Tuesday, May 24, 2005
It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.
According to Granny, Alesia behaved herself all day, and helped around the house, and they had a pleasant day, at least indoors.
Outdoors was a different story.
Mr. Lyons, the handyman, came over to clean out the fish pond in the back. Nestled amongst the lovely ornamental rocks and flowering plants, he discovered a nest of water moccasins. Mother was horrified and ordered the pond filled it with dirt. She called me and I concurred, heartily.
I was sorry we couldn’t make the ornamental pond into the pleasant place it had been for the prior owners. However, as Mr. Lyons explained, the dark water and lovely rocks provided the perfect habitat. Deprived of it, they can return to the creek, which is only about 8 feet away.
Mom said he went home and got the hoe and weedwacker and killed many of the snakes. A large king snake escaped, but I can deal with that. The poisonous snakes scare me, though. Alesia is deathly afraid of snakes.
Fortunately, Mom let Alesia watch TV all day – an unusual treat, and it kept her attention away from the massacre in the backyard. Now, it’s just a dirt-covered place, a burial ground. Mr Lyons is coming back tomorrow to check out a damp spot in the ground near the side of the house. He does some plumbing, too.
My friend Paul came back, fixed Mom’s computer, and stayed for dinner. We had a nice visit. Mom fixed pot roast, and rice and gravy, and I made creamed spinach, plus fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. It was a terrific meal.
Alesia and I looked at bicycles on the web tonight. I promised her I would get her a bike for her birthday, but said she had to wait until then [July 9] because they are expensive. A decent one will cost at least $120. When we were looking at them she kept pronouncing Schwinn as “skwin” – she said it looks like that, and she’s right… LOL
