Of home maintenance, twins and levin-bolts
Some of you dear readers were skeptical of Katrina victims blowing their FEMA money on handbags and strippers. Some of the reports have been substantiated, but I think it's clear that these are atypical cases.
Saturday, I engaged in mano a thorno combat with the hedge. Fortunately, my mano had the electric hedge-trimmer in it, so I kicked some ass, metaphorically speaking. The hedge is a voracious chimera of plumbago, ivy and thorns, and the battle wasn't easy, but I emerged victorious, with only a few invisible spines stuck in my fingers through the gloves.
For my second trick, I raked up as many of the backyard leaves as I could fit in the greenwaste bin after all the hedge trimmings had been stuffed in.
More fun house-maintenance involved the rain-gutter, which had somehow come loose at one end. All now seems to be well after a little gymnastic effort involving a ladder, an iron railing, an external light fixture, three nails, pseudo-spackle and a hammer. It's even survived the rain that fell the next two days, magically summoned by my efforts.
Rebecca had a test-run of her hairdo, and it looks like it will work out really well. Later, we headed out to buy little gifties for various people helping out with the wedding, but since several of them frequent this blog, I will say no more.
Sunday, Becca made her own foray against the jungle by mowing the lawn. Then there was the school picnic at Tartan School. They had plenty of fun things for the little kids to do, and it was fun to watch them tumble themselves about on the inflatable slides, but after I derived as much pleasure as I could from tripping small children as they ran about, we headed back for home, where further wedding plans were brought to maturity.
In the evening, we dropped in on Amy and the twins. Amy's a little stressed out from lack of sleep, but Gwendolyn and Tristan seemed pretty happily asleep while we were there. Now that they're a bit older, they're sleeping a bit more regularly, but it's still keeping Amy busy even with the help of her sis and mom. And the twins are as cute as little itty-bitty bugs. Amy's looking forward to the wedding, since it will mark her first social engagement outside the house. So I know at least one person will enjoy it thoroughly, no matter what happens.
Man, last night there was some seriously explosive thunder! The first bolt was so loud and so close that I literally thought a bomb had exploded, as I woke up with the image of the flash still seared into my retinas through my closed eyes. It set off car alarms.
And today I am Pookie-less, as Becca has headed off to Joshua Tree for Tartan School's annual infotainment for the freshmen class. I hope the rain doesn't make it too dismal out there.
Saturday, I engaged in mano a thorno combat with the hedge. Fortunately, my mano had the electric hedge-trimmer in it, so I kicked some ass, metaphorically speaking. The hedge is a voracious chimera of plumbago, ivy and thorns, and the battle wasn't easy, but I emerged victorious, with only a few invisible spines stuck in my fingers through the gloves.
For my second trick, I raked up as many of the backyard leaves as I could fit in the greenwaste bin after all the hedge trimmings had been stuffed in.
More fun house-maintenance involved the rain-gutter, which had somehow come loose at one end. All now seems to be well after a little gymnastic effort involving a ladder, an iron railing, an external light fixture, three nails, pseudo-spackle and a hammer. It's even survived the rain that fell the next two days, magically summoned by my efforts.
Rebecca had a test-run of her hairdo, and it looks like it will work out really well. Later, we headed out to buy little gifties for various people helping out with the wedding, but since several of them frequent this blog, I will say no more.
Sunday, Becca made her own foray against the jungle by mowing the lawn. Then there was the school picnic at Tartan School. They had plenty of fun things for the little kids to do, and it was fun to watch them tumble themselves about on the inflatable slides, but after I derived as much pleasure as I could from tripping small children as they ran about, we headed back for home, where further wedding plans were brought to maturity.
In the evening, we dropped in on Amy and the twins. Amy's a little stressed out from lack of sleep, but Gwendolyn and Tristan seemed pretty happily asleep while we were there. Now that they're a bit older, they're sleeping a bit more regularly, but it's still keeping Amy busy even with the help of her sis and mom. And the twins are as cute as little itty-bitty bugs. Amy's looking forward to the wedding, since it will mark her first social engagement outside the house. So I know at least one person will enjoy it thoroughly, no matter what happens.
Man, last night there was some seriously explosive thunder! The first bolt was so loud and so close that I literally thought a bomb had exploded, as I woke up with the image of the flash still seared into my retinas through my closed eyes. It set off car alarms.
And today I am Pookie-less, as Becca has headed off to Joshua Tree for Tartan School's annual infotainment for the freshmen class. I hope the rain doesn't make it too dismal out there.