Yes, but you’re in Northern NJ! That’s not going to help my friends.
I hope that they get the place they want. Lots of land, six bedrooms, a studio… they’ll be able to start ranching gnomes if they want.
Did I mention that it’s hot here? The humidity is low though, and that makes it absolutely beautiful. 
And it’s bad weather for smurfs. 
Of course you all know by now that my concrete deer is gone, but I still have other concretia (I love that word!!) about FairyChatEstates. In the front flanking the garage, are two concrete lions - someone in the house is enamored of them, so there they stay.
In the side yard are two partially deteriorated concrete swan planters - deterioated to the point that the rebar forming their necks is visible. Methinks they shan’t last much longer, or they may become the replacement for the chandelier. Farther in the back of the back yard is a concrete gazing ball on a pedestal. Why a concrete gazing ball? I haven’t the foggiest idea. It doesn’t reflect much of anything, as it is painted maroon. It just sits there, all round and concretey.
Incidentally, swampy, what you said about fearing a package appearing on your doorstep? Well, did you happen to see 'Toons’ post in last week’s MMP about his impending trip to Etlanner?? Didja?? 
Happy Birthday, Sunshine!!! 
In happy news, my office mate was back at work today - and he brought me a present! It’s a coffee mug with a scruffy little dog on it and it reads “Dear Dorothy, Hate Kansas. Stole the slippers. XOXO, Toto” or something like that - I didn’t memorize it. But it’s cute. And it’s on my shelf o’stuff with my fairy and my giant pink die and my little sailor angel and my feathered flamingo pen and my NASA spongy astronaut… and maybe some more stuff. It was a nice surprise. And before I knew he was getting me a gift, I found something I wanted to get for him, so I shall. Because he’s nice, dammit, just like me!
It’s hot here, too. I have to exercise tonight, so I think I’ll go walk the beach. Maybe I’ll even fall in to the Chesapeake Bay. Many times…
I tried to do that last week, and VunderWife decided I needed to go to WallyWorld for her instead. She almost got a divorce for that …
I used to have a t-shirt that said
“Dear Auntie Em,
Hate you. Hate Kansas. Taking the dog.
–Dorothy”
I bought it at the same store were I got the t-shirt that showed a piece of stationery that said “Bates Motel” with the note “Norman–Knock twice. In the shower. --M.”
I wish I still had those shirts.
Silly, a gnomon is concretia from Jamaica.
Huh, I always thought it was a Japenese theatre style with a Jamaican flair.
Do Gnomen have Gonads?
It sounds funnier in my mind. really.
Speaking of scruffy dogs (and we were once),the Little Woman was playing with Bordy (who is currently scruffier than a nerfherder(it’s funny- it’s a Star Wars reference)) yesterday. She was smooshing his face around and got to wondering.
“I wonder what he’d look like with his ears folded over,” she wondered.
So she folded his ears over. He looks like a Border Terrier if you fold over his ears. A Border Terrier with shorter than average legs, but still the look is there.
What’s a Border Terrier - is it a guard dog along the Rio Grande??
Okay, I loves my doggy, but he keeps following me from room to room and keeps trying to lick me. Does he want out? No, tried that. Does he need food and water? Nope, dishes are full and water is cold and fresh. Does he need loves? That dog is loved to distraction. He is always petted hugged and played with. He’s a good boy, and does like to be wherever we are, but today is just weird. I can’t figure it out.
It is very, very warm here today. I went out and gave my plants a nice, deep, drink of water and my lawn really needs some watering too. However, I think I’ll wait till it cools down just a bit to water the lawn.
I’ve started a load of laundry, and I guess I should do some other household chores since I’m home and everything. But…I don 't feel like it. I just want to lay around and take some catnaps. Can’t really do that either. I need to go to the store and get some meat for cooking. I’m all out of meat and having a meatless meal is not an option in the Taters household. I think a nice spinach salad for dinner sounds very refreshing and would be just enough. It has protein (eggs, bacon, cheese), and would be very filling too. Maybe I’ll do that. We’ll see.
Well, I better check my laundry now.
We don’t have gnomen (pronounced gnom-en, has nothing to do with “men”, just a Germanic plural) because the Shibblets think that garden gnomes are evil. I mean, c’mon, they just stare at you with their little vacuous grins, right?
Which is just as well, since The Boy has decided there is a large and dangerous snake living somewhere in his bathroom. So he’s taken to getting au pissant au naturel (hopefully not real French, but you get the picture). He’s afraid to piss in the pot and it would get even more difficult if he became afraid to piss in the patch. Not sure where that stuff would go then. Actually I’m afraid to guess.
