Correction: Ellie/Essie

Well, I’m on my way over to Pearl the human’s to take Pearl the dog for a walk. But guess what? I don’t have to spend the day worrying about Grace and her donut pillow. Remember, she fell off her new shoes and broke her tailbone. Pearl doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes, but when she talked Grace into giving up her little black flats held on with  rubber bands, she caused us trouble like you’ve never seen, before.

On the face of her, Grace is a pretty tolerable elderly lady, but if she’s in pain, her sweet demeaness goes right out the window. The lady downstairs at Sanderson’s Store was convinced Pearl and I were torturing Grace. What did she think we would do? Burn her with one of Pearl’s air cigarettes?

Pearl and I were in discomfort, too. Grace was simpering and in need day and night for days and nights. I sure hope she’s doing better, today.

Pearl told me I was to make sure Grace was propped up on her side and had everything she would need to get her through the day, and then I could go on over to Pearl’s Busy Nest and help her fill the little blue bottles with Elixerfixer. The busy season is upon us, and we need to be ready.

Grace is able to get up and use the bathroom, but it’s just really hard on us to watch her make that trip down the hall.

Well, I’m not there yet, but I almost am.

*******************************************************************

“Hi Grace, Hi Pearl the dog…I’m here. Are you?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! We are here!” I heard Grace loud and clear, but I didn’t hear a whimper out of Pearl the dog. She had to be dying to get outside. I was sure I would have to yank her collar and beg to get her to come back in to spend the day with Grace. I felt bad, but not bad enough to stick around any longer than I had to. I mean, do I look stupid?

“Hi, Grace. Where is Pearl the dog? Is she hiding under your bed?”

“Oh, Ellie. You can see her from here. She’s at the kitchen door. She’s just sitting there staring at that door. She’s been like that all morning. She won’t even look at me.”

“Well, I’ll get her to go outside. It’s probably been a while since she went out with Pearl.”

“It hasn’t been that long, Ellie. Pearl had to drop pieces of the leftover meatloaf I was going to have for noon dinner to get her to move. She even had the leash on her, but she wouldn’t budge. The boy who rides the ladder back and forth along the wall to stock the shelves at the store, pushed Pearl the dog’s back-end while Pearl dropped meatloaf. Do you know what I heard him say when they finally got the poor dog inside?

He said, “I’m sorry girl, You’re in for another harrowing day with Miss Graceless. Howl down the vent if she gets too intolerable.”

Doesn’t he have any sympathy for a poor old woman with a slow-healing buttocks?

“Grace, do you remember when Pearl was giving me all those life lessons…like how to convince people to be manipulated without them knowing they were going to do what they never would have done…in the past?”

“I do remember, Ellie. What would Pearl say to do in a case like this?”

“I don’t know for sure, Grace. She got tired of teaching me before we got to understanding the inner-workings of the mind of a boy who rides the ladder up and down the wall stocking shelves at a grocery store. I’ll be back with Pearl the dog in a minute. Is there any meatloaf left?”

I have to admit, I felt slightly bad when I escaped that morning. I was not cut out to be a caretaker. Pearl said Grace really drew the short straw when she got us to nurse her back to health. We even tried Pearl’s Elixerfixer, but that just made for more painful trips down the hall. Pearl said if she’d had a little more adjusting time, it could have been a powerful cure, but Pearl’s just got too many irons in the fire.

She’s concocting a special tea for the Methodist Church basement cooks to serve before the Sunrise Easter Service. It’s guaranteed to make the congregation stick around for the sermon. I’m pretty sure the secret ingredient is Tang. Pearl says vitamin C is a much overlooked pick-me-up.

Right after Easter, Pearl is going to reveal her latest contribution to high society fashion. She will be debutaunting her younger as well as her more mature self in the form of Pearl’s Girls. Every child from here to Sioux Falls and back to Rapid City is sure to beg for one of Pearl’s Girls.

Pearl got really whistful one day when she was talking about being one of Murdo’s first interpinaters.

She said, “Essie, did you know we didn’t have Tang or plastic when I was growing up? Now, those two ingredients are going to keep Pearl’s Busy Nest flying high.”

“Yup,” I said. “Just like those two astronauts who invented them!”

Tiny troubles continue…….

“In Beastertown we’re all a whirl. Why must we go with Murdo Girl? We know she took the time to name us, and wrote a book that made us famous. Sheesh!”

Mayor Beasterhop tried to calm the crowd. “We will not go,” they all vowed.

“Why should we be all excited…plus! Who, indeed, invited us?”

Mayor Beasterhop grew tired of shouting. Why did these rabbits insist on doubting?

Had he not always told the truth, protected all old hares and youth?

“Life will be good,” he said. “We’ll be in a tiny house, not dead!”

“Come to think of it, there is a shed. Maybe we’ll reside there, instead.”

