Odds & Ends #10
Yesterday I got gutters installed on my house. For about 90 minutes the guys sawed, banged, screwed and hammered, which got Piper stirred up, so it was quite a melee for a while. Quite possibly the least fun money I’ve ever spent, though. Except for that vacuum I bought once. I hate doing floors, and Piper hates when I do them too.
Speaking of banging and screwing around, I spent a good portion of the week putting together a kitchen nook dining set and cursing the “architect” that created the kit. After I finally got the chairs put together and they were still wobbly, got out my screw gun and installed a few extra insurance screws, and now even Fat Bastard couldn’t bring those things down. Satisfaction Level: Mick Jagger.
Tennis did not go so well for me this week — well, for Novak, that is. He spectacularly crashed out in the second round against some journeyman from Italy, and I was chagrined. However, now that Biden has declared that we are officially past the pandemic, hopefully they will open up the borders, and we’ll see Novak in the US this summer.
I have been approved to host an exchange student this coming school year! Right now my student is applying to the local high school, and once they accept her, release the hounds. I will have to brush up on my “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Yes, for the next few months, I am in gestation mode. I’m nesting. Chez Shasta is being transformed into an oasis for a teenager from France. Excitement Level: Pointer Sisters.
This week was Winston’s 14th birthday. Guys, he is getting old. He sleeps and eats two squares a day, goes for his Walk ‘n’ Roll™ and then desultorily sniffs the yard. A highlight of his week is when he spends 15 minutes licking the refrigerator. Today he has his annual exam, and I’m praying they don’t find anything wrong with him other than Old Dog.
Spring Fever has officially sprung. My irises and peonies are blooming! There’s a Home Depot trip in my future to buy dirt and mulch and plants, because my beds look like hell after years of neglect. You can only ride the echinacea train for so long before they get out of control (and boring), so I’m trying some salvia and zinnias and, actually watering my beds for a change. This month my company celebrates the admins for Administrative Professional’s Day (yes, we celebrate all April), and I just got a succulent in the mail from one of the big cheese’s admins that now I have to try to keep alive. Plants, plants, plants!
