Don't Fence Me In

I arrived at Casa Momma Pappa's pretty early yesterday. The drive over was great, not too much traffic, and it didn't get HOT until I hit Ellensburg. I snapped on the A/C after desending into the Yakima Valley and enjoyed the remainder of the drive in my favorite way, windows down and the A/C on.

Don't send me hate mail about the waistfulness of a/c with the windows down because I only use my a/c on 90 degree or hotter days which means almost never. Some of you... and you know who I'm talking about Janie... are a/c on any day over 68.

Still plagued with a cold that has moved into my chest I was hoping the uber hot weather would help clear it up and it has somewhat. Mom informed me that Aunt Sandy & Uncle Ed would be here at 7:00am to start the re-building of the fence between the house and the pasture.

7:00 AM!!! For pete sake I came over here to relax. Oh well, there was no way that I could have slept until 7 anyway... mom has chickens and a rooster. Joy oh Joy. It's hot over here and her house a/c doesn't run all night so the windows are open. At 4:30 am the (&%*%#)ing Rooster started crowing. I managed to fade in and out of sleep until 6 and then I was up.

We worked until 1, ate lunch under the big Walnut tree and decided to start again in the morning. Thankfully Ed has a nice backhoe and we weren't digging any of the post holes by hand.

I love that my family pitches in to do hard labor at each others homes. It's fun and everybody feels a sense of accomplishment. Together we've installed a new floor into the barn, put a huge deck around Sandy & Ed's house, the fence, and lots of other smaller projects. Growing up mom would get bored and she'd make us move the wood pile around the yard. What fun these rural Washintonians have.

Mom has been telling me that "Gang Bangers" have moved in up the road. I interpreted this to mean that people under the age of 50 have moved in up the road. But, now that I'm here, I'm pretty sure it's not your average household. All day long cars filled with Kevin Federline looking dudes in tanktops drive up the lane, stay for 10-15 minutes and then leave.

Tonight they are having a party and there must have been 30 cars, trucks and a couple campers filled with people going by. The Dodd's (the old OLD folks up the lane) must be thrilled. I'm sure the police will be by soon as it's getting close to midnight...

WAIT... Rooster.... gotta go must get a few hours in before that damned bird wakes up. (Maybe we're having chicken for dinner tomorrow so I can sleep in Monday.)