apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've got relations who live out in the boonies and don't trust the gov'ment or banks, so they bury gold all over their yard. Their front doorbell is actually a siren, so when you push it, the awful thing goes off in your face -- and it's LOUD. They get a good laugh out of that. She thinks she can predict lottery numbers and won't tell you her methods because you might use them and win. He's got moving shrapnel in him from Korea and loves to talk about the good 'ol war days. They BOTH swear they've seen UFOs and will spend hours showing you their pictures. They're the entertaining, wackadoo branch of the family tree.

I'll take alpacas and goats any day over those two any day.

hahaha I remember going down to a friends grandfather's farm near Springfield, IL. I'm a city girl from Chicago, so this was quite the adventure! His grandpa had a couple of big black cows (forget the type) and one bull, and I was super excited just to see a cow in person outside of a petting zoo....and then it mood! I had NEVER in my life heard a real cow moo, so I'm flipping out and trying to get him to do it again..by mooing back, of course! my friend is looking at me like I'm nuts....because he practically grew up there, so he couldn't understand what I was so excited about. I also beat him at target shooting ;). I never knew Target carried guns and ammo! Target really does have everything! Thank goodness they left that aisle out of the Chicago stores... It wasn't so much an eccentric personality as just a completely unusual experience for me!

When my mom was little, they had a goat and it fell in to the well. Her middle brother went down and rescued it.

Her brothers and she are my heroes.

Her older brother went to work at 11 to support the family when their dad was paralyzed by a stroke. He went on to become a teacher and taught many, many kids math and helped them get into colleges around the world. When he ended up with pancreatic cancer, diagnosed in 1998, his former students cared for him and he lived to 2005. Don't know this for a fact, but I think he broke the record for living with pancreatic cancer. He continued to tutor while he was sick, and I think what he paid out in teaching and helping teenagers is what was paid back to him. Whatever that is should be bottled up and given to people...good karma.

We all could use some.

I think I'd like the uncle with the goats/alpaca/boat/etc...

I am the eccentric one - since I live in a highrise in the City, travel the world, etc...
...at least to my family who live in small-towns and rarely if ever go anywhere.

(Well, my parents are considered pretty eccentric too - since they sold their homes when they retired and live/travel full-time in a 40' diesel motorcoach.)

I wish we could afford some alpacas and goats. I've been wanting some chickens, but can't get anyone to help me build a coop. This uncle sounds like my kind of relative ... a lot of mine (in the deep South) don't have indoor plumbing.

awhaw-haw. country folk shore are funny. spending time with animals shore is we-eird!

bepsf--I think I love your grandparents.