Another Backyard Friend

I had some towels drying in the sun earlier this summer, and a huge dragonfly stopped by for a visit.  I couldn't believe how close it let me get without flying away. 

The Garbage Disposal of Death

I really hate it when the little plastic caps from soda bottles fall into the garbage disposal.  I usually don't even know they're in  there until I turn it on and hear the familiar sound of plastic bouncing around in the blades.  It sounds particularly unnerving when the blades actually happen to snag the sides of the cap and attempt to chew it up.


Every time I have to stick my poor, soft, easily-mangled hand in there to pull the offending cap out, I can feel the skin on the back of my neck start prickling. Visions of The Amityville Horror flash into my head as I remember the scene where something gets dropped into the garbage disposal (an engagement ring probably).  They dutifully use duct tape to secure the garbage disposal switch into the off position - Safety First! - and then the guy heroically shoves his hand in there to retrieve the ring.  And then I watch in horror as the switch powers through the duct tape and into the on position and said guy is now sporting a massive trauma from his stump of a wrist.  Blurgh!


Do I really need to get that cap out of there?  Maybe if I ignore it, it will just go away.  It's not really that noisy is it?  Maybe no one will notice.  I can always just turn up the volume on the TV, right?

Exercise is Dangerous to My Health

A few weeks ago I started back up with an exercise routine. I'd been way too lazy for way too long and it was really working out nicely this time. Instead of doing everything on my own and getting bored or in a rut, I started going to a friend's house. He and several of his friends had already been working out regularly in the evenings and I joined in with the group.

Sam is in great shape and really loves working out. He really ought to be a personal trainer. He leads our group and we never know what to expect when we show up in his garage. We do it all: weight-lifting, circuit training, sports drills, kickball, yoga, running, etc. I'm usually lucky if I can move the next day. But I love not having to decide myself what to do, I love having such a large variety of activities, and I love that I know Sam won't ever let me slack off. The time just seems to fly by, no matter how badly I'm pouring sweat and huffing and puffing!

But sadly, today turned out to be a not-so-good day. Today was "game day" which meant we played a game of some sort. I voted for Frisbee, which I love with a passion. It ended up being Frisbee Football, which I totally suck at. Somewhere between the transition from plain old Frisbee to Frisbee Football, I managed to pull a muscle in my right thigh. At least that's what it feels like. I don't even have any awesome story to go with the injury. It's just a sad little statement of fact. It happened during a sort of running duck walk attempt to snag the Frisbee as it hit the ground a few feet in front of me. How lame! But I did manage to get a touchdown with said injury, although after that it went from a fairly mild "maybe I can just stretch it out" boo-boo to a "holy crap, that hurts!" boo-boo.

I'm now reduced to hobbling around the house. Although "hobbling" implies a level of mobility I'm not quite in possession of at the moment. I'm hoping ibuprofen, BioFreeze, and an ice pack will have me back to normal by tomorrow's evening workout. Renee's got Turbo Jam DVDs and I want to play too!

Anybody got any miracle remedies?

A Hint of Fall

After a long, hot summer I'm really glad to have a few nights where the temperatures drop below roasting.  Every chance I get I turn the AC off and open the windows so I can finally have some fresh air in the house and enjoy the cooler temperatures.  It's a shame they don't hang around any longer than they do.  This is the time of year that I get to enjoy these teasing hints of fall and long for autumn when I enjoy the weather all day long, and not just from midnight to dawn.  It won't be long before those days are here. And they'll last about an instant before it starts getting TOO cold and I whine about that instead of whining about the heat.

I love the idea of having four seasons each year - a complete fall, winter, spring and summer.  Down here it seems we skip spring and fall and just have a quick transition from summer to winter.  I'd love to live in a small town somewhere that has a nice crisp fall, with changing leaves and fall festivals complete with hay rides, bonfires, pumpkin patches and all that fun stuff.  But that same magic place would probably have horribly long, cold, snowy winters.  Yuck!  Snow is okay once in a blue moon so long as it doesn't last more than a day or two and doesn't happen every year.  But every winter, all winter?  No thanks!