I pitched my tent in the back yard in
what seemed like a good spot. It
wasn't long before I realized that weather wasn't the only thing to
worry about in the woods.
After that I kept the flap zipped, but
it was a clear cut case of "locking the gate after the horse escaped."
There were many changes since the last time I visited my sister's. For
one thing, they now have goats.
The swing set in the yard is also new.
Last time I was there they had an active vegetable garden, but this
year the County told them to conserve water, so they didn't have one.
Also, Katie has grown up a lot since then.
Teresa is much more of a computer nerd
then she used to be. Apparently she is having a thrashing online
romance with this guy in California. She showed me his picture, and he
looks like a good kid. I have this frustrated feeling that people you
know in your own world are much better dates than cyber friends.
Anyhow, part of the problem is that there aren't many interesting
people out in the stix. I'm hoping she becomes an on campus student
next year as planned. That would open her horizons a lot.
Tonia has become very active selling stuff on eBay. She told me that
selling online is helping
a lot in dealing with the expenses they hadn't anticipated like higher
gas prices. She also hopes to trim down the collection of surplus stuff
to the point where it won't be a hassle when they finally get around to
moving. She just has dialup access, but that is enough to post auctions
and handle the shipping websites. Sometimes she has to wait for a
screen to load. When that happens she just sets it going and does
something else for a while. It's always the same screens, so she is
used to it by now.
This is my sister's favorite type of
response to selling something. During the time I was around she went
from having a 147 rating to something like a 154.
They like to end the day by sharing ice cream and talk.
The first evening
enough rain came down that I woke up damp and chilly the next day.
After that I got this blue tarp to keep the rain away from my bed. It
turned out to be a good investment, because before the week was out a
lot more rain fell on us.
One of the neat features of my sister's home is the shower head we
used.
It has valves so you can use the low flow shower head for things like
washing your head. Then if you want to use the wand you push a couple
of buttons and you're using it. Turning both off while you lather is
also just a push of the button. Another neat quality is that when you
want water again it comes out the same temp. you had it at before.
We had a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast, all things considered.
In case you can't see me, I'm the one behind the camera for this
picture.
We spent hours
talking. Nickie works at Winn-Dixie now. Her sister is pregnant, and
that one's husband is due back from Iraq about the time his kid is due
to get born. Jeff is going to do a tour of duty in Japan soon.
(he was retired from the Army, but the chronic shortage of staff caused
by the ongoing Iraq situation caused them to suck him back in. I don't
think he fought it that hard.) After a while the younger kids got
restless, and I went outside and
played dodge ball with them. All things considered, we had a great
time.
Two days later Jeff's church was on the front page of the Local News
section of the Columbus paper. Something about how they were teaming up
with this Black ministry to feed the poor on Saturdays. It was a
surprise to me, cause I'd have thought talking for hours and hours we'd
have heard that news. I guess when you only talk once every few years
mundane things like that you just don't get around to.
Teresa still plays
piano.
The next day Dad had
a fierce asthma attack. After that he got
nebulized at regular intervals for the rest of the vacation. I'm still
worried about him...
Daisy is old enough
that she's getting trained for riding now. Because of that I didn't see
her, but Grace and Teresa went to see her and brought back this picture
among others. One of them featured the trainer mounting her for the
first time.
Tonia home schools her kids. I was
there
when Katie signed her name, I think for the first time.
While that was happening, my sister packaged up another batch of
things that she had just sold online for that postman. She likes the
fact that selling is a constructive way to get
rid of the constant stream of cardboard boxes that come in. Part of
what she accomplishes is keeping the worlds box collection circulating.
I really wanted to do something to help
out, so I upgraded the stick in the front gate to a rod.
Tonia's new digital camera has a movie making mode. It captures about
fifteen minutes of video before the memory fills up and we have to
download that into the computer. Dad wanted to get his life story on
film, so we took turns interviewing him for another segment. I think we
ended up with something like four to six hours of video.
That puddle at the
low point was much smaller a few hours later. The sandy surface absorbs
water at a remarkable speed.
