There are some who start their retirement long before they stop working. -Robert Half

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Papa's Animals.

Papa has many animal friends. Every day, he goes out and give his animals the leftovers from our meals. After each meal, he takes the scraps and puts them in a dog bowl and then at the end of the day, he takes them out to his friends. One time, on an especially cold night, Grammy told him he could wait until the morning to take food to his animals. This is how the conversation went:
Grammy: You could put that in the dish and take it out in the morning.
Papa: I could, but I'm not going to. My animals are out there hungry right now.
Julie: And I'm sure they won't survive without you.
Papa: I know. I'd have to go out tomorrow and tell them that Gramma thought they could wait until the morning.
One morning, Grammy made an oatmeal concoction. She added something to it and it made the oatmeal really gummy. Papa told her that his animals won't eat that, but she made him take it outside anyway. The animals won't eat it and Papa reminds Grammy of that every evening. He tells her "You know, your oatmeal is still out there. The crows won't even eat it and they usually like oatmeal." Grammy just laughs. I think Papa always brings this up because he hates oatmeal. Grammy's father ate oatmeal every day and he lived into his 90's, so now Grammy eats it a lot and tries to get Papa to eat it, but he won't. Sometimes he puts it in his bowl, but only eats a bite and then gets a pastry of some sort. Grammy and Papa have a pastry at every breakfast. It is called the breakfast dessert. Even when we have HUGE meals with french toast, bacon, sausage, fruit, and coffee, toward the end of breakfast, without fail, Papa will go to the kitchen and bring out the breakfast dessert.
Papa isn't worried about his health, though, because his doctor told him that he has at least 10 more years to live. He always reminds us that he has 10 more years; whenever Grammy and I go excercise or eat healthy food, Papa just tells us he has 10 more years. It is kind of morbid that he predicts his death, but it is even more morbid that he predicts Grammy's death. He says Grammy has 8 more years. He says he'll need a few years for himself. Grammy says it is because he wants 2 years of free time where he doesn't have to help at church and can eat out for every meal.
Papa also has a dog friend that lives across the street. Every time the dog is outside, Papa goes over and gives him a dog treat. He used to do this on his nightly bike ride. When it was warm outside, Papa would bike around town every night. He goes really slow and stops to talk to everyone outside. He also knows where all the best gardens in town are. Usually he goes to McDonald's and gets an ice cream cone before he comes home. It is very leisurely. Whenever it was rainy or cold or when it started getting dark earlier, Grammy told Papa he shouldn't go biking, but he just told her not to worry about it and went biking.

4 comments:

  1. You will have the makings of a book here, a NY best seller, and then you WILL be able to retire...

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  2. your background is showing and looking cute. need to add some pictures now!

    **where I told you to type the word "background" in on the gadgets page, go in and edit that and leave it blank. the word "background" is showing on the right hand column of your blog...try and leave that line blank so nothing shows.

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  3. i love reading your blogs! your grandparents seem so sweet :)

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