This is just one of the many murals painted by The Walldogs who visited P-town a few weeks ago.
Too cool, huh?
Next visit I want to get pictures of them all. Some are found in alleys like this one and others are in more prominent locations. All of them have some sort of historical significance to P-town — gee, even I remember some of them…
At any rate, the tourist traffic is increasing in ol’ P-town and these murals will surely help!
The things I’ve done are in red.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (well, in a tent under the stars)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (it was a near-total)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
…and it all starts an hour early, thanks to my boss! I will be out the door at 3:30 PM today and headed for the grocery store to get all the fixin’s for the holiday. If all goes well, DH, J and H will be home and we are having a cookout and who knows what over the long weekend.
My unreasonable plan is to do all the prep-cooking/housecleaning tonight. If I were ten years younger, I just might pull it off. However I’ll likely run out of steam early and throw in the towel.
Make ahead: Mr Food’s pulled chicken. Sounds good to me and it looks pretty easy. Or I’ll make porcupines. Or both.
Tentative 4th of July menu: steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, carrot salad, fruit.
Anyway — I am off to write up a grocery list — have a great and safe July 4th!
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NP: Local weather report
Where’s Soph? Looking out the window
Mood-o-meter: anxious
Aren’t they pretty? They are coming in thick this year and so far the rainstorms we have had have not beat them to the ground.
Southern Cousin gave me the seed to start these several years ago. They came from her grandpa’s garden in Kentucky.
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Anybody out there remember the Hollyhock character from the old comic strip, Pricilla’s Pop? Is that even around anymore? I always got a laugh with my dad at the notion that Pricilla’s pop ate mashed potato sandwiches!
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NP: Moulin Rouge
Mood-o-meter reading: Meh.
Grocery list: potatoes, eggs, onions, mayo, orange jello, carrots, crushed pineapple, steak, chicken thighs, bbq sauce, baugettes, cabbage.
Hello — Sophie here.
Saturday Mumsy had a big day, so she fell asleep on the couch.
Left the internet up and running, did you Mumsy? Let me see if I can hop onto your chair…
Well, my day started at 4:30 AM — I see no reason to lie in my crate while my breakfast is sitting in that bag over in the corner. I started calling for Mumsy, but there was no response. I know that is not like her. She generally gets right up and coos to me,
“You stupid dog! Why can’t you sleep until 5:30?!
Ah…it is music to my ears!
Yesterday though I had to call for Mumsy for a half-hour before I heard her get up. She was a bit grumpy. I don’t get it. Didn’t I look all cute and rolled over on my back, just waiting for my tummy to be skritched?
Open the crate door, Mumsy. See me all pretty?
She didn’t say a word but started banging around in that big box that holds all those clean-smelling dishes. The only time I am interested in that box is when the door opens and everything in it is deliciously stinky!
Look at me, Mumsy!
“QUIET!”
Oh I forgot. Sometimes Mumsy is really loud in the morning.
Finally she put all the dishes away, scratched my belly and let me out to do my business and — get this — if I do a good job, Mumsy has me park my behind on a little stand and then I get a treat!
How cool is that?!
Then Mumsy said:
“Sophie guess what! Your sister is coming to visit today!”
I guess I cocked my head funny or something because she repeated herself. She does that a lot too.
Plus she got me all excited for something that I had to…
…wait for.
That wait word — I sorta have a handle on it, but golly! How long is a wait anyways?
Wait wait wait.
My sister is coming!
I am waiting. I am looking out of the window, waiting.
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You know, sometimes when you wait long enough, good things happen!
I saw a car come up our driveway!!!
ARF ARF ARF ARF!!!
Let me translate: Sister is here! Sister is here!
“Quiet, Sophie!”
But Mumsy!
I ran to the back door.
Sister is here!!
Mumsy sighed. She does that a lot . Then she picked me up.
Next thing I knew we were down the stairs going into that other room — it’s a mess and my kind of room — and out the window I saw Sister!!
Squirm squirm squirm.
I put my paws out and reached for Sister.
“Stop it Sophie!”
“Sophie Sophie Sophie!” said Sister.
Up the steps we went and into the kitchen.
So did a wasp!!!
Sister and I went into the bathroom and closed the door.
I heard Mumsy running around, but couldn’t see a thing.
Sister and I came out of the bathroom. Mumsy was holding a swatter and looked exasperated.
Then Sister and Mumsy made up a plan!
1. Open the front door.
2. Wait.
3. Wait some more.
4. The wasp went to the door and Mumsy shut the other door.
5. The wasp was trapped!
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“Wanna go for a walk, Sophie?” asked Sister.
