A Visit with the Gnomes

Last night while enjoying Baked Chicken legs and a salad from the South of France there was a knock at the door followed by Molly barking like a mad dog. She sits out on the porch looking out the screen door watching the world that she can no longer hear and barking at anything that moves to let them know she is still to be reckoned with. One of the Gnomes, Richard, had come over because they got a new Cable box and he was having trouble hooking it up. Could I come over and have a look? I grabbed my shoes and walked over with Richard through the gate, around the hoop on the sidewalk, past the trampoline in the yard and into the house. It was about 20 * hotter in their house then ours, they have more money for that sort of thing I think, and the house smelled of stale air and cigarette smoke. I had a look at the cable box as the Patriarch of the family looked on. The cords were switched on the box so I unscrewed them and placed them in the right order, in from the wall, out to the TV. "He got it wrong didn't he?" The old man said with a wry smile on his face. "Just a little mix up that's all" I said trying to help Richard save face. There were only two ways to do it, 50/50 chance and Richard just chose the wrong one but apparently I had unknowingly settled a bet and cigarettes were exchanged as I called the cable company to get the box to work. I made sure all was set up correctly and left the TV on channel 12 for the news. On the way Richard told me about the Hoop moving to the back yard as well as the trampoline. They are going to redo the yard for their parents and make it "real pretty" for summer. I shook Richards hand and told him I would help when the time came and crossed the street back to my chicken and chilly house.

It is always cool to see inside people's houses and since the Gnomes house is the same layout as ours it was even more cool. Where we have a living room they have a bedroom with two single beds. Where we have an entry/seating area they have a living room with two lazy-boy chairs and a small love seat. Where we have a dining room they have a dog room with baby gates keeping the dogs in. I saw 4 dogs but I only made a quick glance so there could be more . Where we have a Library the have another bedroom. Our Two bedrooms, Kitchen, and bathrooms match up with theirs and I couldn't see past the kitchen. There is a lot of photos of the kids and a shrine to Dale Ernhardt set up in the living room. It looked a lot like how I thought it would, but my conversations with the dad were a surprise. His eyes lit up when he found out we were expecting a baby and you could see that he loved his boys quite a bit. I don't know why that surprised me but it did and I felt ashamed that it did.