writingwomyn may collaboration

may 2006 assignment

What is your biggest fear (rational or irrational)? Describe it in detail: how does it start and manifest? Are other people aware of it? If there's a technical name for your phobia, give it. If not, make one up!

Have no fear.
Ha.
Well I am afraid of heights. That's pretty straight forward - high places frighten me. Acrophobia. Eh, big deal.

So what - did you want an irrational fear, perhaps a more interesting fear?
Oh.
OK.
Welp - its...

Water.
But no...it's not that simple.
I am not afraid of swimming or drowning or sharks in the water- not that kind of fear of water.
Its actually... using water. Yeah. Running water - out of the tap.
Into the drains, out into the septic, out into sewers, out to where ever it goes.

I suppose, hmm, I am afraid of running out? I am not really sure.

But I am afraid of people using too much water. This actually scares me. I mean really... I get moments of panic.

Like while showering, I think of all the people showering. Imagine an apartment building in Manhattan, may be 50 stories tall - how many people are showering, or flushing or brushing or running the dishwasher...
O...M...G... that is sooo much water. Just running.

It scares the crap out of me.
Go figure.

There, so now you know.



the fear of running water is Potamophobia. altho this doesn't capture the essence of my particular twist on this phobia.

its hot

I love New England.
I have heard (altho I am still sequestered in my warm, dark cubicle) that it is actually HOT outside.

I hear people walking around the halls bitching and complaining. I suppose these are the same folks who were upset with the cold last week.
You just can't please some people.

As for me, I rode in this morning with the top down and the wind in my hair.

Specifically ...the wind in my hair is something I will need to blog more about.

Friday

tip-o-day

Always wear something 'supportive' under your tutu.

monetarily frustrated...

and I have p.m.s.

consider yourself warned

Maintenance

My energetic wife and I had the last two days off from work. Since we are not taking a vacation this year (have I mentioned recently that we are sending Ferri$ to college) we like to just take some time off together and putter around the house and yard.
While I was out raking the pea stone around the patio yesterday (yes… you need to rake your pea stone), I came up with an idea for a new HGTV show.

“How to maintain your new expensive landscape that was just installed by a design team, landscape crew and battalion of laborers if you can’t afford a full time gardener.”

Have you ever seen these landscaping shows? The ones where they put in pools, and ponds with fish, and patios that fill the back yard – surrounded by trees and exotic perennials from around the globe. Then they do those before and after shots and the place looks phenomenal …like for a week. Do you have any idea what it takes to maintain this look? Well you better not plan to be spending your time sipping cocktails by your new Coy pond – you’re gonna be doing a lot more than raking pea stone.

Friday

tip-o-day

Well, it’s been 6 weeks since the 1st fertilizer application, and it’s now time for more.
This is one of my favorites – weed-n-feed.
This wonderful concoction will rid you of all those nasty dandelions, and many other icky broad leafed weeds. Because weed-n-feed contains herbicide there are some important points to note about its application.

First, the lawn must be moist when you apply. This allows the herbicide to stick to the leaves and work systemically. You can water your lawn before application, or if you have a big yard, its easier to simply apply early in the morning while the lawn is still wet with dew.
The other important factor is that you don’t want the herbicide to wash off the leaves to quickly – so apply when rain is not expected for at least 24 hours.
Be careful around flower beds with this application, as it will damage some desired plants.

If you followed both steps 1 and 2, in just a week or two you will start to see noticeable differences in your lawn. You may see people slowing down as they drive by to admire the deep green, weed free expanse of grass at your house, be sure to wave – because remember, it’s all about the curb appeal.

not to worry

My adoring wife will be home tomorrow.
As far as I can tell all of the other adults in the home are still thriving, albiet a bit thinner.

to follow up

yesterday's comments were so funny - I simply have to respond.

First, I should point out that part of the wonderful irony of yesterday's pic is that there are NO 'children' in our house.
Currently the Daughter and the adorable bo' are staying with us (due to some renovations). So, yes our numbers have increased and poor me, here I am home alone with all the ...adults.

I can't think of any funnier thing than to have my hardworking wife come home to find a newly installed stripper pole in the living room (is that the typical home-installation location?).

You may want to know that I generally do sing out in the back yard, often spinning around with my arms outstrected, sometimes in the rain. It's one of the reasons I am only allowed to have Cosmos when I am staying home now.

Welp, off I go to have a drink, maybe with some jam and bread.

under control

My doting wife is away on business this week. It’s been a very long time since she has traveled on business and she is somewhat concerned as to our survival for the next couple/few days.

Ever since her career change, from executive to devoted Italian mother we no longer know how to fend for ourselves. It may as well be magic – we all get out of the house on time in the morning with hot coffee and our lunches packed, there is always a meal prepared when we come home, the cabinets are well stocked and the kitchen is always tidy.

I told her not to worry… that I would have everything under control this week.

more excitement...

This HAS been a big weekend.

And now... to fawn over the other child.
May I present...
Older Daughter in her third graduation event (seen in chronolocal order below)

Older daughter graduates high school in 1999.



