Yesterday the sun was shining and I knew it was supposed to rain today, so I set about taking care of the gutters and getting the pine needles off my roof, and finally retrieving the squirrel that had languished up there since last summer, due to my errant throw during a game of “Kick the gd toy woman!” with Al.
First I had to navigate the little divots that Waldorama had dug, making sure the leg of my ladder didn’t suddenly collapse into one, and then I started the gross task of getting the moldering leaves and needles out of the gutter. With each handful of gunk, Katie was INCISED! MUST KILL GUNK FROM ABOVE!!! and she attacked every load that splatted on the ground, and on her. She ran around the yard with a slimy leaf (which was then covered by dirt as she sauntered too close to Libby who was digging a quarry from the looks at the size of it) all the rest of the time. I normally use a hose and clean out EVERYTHING, but knew Katie would go nuts for the water stream and I am already nursing a coughy cold so I didn’t want to be wet too.
I finish that, and then head up to the roof. It is easy to clean the stuff off and I enjoy the view, looking into the neighbor’s yards (the pool behind me is DISGUSTING) and some people hang their clothes out on the line (smart…I can’t do that as my yard is peppered with friggin bird poop, you wouldn’t believe the berries these birds are eating!) I watch the dogs, and they’ve got no idea where I am, and no one is looking for me, they’d taken to barking at the ladder when I’d disappeared. So I speak to Darwin. “HI DURWOOD” and he looks all around, and being the smarty he is everyday, he looks up and spies me, and this inspires him to hump Buddy. The other dogs hear me and come looking for me, and I say hi to Scooter and he spots me right away and everybody comes running….OMG MOM IS UP ON THE ROOF AND WE CAN’T TOUCH HER AND WE SEE HER BUT WE CAN’T TOUCH HER OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!
Trudy climbs to the highest point in the yard, atop the lounge chair, and stands up trying to be tall to get to me, and was joined and knocked down by the others, but the most distressed was Sigmund. His cries were distressing, wanting me to GET DOWN FROM THERE RIGHT NOW! I got closer to the edge to get the stuffed squirrel, and threw the sticks that were up there to them too, and they were astounded by the mystical sticks from above. Siggy’s bark was too much for me and I got down, much to the relief of the herd.
My chores were finished and we spent the afternoon napping together.











