Kitchen work, babysitting, fire, more rain

I took off half a day on Friday and cut up the kitchen cabinets to put a microwave above the stove for Mama. We have had a microwave sitting in the butler’s pantry since November but it proved to be too large to put over the range in the kitchen. It would have required me to cut out a portion of the wall behind the cabinets and that turned out not to be possible since it was carrying the wall on which the cabinets were hanging.

So Mama and I met at Lowe’s and bought one that would fit and I spent the all the time I had that afternoon to get it into place. I had everything but the plug ready to go by the time we left for RU. I asked Mama if Victoria would notice it when she got home later that evening. How could she miss it – especially since I had a power cord strung across the counter?  As it turned out she did not even go into the kitchen when she got home.

I spent two hours Saturday morning after bus visitation getting the power to the unit in proper fashion. It turned out that when I tore out the cabinet over the stovetop I found a wire stubbed into the wall that made a perfect connection for the plug I needed to install. So while Mama took Gracie and Luke to meet Misty – Wes still has her in Bowie – I kept the napping baby and finished what I had started.

It is always a fun experience to keep young ones on the home but Mama is not in her prime anymore and it always taxes her more than she expects. Had Victoria not been home it would have been too much for Mama because the littlest one, Joseph, is still petty afraid of the dogs; especially Kira. I would be surprised if Joseph weighed less than twenty five pounds so he is a lug for Mama.

By the end of the day Joseph was less timid around Kira (although he still preferred to be carried around)and Kira seemed to understand that her presence was intimidating so she tried to keep her distance from him – for the most part. When we all went outside late in the day Joseph did not even react to Sam and Sasha. That was good because both of them really like to do a close inspection of little visitors.

About three o’clock we started a fire in the front yard and burned the unusable branches of one of the trees we had laid over last week. The kids really enjoyed that. The fire lasted for several hours but was eventually extinguished by the rain that had gradually increased through the evening. We were all worn out by the time Sam and Erin came for the kids.

When we woke up Sunday morning the entire patio was flooded, the koi pond hole was completely full and there was at least three inches of water on the outer edges of the patio. I told Mama that the line we cut out that was put in to drain the area really was doing something after all. I will have to do something to help the water get out of the yard but I will not replace that pipe.

We have something larger and more permanent in mind; reshaping the back yard.