Unpretty in pink
I didn't get done what I wanted to get done. I was supposed to run out to Marshall's and TJ Maxx and find the exact right frame I want. I was supposed to find at least two that I wanted and then I was planning on grossly over thinking my choice.
I was looking forward to this. I didn't fine one that I liked. Two would have been the impossible dream. I've never had a hard time finding frames at those storms and I just struck out. I suppose I should have tried out Target while I was at in the neighborhood but I decided to forgo the frame and just send the picture to my friend and let her make her own framing decisions. That is the anti-over-thinking way.
It makes the shipping easier too, I can mail it with her birthday card and kill two birds with one stone. So its not what I wanted but its easier and easier is usually better... Over thinking is never easy. I also did not buy a very cute quilt for my chair. So I came out ahead, it was very cute though and I may have to go back - my only concern was that it was too burgundy and it could have used more green but it had all my other colors so it came out ahead really. No, I think I need the same quilt but in green but not lime, lime is big this year and lime wouldn't work for me, but if I had to choose between too much burgundy with a little of the right green and a lot of the wrong green and a little burgundy I think I would vote for the too much burgundy, but...
While I was being cruelly thwarted at the stores I was not doing the other things on my list. I didn't put anything away from the trip, I didn't tidy and I didn't plant the inpatients I got cheap at Wallyworld yesterday. I really did want to to get them in the ground but it rained (!) and so I wasn't able to get that task done. The plants all got watered though so that was a task accomplished. I did take Dogger for her walk, I didn't walk her Monday because she has a thing on her foot and I wanted to treat it for twenty-four hours before I went full time back to her walk schedule. I've been washing it with soap and water and dousing it with her hot spot cure and triple antibiotic stuff. I'm not sure its a hot spot and in fact I have my suspicions that its actually road burn from her resisting going in a direction and digging her paws into the street or it could be a combination of the two.
It doesn't really matter what it is, her foot is pink and I'm all for girly things but the pink foot must go.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Well. I'm back. Damn it.
It was so nice to not be here. I mean "here" is fine, but sometimes its so here that I just can't stand it. Do you have any idea how many malls there are in Dallas? How many places there are to buy things? how many restaurants? just how much more there is to do there? The downtown is artwork!
My only quibble would be that everything looked the same. Garland, Richardson, Farmers Branch, The Colony - they were all interchangeable. I never knew where I was. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Plano has a downtown. I had no idea, really. I thought Plano was miles of tract houses and monster high schools and rich kids. I have to giggle though, even in rich, new money Plano the downtown is awash with tea shops, antique malls and gift stores. Ha.
I came home and kissed my non-Fox and Jacobs/Centex built house. All those houses they built so fast in the late seventies and eighties? Lets just say they aren't aging well. My place isn't perfect but there isn't another like it for miles.
I ended up not having my civil liberties tromped on too much by the airline and my only problem was a slight attack of claustrophobia when I realized my seat mate was never going to get out of his seat. I felt like a Christmas pear. I had a great trip though, someday though, ideally, I'll stay longer. Its exhausting trying to cram a weeks worth of activities into twenty hours. I slept better there than I have here in months. I don't know if it was because I was run to the point of exhaustion or because I didn't have to face the clock or because the A/C was set to "meat locker". You would be surprised how nice it is to be cold.
And when we weren't inside the walk in, we were outside in the humidity free heat. It was great! We were at the lake under a pavillion for the meet up for hours and it wasn't unpleasant at all - it was 100 degrees. If we were here under a pavilion for hours we would have all been dead or at the very least, wishing we were, but instead we all hung out for hours. Try that with 80% humidity.
I had no idea I went to school with so many rednecks - very nice, very friendly rednecks but rednecks non-the-less. There were a couple of the guys that looked like extras from Deliverance. I know they had all their teeth when they sat next to me in Biology.
It was so nice to not be here. I mean "here" is fine, but sometimes its so here that I just can't stand it. Do you have any idea how many malls there are in Dallas? How many places there are to buy things? how many restaurants? just how much more there is to do there? The downtown is artwork!
My only quibble would be that everything looked the same. Garland, Richardson, Farmers Branch, The Colony - they were all interchangeable. I never knew where I was. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Plano has a downtown. I had no idea, really. I thought Plano was miles of tract houses and monster high schools and rich kids. I have to giggle though, even in rich, new money Plano the downtown is awash with tea shops, antique malls and gift stores. Ha.
I came home and kissed my non-Fox and Jacobs/Centex built house. All those houses they built so fast in the late seventies and eighties? Lets just say they aren't aging well. My place isn't perfect but there isn't another like it for miles.
I ended up not having my civil liberties tromped on too much by the airline and my only problem was a slight attack of claustrophobia when I realized my seat mate was never going to get out of his seat. I felt like a Christmas pear. I had a great trip though, someday though, ideally, I'll stay longer. Its exhausting trying to cram a weeks worth of activities into twenty hours. I slept better there than I have here in months. I don't know if it was because I was run to the point of exhaustion or because I didn't have to face the clock or because the A/C was set to "meat locker". You would be surprised how nice it is to be cold.
And when we weren't inside the walk in, we were outside in the humidity free heat. It was great! We were at the lake under a pavillion for the meet up for hours and it wasn't unpleasant at all - it was 100 degrees. If we were here under a pavilion for hours we would have all been dead or at the very least, wishing we were, but instead we all hung out for hours. Try that with 80% humidity.
I had no idea I went to school with so many rednecks - very nice, very friendly rednecks but rednecks non-the-less. There were a couple of the guys that looked like extras from Deliverance. I know they had all their teeth when they sat next to me in Biology.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Hi. This is Diana, I'll be away from my desk...
I'm about to kiss my civil liberties good bye, no I'm not going to jail but I am going to go to an airport and get on an airplane so its almost the same but for the prison rape but then I will be going through one of those new fangled see-you-nekid- security gizmo's because Raleigh is an international attraction to terrorists because their cousin went to school there.
I am going to Dallas to see my friends and visit a little.
Personally, I see much more of a threat to our national security coming from domestic terrorism, but no one has the balls to come down hard on right wing domestic terrorists. We are too scared of Mohamed and not scared enough of Dwayne and Dwayne and his buddies will blow up your strip mall before Mohamed takes down your airplane.
Whatever. I'm going to be out of town for less than forty eight hours and so I've spent the last two weeks preparing for it. I go out of town for three weeks and I don't spend as much time preparing to go - mostly because I do not steam clean my entire life before I leave. My house is very clean right now or at the very least, very much more clean than it was before. I do not do this for my own benefit, I am not worthy enough to go through this much trouble for. A dirty house as a stand in for low self esteem? I do however make my bed every single morning, so I do have that going for me.
I vacuumed the downstairs, I cleaned the kitchen both bathrooms, the dogs room but not the dog because I ran out of time and both entry ways. I have not packed yet but I did adjust my DVR so that my parents won't be bothered by the channels changing on them mid-stream. I know my priorities.
I'm about to kiss my civil liberties good bye, no I'm not going to jail but I am going to go to an airport and get on an airplane so its almost the same but for the prison rape but then I will be going through one of those new fangled see-you-nekid- security gizmo's because Raleigh is an international attraction to terrorists because their cousin went to school there.
I am going to Dallas to see my friends and visit a little.
Personally, I see much more of a threat to our national security coming from domestic terrorism, but no one has the balls to come down hard on right wing domestic terrorists. We are too scared of Mohamed and not scared enough of Dwayne and Dwayne and his buddies will blow up your strip mall before Mohamed takes down your airplane.
Whatever. I'm going to be out of town for less than forty eight hours and so I've spent the last two weeks preparing for it. I go out of town for three weeks and I don't spend as much time preparing to go - mostly because I do not steam clean my entire life before I leave. My house is very clean right now or at the very least, very much more clean than it was before. I do not do this for my own benefit, I am not worthy enough to go through this much trouble for. A dirty house as a stand in for low self esteem? I do however make my bed every single morning, so I do have that going for me.
I vacuumed the downstairs, I cleaned the kitchen both bathrooms, the dogs room but not the dog because I ran out of time and both entry ways. I have not packed yet but I did adjust my DVR so that my parents won't be bothered by the channels changing on them mid-stream. I know my priorities.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Plant Chat
I just made the loveliest dinner. Stir fried chicken and tomatoes flavored with garlic and oregano along side garlic and parsley flavored pasta. The tomatoes came from my garden! Tada! Productivity!
And the were good too. Yay! I am very proud.
I have been bonding with my tomato plants lately because I just didn't feel very close to them. In years past I have had a very good relationship with my plants but this year I just don't feel the love. I'm out there visiting with the green beans but I don't know why I don't feel as close to the garden this year, its weird. Its feeling very auto pilot for some reason. I think I've been spending too much time with my flowers. So I have been trying to spend more time with my vegetables and its good that I have been paying more attention because I might have missed an entire tomato limb falling over! I could have lost and entire limb! I mean how awful. I blame this on the tomato friendly heat and humidity that we have been experiencing. My tomato plants have morphed into tomato trees.
I have actually run out of green garden tape! I've never run out of garden tape before. I have been tying up plants like a crazy person, a crazy person with tomatoes that are growing at insane rates and growing, growing, growing out and around their little houses. They are taking over. Last year I did more pruning but the growth has happened so suddenly I didn't have time to do it this year, I mean one day they were spindly little plantings and the next day they had escaped their cages entirely.
