MM (AKA ARCHIE) IS GETTING A FRIEND!

MM (Manly Mannequin) is getting a friend, I think by the end of the week! If so, I'll post a picture of "her" on Friday. So stay tuned! Here's how I know...

Milton's in the front yard planting flowers (that's a post in itself; he made a new flowerbed and stocked it with lilies, petunias, and red salvia, and then bordered it in natural stone)...

Unbeknownst to me (I'm inside in my office), a neighbor stops by as she's walking her doggie, and she and Milton get to talking. The couple who "own" MM is her dogsitter--they keep Blackie every day while she works (she told us that awhile ago, and that's how we know). Somehow MM comes up in the conversation, and the next thing you know, Milton's telling her we're intrigued by the mannequin in the window, and that I've even posted a picture of MM on the internet, and she says S. and V. (the owners) would get a kick out of seeing it...

A little later, the phone rings, and it's her. She's down the street at S. and V.'s house, and they want to know how to get to my site. We chat awhile, and she says S. loves quirky things, and that's why MM's in the window, and I tell her I'm an author, and she thinks that's neat, and then she puts S. on the phone, and we chat awhile. And S. says, "I'd like you to meet Archie sometime. He guards the neighborhood."

So it's Archie! That's his official name.

So Sunday afternoon, I'm coming home from eating lunch out, after church, and I decide to meet Archie (and S. and V.) right now. I also want to give them some of my novels.

So I pull into the drive then ring the bell. Soon, S. and V. are standing on their porch, and we're talking like we're old friends. I tell them I enjoy their sense of fun and humor and quirkiness. I tell them I'm the same way. (To see some of my quirkiness, see Friday's post about funny country song titles.)

"We also have Charlie," they say. "He's a horse, and at Christmastime, he can be converted to a reindeer, and he pulls the giant sleigh we set up in the yard."

"We also have a horse's head we sometimes put in the window with Archie. Neighbors really get a kick out of that!"

"This week, Archie's going to have a friend in the window," S. says.

"Should we tell her what it is?" V. asks.

S. nods. He tells me.

###

So, readers, be sure and check back Friday and see MM's (I mean, Archie's) friend in the window.