Mid-June

I'm just going to blather on here.

Amy is having a goofy golf party at her house on July 4. You're invited. No idea of when it starts or anything.

Continual home owner slavery takes place. Yesterday Amy and I cleaned out our eaves which has left me today with innumerable bruises and general fatigue. Although I did come home tonight and mow the back and water the plantings and get clean sheets on the bed and shopped at Kroger ($17, what can you get for that? Crumbled Roquefort, half and half, a pint of Hagen Daas, toothpaste, Kleenex, a chocolate bar, 3 bananas.).

I wish I could haul my ass out of bed around 6:30 on work days and enjoy some of these beautiful June mornings.

Today when I left for work, three city trucks and a forklift were out in front of my house but when I came home, nothing was different.

My water bill this month was $107. Usually it's about $12. Apparently I left my toilet running while I was in New Orleans. So the cost on that trip just keeps mounting. I could have had Gearhart come and determine what the problem was and possibly got a discount on the water bill but I figure I would cut my losses since it was probably nothing but the toilet running. If it's high next month, I'll reconsider.

I volunteered Sunday afternoon at the Wood Co. Historical Society Heritage Days. I mostly just stood around for 2 hours and greeted people coming in on the front porch.

Saturday was Rod's Collision at the ClaZel. Larry got up and sang Stand By Me with the band and indeed I was wrong when last time he did this, I said he was great. I must have been tanky. There was a pretty good crowd, I thought but the band did not. Even at the early time, it is hard to get the old people out. The band was smoking. As in hot.

I have made no progress on getting anybody to fix my front steps or build me a screen porch and deck out back. Tonight, while sitting on the patio, I realize the traffic noise encroaches more all the time. I thought briefly I should sell my house and move into the countryside, but seriously. It's tough for an old broad to live alone out in the sticks. I get all piney for the great outdoors and think about how many little houses around little lakes just over the Michigan line are probably in foreclosure and how if I quit throwing my monthly IRA payment into what is no doubt the pit of no returns, I could buy one. If you have any info on this, clue me in.

Of course, it takes all my energy to keep this place up so how would I do another one if I was at it every weekend? I need a staff.

I need to play my guitar. I need to throw some dinner parties. I need a ride out to Horseshoe Lake. I have a ticket left to see Todd at the Ark June 27. You could accompany me and Amy and Sherry. I have just figured this out on guitar. Not for public performance.

The CD drive on my home computer is dysfunctional. It will not record audio CDs and now it won't play movie DVDs. I was going to buy another DVD player since my old one is now powering my stereo but ALAS I think this is the final sign to cross over to the MP3/iPod side. Erin at work said she got a cable that plugs into the auxiliary on her stereo amp and it plays from the iPod. Yes, there would be some tedious loading of recent stuff into the digital realm but it could be done. Much like the basement could get cleaned out. HAHAHAHHAHAHA.

I participated in much digital TV switch angst, answering the phones for 7 hours, taking calls from (old) people about how they couldn't figure out those converter boxes or where their coax plugs into or why their antenna was no good. This is one of the US Congress's largest mistakes. There better be some explanation of how the new, freed-up broadcast streams are going to benefit the populace real damn soon.

Hey, look! You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I can post to this blog and Twitter from my phone. There's no reason for you NOT to know what I am doing every second of my life. Is this the kind of world we want to live in?

I will be participating again in the Dragon Boat races. Although this year, I will have movie star shades. And a better haircut. July 25. It's a good time. Last year I saw Empire Drift and some reggae band while waiting around to paddle. There's an area of free samples/craft vendors/Chinese culture displays. And good festival eats: pizza, Eye-talian sausage, etc.

I started watching the HBO series Entourage on DVD from Netflix. I may be hooked. I see it is in season 6. My kids are into this. Maybe I will leave it for cold weather.

I read this 900+-page book: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It was a 12th century "Dallas." Lot of wife-messing and nefarious money deals and family loyalties. I have it in case you need some bedtime reading.

Sherry has a lot of wine that we need to drink. Let's get that together, girls!
_____________________