White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Again with the late posts. Will this madness ever end!? I suppose, when I stop drinking so much. Like, RIGHT! Pass that bottle of scotch while you are rolling on the floor, laughing. In any event, down to brass tacks here. Last Friday, the kids went to TSD practice and were rather attentive. I was shocked ... but mostly attribute this to the promise of 'Sudden Death Dodge Ball of DOOOOMMMM!' at the end of class. The Zeitgeist of their generation will be a compulsion to stick a thumb in the eye of PC Oversight. Indeed, later that night Jake and Gramps play 'Transformer Shoot-em-up Hide and Go Seek'. Absurdly hilarious to watch Gramps and Jake trade volleys of nerf darts between the expanses between living and dining rooms as they shout out gnomic quips at each-other. Saturday, we run off to the local thespian venue to watch the Wizard of Oz as portrayed by Storybook Musical Theatre. The facility is called the Mitchell (Asphund) Performing Arts Center in a small religious swedenborgian community called Bryn Athyn. The kids 'mostly' sit still for the entire production and it is looking as though we may need to return for a few more presentations of other 'adaptations' over the following months. Odd, what your children can become entranced by. The other events may be less interesting to Jake, but we shall see.

The rest ... well, not too interesting. Sunday was church and installing a mirrored sliding closet door in Jakes room. Monday, we slept in a bit then stayed up till 0400 at the Seliga's place. I did not drink as much as I thought I would. Strange. I had wine, vodka and enough beverages of various toxicity that I should have been miserable the next day. Nope, just fine after noon. The Tyrants, as is their style, were maniacal till we strapped them into the Family Tank V2.0 and passed out before we even managed to get to the street from the driveway. Then, in a burst of spoon surplus activity, I put together the tool chest I got from my parents on Christmas and tried to fill it. I put up wall shelves in Ghengis' room along with a picture (that was mostly debate between the tolerant Mrs and I over what would be an optimal location), Framed and placed a picture in Attila's room ... put up more pictures in frames ... friggen Smithsonian art gallery we have going here in the Manor! So yeah, happy 2008 folks ... started out a lot more dull than 2007!

Technorati Tags:New Years | Home Improvements | Karate | Children | Theater

Labels: Children, Home Improvements, Karate, New Years, Theater

I had started this Sunday Night ... but alas, the anti-soporific allure of the Television captured my attention and I ended up watching 'Tin Man' on the SciFi channel till the wee hours of the morning. These vicissitudes in my sleep patterns are doing me no good, I know. Sometimes I just want to watch a show without a squeaky clean animation character. Speaking of characters, the dodgeball/swim night went well on Friday ... followed closely the next morning of me hauling my sorry sagging rear out of bed at the absurd hour of 0745. The tyrants were rampaging though the house and this always invoked the 'WHINE' factor in the hounds. They understand if they simper long and loud, I'll eventually let them out to do their stuff on the back-50. Then, it's off to administer the death penalty to another innocent evergreen. I went to a small farm that I spotted on my commute to work that was selling live trees for $30 a pop. Free-range, yup. So I met a man by the name of Emmo who apparently had a son that went to Cornell! Funny. Even funnier was the damned ATM at the Wawa that I usually stop off at was out of order so I had to find a different working one. Cost me about 15 minutes. After I gingerly transported the 50 foot pine strapped to the top of the SuperSaturn POS with spit, duct tape and gumption, I cored it out and hauled it to the Grand Cathedral in the Manor with a bit of help from the Mrs. As you know, I have some slight balance issues and have learned to NOT TRUST my internal ear. Just because things feel like they are tipping to the left or right, that means nothing to gravity. I have to judge my 'uprightness' by checking my surroundings. Makes swimming a real bear. In any event, the Mrs gave her 'Seal of Approval' and the strings of lights were added. Ornamentation would come later at the deft hands (and myopic minds) of the Tyrants.

