A Pre-Fall Report

Have you ever noticed that most of my little blog posts start with either "nothing much going on here" or "wild times over here!" Funny what our brains perceive.

Let's start with Brett's newest hobby. He still goes out surfing in the early mornings - if no one can go with him, I tear myself out of bed and plop into the sand and pretend to read while I closely monitor him from the shore. I don't like folks playing in the water by themselves, especially if you're going to keep slipping and sliding around on a board that might knock you in the head. 
Oh but there is something more dangerous and exciting; hydrofoilng. It's all the fun of surfing but with more things to hold onto and heavier, sharper equipment to split your head open with. He loves it, and I love that he loves it. He does however, come home with a new injury each time he goes and voluntarily went out and purchased a helmet to wear during his excursions. That tells you everything you need to know. Luckily the hydrofoiling is a two man-operation until he gets to being skilled at the endeavor, so I get to act like a cool and indifferent wife when he goes out foiling with friends who will surely do their best to save his life. 

Here he is with our good buddy, George, who got Brett into the aqua sport. On this night George arrived with a milkshake for Brett to drink while they discussed hydro-strategy. I thought it was awfully cute.

We've been soaking up the last of the hot summer days because it's dropped down into the 80's and to us that feels like Fall weather. Pippa has finally been diagnosed with a bowel disease (fun) which is a relief because the poor little squirt is always sick. Now we know how to patch her up and get her back to being a wild-hearted pup. I hosted another Food Lion protest (we've never had a company hold out this long) whereupon someone gave me the finger as they drove by and another told me what I could do with my sign. I don't know why it amuses me so, but it does. The rest of my group finds it sad, so I have to withhold my enjoyment.

Papa Clint and his band played a big show under the Ravenel a couple weekends ago (delightful weather) during which time Mom and I were approached by an 84 year-old man who looked at each of us and then said, "So what do you think?" as though he was a real catch. Mom and I exchanged glances and then she threw me under the bus to go dance with him. Luckily, Clint's song ended and the band took a break in the knick of time, so I spent the rest of the night hiding from that man. 

We had a 10 day stretch with houseguest Erik squatting at our place while his house was rented out for what was going to be his trip to Europe - but his friend over there got a job and subsequently wouldn't have time to play with Erik. So Erik bagged the trip but kept the rental income, and stayed at our place. Erik is a highly unobtrusive house guest. He is easy to entertain because he's happy to just sit wherever there are other humans. If he's not interested in what you're doing, he'll still sit with you but will do his own thing nearby. He carries around a grocery bag of snacks so you never really have to feed him either. He left for a few nights to visit a buddy in NC, and had a few work shifts, so he was in and out in an inconspicuous way.

He was here one night when we hosted the whole Eisenhauer clan. We made the four little boys eat outside -mostly because we didn't have enough space at the table - so they stayed outside and wreaked havoc on our yard for most of the visit. Occasionally one would come inside "to poop" and then go back out again. They all pooped shortly after dinner in-between shoving scuppernongs into August's underwear and balancing on the pieces of board left in the marsh while Brett rebuilds our dock stairs. So they smelled like poop and pluff mud and sweat. Then Jeff made them hug me and Brett goodbye and shake Erik's hand even though all of us insisted it wasn't necessary. They weren't even all the way out the front door when Erik was at the kitchen sink with soap up to his elbows while I was actively gagging while wishing them farewell. Brett looked at the two of us and simply shook his head. 

Also during Erik's visit, we captured two of my stray cats and had them neutered. (It was a big ordeal.) But they had to stay in the guest bathroom to recover, so Erik had to use toilet paper with stray kitty paw prints on it, and shower next to dried flecks of tuna that the cats dispersed around the bathroom in an attempt to escape.

Highly focused poker night for the fellas.

Additionally, I had to have to blood drawn during all of this, and Brett was planning to come along because I come from a long line of squeamish people and sometimes this particular activity makes me woozy. Alas, the night before, Brett found out he had to be in North Charleston at the same time as my appointment, but I thought to myself, "Ah, I'll be fine. I'll just go on my own." 
Then some other part of my brain texted Mom to see if she was free. "Sure thing." So despite being thirty-five years old, my mom drove me to my blood draw... where I promptly passed out and had to be revived by a very nice phlebotomist and some damp paper towels. It was because they took three vials of it and I wasn't expecting that, so each time I became more and more offput. Then I got real hot. I must have had some visual symptoms as well because the phlebotomist looked at me and calmly muttered, "Oh no." Then I saw dark spots. "Can I get some help in here!" they yelled. I remember worrying that the yelling would scare Mom, but then I got real drowsy and took a nap. In the chaos of it I heard Mom's voice say, "I'm her mother, can I go back there with her?" and at some point I opened my eyes to Mom's smiling face while she told the phlebotomist that "her father passed out watching his dog get a vaccine. She comes from a long line of weenies." It seemed to take ages to pull me back out of it again. We shuffled me back to the car and then Mom took us to a breakfast joint for something sugary. I sat in the car feeling very sleepy and frankly, glad I passed out to make all of it worth mom's time.