the past few days. Our neighbors behind us have been making quite a bit of noise in their backyard all summer and he’s been out there quite a bit barking at them. He’s been out there even more this past week. All he’s been doing is pacing along the back fence from one side to the other.

A couple of weeks ago we could hear a bunch of noise coming from their yard. They had all kinds of power tools going but I didn’t pay much attention as their 3 boys (ages 4-10 or so) are noisy power tools themselves with all their arguing and fighting. It gets worse when Mama Banshee comes out and starts yelling at them in their native tongue.

I went to get Coach out of the garage the other morning and heard some yapping coming from their yard. It wasn’t the kids this time but instead it was some Mighty Mouse-sized mutt. I took a peek out of curiosity but couldn’t see the pint-sized pooch as it was enclosed in a 6’ high cardboard box. As I looked over the fence, that’s when I saw the little cottage against the fence. They had built themselves a freakin’ chicken coop. Everything is starting to make sense now:

• All the power tools went into building the coop.
• Coach paces along the back fence following the chickens around.
• The Census in our area was done a few weeks ago… prior to the coop being built and the new tenants moving in.

I’m wondering how much rent they’re paying for their little cottage? With the economy tanking, egg-laying doesn’t sound like a bad gig right now. You can work from home and get all the fresh air you want. All I know is if I hear a rooster crowing early in the morning, I’ll be singing me some Zac Brown: “You know I like my chicken fried/ cold beer on a Friday night/ a pair of jeans that fit just right/ and the radio up.”