the DronesClub	the smackdown	Fierce Creatures	Little Blenheim	Barmy in Wonderland	the dernier cri

The unpleasant, acrid smell of burnt poetry.
Young Men in Spats, 1936

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Jan 2009	Feb 2009	Mar 2009	Apr 2009	May 2009	June 2009
July 2009	Aug 2009	Sep 2009	Oct 2009	Nov 2009	Dec 2009

 

February 10, 2009

7:16 a.m. - It was 55° last night. Who'd've thunk it? In early February? I took the dogs on a short walk to the end of the block and back last night before bed, and they had a grand time sniffing and tinkling on everything. I need to make certain to do a better job of walking them beginning this Spring, rather than just letting them out back. They love their walks!

Last night was the Scottish Rite line officers meeting, which I enjoy. Great conversation and good people. I am rather proud of myself for being able to resist cheesy-gooey grilled cheese & ham sammiches and chips. I stuck to having two bowls of cheddar broccoli soup, which probably had a few carbs snuck in, but was not horrible for me.

Meanwhile. . . off to work this morning. . .

February 9, 2009

8:37 p.m. - Nice evening. We went for a walk around the neighborhood earlier, and we've been puttering around since. Every weekend should be this nice. . . . Jennifer is watching Sense and Sensibility in bed, and I'm about to get horizontally casual and resume reading Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1864.

3:14 p.m. - Pleasant afternoon thus far. We went to see Push at the movies. It's essentially the same movie as Jumpers, but not as awful. It was a fun movie. Then we went to Aldi's and picked up groceries. The roofer finished removing the chimney and patching the hole. I can't say whether they did a good job or not. I'm not too concerned, since the roof is going to be re-done anyway in April and they'll correct any of his errors. Next project: repairing the window sills, scraping paint, and re-pairing and re-painting the eaves. As for the rest of the afternoon, we plan to stay in and relax.

Hooray! A giant hole in my roof!

9:12 a.m. - The weekend is half over. But what a wild ride it's been! Of course, Friday began peacefully, and we stayed in. Jennifer made a fantastic chili, with leftovers to take to work. She put in kidney beans, of which I'm no fan, but it was otherwise very good. We relaxed in the evening, for our traditional Battlestar Gallactica evening. I'll be upset when that series ends - what else will we do on a Friday?

On Saturday morning, I took Gryffindor to the vet, and they were very good about getting us in. The vet twisted Gryffindor, tugged him, pulled him, and generally treated his wee paw like a taffy-pulling machine. He winced a little, but took it all quite well. She concurred with my opinion that he is getting too old to jump over baby gates, and must have hurt a muscle. She gave him a shot to ease the pain, which he took quite well, and then she gave me the equivalent of doggie ibuprofen to give him every day for a week, while keeping an eye on him.

Who knew bricks bounce when dropped 2 stories?

Afterward, Jennifer and I enjoyed beautiful Spring weather - in February! - and walked down to the estate sale on Center Street. Too many mouth-breathers busy wearing their Chanel glasses on their heads, yakking on their cell phones, and pawing over stuff. Nothing there caught our eye, so we walked down to Greek Islands and had lunch. Yum! I love Greek Islands! We walked home through Field Club, and Jennifer stopped by Julie's to sit on the porch.

Okay, that's better.

The roofer had begun work, and was busy heaving chunks of brick off the roof, ostensibly onto a tarp below. He had great skill in missing the tarp altogether, bouncing the bricks off our fence. There was chunks of brick everywhere - a horrible mess. Then he left. With the forecast calling for rain on Sunday.

So we frantically called the contractor to find out WTF and see if he was coming back. Fortunately, he did come back at 5:00, and he worked until it was dark. He'll finish up today. They sure left a mess for us - deep wheelbarrow ruts where they wheeled bricks to their truck. Shards of brick everywhere - we'll be cleaning that for months. The next project is to repair the main chimney, which could be as simple as tuckpoint or as much as rebuilding. The problem is getting up to a very steep-pitched roof to work. Sigh. . . This is going to be an expensive year.

