Gosh, but it’s gotten quiet around here lately! I’ve been swamped getting ready for the house full of people we’ll be getting over Christmas. Dusting, vacuuming and meal planning is all well and good, but it’s not inspirational (well, maybe thinking about menus is…). Plus, the news hasn’t been motivating me to spring over to the keyboard to participate in the discussion — I can’t get worked up one way or another about the idea of a Senator Caroline Kennedy (I’d like to see the job go to someone who’s done some dues-paying, but I think she’ll probably do a good job — and if she doesn’t, New Yorkers can vote for someone else in two years). And I’m not stirred to action over the news that Rick Warren will pray — or something — at the inauguration (yeah, the guy can be a douche, but Obama’s right — if we’re all going to try to get along, we’re going to have to try to get along).
But I do have some pictures of the fun we had last week, fixing a sinking, cracking wall in our circa 1914 house…
You’re not going to believe this one.
Last Thursday-into-Friday night, our two bikes (one for me, one for DH), were stolen out of our yard while we slept. I blame a combination of our stupidity and a false sense of security created by the fact that our back yard is surrounded by a 6-foot privacy fence. But we really should have kept the bikes locked up, since anyone watching us coming and going through the driveway gate would have a full view of the fact that we didn’t keep our bikes locked. So, lesson learned there.
This evening was National Night Out. If you’ve ever been to one, you know it’s an event were neighbors get together, in the neighborhoods, with local police and fire fighters and mingle for an evening of camaraderie, improved familiarity, and better relations. Also if you’ve ever been to a National Night Out, you probably realize that it’s the last place you’d want to be with a bike that had been stolen from one of the neighbors who was standing right there, chatting with some cops. But sometimes crazy things do happen, and … well, I now have my bike back. No word yet on DH’s bike…
Sorry it’s been quiet here today. I had a busy one. After laying low for the better part of a week (between the jet lag and an upper respiratory thing I caught on the trip home, I’ve felt pretty sorry lately), I actually had some energy today, so I got quite a bit done (the house really needed a lot of attention!) and then DD (who’s home between the spring semester and her summer travels) and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar this evening (it was a good show — Ted Neely can still hit those shrieking high notes!).
Wow. What a long sentence! ;-D
The temperature never got over 70°. The sun was out, with a bit of cloudiness left over from last night’s rain. DH and I picked up some plants at our local garden center and spent the day in the yard, playing in the dirt. We planted flowers and shrubs, repotted plants, hung bird feeders and bat boxes, cleaned, dug, watered and swept.
It was a great, fun day.
I’m kinda sore.
For all you people out there who are still stuck in winter, don’t despair! Spring is right around the corner. Here in Chattanooga, it’s solidly here. Below are a few images from around town in the past week. And after the jump, I have some pictures from the yard here at Chez 10K…
Today is (was, actually, at 5:08am UTC, which I think was
just after midnight eastern time) the Vernal Equinox!
Well, spring has come to Tennessee and it was a beautiful weekend! We’ve been bike riding, walking, mowing the lawn (buying a new lawn mower)… we attended a wedding, I participated in a caucus to select a candidate for county sheriff… and the dog is back to her old self again.
The dark lining inside this silver cloud is that now that I’m not trapped at home with a sick dog in the midst of dreary winter weather, I can’t obsessively watch the 24-hour news and read the blogs trolling for stories and political news.
Sorry for the quietude. I’ll try to get caught up and post some pictures soon…
Even though there’s still plenty of news (especially for a Sunday), I think I need to take the day off from politics. I’m sure some of you are tired of it and I’m way tired and not quite ready for Monday yet.
I did have a good time at the auction with DH this weekend, where we picked up a painting, a sofa bed and a cool box of hats (for DD). Getting the sofa up the stairs was quite the adventure but proved, once again, that we both have decent bone density (if I had any osteoporosis, I definitely would have snapped like a twig under the weight of that thing as we struggled to get it around the corner of the landing half-way up the stairs…). I hope you had a good weekend!
DD and I spent the day today driving around North Alabama, which is always fun. It was a fairly colorless day and quite foggy before noon, so it wasn’t a great outing in terms of picture-taking, but it was nice and warm out and the company was good. We’ve both been busy lately, so it was good to spend the time in the car, getting caught up. Plus, I really enjoyed getting out the house for a while — I’ve been pretty cooped up since the dog’s been sick.
The main purpose of our trip was to pick up a kegerator I bought on eBay this week (an upgrade for us). That took us to the upper edge of Huntsville, which looked beautiful this morning as the fog settled into the valleys, below the tops of the area’s hills where the sun was breaking through. While we were in the neighborhood, we also hit Unclaimed Baggage and the Lodge Outlet Store, and we rounded out the day with a really great lunch at a Mexican restaurant (Buena Vista) in Scottsboro, AL.
It was pretty cool for a spontaneous outing.
Well, I’ve been pretty quiet for the past several days, but I have a good excuse: I was swept up in the preparations for today’s visit from John Edwards. We didn’t even know he was coming until Friday afternoon. There was a lot of do to get ready, and a few locals and campaign staffers really pulled out all the stops and put on an amazing rally. My role was quite small in the grand scheme of things, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and over the course of a few days, I got a peak into the real grind of a national campaign.