That afternoon, the whole clan spent time outdoors raking up leaves in the front expanse. The Mrs would rake to the curb, I would run the mower over the area to suck up the remaining leaves and detritus. Rake, mow, blow, suck ... ummm, yeah. We cleared out the front fairly well leaving mountains of leaves which were promptly blown back into the grass and garden beds. Damn. We had to do it though since we were expecting nasty weather the next day. With continuing unpleasantness through the rest of the winter. Indeed, it snowed that night and made a terrible mess. While we were at it, I had the Tyrants take the truck load of aging pumpkins from the front porch to the Agricultural Sector and SMASH THEM! HULK SMASH PUMPKINS!!! Heh ... time and place for everything, you know. They were starting to get a bit soft so it was time to dispose of them. I'm certain I'll get a lot of 'volunteers' next spring after I till them under. After the Mrs and I finished up with the leaves (the Tyrants abandoned us for the comfort of the wood-burning stove), I ran across the street to help our neighbor, Gus, with a couple of 25 foot tall trees that he needed to take down. Yep, just could not get enough lumberjacking in so I started in on the arboreal work in the local area. It took little time but the chain on the semi-commercial saw started to dull before we got to the hard part ... cutting the stump flush with the soil. Leaning over with a roaring chain-saw ... yep, I'm destined to be sore the next day. To cap off the day, I made some Bohemian Goulash and load of Beef Stroganoff for the week's meals. The Mrs made chicken wings (ACK!). The cavalcade of leftovers is never long lived. I'm not sure what I would do without the double-blessing of ground beef and pasta.

Sunny Sunday ... not so much. Snow, sleet and just general nastiness. This impacted the attendance at Sunday School too. Only 4 little smiling faces showed up ... all talking about how they were going to build snowmen and make snow angels in the slop that laid about the ground like a sodden quilt. Of course, we had to stop at Dunkin Donuts afterwards, and share the plunder with the Mrs back at the manor. The Tyrants decorated the tree and put nearly all their ornaments within the first 3 feet from the floor. Looks good to them I suppose. We rearranged some of them and filled in all the empty spots. I spent the rest of the day bumbling about with laundry, feeding the wood burning stove and puttering about in the garage. I did manage to get the automatic garage door openers rewired so I did not have to use the remote to open the durned thangs. Good to get something accomplished. Oh, and I finally put up the wall Spackle over the patches in the closet wall. Now for the paint and the new shelves ... I can finally put my clothing in the same room I sleep in!

Technorati Tags:Snow | Weekend | Lawn | Christmas | Children

Labels: Banalities, Children, Church, Home Improvements, Lawn, Lumberjack, Mundane, Rain, Snow, Weather, Winter, Wood

Huzzah! I watched dvds, got up late, gave the kids a bath, played board games and contemplated assisting Gramps with house-hold activities. We did actually install four electronic thermostat controls in the FOB. It was a bit miserable outside so the Christmas lights would have to wait for another day. The clan headed off to the Township Library to check out some DVDs ... minus Attila because she would not finish her lunch. She can be so fickle at times. I stayed with her and started a fire to keep the place above the nominally uncomfortable ambient temperature that had settled over the region. Slack-o-rama.

Technorati Tags:DVD | Home Improvements | Vacation | Children | Plumbing

Labels: DVD, Family, Home Improvements, Vacation

It has taken me more than a bit of effort to get this out. I've not been sleeping all to well of late and that is really putting a crimp in my usual loquacious writing persona. Indeed, my mercurial writing has slowed to a clumpy mass of semi-viscous sludge ... much like how I feel. So as for my absence from commenting on all your blogs, I'm so sorry. I'll get around to it. The plague has laid me low. The up side to all this is that I did not register much discomfort during the TSD test last Saturday. The Tyrants did well, for the most part. Attila had her usual 'stage fright/prima-donna melt down' act for 15 minutes before the test started. Ghengis was as excited as a little boy could possibly get. In the end, they both earned their promotion to Green Belt and spent the next three days bragging about it. It came to a point where I had to expound on the idea that no matter how good you are, there is someone out there better than you who will kick your lilly-white ass up around your ears. Alexis chimed in that that it seemed to her the arse-woopin' job belonged to Daddy. Not this weekend. After getting fully overrun by the nasty bug the Tyrants had infected me, the events really started to drag me down. It was all made better by greasy, cheesy pizza after the test. Ghaa ... talk about heart-burn. I spent the rest of Saturday napping, doing laundry and fixing the airflow fans on the wood-burning stove. Yes, we have yet to turn on the heat and rely primarily on the stove. So what if I have to use an ice auger to drill a hole in the ice formed over the toilet bowl! Since we spent a whopping $100USD on utilities last month, we would hope to continue that revenue retention behavior instead of using a shovel to throw our income into the fire as we gesticulate madly at the Oil Speculators.

Sunday: Yep, day of hypocritical rest. Took the Tyrants to Sunday-school ... got trapped in the bass-ackwards parking lot till nearly every single car but the 4 blocking me in had left. Then, after gnawing on their tires, we sped back to the Manor where I proceeded to pull down the tomato cages and strip off the greenies that were not frozen in the last hard frost. Oddly enough, the carrots all seem to be doing quite nicely still. Resilient buggers. Then, while the Mrs ran off to resupply our larder, I got down to the business of fixing the lawnmower drive belt, putting slices in the karate wood so the Tyrants can break them easier and then fixing the splitting maul that had a muffed-up handle. Trying to split rounds of wood with the handle instead of the head tends to do that. So, I have the handle cut loose, but I need to clear out the eye. Can't just drill it out since there are metal chits in it. So, with a ball-peen hammer, I go to town trying to force the remainder of the handle out. Everything was going quite well until I mistook my fleshy hand for the tempered steel of an axe. It did not give off that signature ring of steel on steel, but rather, the squishy/crunchy sound of bone and sinew being ground together by unforgiving force. The sharp pain soon gave way to an unabated ache ... but no apparent damage. It was the bone between the wrist and first knuckle of the thumb that took on the laws of physics ... and lost. So, I did what any rational man would do ... jump up and down while bleating out profanities and cradling the throbbing appendage to my crotch. You know, because that always helps. The cursing part, that is. And then, I took a nap ... only to wake up hours later when the pain and swelling in my hand were too much to let me remain sleeping. A few ibuprofen and some quality time with the family, all was right with the world. It's now two days later. Managed to get my flu shot on Monday morning, but said nothing of my illness since I know it is not the flu. Just another upper respiratory nuisance. Let me tell ya, my hand still hurts more than the shot, but I'm certain it is not a fracture, just a bone bruise. Next time, I'll just throw the damn axe head in the fireplace and burn it out.

Oh, and gasoline here in Pennsyltucky is nearing 3$/us gallon. And the newly elected politicians are talking about adding a NEW road use tax so they can fix the bridges that they let go to rot when they appropriated the funds allocated to that to ... build more roads and bridges. Dumb-asses.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weekend | Karate | Children | Injury

Labels: Banalities, Children, Church, Flu Shot, Gas, Home Improvements, Illness, Injury, Karate, Sleep, Tang So Doo, Weekend

So, it got cold last night, really cold. I mean it was so cold that my nipples got hard enough to cut concrete! I really should sleep with some sort of clothing on. Now that I've damaged your fragile psyche with that atrocious visual (everyone thinks in pictures, right?), let me tell you why a simple dip into the 40's makes a difference to a molasses blooded northern'r like myself. You see, the Mrs is a Manhattan girl and the Tyrants are half-n-half. A bit of cream and a bit of lutefisk. So, as it turns out, my son looks mostly like me and got a bit of the Mrs's genetics with his eye shape. I'm finding out that he did not get his tolerance of cold from me. Last night, I sacked out fairly early and actually fell asleep. Of course, sometime in the wee hours of the morning (he had to go wee, thus the phrase?) he got up and tunneled into the Mile Wide Bed. He starts out by snuggling with the Mrs and engaging in his most affectionate act so as to get her to let him stay. She is the gate-keeper ... the bouncer. After he has ingratiated himself with her, he will slowly work his way over to my thin slice of acreage and start siphoning off as much heat as possible from my overactive metabolism. Of course, he will stir a bit and reflexively beat the bejeepers out of my internal organs. Must be some sort of hex the Mrs cast on him so that I can share her experience of carrying him (and sis) for 9+ months. So, my hopes of a solid night's sleep was rended asunder. This series of events has had two distinct impacts on me ... one is that I have become more interested in getting the heat distribution fans installed/fixed for the wood burning stove. Priority on now that the ambient temperature in the Manor is now akin to a cryogenic preservation tube. The other epiphany, is that I am sick. The Murphy Factor hit me hard regarding the Flu Shot Fiasco this past Monday. A few days later and I'll be getting my shot ... I have a TSD test this Saturday ... OF COURSE I'll catch some nasty little genetically engineered virus from the Tyrants. Of course, since my body chemistry is out of whack, I'm trying to plow through a class 2 migraine as well. OF COURSE, that calls for brain-chemistry altering medication ... and we all know what that means ... 'DA FOG'. Present in body, but not quite all the way in mind.

Certainly, everything was trucking along fine but that butter-fly wing batting on Monday is now winding up it's Saffir-Simpson Scale 5 hurricane power. In the good-news column (as lengthy as it is) his morning, when I stepped on the scale, I found that I'm holding steady at 185 lb. Not too bad, considering that I threw myself on the candy-bucket to save the kids from the evil sugar monster. Now, all I have to do is survive the holiday season (Grams is an exclellent cookie/peanut brittle source, Gramps is going to possibly make that date roll I eat too much of) and perhaps avoid another round of mutated virus ... tall order, eh?

Technorati Tags:Bed | Sleep |Illness |Flu Shot |Home Improvements | Karate | Children | Migraine | Winter | Weight

Labels: Bed, Children, Flu Shot, Home Improvements, Illness, Karate, Migraine, Sleep, Tang So Doo, TGIF, Weight, Winter

Hoookay then. Another weekend under the belt to make me wiser and older ... more of the second than the first of course. For all the plans I made earlier in the week, having the Grand Parent Patrol about helped out a bit. Friday night, of course, ended with Dodge Ball and there was much fun and pummeling to be had. And that was the extent to which things were dealt with on Friday evening. Application of force. Little stuff like plastering & painting the wall patches, cutting and putting polyurethane on wood, nailing up molding, clearing leaves, harvesting the last of the veggies, tilling under the agricultural sector, running telecommunications wire, installing break-out boxes ... none of that got done. Although, when Gramps did have some spare time, we managed to replace one spigot in the rear of the manor that was leaking and the closet space that needed 'dressing up' was completed. Most of our time was spent shopping at the Local Home Depot Temple though ... which had it's own tales. We managed to visit on a day where they were giving away free hot-dogs and 'sliders' (greasy cheese burgers) so that made it worth the trip right there. Nothing like hot dogs with Düsseldorf mustard at the depot. So, the mrs almost has her closet space ready (I still need to cut the shelfs to length) and we have one spigot that may need 'professional' attention. It's right above the electrical circuit breaker box so I'm a wee bit wary of cracking that open right now. Next weekend, I may get that Telcom wire run though. It's cool enough to visit the attic without bursting into a puddle of sweat. In fact, I started up the wood burning stove this weekend. Yes, the crisp chill of winter has finally made itself known ... in the inviolate sanctuary of our Master Suite. Makes it really tough to get up in the morning, don't ya know. So, that made the Daylight savings sleep-a-thon a delight. I managed to get that hour back AND make breakfast before heading off to our church for some Sunday Morning Catechism. Then, the day ground down to a fine powdery residue as Grams cooked up a fine dinner and Gramps confiscated the 'indoor green-house' for growing God-Knows-What at his Agri-Bio-Tech company. Me, I just planted garlic among the seedling hybrid willow trees for next year's harvest.

Final note, I was supposed to get my flu shot this fine Monday morning but due to a change in policy with the subcontractor who does these things, I now need a note from my doctor that it is ok. You see, because I have a neurological disorder, that makes me a high risk factor. Just the ppl you want getting the damn shot. So I called the doc, went to pick up the script, and by the time I managed to wend my way back, the sub-contractor had closed up shop. I had to reschedule for next week. Gha!

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Grandparents | Dodge Ball | Children | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Children, Chores, Church, Dodge Ball, Family, Flu Shot, Gardening, Grandparents, Home Improvements, Multiple Sclerosis, Plumbing, Weather, Winter

The terminus of the 'free wheeling' weekend has come to me like a lost hive of bees looking for a suitably spent reservoir in which they can deposit the fruits of their labor. I'm drained, replenish me with loads of sticky, syrupy energy plz. Of course, the terminus came but the syrupy energy did not. Instead, I have the beginnings of a head cold thanks to my two little disease carriers. Alexis has been brewing some nasty upper respiratory nastiness for some time now and Jake just picked it up. I'm starting to feel a little nasal congestion so it is only a matter of time. I think Last week's support bizarroland travels may have opened up my wacky immune system to the invasion. Stephen knows what I mean. It was nice to ditch the support phone on Friday, but I do not think I'll be able to throw off the damage it did for some time.

Let's talk about the nice things of last Friday though, eh? Yes, it was the end of my support duty till Christmas ... gha, one could hope that it goes well over that Holiday! I picked up the Tyrants early on Friday so we could do the work-place trick-or-treat thing. They loved it! Hundreds of stops for candy and all of them no more than 6 feet apart. Three buildings, thee floors each, all connected by tunnels. It's a diabetic nightmare. After the pillaging of candy-land, we went off to TSD where I was allowed to participate (NO PHONE!) and by proxy, the Tyrants had to behave or I would snap them back into line. The following day, were were planning to go to Sesame Place ... for more Trick-or-Treat activities. Mercifully, this did not happen because of the downpour of rain. We need the rain, but I need to rake leaves and mow the lawn and do all kinds of out-door stuff. So, the Mrs and I slumbered away till noon ... except when I had to get up and prepare the kids breakfast ... and let the dogs out ... and feed them. Oh, then there was that pesky lunch thing. Wait ... did the Mrs let the Cybernetic Mammoths out? Both the long term and short term memory sticky-goo was powered down to the bare minimum. I'm probably lucky I did not end up wandering the streets in my underwear, a hat and my boots.

Sunday fared a bit better. Sunday School at 1000 hours, then off to the Produce Junction to pick up inexpensive veggies for my lunch during the week. After that, Home Depot to buy a sheet of dry-wall. And yes, I actually used the stuff to patch the two holes in the wall behind the Master Bath Shower/Decon chamber. Left a bit of a mess behind, but a quick swipe with the vacuum will clear that up. Finishing that, I mowed the lawn (and thusly, cleaned up the leaves) without the power assist on the mower. I need to pick up that belt but forgot to when I was at the local Home Depot Temple. I can get so single minded at times. In the act of mowing the front pastoral expanse, one of the lids on the sprinkler system got sucked up and chopped to bits leaving a giant hole in the ground. I'll need to put something over that soon or some children will get swallowed up on the 31st. The last thing I need is for a bunch of well meaning rescue personnel to start digging up the yard only to find the previously hidden skeletons of Jimmy Hoffa, Elvis's first clone and some left-over bits of Ark. Speaking of arks ... the Mrs was so kind as to pick up the dog-dip and wash the hounds while I busied myself with other nonsense. Little stuff, like fixing the 'O' in Jacob's name on the Twin Towers , a mountain-range of laundry and spreading out the clippings in the garden. Standard fun-stuff. As a capper on Sunday, I carved out two of the 20,000 pumpkins for the Twins after they drew what they wanted them to look like. Next year, I'll insist that they carve out the guts themselves. They were less than enticed by that prospect this year. The Ever Ready Mrs took a pic of the two gored gourds, but had not posted them yet. Trust me when I tell you that the Tyrants were sufficiently pleased. And, on queue, since the jack-o-lanterns were ready, we got frost this chilly Monday morning. Perhaps I did finally mow the lawn for the last time this year. Perhaps.

Technorati Tags:Pumpkins | Weekend | Karate | Children | Home Repairs | Lawn | Rain | Fall

Labels: Children, Dodge Ball, Fall, Halloween, Home Improvements, Rain, Tang So Doo

My week days can be so banal. Wake up to obscure music on clock radio, hit snooze, wake, snooze (repeat several times). Finally realize that it's morning and bumble off to let the cybernetic hell hounds out. Cart away mountains of poo and then feed the prancing ninnies more fodder for their dirty-work the next morn. Realize *I* need to use the bathroom and look at the visage of death warmed over in the mirror. I need to put a picture over the mirrors in the bathroom. The indurate face staring back at me reminds myself that I should be CELEBRATING a new day, no accepting the indignity of being startled from some quickly forgotten gossamer dream. Little context, lesser substance, zero confluence.

After wrapping up my morning constitutional, either I go trundle the Tyrants up and get them to start breakfast, or I let the Mrs handle that variably dangerous task and involve myself with getting their breakfast and lunch ready ... along with my own daily vittles. Raiding the larder, I try to make sure they get something different every morning of the week. Invariably, it has to be something they can eat in our guest bed in front of the TiVo-TV w/o making a tremendous mess. So no liquids. Yeah, that means no eggs either. If I were not so lazy, I would get up an hour earlier and make them a good Minnesota Breakfast. You know, 12 eggs, bacon, toast, kolachies, steak, coffee, slice of apple pie in a bowl of cream ... standard 'bit of breakfast'. As it stands, we already spend over $500USD on food alone per month. So frugality (scrooge!) and sleep (sloth) prevail. That, and it prevents them from invading the bathroom while the Mrs or I are trying to take the all important "morning wake-up shower". Without that, neither of us could be described as anything close to amicable. I've bitten heads off for less. If you do not recall, at the beginning of the summer, the old water boiler krumped on us over Memorial Day Weekend. Yeah, I was a bit of a grumpy gus, but the Mrs damn near laid waste to the population surrounding the Haupertonian Manor for 'Breathing too loud, JUST STOP BREATHING!'.

Hmmm, where was I. My train of thought got derailed ... fatalities. Yes, anyways ... feed the kids, prep breakfast, shower, shave and brush teeth. I've been using the master bath (tiny thing it is) to get back into the old ways and I've noticed that the pressure is much reduced. I think the filter is clogged so we may have to call our plumber to do something about it. I would do this myself, but I have seen what it takes to replace the filter and I would rather Johnas do this. I would certainly break the damn thing and need to call him anyways ... might as well cut to the chase. Another thing about the shower ... I've decided it is my duty to try to use up all those 'single application' packets of shampoo, soap and tooth-paste that we have accumulated over the years. My coworkers are noticing too. My hair looks more 'perky' and lustrous apparently. The usual treatment of lye and burning acids to wash my body/hair have given me split ends and dulled the color. Gee, fashion plate metrosexual that I am, you think I would have avoided that! PTTTHHHH! So, every body is fed and groomed ... Pack up the 100 metric tons of crap I need to lug about every day in the POS SuperSaturn and off I go. Throw the Tyrants out of the airlock with chutes on as I rocket past the ReEducation Camp and spend my 15 minutes getting to work trying to find a song on the radio that does not make me vomit. Do this 5 days a week, you tend not to notice the little nuances every day. I must be getting old because I find this ... comforting.

Work for 8 hrs, flee the building. Snatch tyrants, go swimming for an hour, get pummeled by the lollipop guild for an hour at TDS, then spend another hour and a half getting pummeled by the Black-Belt-Brigade. Home, read bed-time story, get drinks for kids, kisses, eat dinner, kisses for Mrs, prep for next day (i.e. get out one of the 5 identical outfits I wear to work [black denim, black socks, tighty-whities{TMI?}, grey t-shirt]), last blogosphere scan; pass out. Where should I fit in the introspection? The unexamined life is not worth living ...

Shove it Socrates.

Technorati Tags:Shower | Swimming | Karate | Children | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Bed, Children, Home Improvements, Karate, Mundane, Sleep, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Traffic

Yep ... it's been nearly a week since my last post. When I'm good ... I'm really good. When I'm bad ... oh, boy, stand back! So, let's crank up the 'way-back-machine' and take a peek at the comings and going in the Haupertonain manor over the last few days.

Friday was a general day of levity. The Mrs had woken me in the very early morning when she came to bed which resulted in a woefully poor night's sleep. I just had a very hard time falling back into my usual fitful slumber. The result was a Friday of Bleck. Since it was 'Water Play Day' at the reEducation Center cum Day-Camp, I was not going to take the kids swimming. Just to give me a chance to make it through the day without completely draining my batteries and going into a spoon deficit. The skipping of a dip in the pool did not parse well with the tyrants though. The previous day, they were gleefully engaged in water torture with Miss Steph ... one of Jacob's 'Girl Friends'. She is studying to become a teacher some day and seems to have a natural affinity for my little Tyrants. If she can woo these two into complacency, she will be an extraordinary addition to the ranks of those we call Teachers some day.

Another strange event last week was my introduction to a man who had brought his child into Karate as a new student. Nicky, the child, is half asian-half white ... and his father has MS. And he is a 'lapsed' black belt as well. We had a brief discussion and found a great deal of mirroring in our experiences. For some odd reason, when confronted by mortality we tend to become rather 'evangelical' about something and our enthusiasm in our pursuits is quite obvious. I'll probably be having some quixotic discussions with him in the future.

The parents came down Friday night. Good thing; the alternative would have been a jeremiad of unparalleled proportions. You see, we had a karate test at 1000 Saturday morning and I was not in a good place. Unknown to me, something was brewing my my immune system that would slowly build up to a crescendo a precious few days later. So, the kids did exceptionally well in their test ... they are both now Orange belts and their rewards of a new toy and a pizza lunch were graciously granted. Beaming faces were the rule of the day. What could top new toys, pizza and grandparents? Why, mommy and daddy going deeper into debt by laying out the cash for new full sized mattresses and box springs for everyone! Gramps had his Big Black Truck down so we were able to loot 'The Dump' and cart off a massive wagon-train of booty. It was fortunate that we made the purchase when we did though. The items we wanted were either the last one in stock or, as with one of the beds, not in stock at all. We just happened to be rewarded with a mattress set which had already been purchased by someone else. Ooops! To the quick and daring go the spoils, I suppose. Of course, had we been on the loosing end of that transaction there would have been blood spilled and the Twin Barbarian Fury unleashed upon the entire hamlet of Langhorne would have been legendary.

Sunday: A day of rest. Truly for me. The Grandparent Patrol was on duty and took the Twin Tyrants to the 0830 mass, giving me a precious 60 minutes of extra slumber. This was capriciously squandered though. After I had returned from the 1000 family mass (and able to witness the unmitigated suffering of other fathers with toddlers about me), Hero Dad and I set to completing the chair rail and assembling the New non-Hydraulic Master Mile Wide Bed. Henceforth, it will be named the 'Iron Maiden'. By far the most firm bed we have had since the Mrs and I left college some two decades ago. The Mrs has since slept on it twice while I occupy the old guest bed. We have not transfered our alarm clocks and such ... and the Twins still come to the guest bed in the middle of the night so I need to be there to redirect them to our new location ... which is about a foot higher off the ground. They need a boost to get up there at 0300 hours.

