Raincharm’s Weblog

Last night we had a thunderstorm. A real live, booming, lighting up the sky thunderstorm.
We do have lots of storms, sometimes with a bit of lightning, and a bit of thunder.
But this was make me jump thunder, and it repeated itself several times.
Driving Riding to work today was a small adventure. One time when the tires were grabbed by the deeper than normal puddles. One total dousing with no visibility for that less than a second period that seems really long. A bit of thick rain, and just plain wet.

Will I walk at lunch today??? I am hazarding a “No” vote at this time, but will wait for the actual moment to arrive.

I don’t mind walking in the rain, but did not bring an extra pair of shoes and socks, or real rain jacket.
Oh – wait – I have extra shoes and socks here.
Still, no jacket.

And the internal arguments continue.

At least I am at work while I watch this, and not at home.
Our stockpile of trees with leaves to drop has significantly diminished this year. A few weeks ago I did a fairly good pickup of the to-be-yard area. I probably need to repeat the process again, before the to-be-yard is installed. That project has stalled. My ambition to work in a muddy area, in the rain, is limited. I keep hoping to get a good weather report for a Saturday. If I don’t get one this weekend we will have to just move forward regardless.

The leaves I am watching are all yellow maple and big-leaf maple. The parking lot had been pretty much cleaned yesterday, and today it was all yellow when we arrived. The rain today is probably helping to knock them down, and it might even be more than breezy outside.

Our local inhabitants made an appearance yesterday as well. (3 does and 1 buck)

young buck on his way to work

Doe, Jane - taking a break

Oh – and those d**n Yankees. Congratulations Dad – bragging rights for the next year. At least it went to six games. Maybe the weather will make them push it back into October, where it belongs. Regardless of the outcome, the Series gives us opportunities to get together and hang out with our friends.

so many things.

Dead – we have been to a celebration for Dios de la Muerta. It was very festive. We added our bit to our friends altar, and checked out several others there. I wanted to make a sugar skull, but the kids in line looked like they wanted it more.

Soccer game – we played. I forgot to tape my foot/ankle before hand, and it was OK. But I think it would hurt a bit less if it had been taped. We are a team of walking wounded. One of our most skilled young guys has a stress fracture and played goalie. Our other stressed player, who played goalie last game, played on the field for a few minutes here and there – moving gingerly. I have my rather disguised injury (the guys just run by me and don’t notice the change in speed), and our knee braced player blew a shoe. We picked up a few brazilian players from the game before, and one of them twisted a knee in the game. It was helped by the opposing team taking him down, but I am wondering if we are contagious. We won, I think, 3-2.

Baseball game – yet to be. Getting ready to head over to friends house for dinner and viewing on their big screen (with TiVo – choose your own replays).

Time change – we got up relatively early, and have changed all the interior clocks, and one of the car clocks. The biggest issue has been figuring out when to eat.

Arrival back in Knoxville – for those following the travels of Rey – he is back in town and looking for lodging.

Pirate 2

Some people say the kids look the same, others quite different. What do you think?

Pirate1

Spent a good part of the day trying to understand exactly what is wanted of me with respect to budgeting. I know how to figure out estimates of what my responsibilities will be for the next year, including labor and consultants and materials, … The estimates may not be right in the end, but I try. What I have a dickens of a time with is what is operating and what is capital budget. Seems like an easy concept, but there is a certain point at which my brain freezes. I think it started when they told me I had a great breakdown, but the labor costs were included in salaries, so they didn’t really count. Of course, a good portion of most of my projects is labor. But, then, it was added that labor on capital budgets do get counted and taken out of salaries. OK ….. Now just need to be clear on which parts are capitalizable and which are not ….

It was not the most exciting afternoon.

Sometimes I am reminded of when Rey was young and learning early math. The decimal point was like a wall. Moving to numbers less than 1 was a real challenge. I am pretty sure he did finally get it figured out, but that is what I remember when I get stumped. It is so clear to most, and a tremendously high wall to me.

Game 2 – World Series goes to the Yankees.
That’s OK because if you are going to get to 7 games (as was one of Carl’s wishes), you have to lose a few – 3 to be exact.

Game 1 – Major League Soccer – Seattle Sounders FC vs. Houston Dynamo
Tie – 0-0. This means that game 2 of this playoff series is for all of the marbles. Well since this is only the first round it is  a very small bag of marbles at this stage. Game 2 is in a little more than a week and in Houston.

A First – Carl went grocery shopping today. But that is not a first, he does 95% or more of our grocery shopping. But at the checkout stand, with one of the kids in tow – they gave him a Senior Citizen Discount.  I find this to be really funny, and a discount is a discount. He didn’t ask for it – they assumed it. I don’t even know what the age for a senior discount is at this store. His hair is no longer blonde, and maybe he had a few bags under his eyes.

Phillie’s win! (Sorry Dad)
It was a fun game. The Phillies pitcher was on his game. He made two fielding plays where he barely had to move (pop-up and comebacker caught behind his back). His looks were priceless and deadpan. The announcers thought he was yawning on the pop-up.

We always eat “baseball food” for Game 1. Hot dogs, peanuts, cracker-jack Crunch-and-Munch (a stand-in), and from this year added pistachios and pecans. [I also had my carrots left over from lunch. We made baked potatoes at work for lunch, and I just didn’t get all of my brought food down the hatch.]

I am rooting for the Phillies (Raul Ibanez). I think Carl wants that as the ultimate result, but he wants 7 games.

Tomorrow we may go off-site to watch the game since the Seattle Sounders FC playoff game is on at the same time, and on ESPN2. A multiple TV location may show both.

That sums up the bookends of my working day today.

Morning was just plain wet rain on the road (and in the air).
The most interesting morning moment was at a split in the end of the highway. It is under construction and there are concrete blocks defining the lane that you get to drive into as it curves off of the highway. My direction was fine, but the other direction apparently had a huge puddle. The car in the other lane sent up a wall of water that made it look like the inside of a car wash. Luckily, in that moment of visual nothingness the car in front of me did not slow down, I steered following the lane, and the car behind me slowed down a bit as well.

In the afternoon it was raining on the eastside hard enough to get the wipers up to high. Hydroplaning on the water falling in the most recent minute was a real possibility. I was actually happy to get into a line of traffic for a change. We were going a reasonable speed and it kept the wild drivers from cutting back and forth through the lanes. The rain at that moment was definately east-side. I went through a tunnel and no rain on the other side.

And now it is hailing.

We were talking about bacon the other day – having just had a piece.
This went on to a discussion about the number of items that were not considered part of any of the food groups of which you are expected to have a certain number of servings each day. When we were pregnant they gave us a chart. Bacon was considered “other” foods, with no daily requirement. Our memory was that doughnuts also shared that designation. So we thought that a Bacon Doughnut – that is a piece of bacon inside of a doughnut would have to become a best seller.

But before we could even think about following up on our “idea” a news item was going on about the Texas state fair, where there is deep fried everything, including deep-fried bacon. And fried Coke, and fried butter (do they fry it in butter?).

So, following my soccer game this morning, we set off on a walk. A walk to breakfast, or really brunch/lunch – since it was after noon when we left. The walk was about 2-1/2 mile, but the last 1/4 mile was up a rather steep hill. With the soccer game added on to the beginning I was really needing some food. I did not ask if they could do some deep fried bacon, but I did have some eggs, Wisconsin Bratwurst and hash browns. (Had to get some fried component.) I don’t know if it was the food or the walk beforehand, but it was really tasty. We walked home in the rain – starting down the steep hill. It was a good walk, but I think if I lay down on the bed I would not get up for a long time.

having equipment work.

Our borrowed roto-tiller did not.
Several minutes (I really can’t say several hours) spent trying to get it working.
Gas in, oil mixed, on-switch position verified, choke position verified,
Short – quick – pulls. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Probably most of an hour trying to remove the spark plug to check it. You would think we would have a 3/4″ deep socket, but no. A bevy of 5/8″ and a smattering of others, but no 3/4″. Last tool box checked had a dual end 3/4″ wrench, which was angled enough to use.
Spark plug out and cleaned, but still no power.

You know, our dirt has been dug, redug, spread, shovelled, moved, raked, rolled, … do we really need to till it too???

Given that the tiller is not in the mood, and I am not in the mood to rent a different one (this one was borrowed), the answer is no.

Next weekend has sod on the docket. We shall see in a year or two if our tired decision was a good one.

But, given that, the rented roller has been returned, lunch has been eaten, I assured the fire department that office phones were working once again (see previous post), and now I get to spend a few minutes doing – well – nothing.