What an eventful week! It seems like something exciting was happening every single day! Tuesday Dirk was interviewed on a local news station with his current band, Earthbound. I reluctantly sat in the crowd as a "supporter." Not too keen about being seen on television, I very much prefer to be BEHIND the cameras, but oh, well. I'd had a few beers.
In honor of the Earth, my friend Flip and I spent the day on Wednesday hiking and then we planted a Bradford Pear Tree in the front yard. It was a little difficult transporting the new tree, we ended up having to stick it out my sunroof. We christened the tree Eartha Beacon Bradford, toasted her with a glass of wine, and then sang birthday tunes: "It's my Earth Day I can plant if I want to, plant if I want to, plant if I want to." "Today's your Earth Day! It's my Earth Day, too, yeah!" etc., etc., etc.
Wednesday night, Dirk and I headed to Sloss Furnaces, an out-of-use steel furnace that is now used by sculptors as a bronze/steel studio and by musicians as a venue (and a really cool one, at that.) Dirk and I have always loved Wilco, and it was our first time seeing them live. We watched the sun set, drank some beers, and the lyrics to this song have been playing through my head ever since: "You were right about the stars....each one is a setting sun."
The only dramatic happening this week was when poor Piper was attacked on our evening walk by some dogs from up the block that were lacking collars, leashes, and a responsible owner. I've never screamed so loudly and so profanely in my life. It would not have been AS traumatic if the dog owner had acknowledged the incident, apologized, and made sure that Piper was okay, but he didn't. He scooped his dog up as I was screaming at him and just walked away. Completely ignored me. I ran home, shaking and sobbing, and Dirk jumped in his car and headed to the guy's house. After the man locked the dogs up and pulled the blinds, he lied to Dirk and said that no dogs lived there, AFTER Dirk saw the dogs in the house. So we're putting Animal Control on speed dial and the next time we see those dogs without collars/tags, we're making a call. Piper was not injured, just really scared, and spent the rest of the night with her tail between her legs. Poor thing.
Granddaddy took Aunt Jane and I on a picnic to his Redstone Club's fishing lake a few minutes outside of the city. We sat on the dock, ate sandwiches, fruit, and chips, and chatted about my recent travels and Aunt Jane's impending ones. Then Grandaddy disappeared and reappeared with his fly fishing rod and I watched for the first time, my grandfather performing a beautiful fly fishing dance. Because that's what it reminded me of....the rhythm and motion of the cast, it's just so peaceful and relaxing. He even gave Jane and I instructions. I can't wait to get back out on the water with him SOON!
In honor of the Earth, my friend Flip and I spent the day on Wednesday hiking and then we planted a Bradford Pear Tree in the front yard. It was a little difficult transporting the new tree, we ended up having to stick it out my sunroof. We christened the tree Eartha Beacon Bradford, toasted her with a glass of wine, and then sang birthday tunes: "It's my Earth Day I can plant if I want to, plant if I want to, plant if I want to." "Today's your Earth Day! It's my Earth Day, too, yeah!" etc., etc., etc.
Wednesday night, Dirk and I headed to Sloss Furnaces, an out-of-use steel furnace that is now used by sculptors as a bronze/steel studio and by musicians as a venue (and a really cool one, at that.) Dirk and I have always loved Wilco, and it was our first time seeing them live. We watched the sun set, drank some beers, and the lyrics to this song have been playing through my head ever since: "You were right about the stars....each one is a setting sun."
The only dramatic happening this week was when poor Piper was attacked on our evening walk by some dogs from up the block that were lacking collars, leashes, and a responsible owner. I've never screamed so loudly and so profanely in my life. It would not have been AS traumatic if the dog owner had acknowledged the incident, apologized, and made sure that Piper was okay, but he didn't. He scooped his dog up as I was screaming at him and just walked away. Completely ignored me. I ran home, shaking and sobbing, and Dirk jumped in his car and headed to the guy's house. After the man locked the dogs up and pulled the blinds, he lied to Dirk and said that no dogs lived there, AFTER Dirk saw the dogs in the house. So we're putting Animal Control on speed dial and the next time we see those dogs without collars/tags, we're making a call. Piper was not injured, just really scared, and spent the rest of the night with her tail between her legs. Poor thing.
Granddaddy took Aunt Jane and I on a picnic to his Redstone Club's fishing lake a few minutes outside of the city. We sat on the dock, ate sandwiches, fruit, and chips, and chatted about my recent travels and Aunt Jane's impending ones. Then Grandaddy disappeared and reappeared with his fly fishing rod and I watched for the first time, my grandfather performing a beautiful fly fishing dance. Because that's what it reminded me of....the rhythm and motion of the cast, it's just so peaceful and relaxing. He even gave Jane and I instructions. I can't wait to get back out on the water with him SOON!
Piper has acquired many names during the past four months she's been alive, and one of them is Piper-Roo, by the way that she barks at Sipsey when she wants to play and Sipsey is less than enthusiastic about participating in Wrestlemania ("Rooooooo! Roo roo roo!) Which naturally evolved into Roo, Little Roo, The Roo, Roo Roo, Munchinkland, and Mayor of Munchkin City (Dirk loves the Wizard of Oz and I'm praying one day I don't see him marching down the street in a Gay Pride Over the Rainbow Parade.) 
Here's my favorite part of the song (I'm going to put my own creative lyrics in parantheses:)
Ripping the carpet up wasn't as difficult as carrying it down to the basement (we're recycling it in Dirk's music "cave.")
Ugh! Ripping up the padding is when my allergies went bonkers!
Getting the staples up took me the good part of a day. I had to use a hammer to drive a screwdriver underneath, then pliers to pull them out of the subfloor. Did I mention that there were eleventy billion?! But that wasn't as bad as ripping up the parquet. Once the gazillion little wooden squares were up, we realized there was linoleum underneath, so we had to scrape/shovel that up out of the entryway and hallway. More sneezing.
Yay! My new floor! Dirk and his boss worked 8 hours straight getting the padding and floor laid down. They drank at least that many beers each.
And now Sipsey's camouflage. Too bad Piper has a Sipsey magnet so it doesn't do the Sips any good.
Kisses from Piper!
Co-Founder Damen Extraordinaire and I pose on the Holiday with a view of Alabama's tallest building in the background.
