Saturday, November 17, at home in Arizona
My recently acquired friend, Dennis, who is a native of Arizona and a local resident, comes by the house. I met Dennis last spring when the crew and I camped in southeastern Arizona during our search for a property to purchase.
Dennis arrives and opens the front gate.
Before he closes it, Reggie and Roger scoot through and head down the street!
Dennis jumps back into his car and takes off after them. I sit on the porch and wait because I know not to go after them. If they see me, they run the other way.
Several minutes later here comes Dennis’s car creeping up the street and Roger is trotting in front of it.
What? He’s herding Roger. How in the world . . . ?
“How did you manage that?” I ask, once the boys are inside the fenced yard again.
“Well, I snuck up on Reggie, grabbed him, and put him in the car. Roger wouldn’t let me get near. He snapped at me. After I put Reggie in the car, Roger was looking for him, so I rolled down the window enough for Reggie to stick his head out.”
“Oh, that’s why Roger was trotting with your car. Those two can’t stand being separated.”
Anyway . . .
Shortly after I became acquainted with Dennis last spring, I mentioned how the line between this property and the neighbor’s to the rear is an unsightly mess. The property behind ours is unoccupied and is not being maintained. Grass and weeds are waist high.
The fence is hardly secure and only because brush is growing through it. (Also, after the purchase I patched the fence to keep Reggie and Roger from exploring the neighborhood on their own.)
“I don’t have the equipment to clean it up,” I explain to Dennis, “plus, even if I did, it’s too big a job for me to take on.”
I had asked Dennis if he knew anyone I could hire to clear away the mess and to put in a new fence.
He said he’d be glad to do it some weekend.
However, he didn’t have the time due to family responsibilities filling up the weekends off from his regular job.
Months pass and now he can do the work!
We discuss the details of the brush and old fence removal, as well as the installation of a new fence.
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” he promises.
I’m so excited! At last that awful mess will be cleaned up!
~ ~ ~
Sunday, November 18
Dennis hasn’t arrived yet. In the meantime, let’s look at a treasure I pick up at the thrift store.
I love this thing!
What you see here is a mirror with a beveled edge, surrounded by hand-painted canvas. The inside and outside frames are wood with a pretty stain-and-gold finish.
The photo doesn’t show how big it is — 30 inches across and 33 inches tall. It’s going to make a lovely focal point for whatever room I hang it in.
I can’t believe I hesitated.
It takes me three visits to the thrift shop before I decide to buy it. Hidden behind a stack of other large, framed pictures, dusty and neglected, it carries a tag of $20.
I keep thinking about it and I keep coming back to it. That tells me to go ahead and open my wallet, for crying out loud.
Now I laugh at myself for balking at the twenty-dollar price. It’s worth many times more to me.
I love the colors, the uniqueness, and the way the beveled mirror in the center catches the light.
I love it because I have to admire and enjoy the sight of it whenever I walk into the room.
It may find its home in the small sitting room, along with the dorky duck lamp.
(BTW, Dorky Duck gets a spa treatment with Murphy Oil Soap.
Or I might put the mirror/grape painting in my bedroom . . . .
~ ~ ~
Gee, where’s Dennis? I hope he isn’t going to cancel!
rvsue
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG!
In this post I mention using Murphy Oil Soap to clean the wood of my duck lamp.
This is the kit I bought at Amazon:
Murphy Oil Soap Wood Cleaner Starter Kit – 32oz Pour, 22oz Spray, 2 packs of 18 Wipes
Shortly after it was delivered, I set to work using the spray on the wood cabinets in my kitchen. I could see on the rag how much dirt it removed. I hadn’t realized the cabinets had an accumulation of so much grime!
Then I remembered Dorky Duck and gave him a Murphy Oil Soap treatment, too.
I recommend this product. It brings out the beauty in the wood! — Sue
RVSue and her canine crew is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
