short stories 8

Visitors

We have a couple of visitors for the next 5 days.

Morgan and Merlin

Morgan, the pornographic pup.

My sister has gone to visit her daughter and grandkids in Albuquerque so the puppies have come to stay with us. Emma, the cat, is not really in favor of this but unlike the other dog she sometimes has to deal with, she's nearly as big as these two. And she's on her home turf. She gave them one mean look and they started backing up and looking up at me nervously. Still, she takes the high ground.

Finally!

Yesterday we spent the day in the city getting the never ending job installed. I like to be on site during my installations so as to be available to troubleshoot or answer any questions about the installation that I haven't previously thought of. Also, I can engage the clients so that they aren't breathing down my installer's neck, though sometimes I'm probably the one guilty of that. Some installations make me very nervous. They are, after all the moment of truth. And this particular job was like giving birth. I thought it would never end. But Randy did his usual superb job and the glass really looks great. I'm almost encouraged to try it again!

A picture of the glass.

A picture of the wall (believe it or not, the glass is installed in this picture).

My photoshop skills are minimal and I'm using an old version of elements. If everything was square, I could easily cut the window and paste it into the wall. So, I'm wondering if any of my readers could and (more importantly) would do this for me I would be eternally grateful and I'd send you a surprise. If you think you would accept this challenge let me know and I can send you the raw photos to work with. These I dicked around with and resized them so they would load quickly.

Spring-a-ding-ding

Spring is truly upon us. Warm days and cool nights. The trees are popping out, well, except for the pecan trees which are always the last to be convinced. Though we are only an hour away from the city we are colder (not so much concrete) and so are behind by a week or two. Our red bud trees are just now starting to bloom. Two days ago the ginkos had fat buds. Today they are sporting little leaves.

I brought the big birdbath from the city a couple of months ago but the little funky one I put together in the back yard is the more popular. Or maybe I just think that because I don't sit in the living room much and so don't see the activity in the other one. This morning a white wing dove was splashing around in it while the smaller warblers and sparrows fluttered around trying to get a turn.

The wildflowers are starting to bloom but it's not supposed to be such a great year for them because we had a very dry winter. The garden has been planted, just the basic tomatoes, peppers and beans so far this year. I'm moving the strawberries into their own bed but have just now started on it. Late, I know. My neighbor's strawberries already have big ripening berries on them.

Frank's strawberry bed.

My future strawberry bed.

Nightfall

Last night's sunset.