Patrick is Here

My Favorite Human, Circa 2016

My brother Squirrel, his beautiful bride and my favorite human, Patrick, are visiting. Well, to be fair, only Patrick is currently visiting. Squirrel and his bride, realizing they have free childcare, took off for a few days in Hot Springs. 

Patrick has the vacation vibe going for him. So far, he's been wearing his "Don't mess with Texas" and his Buc'cees shirts. I think the guy is going to need more Texas wardrobe before long. 

Yesterday Buckaroo took Patrick to Holiday World, Texarkana's idea of a water park. I imagine something like a water slide and a river raft ride the size of a swimming pool. But I don't know, because I didn't even know Texarkana had a water park until yesterday when Buck announced this was happening. 

And may I say, way to go Buckaroo for doing this! 

My deep wish is Squirrel and his family will move here. His bride isn't sold on the area. There are several factors that make this undoable, including she has a mother and adult children in Phoenix. The incredible thunderstorms yesterday morning probably didn't help Texarkana's Chamber of Commerce pitch either. 

At 7:30 a.m., my kitchen went from whatever passes for daylight around here to pitch black. I looked out the window to see the wind blowing and next thing I know, lightening was flashing through the sky, as hail pelted my windows. After a peek at the weather app, I decided we weren't under a tornado threat, so I left them alone. However, they didn't miss out on the storm. 

We have a few outings planned for the week. Some when Patrick's folks return. Some for before they come back. Additionally, I'm enlisting Patrick's help in the garden. Plus, we need to make fried green tomatoes (I lost a bunch in the garden from the latest storm) and fried chicken--his mother isn't thrilled about this, because she is afraid he will insist on making it when they get back to Arizona "I know how Mom! Auntie showed me. I don't need help." This isn't an exaggeration. He can now cook a lot of other things because Auntie (and Polly) showed him how. Plus, we are going to the movies with a friend of mine and her grandson. 

And oh yes! Patrick is also fixing my vacuum cleaner. Because he can.