I took Pearl on a walk and met my favorite neighbors. They are originally from England. Anyway, while I was chatting with them (and, FYI, I am fairly anti-social. But I don't mind talking to them at all, so it was a pleasant experience), they happened to mention that last year was a bad health year for them. Her sister comes from England every year to visit for the summer, and this last summer she had a stroke. Air-lifted her to Bakersfield. That helicopter ride cost $17,000.00. And then she went back to England and the doctors there said (at first) she never had a stroke. The neighbors are not impressed with their homeland's health care system. (They've been in our valley as long as I've been alive- 30 something years!). Her sister, the one with that had the stroke, is mostly fine. I've met her- she was impressed that I understood her accent and language. She had called the wagon I was toting my kids around in a "pram," and because I like to read British novels, I knew exactly what she was talking about. A quirk about me, that's all.
While I was chatting with these neighbors, another guy stopped by. He and his wife own a bunch of cows and are well known in the valley. It was the first time I had met him, but Ryan knows him. His son lost his dog out here and they were looking for it. Anyway, turns out the wife met cousin Jimmy at Henley's yesterday. I felt like busting into song: "It's a small world, afterall!" But I didn't because that would be weird, and that song just gets stuck in people's heads, and that just wouldn't be nice.
Sunday morning while I was getting dressed for church (read: I was in PJ's and had one eye made up), I heard a guy's voice say, "Hello? Anybody home?" And I thought, "I'm gonna kill him!" Thinking it was a certain neighbor that has walked through my house before when I wasn't home. I go out of the bathroom to where he was, and it wasn't him! It was some other random man. I already had my annoyed face on, so it wasn't hard to make my voice sound like I might secretly be a vicious cereal killer of men who come into my house uninvited. "Can I help you?" I say. I would like to imagine that I came across all mean and scary and cross, but I'm pretty sure I probably just had my annoyed mom face on. Like the worst I would do is ground him or something. He quickly explained he was from the house over yonder (I know where yonder is), and he just wanted to let me know about the bear he had the last three days who he saw headed in our direction that morning. Lucky for him, I happen to know that Ryan knows who he is and where he lives (he's the caretaker of the house over yonder), and that I know bears are around. Otherwise, I would've had to stab him in the eye with my eye shadow applicator.I told the kids about the bear. Jessie is all paranoid about the bear now.
We really need to get our house all finished on the outside so it doesn't look so construction-like. (Among other reasons. Like so I can move in.) People just feel like they can walk right in! Really people, my laundry in in there. Underwear makes it all personal, so it's more than just a construction site! I also need fences and gates, STAT!
Tomorrow is the big Egg Hunt at school. And then, VACATION!
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