Lands...I’d say this has been a crazy couple of weeks, but it’s been like this since the end of February! I came home Wednesday while the Open House was going on over at the farm. I can’t even tell you what I did when I got home. But yesterday, I started in on the taxes first thing while Mr. FixIt worked on the flooring in the entryway by both doors of the family room. The carpet comes today and we’re ready. Between fussing with the computer and trying to help my sweetheart, I’d just about had it by evening. So, I insisted we take a break and go get ice cream.
My goal was to have the house clean and presentable for the Open House yesterday, and I have to say...I was so proud of the way it looked when the auction agent (Wayne) got there. They arrived about 3:15 and needed to get back up on the hill to show the property lines to the one who hadn’t been there yet. Wayne took a quick look around the house and he was so pleased. The first time he saw it was when Mr. FixIt and I were at the beach so nothing had been done. It was in quite a state of disarray.
When I was a very little girl, my PopPop would sit me on his knee and sing “Froggy Went a Courtin’”. When I grew up, I thought everyone sang it this way, but apparently not. I have no idea if this is something he made up, or if this is an old Appalachian way. When I googled it, I learned the song PopPop taught me is a lengthened version of the bridge. So, I’m going to include a link to me singing it the way I was taught and to a recording of Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower from her fourth album with Smithsonian Folkways. Hers is decidedly MUCH better than mine...but here it is for posterity!
Ok, those of you have followed me oh, these many years know what happens every single year at tax time. I wait till the last week, then I sit down to do the taxes and the doggone computer decides it needs to choose THAT EXACT MOMENT to download thirty-seven updates plus a scan of the hard drive, then there’s an error downloading something and you’re on hold with tech support for three years and the whole thing makes me wonder why on EARTH I stopped drinking! Ok...that may be a small exaggeration...but still, all day on the computer and I was no further getting the taxes done than when I started. Except now my computer has every shiny new update created by mankind!
Mr. FixIt and I both have full calendars this week. I’m over at the farm, continuing to clear things out and make it presentable for an open house on the 12th and he’s at the Ponderosa, getting the family room ready for the new carpet that’s being installed on Friday. He’s also preparing to put in an electric line from the building to the deck so we can hang our strings of market lights on the pergola.
I got a little bit of a late start yesterday. I realized I didn’t really have anything at the farm for breakfast and I didn’t want to eat a hamburger and cottage cheese that early. So, I hopped in the truck for the short drive east. About seven miles away is a gas station/diner/tire center/convenience store. It’s saved my butt many a time when I ran out of something basic, but you wouldn’t want to actually “buy groceries” there as it’s spendy. Initially I thought I’d buy a box of cereal, or maybe some eggs, but as I got closer, I decided to go to the next biggest town where they have a real grocery store. Mr. FixIt agreed to come out and stay at the farm later, so I wanted to have real food.
I’m kind of entering a countdown now with the farm. My ability to stay here whenever I want is coming to an end. Consequently, I’m spending as much time here as possible. I came out Tuesday. My cousin Tammy came out yesterday to help me go through my aunt’s things. We bagged up all of her clothes and shoes. The sizes are very small as my aunt was fastidious with her weight. I’ll bet she never varied more than a pound or two save for the “freshman 20” and the wasting of old age. And, for someone as incredibly frugal as she was, there were many designer pieces in her closet. She had grand style.
I’m very careful about what I take from the farm. I know what is mine. I also know there are some things no one would mind me taking...little things that don’t mean anything to anyone else but me. Anything bigger or more significant, I ask if it’s ok. For instance, I asked to have my grandparents’ bed. I was going to keep the dresser...I may still...but it definitely needs some work. I asked for the big round mirror in the living room. It used to hang on the other end of the wall, but the TV was taller than the mirror and it didn’t serve its purpose anymore. Grandma always brushed her hair out by that mirror. I have countless photos with that mirror in the background. I also asked for a small chair side table that my uncle made years ago. Well, technically Mr. FixIt asked me to ask my uncle if we could have it.
In going through the items I had stashed at the farm, I came across two old cell phones. One was Mr. FixIt’s. We were dating over a year when he switched to an iPhone so we could see each other on FaceTime while I traveled. However, during that first year, we talked back and forth often. We were laughing at the content of the texts...the majority of which went something like good mornings and how did you sleep and what are you going to do today? Funny how you think your early missives were filled with flowery romance and the reality was pretty much the same as our texts today. Which is a good thing. It means we haven’t tired of each other and we enjoy talking to each other the same as we did when we first started dating.
