The Good Son

Got milk?  Why yes, I do!  I fear that the breakfast crowd have become milkaholics.  They seem to know that they won't get their "fix" until Sheila is on the stand, but a few double check the rake while I'm tending to Inga.  Disappointed, they settle for a bite of grain while they wait.  A few well-placed squirts fill the ridge on the rake and soak the wipe on the ledge and mice come out of the woodwork.  They lap and suck it up, requiring a number of refills.  The athletic ones climb up like acrobats, the less inclined wait below for drips to roll down the shovel.  These little cartoon characters crack me up.

On to the business of the day.  For years, there has been a competition for "Good Son Points" among the boys in the family (lucky me!).  "Oh sure, you're the good son!"  "What do you think, Mom, do I get some points for this?"  If a faux pas is made they will tell each other, "Boy, you sure lost good son points for that."  All of my children are special to me, but I must say that Clay upped the ante yesterday, bringing up another truck and trailer load of firewood.  Linda more than earned points by doing yeoman's duty, stacking the logs for the winter.  Being smaller stuff than the last load, I...well, okay, I still couldn't keep up with Clay and Linda, but I'm a helluva supervisor.  A cord of stacked wood is 4x4x8'.  Counting the rounds yet to be split, Clay has brought up over two cords of firewood in two weeks, loading it by himself and not depending on much help from me with the unload.  We were both thankful for Linda.

As if that wasn't enough to move up on the points board, when Helper Dude arrived, Clay and HD got the heavy, heavy dead freezer out of the shed and into my truck, no easy job that.  To make it worse, the stench was enough to knock a grown man over, liquid goo oozed out, and fruit flies swarmed.  Eeeuw!  I had tried to figure out how old the freezer was, at least 20 years, I thought.  When Linda saw it, she said, "Harvest gold.  Must be from the '70s."  Harvest gold and avocado green were the "in" appliance colors of those years.  Clay found a label that identified the freezer from 1975!  It certainly did its work.

It was a busy, busy, tiring day.  It was a good day.  Thanks, Clay!