The limb was the biggest problem yet. It has four fruits on it and it must have just gotten too heavy but thus far the fruits are not all that big or even close to being ripe. I ended up having to tie it to the fence. The Experimental Tomato is also growing fruits like a crazy thing but it is much more shrubby in appearance and oddly, has more fruits further along in development. The exact same variety is also the back yard but are taller than I am and oddly, the leaves look different. The Experimental plant is way shorter than I am, has darker leaves and fewer branches and I haven't had to do any tying of it at all, which is good because I ran out of tape. It has a total of six or seven fruits on it with two large and coming to ripeness, the other plant doesn't have nearly as many fruits and they are all small and nowhere near ripeness.
If I was a better gardener I would under stand this. E.T gets more light but less water and is in a container. The garden plants are on a timed soaker hose and get exactly the same amount of water twice a day and the benefits of plastic mulch to keep the ground damp and warm and of course, are planted in the ground with all the benefits that accords. I dump water on the ET twice a day, sometimes more water sometimes less and at various times. I have fertilized the ET but only after heavy rains - I don't do this with the garden because the garden I would think would suffer less after a heavy rain?
Regardless, it looks better than its in-ground brethren.
Speaking of my container garden. I gave everything a through soaking with the hose today. I try to limit my watering to what I get out of the rain barrel but its been so hot and dry lately that I decided to give everything I good refreshing bath to keep them happy and hydrated. I water them twice a day with the watering can but it's not enough to really keep them as wet as they probably want. I've noticed some of my Not Queen Annes Lace getting a little toasty and one of my vines was looking a little peaky. I fixed that.
PS, the volunteer pumpkin plants look very happy.
I just made the loveliest dinner. Stir fried chicken and tomatoes flavored with garlic and oregano along side garlic and parsley flavored pasta. The tomatoes came from my garden! Tada! Productivity!
And the were good too. Yay! I am very proud.
I have been bonding with my tomato plants lately because I just didn't feel very close to them. In years past I have had a very good relationship with my plants but this year I just don't feel the love. I'm out there visiting with the green beans but I don't know why I don't feel as close to the garden this year, its weird. Its feeling very auto pilot for some reason. I think I've been spending too much time with my flowers. So I have been trying to spend more time with my vegetables and its good that I have been paying more attention because I might have missed an entire tomato limb falling over! I could have lost and entire limb! I mean how awful. I blame this on the tomato friendly heat and humidity that we have been experiencing. My tomato plants have morphed into tomato trees.
I have actually run out of green garden tape! I've never run out of garden tape before. I have been tying up plants like a crazy person, a crazy person with tomatoes that are growing at insane rates and growing, growing, growing out and around their little houses. They are taking over. Last year I did more pruning but the growth has happened so suddenly I didn't have time to do it this year, I mean one day they were spindly little plantings and the next day they had escaped their cages entirely.
The limb was the biggest problem yet. It has four fruits on it and it must have just gotten too heavy but thus far the fruits are not all that big or even close to being ripe. I ended up having to tie it to the fence. The Experimental Tomato is also growing fruits like a crazy thing but it is much more shrubby in appearance and oddly, has more fruits further along in development. The exact same variety is also the back yard but are taller than I am and oddly, the leaves look different. The Experimental plant is way shorter than I am, has darker leaves and fewer branches and I haven't had to do any tying of it at all, which is good because I ran out of tape. It has a total of six or seven fruits on it with two large and coming to ripeness, the other plant doesn't have nearly as many fruits and they are all small and nowhere near ripeness.
If I was a better gardener I would under stand this. E.T gets more light but less water and is in a container. The garden plants are on a timed soaker hose and get exactly the same amount of water twice a day and the benefits of plastic mulch to keep the ground damp and warm and of course, are planted in the ground with all the benefits that accords. I dump water on the ET twice a day, sometimes more water sometimes less and at various times. I have fertilized the ET but only after heavy rains - I don't do this with the garden because the garden I would think would suffer less after a heavy rain?
Regardless, it looks better than its in-ground brethren.
Speaking of my container garden. I gave everything a through soaking with the hose today. I try to limit my watering to what I get out of the rain barrel but its been so hot and dry lately that I decided to give everything I good refreshing bath to keep them happy and hydrated. I water them twice a day with the watering can but it's not enough to really keep them as wet as they probably want. I've noticed some of my Not Queen Annes Lace getting a little toasty and one of my vines was looking a little peaky. I fixed that.
PS, the volunteer pumpkin plants look very happy.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Lambs to slaughter
This was not a productive evening. It was supposed to be. I planned it that way on a previous unproductive evening. When I don't have the energy to do anything I always believe (for some reason) that very soon that energy would appear from where ever random bursts energy hang in wait until its needed.
It did not show up. Again. I did not clean a single bathroom or vacuum anything or make any decisions about what I am taking with me for the weekend. I am going to Dallas. On Friday. And I'M NOT READY and I am not magically getting that way.
Poor Dogger. She got fed and taken out to pee but not much more. When it got time for her later evening walk I was too busy with the chores I was supposed to do earlier when I was sleeping on her futon. At some point the phone rang and they asked for "Diane", my arch nemesis, I am hopeing that I didn't tell a million dollars that there was no one here by that name. In reality, it was most likely a volunteer calling to remind me that we have a run off election tomorrow and they needed me to vote for their candidate.
I don't have a candidate. Choice A seems like a good progressive candidate, and held state wide office and was good at her job. She did well in the primaries but not well enough to win outright, she is supported by Moveon and other progressive online groups. Choice B also seems like a good progressive candidate who did well in the primaries but not well enough to will outright but I get a whiff of blue dog off of him. He was a I believe, a JAG in Iraq and tried soldiers who thought they could kill locals for sport. He is supported by The Party and they think he would be stronger against Richard Burr in the fall elections.
The progressive is a good person, I like her and her platform of, well, progressiveness she did do well among the die hard Democrats that voted in the primaries. Burr would say she is a liberal Democrat and a supporter of the President. If the other guy won, Burr would have to attack a certified war hero - who tried our brave soldiers for defending our country against terrorists and is a Democrat!
I have seen a few signs for Choice A around the neighbourhood, and none for Choice B. Essentially we are deciding which lamb we are sending to slaughter, who we want to seen destroyed by the RNC Machine in the fall. Do we want to hear the lie that Choice A once was a lesbian hooker or the lie that Choice B is a member of the Taliban. The RNC will use both to scare the mountain people out of their shacks to vote.
Richard Burr is very popular among the poor, uneducated and easily frightened, in other words the traditional Republican base. The folks who watch FAUX news all day every day and believe every word. They don't care about the truth, they just want to be told what to do and they will be told to vote for Burr.
So who to vote for. Choice B is doing more campaigning and got Wes Clark to make robo calls for him and has sent me mailers - this of course speaks to mainline Party backing, which could speak to more money in the real election, which would be good but is not going to work, Choice A hasn't sent a mailing since the primaries and I haven't gotten a single robo call from her but she has been emailing - This could speak to that she is doing so well in the polls that she can coast, but, I have not been polled.
This was not a productive evening. It was supposed to be. I planned it that way on a previous unproductive evening. When I don't have the energy to do anything I always believe (for some reason) that very soon that energy would appear from where ever random bursts energy hang in wait until its needed.
It did not show up. Again. I did not clean a single bathroom or vacuum anything or make any decisions about what I am taking with me for the weekend. I am going to Dallas. On Friday. And I'M NOT READY and I am not magically getting that way.
Poor Dogger. She got fed and taken out to pee but not much more. When it got time for her later evening walk I was too busy with the chores I was supposed to do earlier when I was sleeping on her futon. At some point the phone rang and they asked for "Diane", my arch nemesis, I am hopeing that I didn't tell a million dollars that there was no one here by that name. In reality, it was most likely a volunteer calling to remind me that we have a run off election tomorrow and they needed me to vote for their candidate.
I don't have a candidate. Choice A seems like a good progressive candidate, and held state wide office and was good at her job. She did well in the primaries but not well enough to win outright, she is supported by Moveon and other progressive online groups. Choice B also seems like a good progressive candidate who did well in the primaries but not well enough to will outright but I get a whiff of blue dog off of him. He was a I believe, a JAG in Iraq and tried soldiers who thought they could kill locals for sport. He is supported by The Party and they think he would be stronger against Richard Burr in the fall elections.
The progressive is a good person, I like her and her platform of, well, progressiveness she did do well among the die hard Democrats that voted in the primaries. Burr would say she is a liberal Democrat and a supporter of the President. If the other guy won, Burr would have to attack a certified war hero - who tried our brave soldiers for defending our country against terrorists and is a Democrat!
I have seen a few signs for Choice A around the neighbourhood, and none for Choice B. Essentially we are deciding which lamb we are sending to slaughter, who we want to seen destroyed by the RNC Machine in the fall. Do we want to hear the lie that Choice A once was a lesbian hooker or the lie that Choice B is a member of the Taliban. The RNC will use both to scare the mountain people out of their shacks to vote.
Richard Burr is very popular among the poor, uneducated and easily frightened, in other words the traditional Republican base. The folks who watch FAUX news all day every day and believe every word. They don't care about the truth, they just want to be told what to do and they will be told to vote for Burr.
So who to vote for. Choice B is doing more campaigning and got Wes Clark to make robo calls for him and has sent me mailers - this of course speaks to mainline Party backing, which could speak to more money in the real election, which would be good but is not going to work, Choice A hasn't sent a mailing since the primaries and I haven't gotten a single robo call from her but she has been emailing - This could speak to that she is doing so well in the polls that she can coast, but, I have not been polled.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Garden Update 11
I was going to brag about multi-tasking and being all efficient but every time I try to multi-task I remind myself of my friend who speaks five languages but none of them well. Also I'm not sure I could claim correcting my hair color as my task.
