At the Market

Spotted this tonight at the local grocery store. Can't wait to see what this is all about. Apparently, they've caught onto the fact that they haven't totally screwed up the shopping experience by adding the "speedy" check-out corral, so they are now in the process of adding further enhancements.

My guess is that, since this is right by the entrance, you will now be required to leave your money with them upon entering the store. They'll give you the difference back when you go to check out.

Tonight's Video

Here's eleven and a half minutes of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt...

Question of the Day

Do dogs go through puberty?

The constantly barking dog that lives next door to where I work has gone from an incessant annoyingly high-pitched yap to an incessant annoyingly lower pitched yap.

***Late Update: Never mind. It's gone back to the incessant higher pitched yap. Must have been trying out new material.

Replenishment

I'm happy to report that after a day and a half of much needed rain, the water level at the little pond at the college is pretty much up to "normal" levels (whatever that means).

No frogs were croaking, but we heard a couple of them dive in as we walked around the perimeter. And no signs of the turtles - though we're hopeful. And no ducks, of course.

Still plenty of bugs, though - in case you're wondering.

A Brief Conversation

A typical conversation with Sam, while watching "King of the Hill"... (or pretty much any show):

Sam: "What's the matter with Hank?"

Me: "Oh, he's just a little uptight."

Sam: "Yeah! He's uptight!  He's REALLY uptight! He shouldn't be so uptight!"

pause

pause 

pause

Sam: "He's too uptight. He needs to work on that."

Things I Get Stuck Behind on My Way to Work

P.S.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that if nothing else, at least by the time we left the college, Sam was a cool $1.73 richer.

A Visit to the Bug-Infested Mud Hole

It’s raining at the moment - barely - and I’m thinking about the college.

Sam and I went over to the college last night. The mission was to bring his metal detector so he could look for loose change after this past weekend’s music festival. While we were there, we strolled past the duck-less duck pond.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the water so low. It was so depressing that I didn’t even bother to take a picture of it.

Two weeks ago.

The last time we were at the "pond" was a couple of weeks ago. At that time, while the water wasn’t anywhere near duck-inducing levels, it seemed to be fine for the frogs and turtles - at least the ones we saw - and we saw plenty. Considering how bug-infested the place was, maybe it was even ideal for them.

But with little rain over the last couple of weeks, I’m not sure that even the frogs and turtles are enjoying it - despite it still being pretty buggy. I kind of feel bad for them.

Now, the rain that was falling earlier has stopped, serving only to make the air even more humid than it already was. So much for filling the pond. So much for my mental images of frolicking frogs and turtles, singing and high-fiving it as they danced together under low, dark clouds in the still-falling rain. So much for the celebratory bug-roasting feast that I imagined they would be having tonight.

This really stinks. First the ducks go. Are the frogs and turtles next? What then? Will Sam and I be reduced to visiting a muddy depression in the ground, remembering better days - all the while swatting at mosquitoes as they try to suck up our blood? If that happens, it's almost not even worth going.

The Gathering

Much to Sam’s relief, I think, we didn’t go on our weekly Saturday morning walk into town. This was due to our annual Family Reunion Extravaganza. There was no complaining from Sam on this - not only because it got him out of reliving the fiasco of the overheated walk from last week, but also because he happens to like our annual F.R.E.

And what’s not to like? A lot of food, most of which we enjoy, and a lot of company, most of which we also enjoy.

Just kidding.

I have the rare good fortune of being a part of a family that, way more often than not, actually gets along pretty well together. I’m not sure if the others would agree with this sentiment - but assuming these are semi-reasonable people, how could they not?

Of course, my unbiased opinion is based on us getting together once or twice a year. It’s not like we have to live together full time or anything. But for a semi-annual get together, it’s almost a pleasure.

As much as I enjoyed everyone's company, I would have to say that the best thing about the get together was that all of my kids were able to make it. Maybe this happens more often than it feels like, but it doesn't feel like it happens often enough.

But that’s probably just me.

Feeling the Burn

Over the last several weeks, Sam and I have taken to walking into town on Saturday mornings, to go to the Farmer’s Market. Usually, it’s just Sam and I. Occasionally, Helaina joins us. This past weekend, Rachael was home for a few days so she joined us, as well.

Most of the time these walks aren’t exactly leisurely strolls. Sam walks faster than most people run and keeping up with him can be a challenge - even for me. But as fast as they are, the walks are enjoyable nonetheless. Not only is it good for us to get out of the house - and pretend we’re getting some exercise - but often, the weather is comfortable and almost fall-like.

Often, that is, except for this last weekend.

I don’t remember what the temperature was this past Saturday morning, but I’m pretty sure the humidity level was somewhere around one hundred and forty percent.

Going for a walk on a morning like this was borderline insane and unfortunately, it was my own insane idea. Other than the company, the walk was not a lot of fun. Knowing that some of us were unhappy about it (including me) made it even less fun-er.

Regardless, we made it there and back - more or less ok. Like usual, Sam managed to keep up his mile-a-minute pace the entire way and back - this, despite the fact that clearly, someone had screwed up by coming up with this lame idea in the first place (and swears it won't happen again).

I like to think that maybe his anger motivated him to walk even faster than usual - in much the same way an old locomotive was motivated to go even faster when someone shoveled coal into the roaring fire of the burning hot engine.

I know this really wasn't the case, but I find these types of simplistic rationalizations help me to deal with situations like this.

I was going to post a photo of an old locomotive billowing black smoke out of it's stack, and make a heavy-handed allusion to how Sam was feeling on this sweltering hot morning - but I don't own any photos like that. Instead, I'll post this photo, taken at a previous, more enjoyable Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. To better appreciate ambiance of last weekend, pretend that Sam is standing there, sweating profusely, making infrequent semi-frustrated comments, and has heavy black smoke billowing out of his ears.

Fireworks

I neglected to post any photos from this year's Fourth of July festivities (actually held on the fifth this year) - mostly because I could pretty much link to any of my many, many posts about these celebrations from years past - and it would look almost exactly the same.

But then I thought, "Why deprive my loyal readership (just kidding) of sharing in the excitement, just because I'm too selfish/unmotivated/depressed/disinterested/lazy (pick one) to write anything?"

So, after letting the guilt fester a while, and then to get myself off of my back, I decided that I was wrong (about not posting, that is - not the multiple choice above).

By the way, I've included the first photo because I think it helps build the anticipation if you feel like you're a part of the crowd. Of course, you'll still be missing out on the per-celebration smells and sounds - but with this crowd, consider yourself lucky.

And I should mention that I included the last photo, not because it was a good shot of the fireworks, but because I like the ones where they light one off - and just for a split second, you start to wonder if the hill is about to catch on fire, thus leading to massive explosions on top of the hill while the crowd below evacuates in an unruly melee, people desperately climbing over each other in the vain hope of somehow getting to safety.

It didn't happen this year, but you never know.

Anyway, here are the photos. Sorry for the delay.