Monday, June 28, 2004

Slicker than silk pajamas on a snake

I don't often talk about politics on this forum, but the early "official" handover of power in Iraq today qualifies as a slick move. Hala is all smiles. As I mentioned in my more political blog before, actual Iraqis are much more hopeful and positive about their country's future than the press would have you believe -- mostly because the press doesn't believe it. God forbid they put a positive spin on a story. It might be mistaken for a pro-American stance, which of course must be avoided at all costs because THAT would be BIASED.

Ok, enough of that.

Went out to Mom and Dad's Saturday for a little Father's day thing. We went out to do some stuff for Dad and visit. Walked the fenceline to see where goats might be getting out. Well, there's a zillion places where they might be getting out, but one real likely place. A 100' stretch of fence along the back where it's just barbed-wire and not hogwire. It's only 100 feet, but a goat's only about 16" wide, as I told Dad. Apparently they've been getting out of one pasture and back in to the next, and making their way up to the house and damaging the yard plants. Well, fixing the fence is going to be a much more than 1 day job. So (Jeff, Joel and I) mucked out a couple of goat stalls and just visited.

With this cold (I got used from Vicki for a real good price) that was plenty of work - I was dog-tired and went home and went straight to bed at 9:00.

Sunday I put away CD's and re-organized their filing system to allow more space in each drawer. Then I headed out to Lowe's to replace the sliding screen door. I could just buy new wheels for the existing one, or a whole new door. When I saw the design of the adjustable parts on the new doors, I opted for the new door. But when I got it home, I noted that the screen was slopily installed (it wasn't tucked in behind the gasket in many places so there were big gaps around the edges) and on top of that, apparently my screen doors need to be about 80.75" instead of 80.25"... which is all the bigger this puppy would expand. I think the best solution unfortunately will be to install a new top runner. I'm pretty disgusted with paying $35 for a cheap screen door that I'd be ashamed to put on the shelf of MY hardware store. I think it must've been put together at 4:59 PM on a Friday by some worker who had a date with a beer. There was about zero pride in that person's workmanship.

Didn't get my auto-watering system hooked up... Again. Kevin switched the doors on the beer fridge in the garage. That was cool. Just volunteered to do it and got right to it. He and Vicki spent saturday re-arranging stuff in the garage to fit Kevin's other car (the one he needs to sell pronto) in the garage.

Last week Sarah, an old college friend (ok, she's not old, really but you know what I mean) contacted me out of the blue by finding my hotmail address. It's been great catching up with her. She's probably 8 miles from Mark and Cami out there in KC. And it turns out she & her family have been out to Summit County, CO and Jackson Hole recently, too. Get me talkin' about mountains.... so we've been emailing back and forth. Sounds like she's doing fine, which is always good to know. Sarah was a part of my college "family" way back when. For a couple of years there weren't many breakfasts or dinners that our motley clan of four didn't have together. In an odd way, she was kind of like a sister now that I think about it. And a good one she was. I probably didn't appreciate her like I should have because I was too lost in the mad crush I had on her roommate. Ah, nothing like time to give you perspective.

Last thursday Lee threw the big change I've been kind of dreading at me... two different finger patterns in the same song. Of course, ultimately, it'll be good for me. Plus, get this... in the midst of all of these folk songs, I'm learning "Wipeout". Ha! So I'm back to where I was when I was 18 with the Stingrays at the high-school talent show. Only back then, I played bass... barely. It was one of two songs I knew. Seriously, though, I've come a long way with Lee, and I can see myself going to him for quite some time to come -- maybe as long as he ends up teaching. I've gotten away from playing songs all the way through. Working on a lot of basics. But I need to get back to it because ultimately, that's what I enjoy.

Well, off to see the Lizard.

(*poof*)


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