“Where is this place we’ve never been? Do they have Easter? If so… then when?”

Mayor Beasterhop stood still, and then he looked toward Beaster Hill.

A hush came over Beastertown. The city with the shining crown.

The rabbits followed their mayor’s gaze. They couldn’t see much through the haze.

“What is he looking for?” They whispered. Their kind Mayor said not a word.

Instead he walked toward his own house. He wished to see, Bunny, his spouse.

Did she lack faith in his vision, and disagree with his decision?

They had so many mouths to feed. Would a tiny house be all they need?

As he continued up the pathway, he picked his love a pretty bouquet.

His garden…so full of glorious splendor. At the sight of it, his heart grew tender.

The country bunnies stayed the night. Tomorrow they would fight the fight. The city rabbits didn’t care. They had no wish to split a hare.

*****************************************

When the sun comes up they’ll see the light. The tiny home will be all right. 

I will post more pictures with descriptions, tomorrow.

We had an eventful evening at the teeny RV. Kip was working on the door, and the cat got out. We finally coaxed her out from under the motor home. Sheesh!

This is Dollie prior to the escape.

There’s a tiny new  development in Beastertown

Bunnies came from miles around to hear the Mayor of Beastertown.

Rumors spread as wild as fire, and the bunny tales grew increasingly dire.

“Easter is just weeks away.” We heard the fearful rabbits say.

“We have eggs to color and hide… baskets to make and bows to be tied.”

 Yet, on they hopped without a stop. They couldn’t disappoint Mayor Beasterhop.

“Curiosity might have killed the cat, but you can bet your Easter hat… 

Mayor Beasterhop won’t let us down. He’ll protect our Beastertown.” 

The country bunnies arrived at the square, and the town rabbits offered them a chair.

There were more hares than you could count, and curiosity continued to mount.

Something stirred within the crowd and the mumbling became quite loud.

“What could all this bad news be? Is Beastertown in jeopardy?

Have they cancelled Easter morning? Who could do that without warning?

Let us continue our preparations. We bring joy to God’s creations.”

The Beasterhop entered the square. He saw all of Beastertown quietly stare, as he walked up to the podium.

 He began to fear pandemonium would run a muck. 

Didn’t rabbit feet bring good luck? 

He thought a minute, before he said, “We have a great adventure ahead!”

The rabbits all looked quite perplexed. They waited for what would come next.

“Remember little Murdo girl? The one with curl upon curl?

She’s the one who thought us up. She told our story when she grew up.

She’s taking us from this dreadful storage to a tiny house…now that takes courage.

Please go on home and bust your keister. Get ready to move right after Easter.”

OUR HOUSE IS ALMOST BUILT

This is our house. We saw it today. More pictures tomorrow. 

I wrote this song for Billy and his cigar smoking friends in Arizona.

This song can be sung to the tunes of, I walk the Line, He’s an Old Hippy, and Grandma got run over by a Reindeer. I was going to try to put it all together, but I don’t have a year.

Smoke one for Dad, Billy – here is the chorus.

No Cigar

If you didn’t see him enter
but you knew that he was here
If you see a ring of smoke around his beer
If he catches your eye and heads your way to say hi
and you hope the smoke will make him disappear

He’s doing fine so far, but no cigar
He can belly up to the bar but no cigar.

Cigar smoking buddies are elite
and they don’t drink a drink unless it’s neat

He can stick around and listen
to their stories and repeats
if he never mentions one of his own feats
Cigar smokers are precocious…often braggadocios
but they don’t identify with athletes

He’s doing fine so far, but no cigar
He can belly up to the bar but no cigar

Cigar smoking buddies are elite
and they don’t drink a drink that isn’t neat

If he was born in the forties,
smoked cigars since he was two
and says he much prefers to smoke a Louixs
He opens his cigar box, and they know they have been outfoxed
when he says here’s a Liouxs for each of you

He’s doing fine so far, but no cigar
He can belly up to the bar but no cigar

Cigar smoking buddies are elite
and they don’t drink a drink that isn’t neat

The cigar smoking buddies
hesitate and then debate ….maybe they should re-evaluate

They say, sit down over here… let us buy you a beer
We almost made a terrible mistake

They’ll all belly up to the bar and smoke cigars

They’ll talk about when they were football stars

They’ll chase elite, neat drinks down with a beer

and invite the new guy back each time he’s here

They’ll recall the lazy days of way back when

Their buddies were cool cats, and nerds were finks

They’ll sing all the old songs once again

and pour themselves elite, but sloppy drinks

And they’ll smoke cigars til everybody stinks

via Murdo girl…The Brick House..Espressofest

Remember not too long ago when Kip and I were making plans to pilot a new show for HGTV. Sherri Miller suggested we call it “Tiny Tippers”, which was a good idea. Since we aren’t going to buy a new tiny home every week, the premise will be for us to give helpful tips on the ins and outs of getting a tiny home from conception to completion. The new word for tips, is actually hacks, but “Tiny Hackers,” reminds me too much of the cold I just recovered from.

