Category: Life

Garden

This morning I spent two hours in the courtyard while Jack put down more pavers. In addition to helping him, I pulled weeds and fantasized about one of “these weed burners.”:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41603 Although the rocks and barrier cloth probably kept some weeds from growing, it wasn’t the sort of hundred per cent solution for which I was hoping. I am not sure I would have the nerve to use the weed burner myself, though I could probably carry around the tank while Jack used it. I rather got behind on the pulling up weeds during the hot spell, but I think the situation is under control again.

Blackout

In World New York, Grant Barrett writes:

This is what I encountered during my walk from 35th Street and Madison in Manhattan to Eckford and Nassau Streets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Broken

The past few times I have cleaned house, or attempted to, I have wondered whether I am getting too fussy. The vacuum cleaner just didn’t seem to be picking stuff up like it should. Surely it had worked better in the past. I changed the bag, and the suction from the hose (which can be removed and used independently) seemed to be working just fine. I turned it over and attempted to clean out the intake, which did not seem to be fouled. I noticed a lock, and removed the bottom plate. A belt fell out. The rubber band that makes the beater turn had broken. Today’s quest will be to find the belt. Jack says that he had run into the problem once before.

It is impossible to get up hair when the beater doesn’t work. And the two dogs shed a lot of hair.

A nice walk ruined

I’ve played one game of golf in my life. Many years ago, a friend who played golf wanted to take Jack to the ritzy, public golf course on Palos Verde. She didn’t want them to be put with another couple to make a foursome, so I got drafted. I thought I did fairly well for someone who had never held a driver before, and had only played putt-putt golf a few times. But it didn’t go down on my list of things I was desperate to try again.
Continue reading A nice walk ruined

International PGA Tour event in Castlerock

Jack has volunteered to help at the International, a PGA Tour event that is being held in a nearby town. Since he got some passes, I will be going up tomorrow. I’ve never watched any professional golf before. I am glad that I checked the site, since I learned that cameras are not permitted.

Quote of the day

My goodness. Google Alert just informed me that my name came up on qotd, one of the quote of the day sites. The quote was Art is too much fun to be left only to those who are good at it. I used this in my email signature block for years before I decided my signature was getting too complicated.

(Zempt gets very cranky when you try to reference a deleted weblog.)

Dogs

I can’t believe that between the time we moved to Texas in June 1990 to the time we moved to Colorado in November 1992, we acquired five dogs. We had been without a dog for many years, and we sort of went overboard when we finally had the space. We had gone back down to zero for a month before we acquired Dudley, our Rottweiler cross, and Lody, our smooth Collie a few months later. Somewhere in the course of five dogs, we had decided two dogs were quite enough.

I have been remembering what it was like to have a large pack because we do again, temporarily. My sister-in-law is traveling, and her regular dog sitter had other plans, so Lily and Lightning are staying with usfor ten days.
Continue reading Dogs