Messin With Mother Nature

So, my plan was to rest today and to fold the laundry.  I didn't do the laundry.  I did take a fifteen minute nap, which was nice.  

So, instead of taking it easy, I went with Rudy to the park at 8 am.  It was hot and muggy.  And a lot of families had already claimed their shelters and had their grills rolling at full blast.  I was bathed in sweat by the time I left.  Bathed.

So, of course, I was so sweaty that I had to go home and clean the pool  The automatic cleaner wasn't functioning properly, and the skimmer wasn't on yet.  So, I nudged the skimmer, and it turned on.  It's solar, so, sometimes if if hasn't turned on and the sun is out, you can just nudge it and it starts paddling away.

As for the automatic cleaner, I had gorilla glued the leaf canister last night, so I reattached it to the hose line.  And then I cranked the pump.  And the cleaner started working again the way it was supposed to.  

I also had to adjust the ph of the pool.  I probably should have waited several hours before going in, but I went in after an hour or so.  I didn't get burned or anything, so that was good.

While I was waiting for the pool chemicals to take effect, I took the one dead potted plant out of the pot.  I replaced it with a weed from the lawn.  There are these weeds that look fernlike.  I thought that maybe they are the baby plants of those exotic looking trees that I see in other people's yards.  So I dug one up and put it in the pot.  I figured by looking at weeds, that some of them come from plants that we buy at the Home Depot or the nursery.  So, the plants spread seeds and stuff, and they end up in other people's yards as weeds that they pull.  Then they go to Home Depot and spend loads of money on the same plants that they just spent hours pulling and throwing away. 

Then I took a larger potted plant, a Hawaiian Ti plant that Rudy chewed down to the stump, and I planted it in the ground.  I don't know if it will grow, but it has a better chance in the ground than in the lanai with Rudy sharpening his teeth on it.  

In that pot, I planted the catnip that I had gotten yesterday.  I left it on the lanai, so between the cats and Rudy, I don't know if it will last.  But really, I buy the catnip for that cats, so if they want to destroy it, that's really their prerogative, isn't it.

Then, I took some wheatberries and soaked them and put the in the garden and covered them with soil.  

After that, I did some weeding.  I took one big weed that looked like a flowering succulent, and I put it in the hanging planter that I had already put a flowering succulent weed in two days ago.  

So, yeah, I pretty much toyed with Mother Nature today.  Then I picked up the FP and went to the boss's party.  He happened to be directing parking when we pulled up, so he saw the new Mini.  I didn't necessarily want him to see it.  Because, on my salary, how am I affording a brand new Mini?  But he saw it.  He complimented it.  Who wouldn't.  It's the awesomest car I've ever had and probably will ever have.  So, we stayed a couple hours, ate some good food, then came home to tend to the puppy.  We were hopeful that he wouldn't be scared of fireworks.  No such luck.  Luckily, we still have an old rawhide to soothe and occupy him.  I don't really like rawhides, because that was the first thing he got a hold of that made him posessive and growl and snap at us.  But in an emergency like this, I'm glad we have it.  I'm sure Rudy is glad we have it too!

Then there was the pigeon problem to deal with.  These pigeons have been building a nest in the outside beam of the lanai, and I had been chasing them out, but they keep building.  So today, I was way more aggressive.  I put a glove on, I got the step ladder, and I cleaned out all the sticks that I could reach.  But, I knew they would just keep getting sticks.  There was a whole pile of sticks on the ground below that either had fallen or I had pushed out.  So, I needed to put something there to deter them.  The first thing I saw were beer cans.  So, I flattened them slightly so they would stay in place, and I put them in the nook.  

Life Is A

Strange, weird, bizarre, post-neo-modern-backlash-punk-goth-surrealist-cubist-adult-contemporary-anime-claymationist-nilist-pessimist-manic-depressive-schizophrenic-euphoric-cathartic-self-loathing-gluttonous- glutinous-gluteal-maximal-bulimic-anoretic-parasitic-viral-bacterial-fungul-mitochondrial trip.