Anyway, we will eventually complete our pilot, but we’re at a standstill right now, so we came up with something to keep us busy and still be able to use the ingenious name, “Tiny Tippers.” Here’s how we came up with the alternate usage.

We currently live in an RV Park right on Main Street in Gun Barrel City. We have to walk our dogs several times a day which gives us…shall we say, “opportunities” to notice what people are doing. Unless we know them, we really don’t care what they’re doing so we only spy on…not really spy…what is a good word that means something like spy, but not offensive? Anyway, we only detect and make note of what people we know are doing.

Today, for instance, we happened to be walking over by East Texas Medical Center. We saw a lady who looked like Helen P. hop out of her car and jump into a man’s car. Kip yelled, “Hey! What are you doing?”

Helen turned around and said, “We’re going to get a hot dog, and then we’re going to come back here and walk.”

While Kip had Helen distracted, I took the dogs and walked over to the other side of the car so I could identify the man Helen was apparently rendezvousing with in the parking lot… in broad daylight, no less.

Well, it was Gary P, Helen P’s husband, which is beside the point entirely. It could have been someone we didn’t know, in which case, we wouldn’t have paid any attention to him unless, of course, Helen wanted to introduce us.

Tip: No matter what you suspect, always drill down until you get to the truth.

Later, we saw Don R running into ETMC. He was carrying a suspicious looking bag. We were quite a distance away and the dogs were getting too tired to move fast. Hence, we weren’t able to get Don R’s attention, so we went on to complete our walk. When we came back through the ETMC parking lot, Kip said, “Hey look! There is Don R’s car and it’s parked all crooked. What do you suppose that means?”

I had an idea!!

“Don’t you remember how fast he was running to get into the building with his little bag? The way he was hanging on to it, I’m sure it was probably full of money. Maybe Gary and Helen P are blackmailing him and he was rushing into the gym where they were going to walk after they had their hot dog.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Kip said. “There is Mary Ann R ‘s car parked next to her husband, Don R’s car. Man, they are taking up three parking spaces, and they’re good ones too!”

At that point, we had to go back to the RV because the dogs wanted water.

We are left with one unanswered question. Why the heck do all these husbands and wives take separate cars to the ETMC gym? Look at all the time they have caused the “Tiny Tippers” to waste!

Later, we left to meet our Tuesday night dinner group in Athens. We both rode over in Kip’s truck. On the way there, we agreed to keep the events of the day to ourselves. We don’t think it’s necessary to “tip” people off. We will only talk about any given incident if there is dirt involved, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, if we don’t get some dirt soon, we’re going have to go out there and meet some people who aren’t so stoic. There is no money in spying on stoic people.

We went to a Chinese food restaurant tonight. You will not believe what I found when I opened up my fortune cookie.

It really inspired me.

Below, is the little girl who once swam at the swimming dam east of Murdo, SD. Pink Sandy taught me how to swim. His grandson, Wayne Esmay, shared this picture with me today.

I’ve grownup so much. I was the only kid in this picture who was still wearing a life belt. I no longer wear one, and I don’t hold my nose when I go under anymore, either.

*****************************

We can’t afford any cards yet, but if you require “Tiny Tippers’ ” services you can contact us at the ##### RV Park, space ### in Gun Barrel City. We’re in the RV with the busted up door. It’s been that way since the other night when we accidentally got locked out and the police had to come and show us how to break the door in. (Our dogs bite and the door is well barricaded.)

Tiny Tippers…If we don’t find dirt, no one gets hurt…We’re not bored, we’re just broke.

**Kip sat by Barbara S tonight and I sat next to Sara H. We got nothing. I probably could have gotten something on Bear J who sat across from us, but I passed on it because he’s going to help me back-up the dirt on my computer on Monday.**

Tomorrow is another day. I’m going to a painting place with some friends where we will eat and paint. I can’t paint, so I’ll try to overeavesdrop some dirt or at least a light dusting.

Several months ago, I began writing a sequel to the children’s book I published last year right before Easter. We Shall See what We Shall See is a story about having faith in things you cannot see. The inspiration for the book was a memory of a story I told my dad when I was a little girl. It was about a character I made up. I called him The Beasterhop.

Since Beastertown, USA is far from being ready to publish, I decided to share some of what I have written with you. I’m hoping you will want to share the stories about the townspeople with the little ones in your life. This is just the beginning of Beastertown, USA.

Welcome to Beastertown

We are the shining crown

Of rabbit cities everywhere. None other can quite compare.

We treat others with respect and go beyond what they expect.

