Downsizing

           Richard felt excited to make some toy rabbits to add to our planters plus items.  It is almost mid July and I wonder how many will purchase planters to start gardens that theoretically should have been started months ago.  But I am by no means a gardener.  What do I know?

          We do a farmers market on Wednesday and one on Saturday.  We usually get more business on Wednesday.  Take yesterday for example.  Richard had wanted to make a whole slew of bunnies. We have never introduced them and I told him that we should just stick with the four we had.  We didn’t know that right after we set up there would be two busloads of children, each with five dollars to spend.  We sold three bunnies and three painted stools within the matter of minutes. 

          There was one girl who wanted a robot planter (which I learned later on, works well as a doll chair) but they are 20 dollars.  When we returned home I suggested to Richard that he just make smaller robots out of the scraps of wood.  Why not.  I don’t know if we’ll continue after this month.  They may be more time consuming.  But I think it will be a hit with the children.

Zyrtec over the counter is NOT the same as prescription

 . . . at least it seems that way.  My doctor had called in a prescription in March – I was told to take as needed.  Now I’ve taken Zyrtec before.  Over the counter.  The small white pill is oval shaped.  They have not made me drowsy.  But this small pez shaped ones that the pharmacy doled out . . . omigosh!

          The first couple of times I had taken the small pez shaped cetirizine I felt like I was in a coma for two days.  That is when I decided maybe it would be best if I cut them in half.  It still knocked me out.  I took only as needed.  I’ve cut six of them into thirds – which still wipes me out.  I still have twelve full ones left.  Perhaps I’ll need to cut them in forths.

          I do sleep better.  Much better.  The garbage truck collected the trash.  I don’t know what time.  I was zonked.  Won’t be taking one again for a while.  And it will only be a third of one.  Good night!

Thank You, Paul

           I was on my way to the casino to use the restroom.  Paul was walking his dog.  I could tell it was partly pit and was looking at every human the way Bonnie does.  I stopped to pet the dog and made small talk with Paul and continued on my way.

          I heard a bark and wondered if his dog had encountered another – as we often see many dogs out with their owners.  When I returned to the parking lot I walked toward our canvassed booth and saw Paul walking with his wife.  No dog.  Evidently the dog was being punished for going off like an alarm.

          There was a cool breeze – almost too cool.  I had my sweatshirt on most of the day and had purposely moved my chair into the sun.  I didn’t seem to notice the wind on the outside of the tent but it was evident under the canopy.  As I was about to return to my shaded spot a huge gust knocked over at least one of our pots.

          Paul, who wore an arm cast and sling, bent over to pick up the pieces and I bent down to help him.  After all, I felt an obligation to clean up after the wind had knocked our product.  But Paul insisted that he clean it up and I should sit down.  But I had two hands with which to pick up and to hold.  But then perhaps he felt the need to prove that he was not disabled.

          He hadn’t purchased anything but apparently he had given a tip to replace our loss.  That was dang sweet of him!  Kudos, Paul.  Not just for the tip but for your kindness.  Perhaps it should have been us who had given the bill to you.  Thank you.

Keeping Up With Superman

Jai had purchased six pairs of socks to give to Roland for father's day.

  

Tomorrow we will be going to see the movie Supergirl. 

the Worth of Souls

 

          Jaime sent me a photo of her beloved dog.  Unlike Hi-Five, Bonnie is real.  But the photo reminded me of the many “treasures” that become earless, eyeless or in Hi-Five’s case, furless as they are cherished by children.

 

          I have used a quote from the Velveteen Rabbit.  I had shared this thought quite recently with the other members of the Relief Society presidency.

 Skin Horse to Velveteen Rabbit:

    “Generally by the time you’re real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are real you can’t be ugly except to people who don’t understand”

    And then I read another quote that I found in a notebook I had grabbed:

    “We see outward appearances.  God sees what we can’t –

He sees underneath”

Hi-Five has looked shabbier than this (here).  His fur was never soft.  I don’t know what it is about him that had Jaime (who I had earlier referred to as Jenna) so attached.  She had definitely loved away much of his inside fluff as well as outside.  When she was two or three, Richard had taken her to Build-a-Bear and had her beloved dog restuffed.  We can’t see it from the outside but have faith that there is a heart inside.  Okay.  It’s made of plastic, but it’s there.  We can’t see it.  

We can’t always see what’s underneath.  We don’t always get the worth. 

          Bonnie is real.  She is overweight.  She has slowed down big time within the last six years (well almost six full years since we acquired her).  When she came to us we believed she was only one or two – but it turned out to be more like four or five. 

          We had noticed an infection in her eye on Friday.  Jaime had taken the above picture on Saturday.  We have said countless prayers and put her name on the prayer rolls. On Sunday her eye was looking better.  Pupil was more visible though still higher than should be. We took her to the vets today.  The eye infection was not a result of having been loved too much – it didn’t drop off.  But that is what it reminded me of.

          We don’t always understand her pain.  Overall we can tell she is mostly happy.  Still loves people giving her attention.  Some people don't see what we see.  There are some that just don't understand. We love our dog.  Both dogs.  Hi-Five is not active like Bonnie has been but will be around longer.

Taking a Turn

 On Wednesday we sold over 200 dollars worth of product.  So much better than the Mega Summer weekend.  It wasn’t as hot on Wednesday as the weekend had been.  Today we needed coats.  I’m not kidding.  COATS.

We didn’t do as well today as we had on Wednesday, but we did sell a planter box.  So that was nice.

I’d forgotten about the city-wide yard sale and extra tent set ups, the rodeo and the rodeo parade.  I had mentioned the rodeo parade in this post and have a rough map of the parade route at the end.  Today’s parade was horses and fire trucks and I think that was it.  Not a great view from where I sat, but I wasn’t there to watch the parade.

Busy day as a city.  Busy day with automotive traffic.  But not so much foot traffic.  Weird.

The Goats are Gone

           Jaime and I corralled the goats into Mary’s yard before Mother”s day.  They were confined to their own yard for a week before Richard opened the gate to allow them back into our yard.  Funny thing is when Jaime and I had sent them on their way, they appeared as toddlers still.  But they had turned into teenagers within that week.

          They have picked our yard clean – well with what we allowed.  Sugar’s horns were longer and she could not get her head in and out of holes that she could reach.  Cocoa had a sack.  I expect that Sugar will be pregnant before the end of summer. 

Richard and I were pulling weeds and trimming trees and throwing them over the fence so the goats would have something.  This morning we started to tackle the fencing in order reach the trees which may produce pears after six more years.

It was nice having the goats mow our lawn.  But they seemed to be a lot more work than weed wacking had been.  Richard doesn’t seem to have a problem climbing the hill.  I’m getting better with some of it, but am afraid of losing footing.

No more goats.  They have been moved to another location.  It won’t be long before the house next door goes up for sale.  Houses for sale on both sides of us plus at least one more.  It’s a good neighborhood.  May it continue with good neighbors.