Hot Hot Hot!

The name of one of my favorite Cure songs, and the state of the state right now. Darn, it's boiling out there. Thankfully, we have procured a window unit AC for the master bedroom... Here's a story for you.

So, when it started getting cold and we finally turned the heat on, we started wondering why in the world it didn't get warm in the master bedroom. We're cool with this--we like it cold when we sleep. However, given that there's a vent in the master, we had, reasonably I thought, expected that heat and cool would flow out of it. Well, we were wrong. I discovered that someone had gone to the trouble of cutting a hole in the floor of the master bedroom, and indeed, it is just a hole. It leads into nothingness. So, anyway, we brought a guy in to see what it would cost to fix it, and it's not a terrible price, relatively speaking of course, but we just haven't gotten around to it with all of the other stuff we've got going on around here. So, yes. The window unit is WONDERFUL. The puppies are enjoying it, as well. Yogi was a little suspicious at first. And by suspicious, I mean when we turned it on, he high-tailed it out of the room and wouldn't come back for a while. But he's come around. They enjoy laying on their backs in front of the breeze, letting it cool their tummies and nether regions. Smart doggies!

Meanwhile, Eric is making major progress on the deck and backyard. Our planters are fully in and the plants are in the ground. Looks great. Our neighbor had a huge stack of old bricks he was looking to unload. These are great old bricks--the huge, glazed kind with the raised letters. So we used those for lining the planting areas. He's also doing something with the posts. I can't really describe it because I don't "see" it yet, but I'm sure it'll look good. All I know is that there's more wood being used on that deck than in the rest of the house combined.

Next project up is the master bathroom. We've already got the tile for the floor and shower walls, so we just need to get the accent tiles. We've picked it out already--glass mosaic with gray, orange, and green. I think it'll look great. I'm hoping we get this finished sometime within the next month or so.

My tomato plant is growing like nuts. It's HUGE! It's already got blossoms, even though the plant description said it wouldn't produce fruit for 60 days. Apparently, the plant description people underestimated the power of Indiana summer.

Pictures soon... Peace.

Not an ideal situation...

Since Monday afternoon, I have been in Denver for a conference. Ann picked me up from the airport and we had a delightful dinner with her husband, Jon, and their darling toddler, Narelle. It was just wonderful, because I last met Narelle when she was but a fetus. Between Monday evening and right now, I have been outside once, and that was just to get on the shuttle to the airport. The conference was great, but 9-10 hours a day of substance, plus receptions, well, it gets exhausting. 

Anyway, I made it to the airport with time to spare in order to make my 1:30 scheduled flight to Chicago, which I'd arranged in order to make a Commission meeting this evening in Gary, and get a good night's sleep before tomorrow's big Commission meeting. Well, as of right now, my plane is scheduled to take off not at 1:30, but at 7:15, getting me into Chicago at roughly 11:30. Then I have to rent a car and drive to Gary, maybe sleep for 6 hours, and then drive back to Indy tomorrow afternoon. 

I know that I can make it. I have to make it--there are no other options for getting the hell out of here. But it's going to suck. 

We're still alive...

Just barely. It's been nothing short of ridiculous around here. Busy! But full of progress. We are no longer jumping three feet down from the back door. Our hanging baskets no longer depress us and our neighbors. We actually have plants in the ground. All good things. 

So, our weekend began on Friday afternoon, when my parents arrived from Michigan. Their trip down was very adventurous. They hit a deer going about 50 on the highway. Thankfully dad was able to slow down, and the deer bounced off the car instead of into the car. The irony is that they had just had the front grill of the car replaced last week. These things happen, I suppose. 

We began work on the deck on Saturday morning. Last week, Eric had successfully sunk the posts and started on the main floor support for the deck. I am convinced that this is the most solidly constructed feature of our house. A tornado comes through and destroy the house? The deck will remain. The puppies helped supervise the work. Pixie is quite the taskmaster.

Dad and Eric doing something with the floor joyce. 

This was one of approximately 3 minutes of the day where Eric was in a good mood. 

Sunday, they started with the actual floor. Made tremendous progress.

Dad was still able to fit in some quality time with his girl, Madison. That dog is in love with my dad. And he with her. They are quite a pair. 

While Dad and Eric were busy with the deck, Mom and I occupied ourselves by prettying things. First order of business was replacing the pansies in the hanging baskets which all simultaneously decided to die. I don't know what happened. Anyway, we found some beautiful begonias and some little creeping white flowers. I'm pleased. They look so nice against the house. Now, if only I could get Eric to get the drywall off the front porch...

About 5 weeks ago, I planted a little rose bush--one of those that you buy for $6 at Home Depot that's basically just a root bulb and some stems. Well, one of the bushes has done nothing, but the other has just thrived. We got our first roses early this week! Now, I would like to uproot the entire front yard and just make a wild rose garden. Eric says no. 

For the backyard, we got some rhododendron bushes, Sweet William, and some peonies, donated to the effort by our neighbors who don't get enough sun for them to grow. So far, the peonies are struggling a bit--they're traumatized by the move--but the others are doing great, and we even have some blooms on the Sweet William. 

Finally, we got a tomato plant starter. Mom will appreciate this. When we planted this on Sunday afternoon, it went halfway up to the first ring of the tomato cage. In 5 days, it has doubled in size. I expect many delicious tomatoes this summer. You can all come over for a nice Caprese salad in August.