Dead Again
My HP desktop seems to have given up the ghost again for the third time since the start of the year. With that many reminders I've been mildly obsessive about my backups, and just before the camping trip, I refreshed everything. I've been so tired since the trip I hadn't been motivated to really write much. So no actual work loss at all. Which is the up-side of being in a writing slump, I guess.
Since we got home from the trip John's been at the National UCC meeting all day yesterday and today. There was also a gathering of all the families with kids from the church for a little BBQ yesterday night, and I REALLY wanted to write tomorrow if I had even the least chance.
I'll probably use the laptop, so I can figure it out.
Oh, before I forget.... one of the Moms at the get together said that her little boy (who is very cool and very high-energy) had been really happy to get some of Jet's shorts when Jet grew out of them. Her little boy said, "I can feel Jet's calm when I put them on, and it really helps!"
She told us this after she heard Jet stop the whole group of kids and say, "Let's just start over again with the new rules..." as part of the peacekeeping that seems to always have to be done in groups of six or more kids. Really, it's not me...
But I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about looking for a machine that can actually be sturdy enough to just work for more than two months at a time. Heck, I have more words in a paper notebook using a Preppy felt tip pen that I converted into being eyedropper filled (i.e. using the whole barrel of the pen for ink rather than just the little throwaway cartridges) than the dead machine.
Maybe that's saying something...
I'll deal.
Jet was great these last two days, helping me out by thinking of things to do, happily playing with the other kids in the neighborhood for a couple of hours today and being okay with me going to the pool and just knitting and writing while he swam. We had breakfast together, played video games together, giggled like mad over Kung-fu Panda together, and he's been happily doing an hour's worth of reading every day.
When I thanked him for helping me out, he said, "And thank you too, Mom, for not getting cranky at all. That was really good."
So, really, it's NOT me. XDD
Even did dishes and the laundry today, without John, which is a minor miracle on my part. Hung everything up as early in the morning as possible, and after Jet went swimming at noon, the clouds started rolling in. I waited as long as I could, but at the first peal of thunder I ran out and got everything in and just as I was finishing unloading the last of the lines, the rain started to come down.
Birds ate every single leaf off my zucchini seedlings. I even had bird netting up and they were getting THROUGH the netting. I finally unrolled a brand new piece of netting and stapled down every foot of it along the lower edge and added supports at the fence edge to keep it taut and solid and replanted. The seedlings are coming up again. It was mildly disheartening to see the foot high plants at the gathering someone else had... *laughs* But, hey, they're started.
The lettuce is hanging in there with all the rain, and the carrots are starting to form roots. We're nearly through the second batch of radishes, and I have a tomato plant already stuck in the middle of the old radish plot. I'll have to dress it with more compost when the radishes are done, but the little plant seems happy enough. The tomatoes I'd planted earlier are already forming fruit, and the upsidedown ones have red pear tomatoes already starting to redden and both gold and red cherry tomatoes starting to form. The cilantro is starting to really open up, the chives are thick, the thyme that I planted from seed has gotten tall enough to clip, and the basil's coming in. Jet's Indian corn is getting taller, and John's sweet corn is going gangbusters next to the garlic, garlic chives, and a lone Fourth of July plant in the east most bed. The green peppers have flowers, the sugar snaps are giving their all in good, fat pods. The funny thing is that someone mixed some of the flat snow pea pods in with the sugar snap pea seeds... so we're getting both varieties.
The flat snow peas are great and sweeter when cooked a little, so we had stir fry for dinner tonight, using kathrynt's recipe with a bit of ground pork, plenty of ginger and garlic, and a boat load of spinach after the pea pods had just turned bright green. A smidgen of soy sauce, baselmic (my fault), and dark toasted sesame oil and it was great food on rice. Yes, I'm very lazy with respect to cooking Chinese food. *laughs* I remember Mom always making three to five courses a night... so my comparisons are a bit... different.
Anyway... it's been a very interesting spring as it really has rained nearly every day, which is really unusual here, but very welcome with respect to the grass, the trees, the yards, and the outdoor life. It's made the pollen counts extraordinarily high, but I seem to be beating them out by making sure I either swim or ride the exercise bike every day. I think my asthma and breathing is under far better control this year than last, and that's been a very good thing, indeed.
