Raincharm’s Weblog

That has been my day today.

Started with a soccer game. Temperature at kickoff – 37 degrees. Temperature a the final whistle – 52 degrees. In between a game in the sun. Turns out our team was short two players, and the other team had 4-5 substitutes. But we won! 3-2 I am not sure why they were not able to wear us down so that they could just run wild. And they did score both of their goals in the second half. One of our high school kids saved the day with an amazing goal in the closing minutes. Oh, to be eighteen again (and to have played soccer for most of your life before turning 18).

From the soccer pitch I went to a co-worker/friends house to bide my time for number three on my hit parade (proximity and both of us going). On the good side it was her six-year old son’s birthday – PARTY. This was their family party, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even a great-grandmother. Lego and K-Nex and some books, and several vegetable starts with tools. And yes, he was excited about the gardening (although not as much as the Lego). Had some good food too. His kid party is next weekend with one of his good friends who also has a birthday this month. Nice folks, and Sam was very gracious for a 6-year old with lots of new toys.

Part 3 – The funeral, or really more like a memorial service/party. One of our Board of Commissioners passed due to cancer, and we wanted to pay our respects. It was good to hear a bit more of his life story as well. I think they appreciated our presence even if we had not been a huge part of his life outside of water and sewer. The party was held at an Elks Aerie. I don’t know if I have ever been inside an Aerie, although I seem to remember walking by one on Huron, north of the split. An interesting place. Reminded me a bit of a dive bar, but maybe that was the smell of smoke that we just don’t have anywhere around here anymore. [I don’t miss the smokey bar!]

Part 4: MSU up by 8 10 as I type, with 7 minutes to go..
I drew UConn, but have really been rooting for MSU.
I am actually finding it hard to watch (although I might miss a sighting)
Now that they have a bit larger lead than tied maybe I will draw myself back to the tube.

Later

I had the privilege of spending the last two days in a class. Resource management for Emergency situations sort of a class. The instructor did  a great job. There was a real mix of attendees, and she kept us listening, working, switching groups, even a snowball fight. (By this time the snow had all melted so we used wadded up paper.) And – I think I really learned something. I had felt the need to not miss two days of work, but after the class I do not have the feeling of lost time. Some just work out that way.

And – the sun is shining, and is supposed to shine through most of the weekend – woohoo

“…  no need to mow.”

You finish the NEW and IMPROVED SAYING.
It is way into April (9-1/2 hours) and it is snowing outside my window. Not pellets, snow.

… ___________________

My Sunday exploits came back to haunt me Monday morning.  As long as I stayed put I was fine. And after I got moving I was fine. It was that short time between sedentariness and movement that let me know I had used muscles that had not been used in a while.

That combined with a little too much work (think 5 days worth into 3 days due to a 2 day class). I am losing time, and the soreness doesn’t help me bounce into overdrive.  Actually – I usually call these gaining days – when I gain more work than I get done.

And, when I finally left work today it was pelleting. I thought a hard rain at first. Then I noticed that the rain had a bit more substance than just rain. And some of it bounced. Not really hail, not really rain, not really snow – pellets.

And while all of my little life is moving along at vastly different speeds I get to stop to see an award – thanks to a fellow planet person.

Thanks, ababsurdo, and quoting directly here  of course, all awards have guidelines:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate some blogs that show great attitude or gratitude, (i.e. turn lemons into lemonade).
3. Link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

In turn – I nominate The Mother Project, a friends first hand commentary about one form of growing old and away at the same time. She has been so busy with the rest of her life recently that her 2009 efforts have been elsewhere – but still – using her experience to educate the rest of us.

The bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle …

At least today. First Purple Daze soccer game of the season is in the books.
Beautiful day for a soccer game, nice friends, friendly opposition, couldn’t ask for more. Well maybe for a win, but that’s not the only reason I play.

Time to take the car in for its regular oil and other bits appointment.
I don’t miss getting down under the car to do the oil changes. Well, maybe just a little. That stopped when we got a Honda that was too low to the ground to get my head and body under. It was not realistic to change the oil and that was the start of the end of automotive mechanic Jay. Still did some here and there, installed a few radios, but now it is just easier to take it in.

Growing up I thought that you were supposed to take care of your car. I mean to do the work. I changed a few gaskets, replaced a water pump, and more things than I can remember.

When I got the first Honda (1980 Civic Sedan) it was when not every town had Hondas. So I got the book on how to take care of it, starting with removing the engine. I also purchased an extra fan belt and some other things that I forget now. I figured if I got sidelined in a backwater town, a good mechanic and the book combined should be able to get it back on the road. Well – for the next 280,000 miles the only time it dumped me on the side of the road was a blown out tire. Theoretically I could have changed it, but I was not into road work on the side of a freeway during rush hour. After hanging out for about an hour a nice State Patrol person changed it for me, in the drizzle.

UPDATE – it looks like the first family member out of our bracket will be Ashlan (if Oklahoma loses). It would be very difficult to root for OK anyway. My big test is whether to root for my draw, UConn, or go with the home favorite MSU (Rey’s team). The rest of the teams left are Carls.

Saturday day was basically a rain storm.
So I stayed in an did some home work. Pretty boring but has to be done work. So boring I even took a nap in the afternoon. I rarely take naps, but was just out of steam. And I woke up OK. One of the reasons I don’t take naps, is that I never really wake up well.

But we had Saturday night to look forward to.
Seattle Men’s Chorus with Debbie Reynolds.
What fun, with a friend and her aunt
(get better Janet – who was supposed to attend, but got pneumonia instead)

Ashlan – red shoes, but really sore toes on the right foot.

And the rain has subsided, and the Seattle Sounders FC won their second game. [I don’t know how the US team fared – OK I checked 2-2 tie in El Salvador]

On to tomorrow.
Biggest question in Seattle – Is it going to snow in April too?

Actually, I am frequently not of that mind. I love the weekends. I have plans for this weekend (a few, not full). But about this time I am realizing how little of my weeks work got accomplished. At least planned work.

That’s about all I have to say for now.
Except – the sun is out.
Of course it just about caused an accident on the freeway when everyone had to slam on their brakes to figure out where their visor had gone, or locate their sunglasses.
[Lest you think we are firmly in the grip of Spring, I had to scrape all of the windows this morning. To let the sun in and the vision out.]

guess what I have been working on – again.
Making progress – through the school stuff (I think), on to Retirement contributions (why?), but I still have a few forms I haven’t “used” yet.

This week had a rather interesting start.
I woke up to the radio, as I do every day.
Then I turned off the radio, as I do on the weekends (unless I have to get up)
After a few minutes I said to Carl, “It’s Monday isn’t it?”
I am not sure he answered, but I turned the radio back on.
I even got up just a few minutes later. (I have been known to actually fall back to sleep even with the radio playing. That is why the old, black and white TV is connected to a timer to turn on a bit later. I could probably sleep through the TV too, but the cacophony of the radio and TV is enough to get me out of bed.

I blame this trying to sleep in on the late night trip fueled by a Coke. I have not had a soda for a while, and a Coke for even longer. But I felt like I needed caffiene and that was the offering at hand in the small shop in the dorm.

And yesterday, please note that I did not call Inez/Gene/Bubs the Octo-Mom.