Monday, April 25, 2011
Dog living behind me
There is a dog that lives in the run down house behind me. He is uber-fit, and I wonder if he gets enough to eat. I think he has American Bulldog in him, that really muscly very bouncy type. If he is outside and he sees me in the yard he comes running and barking just viciously, and I say loudly "Hi Baby! How's the baby today?" I think he wants really affection so bad. But his owners just yell at him and pretty soon he goes back inside or to the front yard. I don't think they want their dog to be happy. I am not a big fan of people.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
First Sunburn 2011
Oh my, I am just pooped. Pooped and pink. I've been working in the yard all day. Since about 10AM I think. PC says it's 7:20PM, but I have taken a shower and cut my toenails, so I didn't just get inside. At one point, planting the now three roses (since I went to Lowe's again for dirt to plant the first two I bought), I sniffed the air and thought, some Indian man is standing next to me and he does not believe in pit dissolver. But lo! It was me.
But, I have raked the front yard. I thought it would only take three hours, but it took much much longer than that. I have a big front yard. In front of the fence anyway. Passersby use it as a dump for their empty liquor bottles and fast food wrappings. A number of cigarrette butts too. Mostly though it was just the final leaves that fell in the Fall, well after my last efforts. The Creepy Charlie has is very alive and has made efforts to strangle the bulbs, so I had to stop as I notices and rescue the ones that were obviously being attacked.
I also had two really low spots in the front near Chuck's house. One of them was where I had a tree removed last year and had the stump ground. It sunk a few inches and I almost twisted my ankle in the hole while I was raking. I filled it with 6 cubic feet of dirt. That is heavy, but I am renaming myself Brunhilda because I have heinous biceps and a belly to match.
I found another low spot not far from the first one and put another bag of dirt in that one. A never ending replenishment going at the hood homestead.
This Thursday at Toastmasters I am the Grammarian. The theme of Thursday's meeting is Ability to Adapt to Change. I am to find a good word that people can learn -- like bailiwick, which was last week's word, meaning strength or forte, and I am to write it and its definition on the board. Throughout the meeting I am to listen for good or bad use of grammar and comment at the end of the meeting. Should be a fun meeting.
But, I have raked the front yard. I thought it would only take three hours, but it took much much longer than that. I have a big front yard. In front of the fence anyway. Passersby use it as a dump for their empty liquor bottles and fast food wrappings. A number of cigarrette butts too. Mostly though it was just the final leaves that fell in the Fall, well after my last efforts. The Creepy Charlie has is very alive and has made efforts to strangle the bulbs, so I had to stop as I notices and rescue the ones that were obviously being attacked.
I also had two really low spots in the front near Chuck's house. One of them was where I had a tree removed last year and had the stump ground. It sunk a few inches and I almost twisted my ankle in the hole while I was raking. I filled it with 6 cubic feet of dirt. That is heavy, but I am renaming myself Brunhilda because I have heinous biceps and a belly to match.
I found another low spot not far from the first one and put another bag of dirt in that one. A never ending replenishment going at the hood homestead.
This Thursday at Toastmasters I am the Grammarian. The theme of Thursday's meeting is Ability to Adapt to Change. I am to find a good word that people can learn -- like bailiwick, which was last week's word, meaning strength or forte, and I am to write it and its definition on the board. Throughout the meeting I am to listen for good or bad use of grammar and comment at the end of the meeting. Should be a fun meeting.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
First Lowe's purchase Spring 2011
I know it's no where near Mother's Day, but I was overtaken by pansies at Lowe's. I went to buy some cubic feet of dirt to replenish the foot of my big tree in the front. But naturally the pansies were the first to end up in my cart, along with two climbing roses that I haven't planted yet, and two Barlow Comlumbine also not planted yet. Oy vey.
Cover for the new AC Unit!!
Although the Sears contractor for the AC told me that I don't need a cover for my condenser as I looked at it all exposed and naked outside I felt compelled to find an appropriate cover for it. I looked online and found one that breathes. It came via the UPS man yesterday.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
This weekend we are supposed to have warmer temperatures -- even up to the mid 70's on Sunday. I am up early and beginning to plan my day. I want to get the rake out and get some of the old birdseed hulls and twigs up off the ground. Easily a 3 hour job if I do the whole yard. I've been dragging the fallen branches up to the street as I noticed them, and at last week's trash pick up they actually removed the whole pile. It was wierd, I couldn't figure out what was different about my house for a few minutes, and then I realized it no longer displayed the MOMA structure of tangly broken tree limbs and branches. It was liberating really to see the bareness.
Last night I watched a film on Netflix streaming called The Constant Gardner. I remember the trailers for it years ago, and I had wanted to see it but never did, which is the story of me and most movies. It was good, but long. About a drug company that had produced a drug with an unacceptable margin of error for distribution in Africa. It was not cost effective to correct the problem so they hid it and made up stories about why people were mysteriously dying. And the old rich educated white man sounds so convincing. The outspoken heroine was killed early on and at the end so was her husband, who, through the rest of the movie came to know and love his wife, by investigating her life's work in effort to solve her murder. It was sad. I'm always amazed that there are people who feel so fiercly passionate about some huge issue that is so much bigger than themselves they are willing to risk everything, even their life for it. While I am convinced that people will justify most evils to themselves in the pursuit of and the attainment of money, I'm not ashamed to say these big evils are almost invisible to me because they are simply here, all the time, like the sky. I am much too selfish to get involved beyond a big sigh and a shake of my head for the inevitable greed and evil of big business. I suppose I am grateful there are people like her that are not just forever talking about hairy issues as most of us do, but are unable to do anything but get deeply and personally involved. Boiled down I suppose this is a film about the importance of freedom of speech and press.
Last night I watched a film on Netflix streaming called The Constant Gardner. I remember the trailers for it years ago, and I had wanted to see it but never did, which is the story of me and most movies. It was good, but long. About a drug company that had produced a drug with an unacceptable margin of error for distribution in Africa. It was not cost effective to correct the problem so they hid it and made up stories about why people were mysteriously dying. And the old rich educated white man sounds so convincing. The outspoken heroine was killed early on and at the end so was her husband, who, through the rest of the movie came to know and love his wife, by investigating her life's work in effort to solve her murder. It was sad. I'm always amazed that there are people who feel so fiercly passionate about some huge issue that is so much bigger than themselves they are willing to risk everything, even their life for it. While I am convinced that people will justify most evils to themselves in the pursuit of and the attainment of money, I'm not ashamed to say these big evils are almost invisible to me because they are simply here, all the time, like the sky. I am much too selfish to get involved beyond a big sigh and a shake of my head for the inevitable greed and evil of big business. I suppose I am grateful there are people like her that are not just forever talking about hairy issues as most of us do, but are unable to do anything but get deeply and personally involved. Boiled down I suppose this is a film about the importance of freedom of speech and press.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
April 3, 2011
I don't know if I had bought my house yet when I started my blog. I was so wrapped up in my weight loss, my stopping smoking. But weight is so hard to keep off. And I get so tired of that stuff. I have quit smoking almost two years now. I have gained most of my weight back and I want to take it off again. That is what it is.
I bought this house in September of 2009. Like a birthday present to myself. I would not have been able to do it without the help of my family. My mom, always there to help make my dreams come true, and Mandy, so excited for me. Marc, so strong, so unselfish and so good at stuff like a broken house. He helped me a lot not just in the doing, but in helping me get the confidence I so needed. If you do this and this side of house caves in, well whatever, we can fix that! Haha! I am blessed with the best hearted family a person could ever hope for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)