Its odd, the longer your body has to practice doing something the more it makes mistakes doing it. My hair for example, even with forty some years to get it right and it did get it right for decades, has either developed some sort of follicular Alzheimer's or its just mean and lazy. It all together forgets or "forgets" depending on how I am feeling about it - that I have dark hair and tries to sneak in these really horrible, clearly wrong light hairs. I tried to claim these were highlights but yeah, really? not so much. I have to step away from my work from time to time to do its. It's hard being in management.
I have good garden news. I have tomatoes! And not just tomatoes, I have a very nearly ripe tomato. A very nearly ripe tomato - I know, you're saying a tomato Call me when you have an actual ripe tomato, better yet, Shut up and call me when you have plural ripeness.
Well. You shut up. I have some not as nearly ripe too and my the time you read this I may have three ripe tomatoes. They are 4th of July tomatoes are are supposed to be the earliest ripening of all the tomatoes. I thought they were bigger fruits but I'll live with them because ripe is ripe. They aren't cherry tomatoes by any means more like maybe small plums or little peaches.
In the experimental garden the Carolina Golds two of the many are getting large and will soon be gold, in the traditional garden there are many, many, many fetal baby tomatoes and on one plant that I couldn't get close enough to check what kind it was, has two huge examples and they are nowhere near ready to go. I do have two plants that haven't produced anything. I am hopeing it is because they are going to produce big enormous fruits and they need the time to gather their strength for the huge things to come.
The peppers are doing nothing as per usual with peppers in my gardens. The experimental pepper has started to grow up and out and put on weight but it is also doing nothing - So I gather everything is okay. The green beans are beaning along but I have run across several that are yellow and empty - I don't know what causes this but I know its not a sign of good things to come. The beans near the tomatoes are getting an odd haze on the leaves but on the other side of the path, away from the tomatoes, the other beans have new blooms and are covered with baby beanlings. I bought more freezer bags in hopes of having lots of beans to freeze. I am also thinking of planting more bean seeds.
Do tomatoes freeze?
I was going to brag about multi-tasking and being all efficient but every time I try to multi-task I remind myself of my friend who speaks five languages but none of them well. Also I'm not sure I could claim correcting my hair color as my task.
Its odd, the longer your body has to practice doing something the more it makes mistakes doing it. My hair for example, even with forty some years to get it right and it did get it right for decades, has either developed some sort of follicular Alzheimer's or its just mean and lazy. It all together forgets or "forgets" depending on how I am feeling about it - that I have dark hair and tries to sneak in these really horrible, clearly wrong light hairs. I tried to claim these were highlights but yeah, really? not so much. I have to step away from my work from time to time to do its. It's hard being in management.
I have good garden news. I have tomatoes! And not just tomatoes, I have a very nearly ripe tomato. A very nearly ripe tomato - I know, you're saying a tomato Call me when you have an actual ripe tomato, better yet, Shut up and call me when you have plural ripeness.
Well. You shut up. I have some not as nearly ripe too and my the time you read this I may have three ripe tomatoes. They are 4th of July tomatoes are are supposed to be the earliest ripening of all the tomatoes. I thought they were bigger fruits but I'll live with them because ripe is ripe. They aren't cherry tomatoes by any means more like maybe small plums or little peaches.
In the experimental garden the Carolina Golds two of the many are getting large and will soon be gold, in the traditional garden there are many, many, many fetal baby tomatoes and on one plant that I couldn't get close enough to check what kind it was, has two huge examples and they are nowhere near ready to go. I do have two plants that haven't produced anything. I am hopeing it is because they are going to produce big enormous fruits and they need the time to gather their strength for the huge things to come.
The peppers are doing nothing as per usual with peppers in my gardens. The experimental pepper has started to grow up and out and put on weight but it is also doing nothing - So I gather everything is okay. The green beans are beaning along but I have run across several that are yellow and empty - I don't know what causes this but I know its not a sign of good things to come. The beans near the tomatoes are getting an odd haze on the leaves but on the other side of the path, away from the tomatoes, the other beans have new blooms and are covered with baby beanlings. I bought more freezer bags in hopes of having lots of beans to freeze. I am also thinking of planting more bean seeds.
Do tomatoes freeze?
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Work Out
I was very good this week until Thursday when I asked myself what I wanted to eat for lunch and I said Burger King!.
That was not what I meant to say, what I meant to say was "protean bar and green tea". And then I found myself in the drive thru and sadly, there is no drive thru protean bar and green tea franchise. And protean bars and green tea do not taste as good as a plain and dry original chicken sandwich meal with onion rings instead of french fries and and a medium Dr. Pepper. For real.
If they sold a protean bar that tasted like a Burger King chicken sandwich I would stop eating real food and if they could market a green tea that tasted like Dr. Pepper I would never drink water or any other kind of liquid ever again. My antioxidants would be through the roof!
I did however still ride my bike and it was on that bike ride that I decided I would mow the yard after I got home. It was very lovely at noon. Very, shockingly lovely, its not often that I think positive thoughts about lawn mowing at high noon or that I plan one physical exertion while in the middle of another. I usually think about naps.
After work it was less lovely. After Doggers walk I decided that I was not going to be mowing the yard. I watered and fertilized the flowers and planted more flowers - Inpatients! good flowers, very well behaved, hard workers, healthy as floral horses and the batch last year were psychic! they were also on sale from Wally World because they stopped taking care of them. The sad thing is that I bought twelve new plants and I had room for all of them! At this time of year! I shouldn't have any room for any new anything and I could have planted more. My new plant nemesis are the evil petunias! Huge losers! lazy, weak constitutions, no will power what-so-ever and they can't read my mind!
And then I mowed the yard. I started thinking that it was starting to look a little shaggy and if I waited any longer it was going to get too hard to mow and I don't really want yard work to feature prominently in my obituary, so I did it. I also started thinking about that original chicken sandwich meal and decided I didn't want it to be featured in my obit either. Manual push mowers are good for the environment and for you.
I was very good this week until Thursday when I asked myself what I wanted to eat for lunch and I said Burger King!.
That was not what I meant to say, what I meant to say was "protean bar and green tea". And then I found myself in the drive thru and sadly, there is no drive thru protean bar and green tea franchise. And protean bars and green tea do not taste as good as a plain and dry original chicken sandwich meal with onion rings instead of french fries and and a medium Dr. Pepper. For real.
If they sold a protean bar that tasted like a Burger King chicken sandwich I would stop eating real food and if they could market a green tea that tasted like Dr. Pepper I would never drink water or any other kind of liquid ever again. My antioxidants would be through the roof!
I did however still ride my bike and it was on that bike ride that I decided I would mow the yard after I got home. It was very lovely at noon. Very, shockingly lovely, its not often that I think positive thoughts about lawn mowing at high noon or that I plan one physical exertion while in the middle of another. I usually think about naps.
After work it was less lovely. After Doggers walk I decided that I was not going to be mowing the yard. I watered and fertilized the flowers and planted more flowers - Inpatients! good flowers, very well behaved, hard workers, healthy as floral horses and the batch last year were psychic! they were also on sale from Wally World because they stopped taking care of them. The sad thing is that I bought twelve new plants and I had room for all of them! At this time of year! I shouldn't have any room for any new anything and I could have planted more. My new plant nemesis are the evil petunias! Huge losers! lazy, weak constitutions, no will power what-so-ever and they can't read my mind!
And then I mowed the yard. I started thinking that it was starting to look a little shaggy and if I waited any longer it was going to get too hard to mow and I don't really want yard work to feature prominently in my obituary, so I did it. I also started thinking about that original chicken sandwich meal and decided I didn't want it to be featured in my obit either. Manual push mowers are good for the environment and for you.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Drabbles
It finally rained. Sort of. I heard it rain earlier and I heard that it rained after lunch but I didn't see it for myself and I wasn't hoping puddles on my way out to my car after work. I was able to take Dogger for her 5pm walk for the first time this week and that was nice. I rode my bike at lunch and didn't die so it was a good day. Yesterday was a good day too, it was too hot for our 5pm walk but it wasn't too hot to bath Dogger in the yard. It was nice for both of us and post bath we went for a walk while we were both still damp and so it was a lot more tolerable than it has been.
On our way home we had to walk through the parking lot of the liquor store. I live in such a nice neighborhood. A man in a car spoke to me:
Idiot - You have a really big dog.
Me - Yes I do.
Idiot - He bite?
Me - Sometimes!
Dogger had a very good day . She thought she was in for another dull day, a walk here a walk there, dinner a nap now and again, maybe growl at a passerby later - The daily grind, and then out of nowhere a bath in the yard! and then a walk? I mean? And even better? Later on while out for a pee, she got to glare at man as thoroughly he found the need to explain why he was out and about to her Dogger glares really well and all fluffy from her bath, we swear by conditioner, back lit properly, she must have looked like a bear. A very focused bear. - He was hurrying home to watch the basketball game.
Dogger seemed to believe his story.
Changing the subject. Have I mentioned that HawthoRN makes me want to wretch? She's supposed to be the DON and that is the position The DON. No one ever and I do mean ever refers to the Director of Nursing anything but the DON. And the DON is not on the floor being all floor nurse, she is at meetings or in her office working on schedules and reports and stats and endless, endless forms. For the most part the DON is a paper nurse, there is a hierarchy of nurses and she is at the top of it. She does not have time to also be the angel of the ER.
It finally rained. Sort of. I heard it rain earlier and I heard that it rained after lunch but I didn't see it for myself and I wasn't hoping puddles on my way out to my car after work. I was able to take Dogger for her 5pm walk for the first time this week and that was nice. I rode my bike at lunch and didn't die so it was a good day. Yesterday was a good day too, it was too hot for our 5pm walk but it wasn't too hot to bath Dogger in the yard. It was nice for both of us and post bath we went for a walk while we were both still damp and so it was a lot more tolerable than it has been.
On our way home we had to walk through the parking lot of the liquor store. I live in such a nice neighborhood. A man in a car spoke to me:
Idiot - You have a really big dog.
Me - Yes I do.
Idiot - He bite?
Me - Sometimes!
Dogger had a very good day . She thought she was in for another dull day, a walk here a walk there, dinner a nap now and again, maybe growl at a passerby later - The daily grind, and then out of nowhere a bath in the yard! and then a walk? I mean? And even better? Later on while out for a pee, she got to glare at man as thoroughly he found the need to explain why he was out and about to her Dogger glares really well and all fluffy from her bath, we swear by conditioner, back lit properly, she must have looked like a bear. A very focused bear. - He was hurrying home to watch the basketball game.
Dogger seemed to believe his story.
Changing the subject. Have I mentioned that HawthoRN makes me want to wretch? She's supposed to be the DON and that is the position The DON. No one ever and I do mean ever refers to the Director of Nursing anything but the DON. And the DON is not on the floor being all floor nurse, she is at meetings or in her office working on schedules and reports and stats and endless, endless forms. For the most part the DON is a paper nurse, there is a hierarchy of nurses and she is at the top of it. She does not have time to also be the angel of the ER.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hot in the city
I was going to ride my bike over lunch today as I have been doing? Because I'm so good like that? and I'm all about will power - But today I walked outside at lunch and discovered that I was going to be a sweaty mess before I got out to my car and then I made an executive decision regarding dog food, and the timing of its purchase and decided that clearly that time for that purchase was now.
(In theory I do have access to a shower but do you really want to use the gymnasium showers at a mental hospital? I don't know often the patients still use the gym but I really don't want to be the one to find out.)
I had a happy meal for lunch on the way back from Project Kibble, but it was very small and I sweated off about half of it reading in my car after I got back to campus. Its like a sauna here. I'm surprised I'm not seeing more fat guys in towels lounging around street corners. There are Norwegians with rocks and ladles just hanging around waiting for people to leave their cars untended in the sun. You come back and the interior of your car has been panelled! and its full of discarded towels! And there are butt prints!
My glasses steam up when I water my plants! You go outside and its like opening your dishwasher mid-cycle or going outdoors in Houston in August- Its that kind of uncomfortable. Alphagal and I are growing tomato plants like sequoias though, so at least somebody is enjoying all this. I mean really, like tomato plants 45 inches around! At the end of the season I'm going to have get a permit from the city to takes these monsters down. The weather is even helping raise the dead! My failed experimental pepper is getting a "C" out of nowhere! Its the extra hour of shade a day and the 300% humidity that turned it around I'm sure.
It didn't rain last night. Shocking. But I also didn't go outside this morning and find dead plants either so the soap mixture didn't harm anything - The leaves weren't magically whole again so maybe I put a little too much faith in it but nothing looked more chewed on so there is that. The site had another recipe for slug diversion but it required I water the plants with salt water and I believe that salt water is usually contraindicated with plants and if its so little salt that the plants don't mind I doubt sincerely its going to scare off the slugs and the last thing I want scatted across my deck are gangs of mildly irritated slugs looking for revenge. Perhaps they would like some beer?
I was going to ride my bike over lunch today as I have been doing? Because I'm so good like that? and I'm all about will power - But today I walked outside at lunch and discovered that I was going to be a sweaty mess before I got out to my car and then I made an executive decision regarding dog food, and the timing of its purchase and decided that clearly that time for that purchase was now.
(In theory I do have access to a shower but do you really want to use the gymnasium showers at a mental hospital? I don't know often the patients still use the gym but I really don't want to be the one to find out.)
I had a happy meal for lunch on the way back from Project Kibble, but it was very small and I sweated off about half of it reading in my car after I got back to campus. Its like a sauna here. I'm surprised I'm not seeing more fat guys in towels lounging around street corners. There are Norwegians with rocks and ladles just hanging around waiting for people to leave their cars untended in the sun. You come back and the interior of your car has been panelled! and its full of discarded towels! And there are butt prints!
My glasses steam up when I water my plants! You go outside and its like opening your dishwasher mid-cycle or going outdoors in Houston in August- Its that kind of uncomfortable. Alphagal and I are growing tomato plants like sequoias though, so at least somebody is enjoying all this. I mean really, like tomato plants 45 inches around! At the end of the season I'm going to have get a permit from the city to takes these monsters down. The weather is even helping raise the dead! My failed experimental pepper is getting a "C" out of nowhere! Its the extra hour of shade a day and the 300% humidity that turned it around I'm sure.
It didn't rain last night. Shocking. But I also didn't go outside this morning and find dead plants either so the soap mixture didn't harm anything - The leaves weren't magically whole again so maybe I put a little too much faith in it but nothing looked more chewed on so there is that. The site had another recipe for slug diversion but it required I water the plants with salt water and I believe that salt water is usually contraindicated with plants and if its so little salt that the plants don't mind I doubt sincerely its going to scare off the slugs and the last thing I want scatted across my deck are gangs of mildly irritated slugs looking for revenge. Perhaps they would like some beer?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
I tried an experiment with the flowers tonight. I went online and looked up DIY detergent pesticides and I found a site with a handful of suggestions and came home and made one. They had one recipe that I'm not sure if it would act as a pesticide but it would be a great marinade! They also included a tobacco idea that while all nice and organic and all is lethal and not suggested for use on plants you might eat. A lot of the really nasty pesticides use tobacco in one form or another.
I haven't really had a big problem with bugs thus far but I have seen a few traipsing around on m,y raspberry plants and I have seen a few chewed leaves on the other plants as well, but nothing that thus far seems really serious. Last year I ended up dosing everything with napalm and if worse comes to worse, I still have it. I would prefer not to but I'm keeping it on stand by.
I think its all going to be a moot point anyway. They are forecasting rain for the evening so my experiment could very well be washed away. I slept through a huge thunder boomer the other night complete with "city shaking" lightning strikes and I didn't hear a thing. I had no idea the window unit was such an effective noise blocking device?
With the rain in mind I'm trying to decide if I want to take Dogger for her third walk. I didn't take her for her second walk until seven - over the winter her second walk is at five and her third around seven thirty. Now with the long days and oppressive heat, I don'twant have rush to take her out at five and I don't. It so much nicer to maybe run errands after work instead of wasting my lunch hour, then come home, feed her, feed me and the leisurely change my clothes and sit down and relax instead of racing in and out the door to beat the dark. Not civilized at all.
You know whats really civilized? lounging on your hammock reading The New Yorker while the scents of your roses and herbs wash over you and then later? Ending a lovely, relaxing stroll being serenaded by civilized Mexican waltzes and inhaling everyones BBQ. Very nice.
I haven't really had a big problem with bugs thus far but I have seen a few traipsing around on m,y raspberry plants and I have seen a few chewed leaves on the other plants as well, but nothing that thus far seems really serious. Last year I ended up dosing everything with napalm and if worse comes to worse, I still have it. I would prefer not to but I'm keeping it on stand by.
I think its all going to be a moot point anyway. They are forecasting rain for the evening so my experiment could very well be washed away. I slept through a huge thunder boomer the other night complete with "city shaking" lightning strikes and I didn't hear a thing. I had no idea the window unit was such an effective noise blocking device?
With the rain in mind I'm trying to decide if I want to take Dogger for her third walk. I didn't take her for her second walk until seven - over the winter her second walk is at five and her third around seven thirty. Now with the long days and oppressive heat, I don't
You know whats really civilized? lounging on your hammock reading The New Yorker while the scents of your roses and herbs wash over you and then later? Ending a lovely, relaxing stroll being serenaded by civilized Mexican waltzes and inhaling everyones BBQ. Very nice.
Monday, June 14, 2010
I was a very good girl this weekend.
That sound you heard on Saturday was my neighbors cheering because I finally, finally edged my front yard! Woo! It looks so much nicer now, like someone lives there. It was a bitch to do though and Saturday was not the coolest day of the summer thus far. My edger also is a little quirky, in that every two and a half feet or so I had to turn it off and pull it apart and re-string the wire in the whacker.
It only took two or three episodes of turning off the whacker, flipping it over, struggling to dislodge the insert, yanking the wire, untangling the wire, restringing the wire and then struggling to re-lodge the insert, flip the whacker back over, get standing up again and going back to my chore, before I learned that turning off the whacker, flipping it over, struggling to dislodge the insert, yanking the wire, untangling the wire, restringing the wire and then struggling to re-lodge the insert, in the shade made me want to faint less than just fixing it under the sun where it snapped. I'm really good at the whole dislodging /yanking/untangling/re-stringing of the whacker now.
While I was out there I also edged along the front walk and it looks a lot nicer too. I mowed the yard again Friday night so I could get it before it hit maximum density again, once the yard really needs to be mowed its really too much work to mow. I really love my manual mower but damn does it require an unflinching dedication to duty that I don't remember being an issue with my gas mower. I might have to get it on a twice a week mowing schedule if I want to prevent a repeat of Apocalypse Mow experience from last week.
I learned my lesson the hard way.
I also did my laundry, bonded and did work with both gardens and made meat loaf - a really good meat loaf! I was reading The White Trash Cook Book, yes, The White Trash Cook Book and I saw a meat loaf recipe that included chopped peppers, onions and celery and I thought Hmm.That looks good... My peppers aren't ready and I didn't plant onion or celery, but, I can go to the store and get some neato frozen soup starter instead and that would be way cool! And it was! I thought I ruined it by accidentally adding a sizable jolt of soy sauce instead of a quick few drops but it turned out okay and the meat loaf was a success. Which is good because I made a lot of meat loaf. And no, it doesn't have any squirrel or possum meat included. I substituted ground round. My ghetto fabulous Kroger sells an incredible depth and variety of pig parts but is a little light on the squirrel and turtle and possum parts, perhaps if I was too spend more time loitering in the WTCB I would need to find a Kroger in North Raleigh.
Oh! Something else I did Friday night! I got my final curtain panel for my living room! Woo! I've only been playing with this mess since May 15. I don't really feel like talking to Wally World about my Drapery Odyssey because I don't think I have anything really constructive to say to them about the whole drawn out process that would be helpful to them and healing to me.
I've chosen to laugh about it instead of firebombing - because I have thought about it. A lot and I couldn't come up with a nice way of suggesting to them that they perhaps do not charge a sheltered workshop with the responsibility of packing their site-to-store items because it after took four tries to get it right! and that goes over the line We are doing our best and trying real hard! to We don't care. I was also slightly bothered that every time I ordered the exact same item over the month it was priced differently and it was drapes and not you know, a volatile commodity like petroleum or gold or gulf coast shrimp.
Bah.
That sound you heard on Saturday was my neighbors cheering because I finally, finally edged my front yard! Woo! It looks so much nicer now, like someone lives there. It was a bitch to do though and Saturday was not the coolest day of the summer thus far. My edger also is a little quirky, in that every two and a half feet or so I had to turn it off and pull it apart and re-string the wire in the whacker.
It only took two or three episodes of turning off the whacker, flipping it over, struggling to dislodge the insert, yanking the wire, untangling the wire, restringing the wire and then struggling to re-lodge the insert, flip the whacker back over, get standing up again and going back to my chore, before I learned that turning off the whacker, flipping it over, struggling to dislodge the insert, yanking the wire, untangling the wire, restringing the wire and then struggling to re-lodge the insert, in the shade made me want to faint less than just fixing it under the sun where it snapped. I'm really good at the whole dislodging /yanking/untangling/re-stringing of the whacker now.
While I was out there I also edged along the front walk and it looks a lot nicer too. I mowed the yard again Friday night so I could get it before it hit maximum density again, once the yard really needs to be mowed its really too much work to mow. I really love my manual mower but damn does it require an unflinching dedication to duty that I don't remember being an issue with my gas mower. I might have to get it on a twice a week mowing schedule if I want to prevent a repeat of Apocalypse Mow experience from last week.
I learned my lesson the hard way.
I also did my laundry, bonded and did work with both gardens and made meat loaf - a really good meat loaf! I was reading The White Trash Cook Book, yes, The White Trash Cook Book and I saw a meat loaf recipe that included chopped peppers, onions and celery and I thought Hmm.That looks good... My peppers aren't ready and I didn't plant onion or celery, but, I can go to the store and get some neato frozen soup starter instead and that would be way cool! And it was! I thought I ruined it by accidentally adding a sizable jolt of soy sauce instead of a quick few drops but it turned out okay and the meat loaf was a success. Which is good because I made a lot of meat loaf. And no, it doesn't have any squirrel or possum meat included. I substituted ground round. My ghetto fabulous Kroger sells an incredible depth and variety of pig parts but is a little light on the squirrel and turtle and possum parts, perhaps if I was too spend more time loitering in the WTCB I would need to find a Kroger in North Raleigh.
Oh! Something else I did Friday night! I got my final curtain panel for my living room! Woo! I've only been playing with this mess since May 15. I don't really feel like talking to Wally World about my Drapery Odyssey because I don't think I have anything really constructive to say to them about the whole drawn out process that would be helpful to them and healing to me.
I've chosen to laugh about it instead of firebombing - because I have thought about it. A lot and I couldn't come up with a nice way of suggesting to them that they perhaps do not charge a sheltered workshop with the responsibility of packing their site-to-store items because it after took four tries to get it right! and that goes over the line We are doing our best and trying real hard! to We don't care. I was also slightly bothered that every time I ordered the exact same item over the month it was priced differently and it was drapes and not you know, a volatile commodity like petroleum or gold or gulf coast shrimp.
Bah.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Gawd.
I got my new Real Simple and its all about Energizing!My!Life! didn't they know this was the July issue? I don't want to know about energizing my life in this heat, I want tips on staying inside with my air conditioning and going outside as little as possible. Period. Talk to me about energizing in October. Layers make me energized.
Who has "energy" in this heat? Do they have any idea how humid it is right now? DO they know how much energy it takes me to get up and stand in front of my refrigerator? I nearly died deadheading my flowers! died! I tell you! I was soaked through and breathless and I was outside for forty minutes. If I did any more energizing I would probably have died of heat stroke.
Also? they could compare and contrast mosquito candles. Mine just seems to confuse the mosquitoes and ultimately, I think being around them alot gave them the munchies. I would like an entire issue dedicated to new and exciting ways of watching Law and Order reruns and scheduling our lives around Curb Appeal episodes! I want tips on the best positions for lounging on the couch
And instead of recipes for things that mean I have to turn on my oven, I want recipes for DIY popsicles - whither food coloring? or go with Kool Aid? I do not want to learn fun new ways of looking sporty on a budget at yard sales and I will never, never never appear in public in white jeans. Who does that? White jeans? What? Clearly they have spent too much time riding on the "jitney" and being rich and thin and East Coast. Only the too rich, too thin and too jitney ready would think that plastic earrings from Avon were clever. If they were really good they give us ways of making plastic earrings from Avon clever.
And yet I love this magazine. This issue just pisses me off. It's just too hot for breathless excitment about peplums.
You know what would be really cool? Fans A whole section on fans! Big fans, little fans, cute fans, plastic fans! art fans! That's what I want! I want a whole section on which fans blow the hardest the most aggressively and at the same most quickly because I keep these puppies going 24-7. I want a fan that doesn't just blow the same hot air from point A to point B, I want to know which fan creates its own environment and then blows it in my face.
It would also be cool if they could have a feature on creating artsy things with my mosquito bites.
I got my new Real Simple and its all about Energizing!My!Life! didn't they know this was the July issue? I don't want to know about energizing my life in this heat, I want tips on staying inside with my air conditioning and going outside as little as possible. Period. Talk to me about energizing in October. Layers make me energized.
Who has "energy" in this heat? Do they have any idea how humid it is right now? DO they know how much energy it takes me to get up and stand in front of my refrigerator? I nearly died deadheading my flowers! died! I tell you! I was soaked through and breathless and I was outside for forty minutes. If I did any more energizing I would probably have died of heat stroke.
Also? they could compare and contrast mosquito candles. Mine just seems to confuse the mosquitoes and ultimately, I think being around them alot gave them the munchies. I would like an entire issue dedicated to new and exciting ways of watching Law and Order reruns and scheduling our lives around Curb Appeal episodes! I want tips on the best positions for lounging on the couch
And instead of recipes for things that mean I have to turn on my oven, I want recipes for DIY popsicles - whither food coloring? or go with Kool Aid? I do not want to learn fun new ways of looking sporty on a budget at yard sales and I will never, never never appear in public in white jeans. Who does that? White jeans? What? Clearly they have spent too much time riding on the "jitney" and being rich and thin and East Coast. Only the too rich, too thin and too jitney ready would think that plastic earrings from Avon were clever. If they were really good they give us ways of making plastic earrings from Avon clever.
And yet I love this magazine. This issue just pisses me off. It's just too hot for breathless excitment about peplums.
You know what would be really cool? Fans A whole section on fans! Big fans, little fans, cute fans, plastic fans! art fans! That's what I want! I want a whole section on which fans blow the hardest the most aggressively and at the same most quickly because I keep these puppies going 24-7. I want a fan that doesn't just blow the same hot air from point A to point B, I want to know which fan creates its own environment and then blows it in my face.
It would also be cool if they could have a feature on creating artsy things with my mosquito bites.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
My flowers are making me sad.
I looked at pictures from last year and they were luxurious and they did not make me sad. This year I'm having to hustle out and buy patches. Not luxurious. I bought some daisies to fill in for the front plantings and lunch today I'm going to go to the farmers market and see if they have anything that will mesh with the plantings on the deck. I must have bought the wrong variety this year and the accidentally bought the right kind last year . Duh. Luck of the draw.
Sadly, bad draw this year. The seed flowers I planted last winter are perking along, well, at least the not- Queen - Anne's-Lace are perking along, quite frankly they are at a raging boil, the other kinds are more at a low simmer- growing, yes, and they have lovely foliage's but not really doing anything - which is fine, I'm not complaining about growth and development, that's cool, we like that sort of thing but we also like flowers. Flowers are our friends.
I would like to see more of my friends or really, I would like to stop buying my friends and start developing them naturally. I was a GDI for a reason and that was primarily because I thought buying my friends was the wrong way to nirvana. Humph.
My front steps do looking great - wild with multiple textures and layers - which is a major landscaping score and that's super and all but would it kill the flowers to bloom? I mean would it be problematic for the flowers to be floral? I have two different kinds of poppies would it be so difficult for them to, I don't know BLOOM aren't poppies famous for their blooms? I planted a lot of a couple of different vining plants. Do you know how many are actively vining? One! I have one vine!
You know when the whole mess will bloom? When I'm not here to enjoy them, while I'm on vacation! They are going to bloom like mofos and then promptly die in time for me to get home.
Last years flowers bloomed wildly and spectacularly until November. I didn't have to buy fill ins, I didn't have to do a lot of fertilizing, I never had to tie them up and they bloomed all season. The only thing I did for them was being diligent about deadheading.
I looked at pictures from last year and they were luxurious and they did not make me sad. This year I'm having to hustle out and buy patches. Not luxurious. I bought some daisies to fill in for the front plantings and lunch today I'm going to go to the farmers market and see if they have anything that will mesh with the plantings on the deck. I must have bought the wrong variety this year and the accidentally bought the right kind last year . Duh. Luck of the draw.
Sadly, bad draw this year. The seed flowers I planted last winter are perking along, well, at least the not- Queen - Anne's-Lace are perking along, quite frankly they are at a raging boil, the other kinds are more at a low simmer- growing, yes, and they have lovely foliage's but not really doing anything - which is fine, I'm not complaining about growth and development, that's cool, we like that sort of thing but we also like flowers. Flowers are our friends.
I would like to see more of my friends or really, I would like to stop buying my friends and start developing them naturally. I was a GDI for a reason and that was primarily because I thought buying my friends was the wrong way to nirvana. Humph.
My front steps do looking great - wild with multiple textures and layers - which is a major landscaping score and that's super and all but would it kill the flowers to bloom? I mean would it be problematic for the flowers to be floral? I have two different kinds of poppies would it be so difficult for them to, I don't know BLOOM aren't poppies famous for their blooms? I planted a lot of a couple of different vining plants. Do you know how many are actively vining? One! I have one vine!
You know when the whole mess will bloom? When I'm not here to enjoy them, while I'm on vacation! They are going to bloom like mofos and then promptly die in time for me to get home.
Last years flowers bloomed wildly and spectacularly until November. I didn't have to buy fill ins, I didn't have to do a lot of fertilizing, I never had to tie them up and they bloomed all season. The only thing I did for them was being diligent about deadheading.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sleeping Betty
Well. The mowing did annoy my arm in that its less swollen and bumpy but more bruised. The nurse at work was pleased, apparently bruising is better than swelling and much better than "bumpy". Bumpy is bad. If I'm lucky I'll have a nice purple splotch by the weekend! Yay!
More than my arm suffered for all that work though, I came home today and decided that it was too hot to walk Dogger so I fed her, fed myself - let's here it for leftovers! and then tried out the citronella candles I got over lunch. They worked. They worked so well I fell asleep on the hammock. I roused myself and went back inside to fall asleep on my chair. Monday I got everything done, Tuesday slept for two hours after work and made a trip to Wally World and wanted a medal for it.
At Wallyworld I looked at their bikes. Bad, bad. I know, but before I looked at their bikes I looked at mine and when I was looking at old new bike I noticed somethings: It has fenders and a chain guard and it's a girls bike! I like fenders and chain guards and girls bikes. I do wear a skirt when I ride my bike and I don't like getting mud on my clothes or grease on my legs, I need to get back to work and I don't need to look like I just mountain biked down a black slope. Mud splatter is not a badge of honor when you have to go back to the office. Wacky, I know.
Wally bikes all had fenders and chain guards and came as girl bikes. Can you buy fenders and chain guards for bikes that don't have them? I don't want to fully out pimp my ride but I do want it to be a little more user friendly. My old new bike is very nice though, I have no complaints except for the lack of fenders, chain guard and the boy bike thing. It rides much better than old new bike and is easier to maneuver and the brakes work! Major ups for that. I am going to have to look at stickers or something for it though, its so black and dower it needs a little something. Spray paint? jewelry for the spokes? I'm an adult but I am not Amish, I want some bling.
It is harder to get in and out of Minnie though and that doesn't make sense to me - its lighter and yet its kind of a bigger bitch to deal with and heft around. I don't get it.
Well. The mowing did annoy my arm in that its less swollen and bumpy but more bruised. The nurse at work was pleased, apparently bruising is better than swelling and much better than "bumpy". Bumpy is bad. If I'm lucky I'll have a nice purple splotch by the weekend! Yay!
More than my arm suffered for all that work though, I came home today and decided that it was too hot to walk Dogger so I fed her, fed myself - let's here it for leftovers! and then tried out the citronella candles I got over lunch. They worked. They worked so well I fell asleep on the hammock. I roused myself and went back inside to fall asleep on my chair. Monday I got everything done, Tuesday slept for two hours after work and made a trip to Wally World and wanted a medal for it.
At Wallyworld I looked at their bikes. Bad, bad. I know, but before I looked at their bikes I looked at mine and when I was looking at old new bike I noticed somethings: It has fenders and a chain guard and it's a girls bike! I like fenders and chain guards and girls bikes. I do wear a skirt when I ride my bike and I don't like getting mud on my clothes or grease on my legs, I need to get back to work and I don't need to look like I just mountain biked down a black slope. Mud splatter is not a badge of honor when you have to go back to the office. Wacky, I know.
Wally bikes all had fenders and chain guards and came as girl bikes. Can you buy fenders and chain guards for bikes that don't have them? I don't want to fully out pimp my ride but I do want it to be a little more user friendly. My old new bike is very nice though, I have no complaints except for the lack of fenders, chain guard and the boy bike thing. It rides much better than old new bike and is easier to maneuver and the brakes work! Major ups for that. I am going to have to look at stickers or something for it though, its so black and dower it needs a little something. Spray paint? jewelry for the spokes? I'm an adult but I am not Amish, I want some bling.
It is harder to get in and out of Minnie though and that doesn't make sense to me - its lighter and yet its kind of a bigger bitch to deal with and heft around. I don't get it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
These are the days...
There are days I feel every day of my forties. I do not remember ever feeling every day of my twenties! I don’t remember feeling anything at 23, ask me what I feel at 41? Maybe that’s the beauty of youth, its’ numbness. You can’t actually feel a damn thing but you don’t care because you just did something incredibly stupid but hey, you bounced! Today. I am feeling very forty-one and un-bouncy...
Because I mowed the yard. Fine. I mowed the yard - with a manual push mower two days after I should have mowed the yard. If manual push mowers hate long grass they despise thick grass. My yard, thanks to recent rain and conditioned with several days of 345 percent humidity was both long and thick.
Mowing the yard made my arm hurt like a bad word because I banged it in the door at the Poverty Barn over the weekend - completely their fault! I would sue, but that could you sue Poverty Barn for? A thousand Haverty’s floor lamps and thirty cases of Israeli jam? and apparently what ever I banged gets used when I mow and it was pissed at me. At 23 I could have banged my whole body into a brick wall and it would have giggled and bounced off to something else stupid.
I should point out that my front yard meets the legal definition of “postage stamp” . At 23 I would have mowed the yard, watered everything, taken the dog for a walk and then came back and went to a party at 11pm. But at 23 I didn’t have a yard or anything to water or a dog... At 41 and in the present, before I got started with the mowing, I entertained some thoughts about post mow, pulling out the weed whacker to clean a few spots up but about a quarter of the way through the job with my hair wet and my clothes soaked though it became clear that I was probably not going to live that long.
Much to my shock, I did not die! and as a cool down, because I like to think of mowing with a push mower as a high impact work out, I watered everything I didn’t have to mow.
I realized something later, while I was walking the dog. Today I walked the dog three times, rode my bike over lunch, mowed the yard in 345 percent humidity, watered and tended my not unsubstantial gardens, went grocery shopping, prepared dinner for myself from mostly scratch and worked a full time job and then after all that I made some instant, just-add-water low fat blue berry coffee cake - well, it was low fat until I realized I had brown sugar and butter in my refrigerator as well as a several cups of frozen blue berries. I don’t have shite in my fridge but I can pimp my low fat, just-add-water coffee cake Not bad for 23, completely awesome for 41.
There are days I feel every day of my forties. I do not remember ever feeling every day of my twenties! I don’t remember feeling anything at 23, ask me what I feel at 41? Maybe that’s the beauty of youth, its’ numbness. You can’t actually feel a damn thing but you don’t care because you just did something incredibly stupid but hey, you bounced! Today. I am feeling very forty-one and un-bouncy...
Because I mowed the yard. Fine. I mowed the yard - with a manual push mower two days after I should have mowed the yard. If manual push mowers hate long grass they despise thick grass. My yard, thanks to recent rain and conditioned with several days of 345 percent humidity was both long and thick.
Mowing the yard made my arm hurt like a bad word because I banged it in the door at the Poverty Barn over the weekend - completely their fault! I would sue, but that could you sue Poverty Barn for? A thousand Haverty’s floor lamps and thirty cases of Israeli jam? and apparently what ever I banged gets used when I mow and it was pissed at me. At 23 I could have banged my whole body into a brick wall and it would have giggled and bounced off to something else stupid.
I should point out that my front yard meets the legal definition of “postage stamp” . At 23 I would have mowed the yard, watered everything, taken the dog for a walk and then came back and went to a party at 11pm. But at 23 I didn’t have a yard or anything to water or a dog... At 41 and in the present, before I got started with the mowing, I entertained some thoughts about post mow, pulling out the weed whacker to clean a few spots up but about a quarter of the way through the job with my hair wet and my clothes soaked though it became clear that I was probably not going to live that long.
