Oops, Victoria, offenses

Mama and I met at Arby’s after I got off work yesterday evening. They have their fish sandwiches two for five dollars. It is one of the few fish sandwiches we like and it is only available for a couple months each year. While we were there we decided that it would be more practical to leave the truck at the church and head to Denton from Decatur vs. both if us driving home and heading out from there. Mama had a list of four stops that would take us a couple hours if we took time to shop at each stop; which we did. Winco Foods, Kroger’s, Chick-fil-A and Sam’s were the stores that made the list. At least three of the four stops require a little shopping. There is no “run in, get what you need, and run out” with Mama, but to be honest, we were pretty close to that at Kroger’s and Sam’s. When we got home, Mama quickly collected eggs and checked waterers and called it good as far as the animals were concerned.

That may have been an oversight on our part. I do not think either of us realized how cold it might get last night. The forecast was for temperatures at freezing but not much lower than that. However, when I got into the truck this morning the temperature display read twenty four degrees. If Mama did not disconnect the hose lines from the hydrant at the well house, we could be in trouble. So far, this winter we have been fairly rigorous about disconnecting hoses and shutting the valve when the temperature was predicted to be low, but even at that we have ruined one manifold we used to connect three hoses to one spigot as well as busting the nozzles at the other end of the hose on two separate lines. We have not lost anything expensive, but it is frustrating to have to buy replacements several times in a single winter. Today may be another one of those occasions. Hopefully, the hydrant is okay. I will know when Mama calls me later. If it did freeze and break it will change my plans for this weekend significantly.

Victoria has been sick for an extended time now. Sick to the point that she went to the doctor to get some meds to help get her started toward healing. In the process of self-diagnosis, she decided that it would be advisable to leave the dogs outside through the nights instead of in her bedroom with her. I thought that was a good idea if we managed to follow through with it. So far, that has happened for one night. She felt sorry for them because it was cold and let them in overnight last night. I think they would have been fine. I also think she and Mama are worried about the dogs absorbing the residual skunk smell we still have around the house. That may actually be a valid concern, although I am pretty sure the cold would not have bothered them. Anyway, Victoria seems to be mending to the point of having a productive cough, being able to sleep more soundly and struggling less with the severe headaches she has been having. When she was faithful to take the tincture of teasel, she was doing much better, but she is stubborn, like her Mama, about doing anything long term.

Grandma was over the other day and took great offence to Mama’s purchase of “Bare Naked” cereal. Mama got quite an earful about the moral condition of our society, etc. etc. She felt Mama was supporting that depravity by bring the cereal boxes into our home. She has a point. Perhaps it is not good to have the words so prominently displayed, regardless of the manner of that display. And you could read into the purchase a desensitizing affect toward our culture. In a world as oversexualized as ours, it better to avoid any allusion to such things. I have recommended to Mama that if we buy the cereal again, we take the contents out of the boxes and discard those boxes.

After all, I am not sure how I would handle the discussion if my pastor was to ask about it.