When it rains, we see the sun, and rainbows surround everyone.

Promises are never broken, and unkind words are never spoken.

When you speak, we will hear. There’s nothing in our town to fear.

What is right, is never wrong. In Beastertown we get along.

We try hard to break bad habits, but remember… we’re all rabbits.

 Perfection is not expected. Most mistakes can be corrected.

We might say, “For Heaven’s sake, learn from the mistakes you make.”

Come and see us everyone. We promise you’ll have lots of fun.

 

The Beasterhop has much to do, and many families to answer to.

He’s the Mayor of our growing town..The city with the shining crown.

*************

Golden Rule School

In Beastertown bunnies go to school and learn about the Golden Rule.

Before you say what you’ll regret, to someone who won’t soon forget, ask what would happen if you put.. the same shoe on the other foot.

Think about how you would feel.. if others said what was not real, but made -up stories that did not flatter. Would you say, “It doesn’t matter?”

Could you be a friend to one, who caused harm to… anyone, because they told tales out of school and didn’t follow the golden rule?

The Beasterhop comes here every day, and listens to what the children say.

They all know how much he cares. Yes… no one else quite compares

to the Beasterhop

*****************

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Murdo Girl…The why of Connie’s StoryIn “Short Stories”

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I really, really need a help yourself, self-help course. I have thought about it long enough and it is now time to help myself to things… other than candy and cookies and giving voice to strange thoughts. I have been the ring leader, in fact, the inspiration of the idea that the Whiteboard House can reinvent itself. Clever of me, wasn’t it? What else could be done to re-purpose an old grade school building full of small desks and smaller cartons of milk? I am no pioneer. I am a starter rather than a finisher, but this time, I am going to hang in there until I have seen this awesome juice plan fizzle out completely.

My mantra:

Ask not what you can do to help yourself. Ask what you can do to self-help everybody else in your life.  It’s called focusing on something you can’t change…other people. Remember…if you are pointing your finger at someone else, there are three more fingers pointing at the people behind you. That’s a lot of people to set straight.  Let us take action, now!!!

The first of several meetings planned to help us see the good in trashing other people. MG is sharing and chairing.

MG: Thank you so much for attending this groundbreaking meeting of the partial minds. We don’t want to give this our all, my friends. That would be a grievous mistake. We have nothing to gain, so please give it all the seriousness it deserves. I’m a blank slate, so I will open the meeting up for discussion. Lav, you look like you might be having a congruent thought. How does that feel?

Lav: It’s such a challenge, MG. How do I decide who to talk crap about first? BTW…it’s not much fun unloading my opinions when the objects of my denigrating remarks spoken in a soft, syrupy, lilting voice, are sitting there looking at me.

MG: Zackly! Who would you like to ask to leave, Lav?

Lav: Huh?

MG: No one word answers, please.

Lav: Do I look stupid, MG? If I asked you to leave, then I would be the only one here. Where is everybody? I am helpless and helping myself is not an option. Why do you think I come to Murdo and hang out with you? If I wanted change in my life, I would stay home.

There is a ringing sound occurring in MG’s ears. That is a hard call to answer, but thankfully, that won’t be necessary. The gang is here.

Carol: If you don’t mind, MG, we would like to start off this groundbreaking meeting of the partial minds with a medley of one appropriate tune. I will start.

My Way

Carol the singer

And now, the end is near
And so you face the final curtain
Next Pres MG, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state your case, of which I’m certain

you’ve been a Queen south of sixteen
You’ve traveled one big deadened highway
But more, much more than this…

Grab the mic, Presho Girl…

Regrets, you’ve had a few

But your mistakes were pretty many.

You did what you wanted to
And we saw it through without a penny.

We had some parties…fit for Queens and we never once wore Mom jeans. (Plus, we funded them all with beans,)

sing it sister, TC

 

You planned our chartered course
And each mis-step along the byway
And more, much more than this
You did it your way…

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more cheese than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out…yuck

(MG blurts out)

You faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way!!

Oh, sorry…who is next? Aggressive Informant?

I can’t sing. I’m wearing sunglasses.

Jerry and Treason try a duet…

 

You’ve loved, you’ve laughed and cried
You’ve had your fill your share of losing

And now, as tears subside
We find it all so amusing

Hahahaha

Pico and Dm come dancing in. They have to dance the two step because they are both recovering from knee replacement surgery, therefore, out of four feet, only two can dance.

 

And now,…

To think you did all that
And may we say – not in a shy way
Oh no, not you
You stepped on some toes and did it your way…

Lav and MG bring it to a painful end.

For what is a Queen ? What has she got
If not herself, then she has naught.
To say the things she truly feels
And not the words of thoughtless heels
The record shows we took the bows
And did it our way…

********************

Yes, it was myyy..yua waaaay..