Front Porch Fight and Infidelity

Last week C asked me if I would like an extension to the front flowerbed. It would allow me to have a defined place in which to plant an ornamental tree, since I am a sucker for ornamental trees. Dwarf Japanese Maple, anyone? He started working on it at night after a long day of work. I told him it wasn't really necessary, and yet he plowed ahead, measuring, leveling, perfecting...

More than anything, I just wanted to hang out with the cute guy, who was so set on finishing this project that was just for me, therefore I sat on the porch to "supervise." I was really trying to reign in his perfection streak by setting a time limit on how long he could mull over what he could do to make it better, but don't tell him that. At last he placed the final piece, and asked me to come take a look from the front. "Looks great! Now let's go do something fun!"

"Do you think I should dig up this part and put another brick underneath this row?"

"No! You are done! Put it away!"

He then proceeded to tell me it wasn't done and that he still needed to clean up the uprooted grass, and so I told him he had five minutes. I stepped inside to entertain three visiting young ladies who wanted to play with Kawi. [Yes, this is our kind of neighborhood. Day before yesterday three teenager girls presented me with a flower for no apparent reason at all while I was sitting in the hammock in the back yard.]

When Kawi's visitors finally left, I walked out on the porch to see C hosing down this tiny wall. "Stop that!" I said firmly.

"What? I am just cleaning the dirt off the wall!"

"You are trying to wash all of the sand out from under that brick so you will have to tear it up and add in that other brick!" He didn't try to deny it. That's exactly what he was trying to do. "You are finished! I really appreciate it! Thank you! Now let's go!"

"I will probably have to put in that other brick."

"You are NOT going to tear up that entire wall just to put in another brick when it looks fine! It's finished!"

"It's not finished, and I don't have to tear up the whole wall, just these three bricks, see... In fact," He said, being the funny guy he is, "maybe I should just do it right now!"

We have one of those great echoing neighborhoods, so I am pretty sure everyone could hear us, and those who don't know us may have really thought we were fighting, which makes it even funnier. A neighbor stopped by to borrow a table saw, and we exchanged pleasantries and told him not to rush to return it. Great fellow, that Don.

We proceeded to banter over the planter, and C said he was almost ready to go. I went inside and looked at my unkempt hair and thought, who cares? I put Kawi to bed and walked outside to find him chatting with another neighbor who recently had foot surgery and was limping around on crutches. I walked over and slipped three Jordan almonds in C's hand. "Do you have any more of these?" He asked, very interested. When all else fails to get a man going, food should do the trick. It was my bribe to get him in the car and it worked.

Chuck limped across the street and gave his daughter a push on her bike with the end of one of his crutches. "Just one push," he said, "because then you get going so fast that I can't keep up!"

"You forgot to mention that if you push her again with the other crutch that you will fall over!" I joked.

Soon we were on our way, and after a quick stop for a small dish of mint ice cream, we were wandering through lovely gardens and hopscotching across pavers. As the light slipped out of the sky, we heard a peacock cry in the distance. After some debate on which direction it came from, we wandered over near a goat pen.

What happened next was most unexpected. I have long known that my one and only is adored by children and animals (I have yet to meet one of either breed that does not instantly fall in love with him), but there they were, sultry goatresses eying my one beloved with their baby blues! What's worse is that he was so spellbound by their enticing glances that he started to return these flirtations right in front of me! Well, I never! How rude. Really, you goatresses, can't you see I am with HIM! and he is with ME?! I shall somehow recover, but it will take lots of loving. Maybe a fun play with friends will help, and then a lovely day at the races to top things off. Oh, and the peacock? Never found him, although we did spot a few fluffy turkeys, some llamas, and some sheep...

Last night after a long day at school, C came home with bags of dirt to fill in the rest of the planter before we headed out to enjoy an evening with friends.
Yep, you guessed it. He tore up part of the wall and added in that extra retaining wall brick as well.