Hiya everyone (this means you, ma and sister).

Well, we put our house on the market today! Of course ma and sister already know this..so here's to hoping somebody else is tuning in! Yes, it was a big day that mostly consisted of cleaning. Why do we have baseboards by the way? Are they not a magnet for dirt (being butted up to the floor and all)? I can totally see myself in a world without baseboards. Craig...do you disagree?

Lollipop (I am toying with blogging nicknames for the family so work with me here) stayed with Big Mama (nicknamed already established in real life) from about 1:30 till dark so that helped me do some really conscientious grocery shopping (at 3 different stores mind you). I also got a chance to have a grown up, serious business conversation with the realtor, Judy Hamil...who is really awesome by the way.

I have always been careful not to take advantage of the fact that my mother in law lives within about 2 miles. She keeps C. Bear once a month or so for about 6 hours at a time. But now that we are leaving....those days are SO over. I'm gonna be callin' Big Mama A LOT more often. She will thank me for it later...when we are in Alaska.

Non Alaskan business...
Today, I caught my sweet, gentle Labradoodle, My Friend, gnawing on a detached, entire leg of something, that at first, seemed not from this Alabama world. I am getting chills just thinking of it. From a distance it looked like a monkey leg. Yes, I said a monkey leg. But I quickly, and most gratefully discovered it was only the dark brown color that made it look monkey like. I put in a call to Honey Bunches of Oats (still working on nicknames here) and had to leave a message in regards to the mysterious body part/chew toy my sweet buddy was greedily consuming. Also, I got my "from a distance picker uppers" that probably have a simpler name, and retrieved the leg. I put it in a box for proper identification. The thigh and calf were pretty much bone by this time...I said PRETTY much. The foot was entirely intact. Entirely, disturbingly, intact. It had really long toes with long claw like nails. I pictured it being used for jumping....or for swimming. That's when my brain wheels started turning and I realized it must have been a beaver. But how, oh how could my sweet, yet incredibly challenged, Labradoodle have scored such a tasty treat? Did I mention that he almost died twice by drowning and ONLY survived because I jumped out of a canoe to save him? TWICE. He would have died. He was going under. He is the only dog I have ever met that cannot swim and this includes my sweet little, dearly departed, Maltese, Jimmi.

Honey Bunches of Oats arrived home and confirmed that the leg once belonged to a beaver and that My Friend must have found him already dead. Way to treasure hunt My Friend! You may not hunt, you may not swim, and you may miss steps like a clumsy human, but you can treasure hunt! Good boy.

A couple of hours later, as I was bending down to look at the hurt paw of our other buddy Roger, My Friend gave me a big 'ol sloopy check/ear dead beaver leg kiss. Thanks bud! You still ain't gettin' that body part back.