July 28
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Back on the ranch, the usual anecdotes afoot…
Linnea had bought a pineapple plant. The pineapple was only just a baby, sprouting from the top.
Mom and Carrie-Bri had met with the Silverspoon’s nutritionists. Among a variety of suggestions given, bacon was offered as a healthy addition to breakfasts, which displeased not Mr. Puck.
Now, not only would he receive bacon at the Silverspoon’s on Saturday mornings and, during the summer, Thursdays, but also at his Grandma’s house.
“That is some pretty bacon,” Mom said with satisfaction, looking at the baking sheet.
“And yet they call it ‘The Heart Stopper’,” Collette noted.
And Puck was busy hunting up unused lampshades which went immediately on his head until breakfast was ready, which also included oranges, bananas, oatmeal, two cheddar omelets, and apple juice.
Meanwhile, Carrie had caught ‘the itchies’. She blamed it on Francis for his semi-regular cases of poison ivy. She scratched at her arms with a vengeance while reading another note from her old Croatian co-worker…
“If you like to travel this will be certainly one of your better traveling trips. There are many boys here. We could get you married. I am teasing you a little.”
And the latest news from Grandpa Snicketts…
“Well, the pastor and I came up with an idea to boost church membership. It’s not exactly orthodox, but it’s a novel idea. For every person who signs up to be a member, they get half a glass of beer.”
“Francis,” Carrie was saying, “for lunch, I’m going to make you a nettle salad with poison oak and a garnish of fire ants.”
Francis just grinned.
Puck excused himself after a morning speech of, “Gentlemens, do somethin’,” to the patio with a bag of oil-chalks to draw pictures.
Carrie-Bri was considering taking Puck to visit Grandpa Snicketts that afternoon with a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels. She gave one to Puck to test the quality of the batch.
“We’ve got to get these to Grandpa,” she said. “Besides, they expire in three years. We’d better hurry.”
Then they sat around Carrie’s laptop to watch Wilbur Hobcoggin on the news, the reporting officer after the scene of a crime in which a woman ran her SUV over her boyfriend… several times.
“Hey, Puck, want to help me make soda cupcakes?” Carrie asked.
Puck plopped himself up on the kitchen counter behind the mixing bowl and held the Pepsi bottle.
“What do we need?” he asked, looking over to the recipe on Carrie’s laptop. “A cup of sugar. And a cup of milk. And a cup of water. Now, stir.”
Once out of the oven and iced and sprinkled, Francis stuffed his face with four of them.
Later, Puck adjourned with Linnea-Irish to Mom’s and Dad’s room to practice tumbling on an exercise mat while watching Tales from Avonlea.
Over the lunch hour, Collette and Carrie-Bri discussed themes in Doctor Who before Creole arrived for work with Francis, and Linnea took off for gymnastics. And the usual movie night and laughter over the usual awkwardness of films, etc. and etc., while OLeif met with Justus one last time.