White Lightning Axiom: Redux: MidWeek Retort

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

MidWeek Retort

At the moment, every little thing is copacetic at the Haupertonian Manor. Oddly enough, work has been rather mundane as well. Not so much that my experience was any different than normal or that much less painful, but the delta was significant enough to make me perceive that it was normal and hum-drum. The lack of various senior officers and potentates sending one countermand after another till my email inbox was at repletion, I do believe, was most likely the impetus for that deviation from the norm. Instead, I spent my time at a miniature golf outing and then promptly attended a group luncheon at a restaurant with wretched service. The food was palatable but the waitress was counting on her natural beauty to make up for her general lack of skill in customer satisfaction. In the end, she was savvy enough to write herself in for a 20% tip which we promptly downgraded to 15%. I suppose if she had not been so audacious, she would not have benefited from our obvious largess. I do believe that standard tipping starts at 15% for acceptable service ... we did not get exactly what we ordered. The hostess was alerted to this but we most likely will not be returning.

As for the children, the tyrants are getting back into the swing of things. Swimming was as swimming does. They have new swim shoes and are happy with them ... they like throwing 'wet balls' about in the pool so they are starting to learn about treading water. It's kinda like life training, you know. TSD was as good for them as it ws for me. They were a bit off their game, but that is to be expected. We did some exercises involving a jump, combat roll and a flying side-kick that the little one's really got into. Oh, and as for their day-time activities, they were promoted to the 'Big Kids Room', meaning that it's the last stop before they are paroled as "Reformed Citizens". Of course, this means no naps which works for me. Oddly enough, they have been eating their meals entirely and I do not need to admonish them for squishing their sandwiches into a glutinous mass of bread and byproduct in the plastic baggies. No tremulous lower lips to distract me from having fun with them. It's nice to take a break from 'Mean Daddy' mode every so often. They are nearing the days of 1st grade at the local parochial school ... I'll be saving that particularly sociopathic personality for the teachers and administrators.

The garden; doing quite well. All the leaf lettuce and spinach have been ripped out by the roots except for one forlorn row of buttercrunch. At the end of June, I'll need to till that row under and replant for the bumper crop. Tomatoes are on the vine now, but the peas are destined for a fate similar to the lettuce. Broccoli is producing diminishing returns, but the cabbage is almost the size of my head now. Potatoes are ok, but need to be tended to. Beans are coming up quite nicely. Onions are the size of baseballs. Beats, golf-ball mimicry. And then there are the summer squash and zucchini ... ahh yes. Much grilling is planned for those bad-boys! My cornocopia of produce is overflowing.