Life in West Virginia: PUNKIN IS A TRUE WV REDNECK . . .

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

PUNKIN IS A TRUE WV REDNECK . . .

I swear, she is barefoot ALL the time! Of course, us West Virginians are known for being barefooted hillbillies but she takes it to another level. After a scolding from Gordon (Kim's Dad), their dog Zana (zan-a, and no its not after Xanax, it's a shortened American Indian name) she also felt the need to scold the dog. She went into the laundry/mud room when Gordon sent her out of the sitting room and pointed her finger and said "top puppy, NO!"

She's definitely a rough and tumble baby. If she bumps her head, falls down, gets scratched or any of the nameless other accidents that befall toddlers and she gets up, dust herself off and goes on as if nothing happened. Now, let her drop a crayon from the table and its "OH NO". Drama, all the time with this terrible two year old. Climbs on everything. She is talking up a storm now but only me, Mom and Shelly can tell what she is saying.

Deedle-leedle-leedle-leedle-lee . . . that is how she calls cats. That WHAT she calls them all. I think it was because the first cat that she could really wall'er around was Lily. I call Lily "kitty girl" or "Lily kitty". With the other cats, we would say "Is that a kitty? Mr. NUUUUU-NOOOO. Is that the kitty?" Same for the that Link and Callie. We were at Kim's this evening and she just heard one of their cats meow and she said, "Whas at? Deedle-leedle-leedle-leedle-lee".

We had a party last Saturday night and Slayer asked some of her friends that I had never met to come up and we played dice. Slayer got a little trashed. We had to have a professional check to see if her heart was beating . . . .

Sunday was spent digging out Christmas decorations and hanging lights. Slayer helped some but didn't feel well so I was out in the drizzle . . . then it started the downpour and I had to wait a while before it quit . . . my gutter was overflowing and running thru the red lights I had hung. It was like a waterfall but no electrical shorts thank God. Then I did the white lights outside along with the red ones (imagine candy canes) and garland around the stairs inside; I did new stockings for Punkin, Joe, Me and Mom and some other little things. This is the first time I have decorated since Dad died 7 years ago.

In this first photo, you can see Punkin's swing and the various other items that hang on my front porch. This is the right side of the porch if you are looking out.

In this second photo, on the left you can see part of the railing that was installed this fall . . . I also now have good steps and a banister. The gap in the lights are the stairs that are not missing a board now. Obviously, this is the left side and where I ran out of lights.

Interestingly enough, the white lights came out of a box that was put away Christmas of 1999 and most of them still worked! How could I get so lucky!

Forecast for today is 64 and no rain. We have had our fill and I am really surprised that there are no flood watches for the Little Kanawha River because even up here on the hill where it all drains away down, the ground is still saturated. Tomorrow, 90% chance, Thursday 70% and Friday wintery mix. UGH!

In some sad, unfortunate news, Joey's Dad, Sam, his mother died. I didn't know she was ill but when I was reading the obituaries the other day, I thought of her and wondered if I would read her obit in the paper when she died (although, I had no clue she was deathly ill . . . she had suffered from RA for over 33 years . . . the new meds for it certainly came to late). So, Sam called Joey and asked him and me to come to the funeral. It is on my birthday, which is also the anniversary of my Dad's death. Joey hasn't spoken with him (Sam) for a couple of years but seemed happy that his Dad called and told him and that they wanted him to go to his Aunt Shari's afterwards and spend time with that side of the family, something he hasn't done in over 5 years. He knows that the lack of contact from Sam's father and step-mother and also Sam's mother was in no part my fault. Sandy couldn't drive, so her not visiting is one thing. Sadly, for many years I lived only 4 miles away from them and still live less than 12 miles away. I saw Sam's dad one time at KMart and had Joey with me and he patted him on the head and said "How are you son?" and Joey just replied fine and we talked for a few more minutes and went to go to the car. Joey then asked me who that guy was. He was about 9 years old at the time and hadn't seen him in 5 years . . . It will be interesting to watch how this thing all unfolds . . . Joey is such a mature, well-spoken and kind young man and they don't really deserve his love or respect but I am glad that they chose to include him. He is looking forward to his cousin Zane coming home from Japan as he was in ROTC with Joey and he looks up to him. Zane gave the most moving, impromptu speech at the Veteran's Day ceremony held after the parade. He really showed his respect for the Veterans and talked about how most kids take their freedom for granted . . .

Keep coming back for more exciting excerpts from our "Life in West Virginia" . . .