Since we got home from the trip John's been at the National UCC meeting all day yesterday and today. There was also a gathering of all the families with kids from the church for a little BBQ yesterday night, and I REALLY wanted to write tomorrow if I had even the least chance.
I'll probably use the laptop, so I can figure it out.
Oh, before I forget.... one of the Moms at the get together said that her little boy (who is very cool and very high-energy) had been really happy to get some of Jet's shorts when Jet grew out of them. Her little boy said, "I can feel Jet's calm when I put them on, and it really helps!"
She told us this after she heard Jet stop the whole group of kids and say, "Let's just start over again with the new rules..." as part of the peacekeeping that seems to always have to be done in groups of six or more kids. Really, it's not me...
But I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about looking for a machine that can actually be sturdy enough to just work for more than two months at a time. Heck, I have more words in a paper notebook using a Preppy felt tip pen that I converted into being eyedropper filled (i.e. using the whole barrel of the pen for ink rather than just the little throwaway cartridges) than the dead machine.
Maybe that's saying something...
I'll deal.
Jet was great these last two days, helping me out by thinking of things to do, happily playing with the other kids in the neighborhood for a couple of hours today and being okay with me going to the pool and just knitting and writing while he swam. We had breakfast together, played video games together, giggled like mad over Kung-fu Panda together, and he's been happily doing an hour's worth of reading every day.
When I thanked him for helping me out, he said, "And thank you too, Mom, for not getting cranky at all. That was really good."
So, really, it's NOT me. XDD
Even did dishes and the laundry today, without John, which is a minor miracle on my part. Hung everything up as early in the morning as possible, and after Jet went swimming at noon, the clouds started rolling in. I waited as long as I could, but at the first peal of thunder I ran out and got everything in and just as I was finishing unloading the last of the lines, the rain started to come down.
Birds ate every single leaf off my zucchini seedlings. I even had bird netting up and they were getting THROUGH the netting. I finally unrolled a brand new piece of netting and stapled down every foot of it along the lower edge and added supports at the fence edge to keep it taut and solid and replanted. The seedlings are coming up again. It was mildly disheartening to see the foot high plants at the gathering someone else had... *laughs* But, hey, they're started.
The lettuce is hanging in there with all the rain, and the carrots are starting to form roots. We're nearly through the second batch of radishes, and I have a tomato plant already stuck in the middle of the old radish plot. I'll have to dress it with more compost when the radishes are done, but the little plant seems happy enough. The tomatoes I'd planted earlier are already forming fruit, and the upsidedown ones have red pear tomatoes already starting to redden and both gold and red cherry tomatoes starting to form. The cilantro is starting to really open up, the chives are thick, the thyme that I planted from seed has gotten tall enough to clip, and the basil's coming in. Jet's Indian corn is getting taller, and John's sweet corn is going gangbusters next to the garlic, garlic chives, and a lone Fourth of July plant in the east most bed. The green peppers have flowers, the sugar snaps are giving their all in good, fat pods. The funny thing is that someone mixed some of the flat snow pea pods in with the sugar snap pea seeds... so we're getting both varieties.
The flat snow peas are great and sweeter when cooked a little, so we had stir fry for dinner tonight, using kathrynt's recipe with a bit of ground pork, plenty of ginger and garlic, and a boat load of spinach after the pea pods had just turned bright green. A smidgen of soy sauce, baselmic (my fault), and dark toasted sesame oil and it was great food on rice. Yes, I'm very lazy with respect to cooking Chinese food. *laughs* I remember Mom always making three to five courses a night... so my comparisons are a bit... different.
Anyway... it's been a very interesting spring as it really has rained nearly every day, which is really unusual here, but very welcome with respect to the grass, the trees, the yards, and the outdoor life. It's made the pollen counts extraordinarily high, but I seem to be beating them out by making sure I either swim or ride the exercise bike every day. I think my asthma and breathing is under far better control this year than last, and that's been a very good thing, indeed.