Life is what happens...

...while you're making other plans.

A friend of mine, Mardi Schultz Calhoun, offered this quote just the other day, and it perfectly sums up the goings-on at our house yesterday.

The day dawned clear and sunny. I know David was hoping to do more work on the upper bathroom cabinets that he's building, and I wanted to knock out some laundry and house cleaning.

But before David could tackle the cabinets, there was an unexpected project that needed to be dealt with. The day before, Lizi, our newest canine addition, took another leap over one of the low sides of the stone walls that hold our gates. She's done this a couple of times before, but it was when we were both gone from the house. This time we were both here, and I'm guessing she did just because she could. Girls can be like that you know.

To deter Lizi from future attempts of being an escape artist, we came up with the idea of putting wire mesh across the top of the low sections of the stone wall. 

As a bit of a side note, this is Lizi Project #3. 

Lizi Project #1 was repairing the hole she made in the screen of the porch door:

Exhibit A

Lizi Project #2 was repairing the upper screens and frame on the porch where she busted through: 

Exhibit B

 

The culprit: Lizi

Bright and early yesterday morning, David went to work dealing with the wire mesh installation. I managed to get two loads of laundry washed and pegged on the line. Back in the house, I got started on the cleaning. 

Not long after wiping down the bathtub and tidying up the spare bathroom, David came in from the installing the wire. He was soaked with sweat, covered in dirt, and more than a few scratches from working with the metal and stone. It was all of 9:30. But wait...what about his trusty sidekick and all around helper, Olivia? 

She had followed him all over the water-soaked yard, jumped in puddles, ran through mud, and to top things off, rolled in mulch. The dog was a mess.

Okay, I thought. The easiest thing to do would be to give her a bath outside using the hose. Ahhhh, nope. Squeals and panic ensued (on the dog's part, not mine. The curse words however? They definitely came from me.). Okay, how about using the nicely cleaned bathtub? 'Cause, hey, I just want to clean it again.

So I picked up Olivia, getting myself covered in mud and muck in the process, and gave her a bath inside. Then proceeded to clean the entire bathroom...again.

In the meantime, David took a shower and went into town to pick up a few things at the grocery store and stop at Social Security to pay for Fernando's October wages. The store had what we were looking for (yay!), and there was no line at Social Security (double yay!). It was easy-peasy.

David headed home and when he pulled into our lane, there was a truck blocking it. Seems it had a broken tie-rod. Not to be deterred, my intrepid husband took a less used lane to get to the house. 

Except just as he was almost to the spot to turn down our section of the lane, he got stuck in a bog of mud. Considering how much rain we had in the previous couple of days and even before that, plus the state of the roads in general, it's rather amazing to me that we haven't gotten stuck before this. But I digress. The next thing I know, I see David walking down the lane to our gate. Being a highly intuitive person, I knew this wasn't a good sign.

After explaining what happened, I donned my trusty wellies (and still covered in mud soaked clothes from the dog), we made our way to the stuck car. We collected a small load of rocks on our way hoping they could be strategically placed under the wheels for traction.

Of course to place the rocks, David needed to literally get down into the mud. With rocks in place, we each took turns trying to push the car out, but to no avail. We called Dave Rider, he of Winjama fame, and asked if he could give us a tow. Dave was in town but promised to get over to help us out as soon as possible. 

The guys managed to get the car out (big shout-out to Dave!), but as you can imagine, David, the car, and the towing strap were covered in mud. Not wanting to have the muck harden on everything in the hot sun, David decided to wash the car and tow strap. 

About halfway through this process, the weather took a rather dramatic turn. Gone was the sun and blue sky. Gusty winds started blowing palm branches down, debris was swirling in the air, and the sky darkened. 

I ran to the clothesline and started taking everything off the line, throwing it in the basket, and locking up the wash house. David managed to get the worst of the mud off of everything, dropped the tarps on the porch, we got the dogs inside, and he scurried inside to take his second shower of the day.

Mind you, all this happened before noon. 

Life IS what happens while you're making other plans. Or another way you can put it is one of my other favorite quotes: