Random thoughts from the moose cave.

morning kids
strange days in the big city

I hope everyone's flowers are blooming

Ah Beth - it's beautiful down here....but getting HOT. High of 90F (I guess around 32C) today. Thank goodness we finally got the AC fixed. Took us two weeks. I rather enjoyed the fans until the latter days when I was covered in sweat and had no energy to accomplish anything. So loving that AC right now. My feet are hot all the stinkin' time though. Hate it. We are outside most of the day. I think I need to get a higher SPF lotion though. I am getting rather freckly.
But I like sleeping cool. So - happy am I.

The boys are finally out of school. Since the Prof got laid off we are all doing All Stars. I am about to get a job at the local grocery store until my teaching position kicks in in the fall. He is busy looking for a job. I am still refinishing furniture and working on my art stuff. I am very unsure about them though. I am so critical of my own work. I had a friend ask me to refinish her formal dining room table and that scared the stuffing out of me. I told her if she wanted something less formal I was okay with that. I hate the insecurity of feeling like my stuff is good...but not really trusting that it is.


You doing okay?

I am feeling rather industrious today. I think I am going to plant a meadow of wild flowers in my front yard and put up a sign that says " Our contribution to the Earth - a smaller footprint". That way - my neighbors can't complain about the unmowed yard. And it will be pretty. And different. I love different. My father in law told me he thought it was a great idea. That gives it the ultimate stamp of approval in my book. I love thumbing my nose at convention. Sometimes.

I love that!

I got rid of the grass in front of my house and have a tiny sort of woodlot now - ferns, Solomons Seal, some random large shrubs, periwinkle for ground cover - an itty bitty path through it. So much better than the grotty grass that was there before.

Freaked out most of the neighbours at first. Now a few others have removed their tiny pretend lawns and put in perennials. Much less maintenance.

today is better (so far) than yesterday

hosted a presentation by legal beagles to my colleagues and a group of our vendors this morning. It went well, once I managed to get our out-of-towners dialed in to listen. People want more of these learning opportunities, which makes me very very very happy.

That is good! Glad you are happy.
Hope the rest of your day is just as good!
mis

I just designed the FINAL (i hope) design of what my yard is to look like. I was under the impression my yard was smaller than it is. I started digging, and digging, and digging and then measured. It turns out my front freakin' lawn is 54 stupid useless feet long, not the 40 ft. I thought. The longest on the block because my house is the furthest set back from the curb. I live in a relatively old house in these parts. It's 60 years old. When they designed this neighbourhood, they decided long big front yards were gracious. It's not, they dry out in the sun and die. They've gone away with that idea now, as most people don't use them, for obvious reasons. So all the new neighbourhoods are kind of like Toronto, small intimate front gardens, bigger back yards.

So I've dug up part of it, now the remaining lawn will be 27 feet long. The rest will be flowers, raised beds, deck and so on. When I can afford to get that far. So, I remain digging, though it poured for the last two days and now the dirt weighs a ton. It seems endless.

That sounds very pretty. Our yard is like Ceili's. Very large and set far away from the street. It is also a HUGE hill. Poor Prof hurts himself every time he mows. So - this is going to be a help to him as well. I wish it were smaller - because the woodlot was kind of what I had in mind when I was trying to figure what would work and look best.

That sounds like a lot of work Ceili. I know it will be beautiful when it is all done. I am sure the rain is not helping right now either. Though of course things being as they are sometimes, when you get it all planted it won't rain for weeks. Murphy's law and all that....not that I believe in Murphy's law.

I love the word "grotty".

I tore the Nissan motor apart last night.

hmmmmmm.

he just wants me to hone it and slap it back together.

I don't think I can do that...

three of the four holes have had something get in there and beat hell out of the pistons and the head. (valves too...)

I think we gotta at least change the pistons out. they are really rough and ugly.

it will add about $125 time I pay for having the pins pressed, but I cannot condone charging him $500+ for something I know won't hold together for a year.

I think I can fix the head on the bench, and if not, I have a spare head that will just need the seats cut...

smoky can stay where he is until Tuesday.

a month from his next surgery.

not sure what happens then.

what a world we live in...

How are the goats?

and all?

hugs

when it rains it pours...

mr vw just called. his brother collapsed while mowing his new yard. dead when the paramedics arrived. he had just moved back here to Kansas and got settled in...

the EMS crew locked up the house, and he did not have his keys with him when he died.

I asked what I could do to help, and he asked me to come break in for him.

this will be a rough night, I can tell...

Be sure to make time to take care of yourself while taking care of everyone else in your life, Rocky.

I know, easier said than done at times. I'm right there with you and am saying that to myself as much as to you.

Crap.

crap.crap.crap.crap.crap.crap.crap.

and more crap.

I was awakened by my phone at 9. I ignored it.

at 9:15 there was a banging banging banging upon my door...

my nebbor lady. with a rolling pin. really.

my goats were out. (she's kinda skeered of them)

way out.

over at their back door. ????????????

anyways, I got a bucket of food, and they followed me back to the pen.

dunno what I'll do if that ever quits working.

fix my fences, prolly...

Glad they followed the food.

She had a rolling pin? Cracks me up.
Scared of goats....well when they butt it does kind of hurt.

Maybe that's the end of the crap.

my nebbor lady just came back over. sans rolling pin...

she said she hated to be nosy (she doesn't really) but could she please please please go walk through my garden.

she like plants, and we're gonna swap some...

goats are still in lockdown.

Glad she didn't have the rolling pin again. I understand her wanting to walk through your garden.

Off to our first tournament. G-baby's - wish us luck.

luck...

big storms rolling through tonight.

battening my hatches...

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?ID=ICT&region=b3&lat=37.88722229&lon=-97.51528168&label=Bentley%2c%20KS

big hail...