Shovels At The Ready!
By Sparks
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
Regina, Saskatchewan
June 3, 2008 12:06pm CST
We gathered on the grassless village green. Shovels at the ready, hoes shiny and bright, wheelchairs oiled and beer on ice in the barrel. The idea was to prep the land for grass seed. I should have left the beer in the pub!
I spread everyone out in a line and we began to work our way from one end to the other, hoeing and turning the soil with shovels while the sun beat down and the wind lifted the hair on the back of our necks.
We worked and sang and whistled our way through an hour of scraping and shallow digging.
BEER BREAK suddenly rang out in the air and all utensils hit the ground in unison!
Mad Meg - all tiny feet and hands and wild hair flitted about handing out bottles and talking a mile a minute to her 'spirit guides' who apparently, were criticizing our manual efforts to bring some green to our village green.
Walleyed Tom, of the wandering eyeball and busy hands, engaged himself in searching rather furtively, all the open pockets of the ladies he could creep up on unawares, looking I think, for a bottle opener! He seemed so disappointed when I showed him how to twist the cap off his beer bottle! Oddly, the ladies seemed a little disappointed too! LOL
You realize of course, that now that the beer was no longer off limits, the work for the day was done?
Everyone lolled about under the willow trees while Mad Meg fought off Tom's 3 beer efforts to catch her hair between his busy hands and whistle through it. An old game they've been playing with each other since they were children. That's nearly 75 years now!
Our resident horticulturalist informed us that her seedlings were ready for planting on the morrow, and with that bit of news everyone drifted home.
Later that night I took our rototiller over to the green and finished the job. The seeds are in and now it's up to Mother Nature to rain on our efforts. Mad Meg of course, was taking her habitual nocturnal flit around the village, chasing away 'bad mojo' and casting protection spells around the town for the night. I nearly had to slap her to convince her I was real and not some evil spirit come to undo all the work the residents had done that day.
Tomorrow if it doesn't rain, we will plant the seedlings around the green and hope for the best.
Stay tuned.
3 people like this
4 responses
@edgyk8inmomma (2157)
• United States
3 Jun 08
All-in-all sounds like a fun day. And at least you had the chance and ability to go back and get things finished:)
Hopefully you get some rain, I know I had to water our efforts endlessly last summer, and we still have more to do this year.
3 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
4 Jun 08
Well it rained all day today and that's a good thing. The seeds need it and as I'm rototilling my own front lawn to plant gardens and reseed, I need all the moisture I can get!
3 people like this
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
4 Jun 08
LOL...Oh tales of a small insane town...so much fun to read.
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
11 Jun 08
I'm posting a new one tonight. Geez this town goes crazy in the summer! LOL
1 person likes this
@skinnychick (6905)
• United States
12 Jun 08
I have to pay that town a visit...maybe I can turn it a little more upside down. LOL
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
12 Jun 08
Be prepared to put down roots skinny. You won't want to leave! LOL
1 person likes this

@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
10 Jun 08
It is so charming the way you describe your small town. I really do believe you have that magic that I was talking about in that show Northern Exposure. There is most certainly something to be said to living in a small place that everyone knows each other and all of their quirks. So much of that is missing in the US. I am already in love with Mad Meg. She seems to be my kind of woman! And Sparks you sure as hell fit in with the LOT! :))))
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
11 Jun 08
We Canucks are a crazy lot when left to interbreeding for decades at a time! LOL Next tale is devoted to Mad Meg. You'll love it!
1 person likes this
@olivebranch56 (910)
• United States
17 Jun 08
Sparks I have been away for a week taking care of 8 kid's, but it sounds like you have had your hands more full then I have, LOL. I have been sitting here reading the antic's going on in your little hamlet, and ROFLMAO. I needed a good laugh. What a cast of characters you have on your hands. I think I need to sell my home and move there for the entertainment if for nothing else. Please keep filling us in about the goings on, I love it. There must never be a dull moment there.
2 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
17 Jun 08
Eight kids? Oh my! You're a braven woman than me Olive! LOL I've enough to do taking care of my seniors!
One of my concerns about saving this town is getting younger new families to move here. But I've had so many mylotters wanting to move here, that I don't think I'll worry about it anymore. I should start writing about our town in the city papers and I'll bet we'd be inundated with people wanting to move here! ROFL
Glad I can make you giggle. Everyone needs a laugh - and with 8 kids to handle......................LOL
1 person likes this





