Firemen

Dinner in action

Alex and I love the 1994 film Little Women. Mostly because we love seeing the March girls behave like... actual girls. Not dolls. And I was so frightened by how much Jo March reminded me of myself that I wondered if I could have been Louisa May Alcott in a past life (not to say I could ever achieve what she has, but to say that I am impressed by how well she nailed the personality type). I really need to read the book!

Something happened yesterday that made Alex and I realize just how much we can relate to the March girls: the revelation that not much has changed since the 1860s. I mean, sure, a lot has, but still, when you live in a rural area, you make your own excitement. I've already mentioned that we have a sport of running and hiding from the mailman (today it was the UPS man). Yesterday we took the event to a new level.

I was outside filling the bird feeders and grooming Chee Chee when I heard strange, mechanical sounds. I was about to go into the house to tell Alex that I could hear a giant Terminator, but instead heard my mom shout, "A fire truck just pulled up our driveway!"

I stepped outside to see. Yep, there it was, parked on our driveway... with fire-people stepping out. My dad was already greeting them, and since Comanche was with me, he began to bark as soon as I stepped out. Of course, they all turned to look at me. I stared for a moment then dashed back into the garage and ran through the house, shouting at Alex to come see.

As you'll be able to tell, we had a lot of spy work to do. And I realize I should attempt to explain a small portion of the madness that is Kellie-Alex conversation.

When Alex predicts that the firemen will stay for dinner, that's because once upon a time, a man in a truck came to deliver pipe corral fencing. He stayed to help us set it up. Then he realized his truck was broken down. It was too late for a tow, so he stayed for dinner, and what happened to be my little brother's birthday, so he got to join in. His name was Dave, and he was an old cowboy. He told the most amazing stories (ghosts and lost treasure in the desert) and dubbed himself Uncle Dave. My dad ended up driving him home for the night then the next day he came back to work on his truck... only to realize that all that was wrong was that one of his gas tanks was empty and he needed to switch to the other. Oh well, it was an awesome adventure.

But you can see why we were worried the same would happen again. And we were shocked when we realized one of the younger firemen was petting none other than Black the Communist.

Spying, Part 1

One of the firemen kept looking over, as if he saw us, so we decided to stay low to the ground so that he'd mistake us for children. We decided it wasn't enough to see, and that we wanted to hear, as well, so we slipped into the kitchen, beside our neglected dinner, and spied some more.

As you can see, we nearly got given away by Junior.

We couldn't hear them that well, so I had to get my Bat Sonar Equipment.

Which in turn made us feel like Steve and Tango from Ghost Hunters.

Mackenzie's Momma -- I'm sorry to hear about the drought! As you well know, we've been in one for a few years. Here's to hoping both of our water worries will be over soon! The pickers (and foxtails) over here are already insane. Any time the dogs go out we have to spend a lot of time picking pokies out of their toes and fur!