Monday: The bell finally tolls for me. After a weekend of excessive activity, I am struck down. My spoon deficit has been called in ... I have to pay the piper now. Everything hurts for no good reason. Well, for very good reason, but it's still a crappy thing to have happen. I spend the entire day immobilized in bed with the Mrs staying home to make sure I do not crump-out on her. God bless her, I would have tried to subsist on Doritos and Mt. Dew otherwise. She fed me OJ, Gatoraid and Pasta with chicken. I'm in a much better place today, but being bed-ridden for fear of moving (and enduring nonsensical pain) is quite the frustrating predicament to find oneself in.

Technorati Tags:Bed | Swimming | Karate | Children | Weekend

Labels: Banalities, Children, Grandparents, Home Improvements, Injury, Karate, Tang So Doo, Weekend

Well, it looks like the GrandParent Patrol will not be able to make a fly-by this weekend. Other plans, with each-other, don't ya know. No way I could possibly blame them for that! So, they'll be down the following week when the Karate test is going on ... that should be fun. Pizza afterwards ... I'll bring the wine again. The kids mattress pickup will have to wait a week ... I'm sure it will do. I'm thinking about setting up Jakes bed and letting him sleep on the sofa [ed. not as punishment mind you, he LOVES sleeping on the softer sofa.] till we actually use Gramp's Big Black Truck (tm) to pick up the bedding.

In news closer to this temporal moment, I got to work before 0800 today since I am now in my support rotation. Bleh, hope things go smoothly over the weekend. There has been a shake-up in the 3rd level support group and most of the seasoned handlers were moved into 'research' positions. That leaves us with a whole new crop of green personnel to break in. I'm not in the mood either. I'm still waking up in pain from my back and now a muscle in my side is acting up because of overcompensation. I blundered through swimming, karate and adult karate last night with little issue, but I have to keep it simple so I do not aggravate anything before next weekend. And yes, I still need to mow the damn lawn. And fertilize it ... and put up the molding in the MBR ... and 100 other little tasks that I never seem to get around too. At least the garden looks nice!

Technorati Tags:Lawn | Swimming | Karate | Injury | Plumbing

Labels: Family, Gardening, Grandparents, Home Improvements, Injury, Karate, Lawn, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Weather

Just a few things to banter about, the greatest of which is the gobsmacked state I'm in due to me laying down coat #2 on the floor in Jovial Jake's room. A little splash of mineral spirits, a daub of paraffin based oils ... wheeze! My noggin is swimming in an ocean of synaptic discombobulation. This leaves only one more coat to apply ... this Thursday after sufficient time for drying. Then, while we are on vacation, the final coat should coagulate into a high-gloss shine. Slap up the wall-paper and call me Susan! It's fortunate that I did manage to find those last 4 cans of finish ... the only ones left in existence. I used two on this coat so I should have just enough for the last layer. Looking forward to that ... like an enriched uranium enema.

I called the water company, Aqua PSW, yesterday. I asked for them to send a 'technician' out to put my seasonal meter back in so I can start up the summer sprinkler system that I so meticulously installed. After going through voice mail hell TWICE, I finally get a rep who tries to sort out my account. She hems and haws about various inconsistencies about my account and makes a comment about a meter shutoff request made in 1985 ... yeah. I was living in another State at that time and most assuredly did not make that request. So, she confesses that she is not sure how to proceed and needs to ask her manager (I'm expecting another hang-up at this time). She actually comes back online and says that she will be able to do this, but there is a 50$ meter transaction fee. WHAT!? Yes, 50$ to install or remove a meter. So, here are my choices: I can pay 100$ a year to have my seasonal meter removed/installed or pay 20$ a month for a minimum usage fee. Dammit, what kind of nonsense is this. They want to venerate myself before their billing department for the privilege to pay more for nothing? Gha! Every one wants a slice of my pie, and they have no problem laying out mendaciously specious tales to get it. I've threatened to have a well drilled for the singular purpose of feeding my sprinkler system due to their horrific billing practices and inability to keep accurate records. Now, I'm on the precipice of doing so. Double argh.

Technorati Tags:Home Improvements | Water | Fumes | Polyurethane | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Home Improvements, Lawn, Summer, Water