Walls come tumbling down

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May 2002

May 2002

Once again. the Minnesota weather surprised me. Late April brought a deluge of snow which killed off most of my seedlings.

I started again, with window boxes and pots of all sorts. Marigolds, Salvia, Petunias, Clemetis. You name it, it's been planted.

Natzoid and I undertook a project of huge proportions over the Memorial Day weekend. We have been staring at a strongly objectionable wallpaper in the living room and dining room for nearly a year. In addition, what were presumably perfectly good wooden beams at some stage of their existence had been painted over in a white-wash by the previous occupants of the house. All in all, it wasn't pleasant.

In order to coax me into some action, Natzoid had started stripping some of the wallpaper while I was at work, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to tolerate the mess for any length of time, and thus enlisting my participation. So we started with a vengeance. After pulling off the paper, we realized that there was another layer of paper underneath and thus much more work than we had planned. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the process went something along these lines...

Take a room...

...that is nasty...

...start to strip paper and paint beams...

...add a two year old who is perplexed by the whole process, and throw in three dogs for good measure...

...work the kid until she has finished the job...

...wake her up and clean her...

...and partake in a glass of red, whilst enjoying the product of the labor...

If you look carefully, you'll see that the bath rejuvinated the Bean and even though the Hounds of the Baskervilles are exhausted, she is still awake, shouting "The End", a demand to be read yet another masterpiece of toddler literature.

In other news, Samantha was extremely pleased to have been in Illinois while all hell broke loose in the maelstrom of paper and paint.

The Bean has mastered counting to ten and can get as far as G in the alphabet before she meanders off into talking in hexadecimal code (an art her mother has long since yearned to master).

The dogs have been what us Northern English people refer to as "buggers". Picture this scene. Stella spots a squirrel in a neighboring yard. Stella vaults the fence in hot pursuit. Sasha spots Stella chasing something and hurdles the fence to get in on the action. Bowie sees Sasha's rear end disappearing into the distance and scrambles over the fence chasing Sasha. Kenny, who has, thus far, been pottering around the garden, sees the final canine disappear and it registers that all the dogs are running around the neighborhood. Thinking quickly, he summons Samantha and here begins one of those slap-stick comedy chases. To the tune of Benny Hill...squirrel, Stella chasing squirrel, Sasha chasing Stella, Bowie chasing Sasha, Kenny chasing Bowie, Sammy chasing Kenny. Da de da da diddle da da da da diddle da de da da da da. The action is intense. Bowie is recaptured via an innovative interception by Sam. Sasha is reclaimed by a well-times "SIT" from Kenny. Only Stella remains loose. Kenny runs inside for a smoked pig's ear..."brilliant thinking" he complements himself as he sees Stella performing a number 2 on the lawn opposite. Eek. The ear fails as Stella interprets the whole thing as a game and expletives mist the air in the porch. Enter Natzoid who stands on the front step and shouts "STELLAAAAAAAA" in a Street Car kind of way. Hound sidles inside. All is well. Bastard squirrel.

And finally, a parenting tip. Do not leave toddlers or dogs near sprinkler systems...