(note to readers…The Knoxville Girl is a very famous bluegrass tune… here’s a link to the Louvin Brother’s rendition… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhMiKeSffns)
so here we are, napping and enjoying the finally cooling days of september. all h*ll breaks loose – the fed ex dude is at the door…geesh, lousy timing when you are having a great dream. so guess what – we got a package from our texas cousin fortis…it sure smelled like fortis… we opened it up, and guess who popped out?? barney! we just weren’t sure of what to make of that smell…
oooh fortis sent us some yummy treats!!! yeah fortis!!!
even mr. murphy was a bit confused by the visitor…geesh…did we send an invitation??? we never get visitors…
barney explained that he’d spent a wonderful spa vacation in texas, but now wanted to get the real ‘tripawd experience’ here in east tennessee. he wanted to ‘earn his keep’ and get the feel for life here in the ‘volunteer state’. his first duty was to help make dinner. he did a great job of ‘cooking’ for the girls.
well, it was kinda funny…but all through dinner, i could tell barney was staring at charon’s feet. it was almost creepy, but then i realized he wasn’t staring at her feet, but at my ‘gayle juju socks’. he was just marveling at them and at the magical powers they possessed. so, after we cleared the table, barney asked if he could learn the secrets of the ‘juju’. i must say, he took to it like a ‘duck to water’!!
barney was so focused – one could say driven – that he finished his socks that very first day!!! he found the feel of ‘gayle juju socks’ to be indeed magical, and refused to take them off the rest of the visit…geesh those pigs got a little ripe!!! barney also noticed how our Don wore a Cubs Cap when he went out to run errands, etc…our local baseball team, the tennessee smokies, is a cubs’ AA affilliate… so, barney decided it would be ‘manly’ to wear a cubs cap too. 
geesh, you’d think he was ryne sandburg….but, it was a good look for him.
well, by now it was way past time for some education in the fine art of ‘the nap’.
everyone was tired – having barney around requires alot of supervision and facilities management!!
barney tried to gleen the best possible napping tips from the three best nappers – gayle, jane, and carmen sue the kitty.
after a fine recuperative (and medicinal) nap, barney decided it was time to try his hand at working outside. there’s always work to do here in east tennessee, so jane agreed to take barney outside, while gayle stayed inside and made sure all the inside chores were taken care of. barney really liked coming down the ramp charon built for gayle!
at first barney wanted to help mow the yard, but it seemed his legs were too short to reach the pedals..geesh, he so wanted to drive around like ‘green acres’, but it wasn’t meant to be…
then barney spotted the garden. he loves to garden – who knew??? well, we’d just cleared off the summer crops, and needed to put in some fall seeds – lettuce, spinach, beets…the cool crops… unfortunately, barney bit off more than he could chew… he jumped right in, insisting he could help with rototilling the soil…geesh, looks like the tiller got away from him!!
barney was ok, a little ‘shook up’, but no worse for wear. he was so discouraged at this point…he so wanted to help out and show gayle what a ‘team player’ he was. but what could he do??? he just seemed too short for most of the chores…then…geesh, there’s a chore even short guys can do!!!
barney did a ‘poop patrol’!!!!!!! he did a great job!! even though it had rained prior to his visit, he was able to get quite a large bag full!!! he really came through ‘in a pinch’ and showed us how a little purple guy can really get it done!!!!
well, after such an active day outside, with so many wonderful east tennessee experiences under his belt, there was only one way to celebrate the end to an excellent visit…..
napping with the sisters is PRICELESS!!!!!
barney is now packing, preparing to move on to his next adventure. oh, the memories, the highs, the lows… we’ll always cherish the time with our little purple friend, barney.