Butterpup and the Girly Girls – Part 1

 

What do a sprained ankle, a twisted knee, a chigger infestation, a dog with a new name, and a broken toilet have in common?

They all happened during Girls Week 2018.

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As most of you know, Annie and I love our grandkids.  To get a bit of time alone with them and to give their parents awhile together, we set up a couple weeks each summer, one week for the girls and one for the boys.  I’ve already told my readers about Boys Week, so guess what comes now.

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Girls Week started this year on a Saturday with J.B. and Candy bringing their two girls, six year old Addy and three year old Ally.  Scotty also pulled in, bringing Travis’s daughter, six year old Emma along with his own, five year old Pfiefer.

That first day was spent helping the girls settle in and visiting with their parents.  Most went over to say hi to Great Granny, my 91 year old mother, and to play with the dogs.

Oh, and don’t forget the sprinkler in Great Gran’s yard.  Emma was taking medicine for a serious ear infection and we had to keep water out of her ears.  But, with four or five girls to watch every day, there were times when we didn’t pay close enough attention and Emma “forgot” and managed to play in the water a little bit.

This was one of those occasions.  Oops.

Emma was very good whenever we told her she needed to stay (or get) dry so our slip-ups didn’t get us into trouble …much  Despite poor Emma we got to enjoy the squeals of a couple little girls alternately chasing the spray and trying to evade it.

Later, with the girls semi-exhausted Annie prepared a healthy snack of chopped fruit and everybody relaxed and went to bed.

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As the next morning dawned, some of the girls headed out to visit the chickens with me.  Watching the girls run toward the chicken pen, I failed to notice where the dogs had dug a hole, trying, no doubt, to catch some furry varmint.  I don’t know if they caught their prey, but they did catch a furry varmint…me.  I stepped on the edge of the shallow grassed-over pit and turned my ankle.  Yes, the same one I tore up so badly in the Marines.  Now it is easy to sprain…like this time.

I hobbled after the ladies.

As we gathered eggs for Annie to include in our breakfast the girls declared loudly that they would not eat any that contained baby chicks.  With two roosters for four hens I may have taken advantage of the fact that nothing LOOKING like a chick was visible in the just-laid eggs.

In other words, I fibbed a little bit.  I used to call it good parenting.  Now I refer to it as good grandparenting.

Before going back inside, we admired Grannie Annie’s flowers and I knew she wouldn’t be too upset if the girls picked a few.  Declaring, “Look what we FOUND, Grannie!” they squealed holding out little fists-full of blossoms.

Annie knew where they came from but didn’t mind.  Not even a little bit.

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Annie served a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs.  Well, I had bacon and eggs.  The four girls proclaimed their own preferences.  Some foods they really liked and others they chose because somebody else wanted them.  After we gave up trying to get the little ladies to concentrate on eating, we had enough leftovers to make our six dogs and six chickens very happy…and put on some fat on them for the winter…and maybe next winter too.

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During the night we’d had a thunderstorm that had taken the tops out of our mulberry tree and one of the cypresses.  While we inspected the damage the girls proclaimed that they would have loved to play in the rain.  I reached up and showed them that the trees still had plenty of water on the leaves to take a little shower.  Shake, shake, shake.

They loved it.

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Patrick used the excuse of dragging the broken tops back to the burn pile to play with…I mean, work with my four-wheeler.  He didn’t need much of an excuse to give some of the girls a slow ride on the machine.

They really loved that.

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Earlier in the week I had noticed that the wild blackberries were ripening so after lunch we all took a walk down the field road.  I warned the mini-adventurers not to stray off the field road because of the abundance of poison ivy.  Since I’m relatively immune to the noxious plant I would step off the road and pick handfuls of the shiny black berries and move back onto the path to share the delicious sweetness with the girls.

Addy didn’t want to try the unfamiliar food.  Ally tasted it but only ate a few.  Emma and Pfiefer gobbled them down as fast as I could pick them.  Emma even discovered that blackberry juice can be used as lipstick.

They totally loved that.

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In my eagerness to make sure the girls wouldn’t touch poison ivy plants, I just assumed they would be able to avoid chiggers too.  Uh oh.  More about that later.

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Back at the house the girls changed into swimsuits and splashed into the wading pool Grannie Annie had bought for them.

Everyone was tired by the day’s activities and ready for baths and bed.

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One year old Harper arrived the next morning, bringing her mom and dad with her.  She gave Gran and Pa hugs, but reserved her special sugars for Patrick’s pup, Buttercup.  When she saw the dog, Harper ran to her with arms open wide, squealing, “Butterpup! Butterpup!”

Guess who has a new name.

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We had intended to take the girls to the Bootheel Youth Museum, which is a great place for kids to have a lot of fun and learn a little at the same time.  Unfortunately we had forgotten that the facility is closed on Mondays.  Oops.  So we went to Malden’s city park instead.  Temperatures soared but the girls burned off some energy before we talked them into heading to Pizza Hut for lunch.  More disparity in food preferences resulted in more scraps for the dogs.

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Back at the farm the four older girls wanted to visit Great Granny while Harper took a nap.

My mother is always glad to receive visitors and was overjoyed with the girls.  Before long Great Gran tired of all the activity so the rest of us headed out for another refreshing swim.

Emma wanted to go swimming too but of course she couldn’t, so she asked if I’d take her into my studio.  Ally and Pfiefer accompanied us into the cluttered room where I do some of my photography.  Our girls love dress-up so they were overjoyed with my collection of props.

Prop swords, knives, guns, and various costumes were pulled out of their hiding places.  Before long we had a little Marine, a Mexican bandit, and another I think was dressed up for Mardi Gras playing and dancing about the room.

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Annie topped off the festivities with a round of popsicles on the front porch.

As the day wound down, we all retreated to the air conditioned house to watch cartoons.  Ally was the first to pass out as she sat in the chair with Pfiefer, who allowed her little cousin to sleep, lying against her shoulder.

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It was a beautiful end to an awesome day.  Yeah, Annie and I REALLY liked that!

 

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(below) A little video presentation I made to accompany the first part of Girls Week 2018.  I hope you like it.