Confusion—and a new phone

 

I really miss the days of the littles.

Why is nothing ever simple? Christian found time today to go get me a new phone. Of course, he ran into trouble because he wasn’t listed on my account, but they finally agreed to deal with him since he had the password and all. Next, the old phone had no value. Meantime, my computer reminded me that Rosa was coming to cut my hair at two o’clock. I hadn’t heard from her in the weeks since we made that appointment, so I reached for my phone to call and confirm. Oops! No phone. Rosa meantime was texting to tell me she’d be late. So Christian was trying to read her text, email me, and get it all straightened out. He emailed me that she was coming, but when she hadn’t gotten here by two-thirty I decided she’d run into trouble of some kind and wasn’t coming. I was ready for a nap. Rosa meantime was texting that the gate was closed, and Christian was emailing to tell me to open the gate—it was already open, and I never did figure out what that was about.

Long story short: tonight I have a new haircut and a new phone. I’m not sure if Christian has linked the hearing aids to the hone or not—that was the whole point of this. And some apps haven’t downloaded yet, though I suspect they are apps that we recently eliminated. I had a whole lot of junk on there I never use.

Next confusion: Subie and Phil arrived for happy hour earlier than I thought they were coming, so I was scrambling to get out appetizers. And Sophie decided if there was company, it must be time for her supper—and began to bark incessantly. Phil has recently developed a real sensitivity to her barking, so I was trying to quiet her, fix the food, serve the appetizers, and hang on to my own sanity. Yes, she is spoiled. Jordan walked into the middle of all that and began to talk about multitasking. I considered smacking her.

We have discovered a new bit of Sophie magic. She is bad about barking when there is company. It’s partly to get attention, but she also wants treats. I maintain she has learned that if she barks, she gets a treat to quiet her—I attribute this partly to Jordan who threatens to leave if the barking continues, a threat Phil now echoes. I maintain I can’t keep giving her treats. Ever since her diagnosis of diabetes, Sophie is ravenous all the time and that’s not her fault, not anything to scold her for—Jean tells me it’s that infinitesimal bit of prednisone she takes daily. By accident one night recently, I discovered that when she’s in a barking spell, if I put her leash on her, she settles down and is fairly docile. So I did that tonight, and she spent a bit of time curled up on the sofa next to Subie. Meanwhile, Phil’s seeing-eye dog wanted to stay in the yard, wouldn’t come in. Jordan’s theory was that he was on a work break. Christian tried to entice him in and said the dog looked at him like, “I don’t have to mind you.” When Phil called him, he came right in.

In other news around the cottage, Jacob has been playing in a golf tournament this week. Monday, his tee time was early which was a blessing, but today it was eleven o’clock which would put him on the course in the hottest part of the day. His whole team withdrew from the tournament. Good for them! I know the tournament was probably scheduled long before this unbearable heat was on the horizon, but one wonders that the entire thing wasn’t cancelled Monday.

I read tonight that a cool front will arrive Friday evening. It didn’t say how cool but indicated temperatures would be close to normal. That sounds like a relief to me. And perfect timing. The whole family is arriving Friday, and there will be fifteen of us for dinner on the patio at Joe T.’s. Pray any possible thunderstorms hold off. I am as one would expect greatly excited about having all of us together—we will be missing Maddie, the oldest grandchild, who couldn’t get off work because she had just taken time off to go to Italy for a wedding. I can understand her priorities but am really sorry she won’t be with us. It will still be a glorious occasion.

The grands are all big now, with the youngest at sixteen and the oldest, twenty-three. I do miss the days when we had all those littles around us, as the picture above testifies. It popped up on my computer this morning, and I remember distinctly it was a mid-summer get-together when the Burtons lived on Mesa Drive and had a lovely, kid-friendly backyard—must have been about 2008. When the grands were little and I lived in the main house, I could sleep everyone here (except the Burtons who had their own house nearby), what with the cottage, which was then a guest apartment, the playroom in the back of the house, and a proper guest room. Now they will scatter to motels and getting them back together in the morning will be like herding cats. But we will have a wonderful weekend.

Oops. I just looked up that cool front—Saturday the temperature will be in the high nineties and then back up over a hundred. One relatively hot day, as compared to blisteringly hot, is not much relief. Stay cool folks and drink that water.