Found me a Cabbage Patch Doll today… ;)

After fixing Andy and the grandboys a ham and cheese omelet for breakfast yesterday morning, they had to be on their way back to Rochester.  It was a short two day visit, but any time I can get a grandkid fix, I’m up for it.  They had a long six hour drive ahead of them, so I packed some sandwiches for them to take on their journey.  I also made up two boxes of snacks.  Each one was labeled, Seth or Joseph, so there would be no fighting about it.  Everything has to be even-Steven when boys are seven and eight, don’cha know.

After they left, I spent most of the day mowing.  John and Bridget were having guests for lunch so they invited me to join them.  The choice was between  raspberry chipotle BBQ ribs, Hawaiian salad, beans, and coleslaw or go to my rig and have a bologna sandwich.  Easy-peasy decision there.  I told them anytime they put out a spread like that when I’m mowing, I’d be more than happy to help them not have left overs.

This morning I had to work the VC, and about the only excitement there was adding something new to my resume.

I can now add goose pooper scooper to my list of talents.  All those yucky green land mines on the cement patio outside the VC are Canada goose droppings.  A couple of pairs of geese with all their goslings have decided to descend upon the VC bird feeders for a free lunch.  It seems to me that more comes out than goes in.  This is just a small portion of what greeted me when I opened up the VC this morning.  Can you imagine the mess with kids running around on the patio and then trooping inside?  Talk about tip toeing through the tulips!

This afternoon, I made a run into Detroit Lakes to pick up the two new pairs of glasses that I’ve been waiting for from Walmart for over two weeks. I ordered one pair of reading glasses for use when I’m on the computer, and another pair for distance with reading bifocals for use when I’m not on the computer.  I’ve had a pair of those photo-ray type glasses that get darker when you go outside for two years, and they absolutely drive me crazy.  I couldn’t  stand them any longer.  

I had a special stop to make on the way home.  Perhaps some of you remember my friend Mr. Smith that grows vegetables down the road from the refuge.  I wrote about him last year when I was here.  Last year, he only wore the bare essentials… velour sweat pants and Crocs.  He’s put his sign out on the side of the road again so I had to stop by to see if he had any tomatoes (and if he had gotten any new clothes ).  He always reminded me of the Wild Man from Borneo.

Well, he’s back in business this year, and gave me a big hug when I arrived.    He wanted to know if I was still painting sign posts on the refuge.  We joked a bit, and then he led me down through the raspberry patch to one of his gardens.  You see, he doesn’t pick much of his produce until you come and ask for some.  You can’t get it any fresher than that.  I told him I wanted the smallest head of cabbage that he had since the tomatoes weren’t ripe yet.  He told me to pick out one with my name on it while he went to get a knife.

So here’s the cabbage patch doll (?) I found today.  I’m thinking Mr. Smith still looks like the Wild Man from Borneo.  What do you think?  And no, he hasn’t gotten any new clothes.  Only now there’s a hole in the sweatpants on his knee and in back, which reveals that the pants and Crocs are his only apparel.    What a hoot this guy is!

On the way back up to his house, I was able to persuade him to sell me a pint of his fresh raspberries that he had picked last night.  That pint of ripe berries turned out to be more like two pints, and he threw in an almost ripe tomato with the cabbage and told me that would be $400.  I gave him a twenty, and got $16 back in change. 

He also told me that since the berries wouldn’t last too long, I should consider consuming them in a not so tasty way if I had to.  And tonight, I’m doing just that… waste not, want not is my motto.

                                                                               THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy