Work, Beer and a Ghost Dog Named Frieda

Frieda, the Ghost Dog

The past couple of days have been busy. We have been working around the house making up for my three year absence and getting. Actually it is probably closer to a seven year absence if you count Iraq and me working ungodly hours plus overnight and weekend on-call duties at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

That being said, be it three, five or seven years we are working our asses off around the house taking care of so many things that in absence Judy could not do on her own. This is something that most people who do not live in this bubble of the military at war world really cannot understand. You have to live in the world of projects and hopes deferred.

I came home on Friday, rested Saturday and began to work on our house Sunday afternoon. Since then both of us have been working hard. For me it has also involved doing my best imitation of Thor wreaking havoc on old and massive wooden furniture than cannot be moved otherwise. The funny thing is our little Papillon Minnie is totally unperturbed by the loud noise and violence of the hammer destroying heavy duty wood. She is even more unflappable than Molly. I have to admire that, it makes we want to take her out on a tank range or 155mm gun line. She would love it.

Today I got up early to transport close to 3/4 ton of debris to the local landfill mad to take three loads of goods to the local thrift shop. Tomorrow will be similar, getting to do the Thorthing again and making more runs to the landfill and thrift shop. By Thursday and Friday we will be receiving a new bed and mattress to replace our nearly 30 year old Ikea queen size bed that we have had since 1984 and a mattress that my late grandmother bought us almost 20 years ago. We will also be receiving what is being shipped back from North Carolina on Thursday or Friday.

Today I went through books again, and another stack of books awaits the thrift shop as does a bunch of other stuff. It is amazing what you can accumulate without even trying.

To make matters even more interesting our long dead Wire Hair Dachshund Frieda decided to come home with me. Frieda had been put down at Brigadoon Animal Hospital in 2001. After that she paid visits to Judy and me both, I was deployed in Korea and Frieda visited me, but more interesting was that she visited Judy. When she did she was dragging a new blue robe that Judy had never seen. Judy told me about it when I called her to be expecting a package, I had just purchased her a blue robe which I was shipping back to her. After that visit Frieda went away until last year. Judy always guessed that Frieda was running Purgatory making people wish that they had loved Jesus and people more in this life, but evidently Frieda must have gotten bored with that.

When Molly decided to come to live with me in January 2012 Brigadoon was where whee went. On one of those visits Frieda came home with us. I started seeing shadow figures and sensing a presence, Molly started alerting on things that were not there and when she went blind in the winter of 2012 she still continued to alert whenever I sensed Frieda.

When it was time to move home Judy told me to make sure that I invited Frieda. I did. Yesterday after working hard I went upstairs to shower and change clothes. I stopped and felt something furry bump my leg, I looked down thinking Molly had followed me upstairs and saw a dark figure. I looked around called for Molly and she wasn’t there. Then I called for Minnie, likewise she wasn’t there. Clad only in my shorts I walked downstairs. I peered around the stairwell and saw both Molly and Minnie with Judy. When I saw this called out to Judy: “Frieda is here.”

So life is interesting. Maybe even more than interesting. I do think that Frieda will like Minnie as Minnie has a lot of personality traits that we associated with Frieda. Minnie, like Frieda seems to be an old soul, when she looks at you it is almost like she is looking through your soul.

Tonight after dinner I had Judy take me back to Gordon Biersch to hang out with my buddies John and Freddy. Tomorrow will be a long day of work as will the next two days at least.

Pray for me a sinner,

Peace

Padre Steve+