Older daughter getting her undergrad degree in 2003
Bachelor of Arts in Psychological Studies, with an Art minor

And today... older daughter getting her masters degree
Master of Arts in Art Therapy


and with her adorable bo'



stay tuned - we have heard there may be more graduations to go to...

just because I am so excited

wow.
We just got back from seeing the kids off to the prom.
The house we met at was colossal, they had a freaking 4 car garage… (just take a look at the staircase in the foyer) - there were two limos parked outside, a Hummer (Ferris's ride) and an Escalade.
They had about 20 couples there, all spiffied up for the big night.
Here are a couple shots for you.



some of the girls


some of the guys


the ride

Friday

tip-o-day

When ironing delicates – such as ties, or say…rented tuxedoes, be sure to use a cloth in between the iron and the wrinkled item. Some non-natural fabrics don’t react well to heat, and the cloth will also protect against any discolored water marks that your iron may leave behind.
Use a lightweight cloth with a tight weave, such as a hankie – never use a towel.

Yes, its prom night!

it doesn't get any better

My adorable wife heard it was going to rain for something like 10 more days... this morning while I was sipping my coffee before work and looking out the back window I saw her wandering around the yard in her robe and slippers, bending down here and there to poke seeds into the wet ground.
I love this life.

It's always something

As Ferris and I are standing in the rain last night in a failed attempt to jump his car in the high school parking lot.

weese: I hate cars.
ferris: I hate computers, at least with a car you've got a shot at fixing it.

~~~
Gotta go.
Heading back to the high school parking lot to take 'a shot at fixing it'.
But really... I would much rather be sitting her in my dry, warm cubicle with my computer taken apart all over the desk.

smile

I came to a stop sign on my way to work this morning, and a woman in a gigantic SUV came to the intersection on my right. The fact that she was in a gigantic SUV really has no bearing on this story... at least nothing plainly seen.

We reached the stop sign at about the same time, and so we both started to creep ...sorta feeling out the situation. I quickly smiled broadly and waved her on, as if to say - how silly, silly me, silly us, please be my guest.

We could clearly see eachothers faces, I am sure she saw my gesture as well as my expression.
She turned her head back to the road - stone cold and carried on.
The human-ness of the situation lost.
How sad for her.

Discrimination

I can’t believe it…but it’s true – I discriminate. It became apparent to me yesterday when my lovely wife and I were enjoying the late afternoon sun on the patio.
We noticed a cute little chipmunk appear from our stone smoker (the stone smoker is from the 30’s when people used smoke pigs in the back yard, these days it just seems to harbor chipmunks).
We were delighted to see the little guy, perhaps with a mild undercurrent of irritation. You see, we love chipmunks – because they are cute, so we are happy they have been able to move back into our yard since our cat passed away last year. (our cat kept the population of all rodents to a minimum, including bunnies). However – the population has become awfully high – too much of a good thing you might say.

So there we were, watching this cute little creature – waiting and watching, trying to figure out if the dog was aware of him or not – when suddenly the little guy jumps off the rock like he had been bitten in the ass. And… in fact, I think he had.
Right behind him a rat popped out from the stones, and our cute little chipmunk ran for his life. Or so it seemed.
A RAT! Egad!
Now …if I am not mistaken – rats and chipmunks are both rodents. So why then do I so despise rats and not chipmunks? Is it the cuteness factor; is it the rats’ bad reputation?
I found myself trying to figure out how to kill the rats without killing the chipmunks… reviewing the possible methods of their demise – hmm, rat poison, rat traps, a new cat???
However, all of these options would endanger our friendly little chipmunks. The only sure fire method I could come up with was to sit-in-wait for them and pick them off one by one.
My spiritual wife is looking at me in horror as I verbalized all this... I really do need to remember not to speak while I am thinking things through.

I will keep the blog posted with my rat tracking progress. If anyone has any rat ridding suggestion – please comment.

May 4, 1988

Today our baby boy becomes a man.



Today he will do what man can do.
Buy a lottery ticket, a porn magazine and a pack a'smokes.

Ha!

This makes me happy on so many levels.

Video: Little women in big SUVs
(source: CNN.com 3May06)

a little help...

writingwomyn april collaboration

april 2006 assignment (a little late…oops)
it's springtime. what do you like best about this time of year? include pictures if you like.

Can you find my lovely wife and The Daughter in this picture? (click to expand).
I will give you a hint… the photo is taken from out beyond the fence (yes...the fence for the FREE dog) in the backyard looking toward the house, the building you see is the back of our garage, the house sits a couple hundred feet past that and to the left (its obscured by trees from this angle). See them now?
I noticed this view while I was cutting the grass over the weekend. This speaks Spring to me.
I have mentioned before how much peace it brings to me to have lived in the same spot for 20 years. It is because of this that I know this picture is late April.
Of course there is the obvious… clearly the trees have not fully leafed out yet, and the grass has that wonderful vibrant green that the winter nitrogen (and buckets of Scott’s products) have brought to the lawn. But I also know that my wife and daughter are sitting in that specific location as to soak up the last rays of the spring sun for the afternoon.
I know that they are sitting on chairs that have been hastily dragged out, because the table and patio umbrella have not yet made it out of winter storage. The angle of the light also tells me this is a spring afternoon. There would be similar shadows on a warm summer evening but the angle is more north than it would be later in the season. The long shadows will change as the summer sun takes a higher path over our house. The color of the light is different too. I know this from way back here, I would know it if I were sitting with my wife and daughter chatting away the last hour of sun, I would know it if I were gazing out the kitchen window while washing a dish.
I revel in knowing this.
I can also tell from this view that is nearly time for dinner.
Which of course immediately makes me hungry.
I am happy.
I like spring.