Much to my shock, I did not die! and as a cool down, because I like to think of mowing with a push mower as a high impact work out, I watered everything I didn’t have to mow.
I realized something later, while I was walking the dog. Today I walked the dog three times, rode my bike over lunch, mowed the yard in 345 percent humidity, watered and tended my not unsubstantial gardens, went grocery shopping, prepared dinner for myself from mostly scratch and worked a full time job and then after all that I made some instant, just-add-water low fat blue berry coffee cake - well, it was low fat until I realized I had brown sugar and butter in my refrigerator as well as a several cups of frozen blue berries. I don’t have shite in my fridge but I can pimp my low fat, just-add-water coffee cake Not bad for 23, completely awesome for 41.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday
As a consequence of napping almost all day Saturday I got almost nothing done but at the same time, a lot done. It depends on how you look at the numbers.
I did my laundry done - it took two days but the laundry is done ( lets not talk about the putting-it-away-part, shall we?) I took Dogger on not one but two long walks downtown - one of those walks I ended up with a free free-standing hammock! True its a non-traditional free standing hammock but it is still very hammock-y and I think I may know why its non-traditional and how to make it less so. I think. I may be wrong, but its still a very nice hammock and it was free so it is fab-u-lous! It's non-traditional ness non-withstanding. FREE.
I went to a lovely garden/art party/show and it was nice. Hot. Very, very hot but it was nice - I think its gotten a bit more to the Art Show side and away from its original purpose as "Here is our lovely garden, please ask us questions about it, what do you need to know about plants in general?" Party, which is sad because I liked the "ask us questions" aspect of the whole thing and now its more about buying pottery.
After I left the show/party I went down the street to a very nice nursery and this is where I should have had someone with me because I bought more plants! I wasn't going to buy anymore plants! I was done with plants and I was! If I only went to the Wally World plant section ever again, I would have been totally done with plants until next spring I swear to Gawd! But then I went to this really nice nursery and I bought more plants. Nice Plants.
I bought a plant called a curry plant but a little research ( thank you Internet!) reveled it it not actually a curry plant curry plant but another plant all together that smells like curry but is not actually curry. My plant looks like rosemary while a "real" curry plant looks like, well, not like rosemary. My mock curry plant smells divine though so I forgive it its trespasses. I also got an Orange Mint plant that also smells divine and as a plus, is actually a real mint! It was suggested that I put springs of it in sun tea and I think I will definitely take them up on this. The plant is so minty that it is highly suggested that I never let it escape from its pot. Ever, as it is unapologetically like all mints, has all sorts of wild fantasies about world domination and has the capacity to make those fantasies a reality. So clearly, no day passes for Mr. Mint!
I also got a really interesting plant called "A shrimp plant" , which more research (thank you Internet!) taught me is not going to live out the winter but will bloom its little heart out until the first freeze. It apparently has deep love relationships with Florida and South Texas, so its fated to only be a passing acquaintance to North Carolina. Pretty flowers though, very interesting, they look like large, cooked shrimp. Paradoxically, however, it does not smell like a shrimp cooked or otherwise.
I also bought a four pack of daisies to fill in where some bedding plants had failed. Lets hope the daisies study harder. Lets see what else did I get done between naps? I picked more green beans and I grazed on my raspberries. Yum. And I put away about a half a dozen rain coats.
Broskey and Alphagal came and worked on my new old bike and pronounced it okay-until-I-can-replace-it and they set about starting a search for a decent used bike for me to hopefully, be able to ride every day forever. They also put together my hammock because I was totally defeated by the prospect of doing it myself as I am not good at puzzles and tend to throw arounf pieces that don't fit like I think they are supposed to . They managed to put the entire thing together and didn't throw a single peice.
As a consequence of napping almost all day Saturday I got almost nothing done but at the same time, a lot done. It depends on how you look at the numbers.
I did my laundry done - it took two days but the laundry is done ( lets not talk about the putting-it-away-part, shall we?) I took Dogger on not one but two long walks downtown - one of those walks I ended up with a free free-standing hammock! True its a non-traditional free standing hammock but it is still very hammock-y and I think I may know why its non-traditional and how to make it less so. I think. I may be wrong, but its still a very nice hammock and it was free so it is fab-u-lous! It's non-traditional ness non-withstanding. FREE.
I went to a lovely garden/art party/show and it was nice. Hot. Very, very hot but it was nice - I think its gotten a bit more to the Art Show side and away from its original purpose as "Here is our lovely garden, please ask us questions about it, what do you need to know about plants in general?" Party, which is sad because I liked the "ask us questions" aspect of the whole thing and now its more about buying pottery.
After I left the show/party I went down the street to a very nice nursery and this is where I should have had someone with me because I bought more plants! I wasn't going to buy anymore plants! I was done with plants and I was! If I only went to the Wally World plant section ever again, I would have been totally done with plants until next spring I swear to Gawd! But then I went to this really nice nursery and I bought more plants. Nice Plants.
I bought a plant called a curry plant but a little research ( thank you Internet!) reveled it it not actually a curry plant curry plant but another plant all together that smells like curry but is not actually curry. My plant looks like rosemary while a "real" curry plant looks like, well, not like rosemary. My mock curry plant smells divine though so I forgive it its trespasses. I also got an Orange Mint plant that also smells divine and as a plus, is actually a real mint! It was suggested that I put springs of it in sun tea and I think I will definitely take them up on this. The plant is so minty that it is highly suggested that I never let it escape from its pot. Ever, as it is unapologetically like all mints, has all sorts of wild fantasies about world domination and has the capacity to make those fantasies a reality. So clearly, no day passes for Mr. Mint!
I also got a really interesting plant called "A shrimp plant" , which more research (thank you Internet!) taught me is not going to live out the winter but will bloom its little heart out until the first freeze. It apparently has deep love relationships with Florida and South Texas, so its fated to only be a passing acquaintance to North Carolina. Pretty flowers though, very interesting, they look like large, cooked shrimp. Paradoxically, however, it does not smell like a shrimp cooked or otherwise.
I also bought a four pack of daisies to fill in where some bedding plants had failed. Lets hope the daisies study harder. Lets see what else did I get done between naps? I picked more green beans and I grazed on my raspberries. Yum. And I put away about a half a dozen rain coats.
Broskey and Alphagal came and worked on my new old bike and pronounced it okay-until-I-can-replace-it and they set about starting a search for a decent used bike for me to hopefully, be able to ride every day forever. They also put together my hammock because I was totally defeated by the prospect of doing it myself as I am not good at puzzles and tend to throw arounf pieces that don't fit like I think they are supposed to . They managed to put the entire thing together and didn't throw a single peice.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Learning
I just did my post torrent feeding and watering and slug-b-gone-ing of my outdoor plants. I even fed and watered and slug-b-gone-d my volunteer pumpkin vine which I hope doesn't spell its doom - very often once the host discovers it is hosting something, even that much attention kills it.
I also learned, though but later on, in a conversation with a neighbor, that the feral cat I named Sundance, is named JoJo and he's nine years old, and he has been fixed ( in her utility room!) and he is quite the birder. He will kill a rat but he doesn't like the way they taste so he piles them up on my neighbors front walk. He does like the song birds though, he will eat a song bird. He doesn't leave them as gifts.
I officially don't have to worry about whether he is getting fed when I'm not here, he is by at least two different neighbors and he's a top predator. Kitty is a land shark. I also learned what he does with all that cat food he doesn't like, I know its disappears and now I know : He uses it has bait! He gets a mouth full of it and then he dribbles it out for the birds and then goes and hides in wait and then pounces on the birds when they are drawn in by the kibble. I had no idea! He seems like such a nice kitty! I'm shocked.
He problem with the cheap cat food isn't that he doesn't like it! He doesn't care, his issue is that the birds don't like it! I don't need to bother with keeping him in cat food, all I really need to do is scatter bird seed around! I could dispense with the cockroach attracting cat food and just salt the yard with seed. Who knew?
My neighbor also shared with me that JoJo was born in her backyard and he used to have a sister who was a cracker jack hunter but one day she just disappeared. My neighbor also told me what happened to Butch. Butch died of she's pretty sure, severe kidney disease or as its known in the biz, ESRD (end stage renal disease) and that she helped him out. I was glad to hear that, I watched him painfully wither away and every-time I saw him I asked How are you still alive? You look like crap. Die all ready! He was really suffering. At the end he made Tex look healthy and Tex had been dead for eight months.
I asked her because she's a retired vet and would know, about the weird 24 hour a day meowing phases JoJo goes though and she saw it as just an attention getting behavior and not a symptom. I think he's losing his mind .
I just did my post torrent feeding and watering and slug-b-gone-ing of my outdoor plants. I even fed and watered and slug-b-gone-d my volunteer pumpkin vine which I hope doesn't spell its doom - very often once the host discovers it is hosting something, even that much attention kills it.
I also learned, though but later on, in a conversation with a neighbor, that the feral cat I named Sundance, is named JoJo and he's nine years old, and he has been fixed ( in her utility room!) and he is quite the birder. He will kill a rat but he doesn't like the way they taste so he piles them up on my neighbors front walk. He does like the song birds though, he will eat a song bird. He doesn't leave them as gifts.
I officially don't have to worry about whether he is getting fed when I'm not here, he is by at least two different neighbors and he's a top predator. Kitty is a land shark. I also learned what he does with all that cat food he doesn't like, I know its disappears and now I know : He uses it has bait! He gets a mouth full of it and then he dribbles it out for the birds and then goes and hides in wait and then pounces on the birds when they are drawn in by the kibble. I had no idea! He seems like such a nice kitty! I'm shocked.