And of course we start the day off with excitement. Gryffindor befouled the bedroom in the middle of the night, and Percy befouled his kennel in the middle of the night, and then stomped around it to get it everywhere. I took the dogs for a long walk last night, just to avoid this! Grrrrr. . .  So I too the dogs outside and spent a good hour scrubbing down Percy's kennel. Horrible!

But now it is 9:30, and we have the whole day before us to play. We talked about a movie, but we'll see what we do. Something fun.

February 4, 2009

10:03 p.m. - Poor Gryffindor is getting worse. I hoped he'd shake it off, but I think he'll be going to the vet as soon as we can get him there. . . . Meanwhile, I served as Secretary at my first NC meeting this evening. I took down copious notes, and now I have to whittle the minutes down to the official minutes covering the facts, just the facts. The NC is really growing, expanding, and working to create empowered neighborhoods, and I am proud of the staff for what they've done.

3:38 p.m. - I went home over the lunch half-hour and checked on Gryffie. I wiggled his front paws, I waggled his back paws. I made him walk around. I rough-housed with him a little, just to see if he was tender. I fooled him into running to the window to bark at "the puppy," the buzzword for him to bark madly at any stray pet or animal outside within his line of sight. He is hobbling a little bit, but he doesn't seem to be the worse for wear. We'll just keep an eye on him and take him to the vet if he continues limping. My poor little man has bravely defended hearth and home from the daily invasion of the U.S. Postal Service, and I'm worried for him. He is, after all, nearly 7 years old - gettin' on in years. 

These stairs should last another century.

9:19 a.m. - Jennifer called and said Gryffindor is limping around on a hurt paw. He didn't seem to be any worse for wear when we went out at 7:00 this morning, so I wonder if he might have got a splinter or hurt himself jumping into bed. Poor little guy! He's nearly 7, so he's getting on in years. I may run home over lunch to check on my little man. I'm worried about my puppy. 

8:00 a.m. - I continue my convalescence. This cold is starting, as the kids say, to really suck. Fortunately, last night was a reasonably quiet evening with nothing going on. Victor and Mario finished the back steps, and he is, of course, a genius. Victor says the back stairs will last 50 years. I would reckon even longer. I nearly fell down them - he created nearly perfectly uniform 8" risers, rather than the haphazard assortment of 7", 8", or 9" risers on the old stairs. I will have to get used to the "feel" of the basement steps all over again, after nearly 7 years of the old, wobbly, uneven steps. The sad part is parting with giant checks to cover it, even though he's worth every penny. I really hadn't wanted to sink $700 into new stairs. A big TV, yes. Stairs, no. And worse, I have to remove the chimney this Friday before Mother Nature does it for me. There goes another $700. I keep reminding myself that I knew I'd be restoring an old house when I bought it, but sheesh! This is getting ridiculous. We seem to be years away from restoring the house, and continuously working on renovating it! 

February 2, 2009

Hey! Weren't there stairs here?

2:44 p.m. - Ugh! This cold has blossomed into the full-blown works: sore throat, sniffles, cough, runny nose, fever, and all the trimmings. I had to take today off to rest in spite of so much to do at work. I took a much needed nap earlier today, and have been resting. Of course, my contractor called and asked if he could come today and start work on rebuilding the basement steps. His guys are banging away downstairs. How can you say no when they want to start a day early? And he's good at what he does, so when he gets you on his calendar, you agree to whenever he can come!

Little to report for the weekend. For once, no events, no meetings, no work. I did help host a wedding at Scottish Rite on Saturday evening, but otherwise, Jennifer and I enjoyed a quiet weekend. She worked on Sunday and went to bed early last night, while I watched a a bit of TV.

At any rate. . . I hope I'm feeling better tomorrow. If not 100% better, I'd settle for 50% as a dramatic improvement.