I mowed the front and back lawns today.  This is like the first time I ever mowed a whole lawn.  Okay, they are both teeny tiny areas of space.  But, prior to this, the only time I recall mowing the lawn was when I was a kid.  My dad was either out of town, sick or mad at us, and my sisters, my mom and I had to take turns mowing the lawn.  We had a huge front and back lawn.  And it wasn't like we had a nice self propelled lawn mower, or a riding mower.  I mean, I didn't even know how to mow a lawn.  I remember I tried to use the lawn mower the way you would vacuum, back and forth.

Anyhoo, here is a picture of our new lawn mower.  I've named him (the FP thinks it's a she, and he may be right) Lil Cutie.

Our brand new baby!  We were going to get one from craigslist, but the guy kept putting it off, and by the time he was ready to meet, I had already purchased Lil Cutie.  He weighs in at 31 pounds, and he's 14 inches!  And, because we are making every effort to live a greener existence and lessen our dependence on oil, he is cordless battery operated.  Ok, that's not really the main reason.  The FP's main concern was having to buy gas cans full of gasoline and storing them.  My reasons were price, ease of use, the gas thing, maintenance, and big old heavy gas push mowers scare me.  They are just so loud and ... scary.

Even weirder.  The lawns are pretty messed up, so we had to weed them before mowing.  And there were a lot of weeds.  We pulled 2 lawn bags full, but that wasn't all the weeds.  There are some areas that are more weed and dirt than grass, so we probably are going to put mulch or something down on those areas.

And then I tried to skim the pool some.  The skimmer does not seem to be as effective as it was when I first turned it on.  So, I tried to take the cover off the cartridge to clean it, but it didn't come off easily, and I'm not sure how to do it, and I'm scared I won't be able to replace the O ring back correctly.  So, I will either watch more youtube videos about the subject, and procure the proper lube for the O ring, or maybe I'll just call in a professional to make sure there's nothing else wrong with the pool.

Is it weird to hear me talking about outdoor stuff?  Lawns and pools?  Well, it's weird to talk about it.

What's even weirder is that I've gone from drinking pretty much every night - at least one beer - to not having one alcoholic beverage in.... (I had to look it up) at least 11 days.  Of course, it's only because I'm sick.  Well, obviously, my condition has vastly improved, as I don't have to plaster myself to the couch and dose myself all day with Nyquil.  Although, I still take it at night.  Shit.   Nyquil has alcohol.  So I have actually been drinking alcohol maybe 8 or 9 out of the 11 days?  I can't remember when I started taking it.  I was miserable, and the FP thought it would be best for me to be out of comission instead of being fussy since I was sick but anxious to do stuff.   And, the stuff is almost killed too.  If I take one more dose tonight, it's 86ed.  I don't know if I can deal.  I still have this deep unproductive cough, and of course when I lay down it gets worse because I can't breath as well.

Anyway, everything surrounding me is weird too.  The FP is going stir crazy, because who in their right mind wouldn't be?  Well, I have been in captivity with brief intermittent field trips since May, so I'm kind of already beaten down.  I mean, I don't even know how to work or interact with local friends anymore.

We are hard on the trail though for some fresh jobs!  I had an interview yesterday for a lunchtime cafe.  The details in the ad said it was for a cook who would prep offsite, and then cook and serve at the cafe.  So, it turned out to be a new lunch counter that is set to open in a week or so at the Ferrari dealership of all places.  So, the owner's personal chef was conducting the interview.  Part of her job is also to help him set this cafe up.  So, the pay wasn't spectacular, the cafe would just have paninis, salads and a soup of the day, and stuff. The personal chef thought that there might not be enough customers to have much business, and at the proposed prices for the employee meals, the employees might not buy much food either.  Anyway, we had a nice chat.  But she doubted my willingness to really take the job at the rate that was offered.  I had to keep telling her, yes, I'm still interested.  Anyway, by 5 o'clock, she had emailed me to inform me that they had chosen someone else.  Damn... the company car was a red Ferrari too.......

Anyway, I have other business to attend to.... I have started filming cooking demos of the FP, and I need to work on that.  If you are my facebook friend, you have probably seen it already.  If you are not my facebook friend, then you will need to send me a message, and I will send you the youtube link.  You can find my email on my profile page, FYI.