He problem with the cheap cat food isn't that he doesn't like it! He doesn't care, his issue is that the birds don't like it! I don't need to bother with keeping him in cat food, all I really need to do is scatter bird seed around! I could dispense with the cockroach attracting cat food and just salt the yard with seed. Who knew?
My neighbor also shared with me that JoJo was born in her backyard and he used to have a sister who was a cracker jack hunter but one day she just disappeared. My neighbor also told me what happened to Butch. Butch died of she's pretty sure, severe kidney disease or as its known in the biz, ESRD (end stage renal disease) and that she helped him out. I was glad to hear that, I watched him painfully wither away and every-time I saw him I asked How are you still alive? You look like crap. Die all ready! He was really suffering. At the end he made Tex look healthy and Tex had been dead for eight months.
I asked her because she's a retired vet and would know, about the weird 24 hour a day meowing phases JoJo goes though and she saw it as just an attention getting behavior and not a symptom. I think he's losing his mind .
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The pearly gates
I heart my dental insurance. "You heart your dental insurance?", why on earth would you heart your dental insurance? I mean, how lovable is dental insurance? Mine is the sweetest, nicest best looking dental insurance evah. It loves puppies and over stuffed chairs and likes good books and long walks on the beach. I might be in love. True, I didn't open up about my peculiar dental proclivities or ask it to do anything it wasn't comfortable with, like act out my favorite sections of the Denta Sutra . Right now I just want us to enjoy each other.
Why the sudden heat for my dental insurance? I went for my six month check up with x-rays and it cost me a grand total of drum roll please
*
*
*
$7!
$7! I couldn't believe it! I walked to the front and dug out my plastic because, hey, even with insurance!insurance! this time I have insurance! I hardly carry around co-pay level cash with me. except now I do! I freaked out the receptionist with my actually paying with money, apparently dentistry is not really a cash business, she had to go dig out a cash box that I bet doubles as the office coffee kitty. I should add along with the x-rays they did the cleaning and the polishing and the mandatory small talk that they usually feel quite comfortable charging me exorbitantly out the uninsured ass for twice a year every.
Without the magic card they would have handed me a bill for $192. Significantly more than I carry around in my wallet or at many instances in my bank account. The magic card saved me $185 - True, I pay $30 a month for that magic and that does add up over the year granted, but I officially do not notice the monthly tab so that twice a year I can be shocked stupid my it working.
Oh, another shock? No cavities! I don't have to go back and see them until December! I didn't go to the dentist for oh, say five years and my teeth were literally crumbling out of my head and after enough follow up appointments I could find the office in my sleep; I go regularly and not only does everything stay solid I need a GPS to find the place.
On my victory lap home I drove through the first recorded F5 tornado/Cat 4 hurricane. Look it up.
I heart my dental insurance. "You heart your dental insurance?", why on earth would you heart your dental insurance? I mean, how lovable is dental insurance? Mine is the sweetest, nicest best looking dental insurance evah. It loves puppies and over stuffed chairs and likes good books and long walks on the beach. I might be in love. True, I didn't open up about my peculiar dental proclivities or ask it to do anything it wasn't comfortable with, like act out my favorite sections of the Denta Sutra . Right now I just want us to enjoy each other.
Why the sudden heat for my dental insurance? I went for my six month check up with x-rays and it cost me a grand total of drum roll please
*
*
*
$7!
$7! I couldn't believe it! I walked to the front and dug out my plastic because, hey, even with insurance!insurance! this time I have insurance! I hardly carry around co-pay level cash with me. except now I do! I freaked out the receptionist with my actually paying with money, apparently dentistry is not really a cash business, she had to go dig out a cash box that I bet doubles as the office coffee kitty. I should add along with the x-rays they did the cleaning and the polishing and the mandatory small talk that they usually feel quite comfortable charging me exorbitantly out the uninsured ass for twice a year every.
Without the magic card they would have handed me a bill for $192. Significantly more than I carry around in my wallet or at many instances in my bank account. The magic card saved me $185 - True, I pay $30 a month for that magic and that does add up over the year granted, but I officially do not notice the monthly tab so that twice a year I can be shocked stupid my it working.
Oh, another shock? No cavities! I don't have to go back and see them until December! I didn't go to the dentist for oh, say five years and my teeth were literally crumbling out of my head and after enough follow up appointments I could find the office in my sleep; I go regularly and not only does everything stay solid I need a GPS to find the place.
On my victory lap home I drove through the first recorded F5 tornado/Cat 4 hurricane. Look it up.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Garden Update 9, 2010
We have tiny produce! And for once, wedon't do have limited pictures of the tiny produce and aren't they are adorable!
The seed flowers are finally behaving like growing things! My not-Queen Anne's Lace is looking very much like NQA, except its not blooming yet and doesn't seem as butch as a real QAL - because it's not QA. Anyway, its growing and its tall and sways. There are two others that are making steps into the right direction but so far they have only produced pretty leaves. I'm pretty, I'm good with this.
We have tiny produce! And for once, we
Thus far I have four or five perfect little tomato-ettes! Not all the plants are producing and they don't all even have blooms yet, but everyone is tall and green and strong - and they got this way over night, I wish I had paid more attention the day before because two of the plants are all ready very disobediently climbing and reaching outside their cages and this is not allowed. I am not the tomato plant dom I thought I was turning into. Clearly, someone who is not me needs to be disciplined with stakes and garden tape.
The peppers, also not pictured individually are growing and developing. No baby peppers yet but we do have blooms and that is making me hopeful and getting my hopes up. It would be better for me just to avert my eyes until say, July if I really expect to see anything. Peppers are a long haul plant.
The green beans are doing well for such small plants! They are just itty and they are going gang busters. I am learning something though, I did some veggie reading and I saw some reference to some growers experience that is it is not a good idea to grow beans with tomatoes and I think they are right. My beans grown away from the tomatoes are doing very well, my beans growing with the tomatoes are not doing very much at all. I thought it was an old farmers tale and it turns out its true. The source didn't know why the plants don't do well when grown together but they really don't. It does not seem to be a shade thing because the same plants loom over the beans that grow well, I think it has something to do with whatever the tomatoes pump into the soil. I think its a way to keep the competition down. It's working.
My Experimental tomato has its own tiny offspring and is growing along at the same rate as its in-ground cousins.That experiment is succeeding, the Experimental pepper is not being successful, I even moved it from the sun to shadier location hoping that this would kick start it but thus far I don't see any change. I have noticed that it has grown more leaves but the other peppers have grown inches and blooms and this little guy is static.
The seed flowers are finally behaving like growing things! My not-Queen Anne's Lace is looking very much like NQA, except its not blooming yet and doesn't seem as butch as a real QAL - because it's not QA. Anyway, its growing and its tall and sways. There are two others that are making steps into the right direction but so far they have only produced pretty leaves. I'm pretty, I'm good with this.
The raspberry plants are continuing to be stand out performers. Oh! and I forgot! I have volunteers! and they may be volunteer pumpkins left over from last years jack-o-lantern! I don't believe that the market fruits are actually fertile and it in all likelihood will not produce its own young, but wouldn't that be kewl? And if nothing else I'll get a nice vine. and if it wants, it can climb up the little fence around the deck. Score!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday
A day at the beach
Mowing your own yard in the heat makes you aprciate the wisdom of the people who pay others to do this for them.
I got a new bike. Well, not a "new" new bike but a new bike new to... well. Its not even a new bike to me. Its my old bike but we're been living apart for the past few years because you know, I drive now. This is the bike I took with me to college, I never rode it but it went everywhere with me. This is the bike I bought with insurance money after my house burned down and took my last bike with it - totally broke my heart too as that bike was the bike I bought with the earnings from my first job. Clearly, I earned almost nothing and I spent it all on a bike.
And its not the kewl vintage bike I was wanting, but it is a vintage bike, I bought it in 1989 and it is older than most of the cast of Harry Potter so that alone should render it "vintage" by any standard. Its very plain, very black and looks like a bike even a Mennonite would think needed a little tarting up. It doesn't have the neato white walls and fat tires I thought were kewl and it doesn't have the chain guard or a fancy paint job or any of the fancy extras I thought I wanted but maybe, this can be Bat Bike. I can be hipper than the hipsters. I can think of it as the skinny black jeans of bikes.
A day at the beach
Mowing your own yard in the heat makes you aprciate the wisdom of the people who pay others to do this for them.
I got a new bike. Well, not a "new" new bike but a new bike new to... well. Its not even a new bike to me. Its my old bike but we're been living apart for the past few years because you know, I drive now. This is the bike I took with me to college, I never rode it but it went everywhere with me. This is the bike I bought with insurance money after my house burned down and took my last bike with it - totally broke my heart too as that bike was the bike I bought with the earnings from my first job. Clearly, I earned almost nothing and I spent it all on a bike.
And its not the kewl vintage bike I was wanting, but it is a vintage bike, I bought it in 1989 and it is older than most of the cast of Harry Potter so that alone should render it "vintage" by any standard. Its very plain, very black and looks like a bike even a Mennonite would think needed a little tarting up. It doesn't have the neato white walls and fat tires I thought were kewl and it doesn't have the chain guard or a fancy paint job or any of the fancy extras I thought I wanted but maybe, this can be Bat Bike. I can be hipper than the hipsters. I can think of it as the skinny black jeans of bikes.
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