So, Sunday, we get home from the Zoo and The Boy decides he has to go, but I tell him he can’t go outside. From the other side of the homestead comes a most cacophonous sound, mostly single notes (if it’s fair to call them that), played on the recorded. Finally ask The Girl what in the heck her little brother is up to. You guessed it, he’s “charming the snakes” so that he can “have his privacy”. This lasted quite a while, so I believe he was making a large deposit.
It’s a weird place, The Shibb House. But you knew that already, didn’t you?
That may be the cutest thing I’ve heard all week. 
Ooh! I forgot to mention something in my earlier post.
Yesterday, while boating we saw the neatest thing. We saw a car drive right down the boat ramp and into the lake and start putting across the lake. Yep, it was one of the boat/car kinda thingies. It looked really cool. I wish I had my camera so I could have taken a picture of it. It was red and looked kinda like an old 50’s style convertible Thunderbird or something.
No, no, no, not garden gnomes. They creep me out for some reason. I think they are watching me. I hate the Travelocity commercials for that reason. Let the S.P.C.G.G. write a letter, I dares 'em.
It’s hot here too, but it’s summer in Texas, so whatcha gonna do. We have been going to the lake in the evenings, when it cools down some.
My hubby took the girls to the lake last night so I could watch The 4400. The starter on the van is messing up, so some guys had to boost it off. I was at home worrying, because it was after 10:00 p.m. and they weren’t home yet. They got home safely, though.
Swampy, keep talkin’ about your pool like that and the entire Sneezy family will be at your doorstep, noodles in hand.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m folding laundry, yuck.
Sneezy
I don’t have any garden gnomes. I don’t even have a garden. I do have a basil cutting that is growing at an amazing rate - will have to remember to tell the pet sitter to water it when I am on vacation.
Today’s short-skirt-alert-level is:
Yellow - Skirt down to ankles, but is wrap skirt that is cut slightly up in the front. When I took a walk today, it was whipping around and showing a bit more thigh than I really thought was necessary.
It was dead at work today. My boss, his boss, and another boss were all out on vacation, and will be for the rest of the week. My boss is going to Bermuda. Hope he doesn’t melt - he’s a cool boss.
I hope I don’t melt. I was driving home today, and they said with the heat index, it felt like 104. That’s too hot.
And of course, for some reason it looks like the garbage collection at my apartment complex is behind/not happening. There’s a giant dumpster outside instead of the regular garbage bin, and it is full. It hasn’t started to smell yet. I’m praying they actually pick it up. Doesn’t really class up the joint, much as people try to tell you it does.
I baked this weekend, and it all came out beautifully. I was totally thrilled. Seems that my oven had not been heating to the temp I was setting it to. When I got an oven thermometer, turns out the oven was 50 degrees below what it was set to. No wonder stuff wasn’t turning out right. But with my brandy-new thermometer, I can tell how hot the oven is, so everything is going well. I made whole wheat bread - gorgeous. Except I didn’t seal the seam that well, so it is swirled & kinda falls apart. Still good. I also baked chocolate chip cookies, and felt proud because I only had 2 last night, and brought the rest in to work. Got some nice compliments on them, but I’m still going to eventually try a different recipe. Just cause I like to try different things.
I am going to take a walk after the sun sets. By then it should be cooler.
Susan
FCM I ain’t worried about 'toons bein’ in Etlanner. I ain’t nowheres near Etlanner, so I’m safe from chandeliers still. HAH!
Taters, Taterdog was following you around all day cause his mommy was home on a work day and he was soooooo happy! He had mommy all to himself! You should feel honored.
sneezy I just came in from a nice relaxing dip in the pool. I got plenty of noodles so you don’t need to bring any. A cooler full of beer would, however, be appreciated.
No gnomes (gnomen, gnowomen, whatever) to report.
Weather was REALLY hot and muggy this morning. Kaboom kaboom kaboom, then it got tolerable. I’m hoping this stays, instead of going to 96 tomorrow and then back down into the low 80s/high 70s on Wednesday.
I’m halfway through Harry Potter and am hoping to finish it tonight so that my work friends and I can talk about it tomorrow. (One finished it the day it came out, one finished it last night, I’m lagging behind.)
Back to the book. More when I take my next break.
GT
swampy, but ya gotta bear in mind, he drove all the way from DC to my house just for some meatloaf and smashed 'taters. I know he’d be willing to drive from Etlanner to your front door for such a noble purpose. Seriously.
I have finally gotten around to setting up an online photo album, which I’ve been meaning to do for various reasons but hadn’t actually gotten around to. This means that I can finally provide graphic evidence of the ongoing intermittant computer problems which interfere with my posting and reading the MMP and elsewhere on the SDMB. Problems such as this, this, and sometimes this.
Well, they’re not dogs, but they’re furry, and will they will ignore garden gnomes on demand (or not, as the case may be).