Do I want to go on a walk? Are you silly? Let’s go!
We went somewhere I’d never been before. Mumsy called it The River.
Lots of new stinky-wonderful smells to explore!
I watched a log float towards The Dam.
The Dam was LOUD.
The River lapped up towards me when I got too close…I didn’t know what to make of that.
We stayed for a long time.
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It was getting hot on the way home. That sidewalk was too close to my belly.
Ooooh! Look! Shade!!
I plopped right down on the shaded sidewalk and panted like crazy.
Mumsy picked me up and carried me the rest of the way home.
Finally! In the door I went and straight to my water bowl. It felt so good to lie in front of it.
I went into the living room and laid down on the tile in front of the fireplace. Yes, there was a “fire place” on my tummy and I wanted it to cool down.
Wasn’t very long and I was fast asleep.
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I missed part of Musmy and Sister’s best day ever.
When they were outside, they saw A DEER run across their front yard.
In town!
Take Your Dog To Work day!!
Sorry Soph. You can’t come. But you are on my wallpaper at work.
Wish you could have a play date with Guiness and Haggis, the IT guy’s cairns. They have a fenced in yard and a mum and dad who think they are the berries.
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Yes, I have since taken the plastic off the window…
Been terribly wet in this neck of the woods all spring. So when the rain came last Friday, well — so much of the same thing all over again, that my main interest was: would the ceiling upstairs stop leaking since we had the chimney replaced?
It poured while I was at work, and over the noon hour I hurried home, and with Sophie in tow — went upstairs, holding my breath.
NO PUDDLE! Whee!
Back at work, I kept track of the radar in the afternoon, and as I was leaving for home I knew that we were going to be in for it again. DH was busy mowing the lawn — yay, he was home before me! After he’d finished, he mentioned going across the river to the restaurant for supper.
I doubted that it was a real good idea, given the kind of weather we were about to get, but hunger can do weird things to my mind…
So off we went. Got the first parking spot next to the door — and got hit by a few raindrops as we went in. The hostess always gives us a hard time and laughed at our state of dampness. I told her I had expected her to come out to our car with an umbrella — she laughed again and showed us to a booth.
It kept getting darker and darker and rain came down first vertically then horizontally…
The weather radio went off in the restaurant, but it was hard to hear what the message was. Our waitress was getting fidgety…
We packed up our takehomeatray, paid the bill and waited in the entryway for a chance to run to the car.
And waited and waited.
It was absolutely pouring and blowing something fierce.
Then we looked out the window toward the road.
There was a flash flood coming down the hill and across the parking lot entrance. It was a thing to behold. I’ve never been so close to watch water rise that fast.
We decided we’d better get out while we could, so we dashed to the car, “forded” the stream and made it home.
Sigh.
The ceiling went back to leaking — now I am wondering if we are suffering a lack of step flashing between the back dormer and roof.
The basement was leaking in three newish places.
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NP: Antiques Roadshow
Temperature in the car as I left work today: 139 degrees. Onehundredthirtynine.
Sophie? Well, she must know how hot it is outside, because she is not even hinting at going for a walkie.
Mood-o-meter: It has been a long week already.
…so instead of a walkie, Sopher and I are playing a game.
It doesn’t have a name. I wouldn’t call it “fetch” exactly. It’s more of an “exchange.”
To play this game you need several destuffed stuffed animals with holes in them. Take two of the bigger formerly stuffed stuffed animals and shove in smaller stuffless animals.
You now have two stuffed animals that are full of formerly stuffed animals.
Throw one of the now-stuffed (formerly unstuffed stuffed) animals for Sophie to catch. Whilst she is catching it, hold out the other newly stuffed animal out for her see — shaking it vigorously, but not so’s to make the small destuffed animals to come out.
Sophie then abandons the first animal — which she has had time to destuff — and is attracted to the second fully stuffed animal.
Throw it! She will chase it!
Then go get the first unstuffed stuffed then destuffed animal and restuff it.
Repeat.
Now isn’t that fun?
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NP: The local weathercast.
On the telly tonight: Lark Rise To Candle…was it “ford?”
Dinner tonight: BBQ, carrots, coleslaw.
Mood-o-meter: A bit excited. I may have found a new source for Cook family genealogy info from a relative in Massachusetts! Also a bit down: DH will be working late tonight.
Take a look see. Oh, and excuse the rocky ground — it’s hopeless:
This picture was before the radishes were thinned. The cilantro “es muy excelente” in tacos and salsa and chips. The pansies are for you, Grandma PoPo.
…and there is more garden than this. Tomatoes and zucchini are doing fine.
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