We Scare People Even When It's Not Halloween

My dad took the nephew to visit my brother in Colorado, and the three of them are hunting elk for two weeks. Meanwhile, my mom is at home. Alone. She called this evening to try and determine whose flannel shirt was hanging on her porch railing, so I invited her over for dinner. (She lives just across the road. Have I mentioned that we're a step removed from West Virginia up in here?)

At the time, I was gardening, because it's the first free time I've had in roughly 6 weeks. It appears that I'm either traveling (woo-hoo) or working (yeh) and just don't have time to devote to the gardens. Tonight I remedied that, and transplanted a few things that were in need, built a mini brick wall, cleaned out the vegetable garden, leveled a heap of dirt, and organized my garden shed. (Wow, I wasn't aware of how much I really got done. Go, me!) (I feel it in my shoulder already. Tomorrow is going to be a bugger. And yes, I'm medicated with Aleve already.)

I apologized to mom for the state of the house (it was so bad, you guys) and said that I chose to work outdoors this evening instead of indoors. But she's a mom, and understands. She lent a hand to dinner prep while I organized the counters, and desk, and toy bins, and coffee table clutter, and kitchen table... (We have way too many places that collect junk.)

Before I started vacuuming, I started the dish washer. Sam came home with the boys (they were out cutting fire wood) and a family friend stopped over at the same time. Becky came home from work within minutes of the rest of the gang. The chaos that ensued was akin to a rock concert in noise. Everyone was on high volume tonight, man. Is it a full moon or something? I yelled over the vacuum that it's not normally this crazy at the house. (No, really, it's not. Mostly.) I had to yell it three times before she heard. I told her that she'd appreciate sitting home alone, being bored, after an evening at our place. She assured me that it wasn't that bad, and that it was so nice to get out of the house for an evening.

And then she left before I was done vacuuming.

Welcome to the zoo.