mellow-drama

a hell of a week

Sorry for the long departure from the blog, it's been a hell of a week. My cousin Jason, the son of my dad's next youngest brother and the best of us all, was killed in a terrible work accident last week. I've been away dealing with family things, and then on the eve of the visitation became ill and spent three days projectile vomitting. In the wake, I seem to have run out of opinions, or perhaps the interest in forming any. So I think I'll take another week from the blog and maybe by then things will have returned to normal.

I kid you not.

Headline: "Cheney in charge; Bush colonoscopy under way."

My first thought? I hope they find his head.

Your thought for the weekend.

Male belly dancers.

Pottermania

No spoilers at the link, but a way to see the entire book online right now. As for me? I'm waiting til Friday night.

Are we ever going to get past this?

The Jocks v. Nerds theory of libertarian class conflict. I'm not sure if I buy this, but it sure is fun to read.

H/t to Instapundit.

Back from canning

We put up 18 quarts of pickled beets and 28 quarts of green beans over the weekend. With four adults and two kids working on it, things went surprisingly well, especially since I thought to bring the modular cooking system. We set that baby up on the front porch and did all of the processing on its three large burners, so the house stayed (relatively) cool and the kitchen far less cluttered. The weather cooperated by cooling off on Saturday, and the peach tree that shades the porch helped as well. I have to say that we must have snapped and strung beans on Saturday night for at least four hours. I was proud of both the girls for working as hard as they did, especially picking beans down in the garden in the blazing sun.

We also found time for swimming and four-wheeling and shopping at the mall, so overall a very satisfactory weekend! Now my week consists of looking forward to the release of Harry Potter on Friday night (I'll be posting an open comment thread Friday night for people to discuss the book as they read) and looking back fondly to the family sushi night we had last night. My dad was strongly influenced by me watching Alton Brown make sushi the other day, so we decided to head to the Drunken Fish, which purveys the best sushi I've had in the midwest. Yum! Tonight: martinis at Carmine's.

That's it!

I'm moving to Seattle.

I'm going to the Ozarks this weekend to can beets and green beans at my grandma's, so I'll take pictures and report back. I'm learning how to make pickled beets, too, I hope!

Slow News Day

Civic structures that resemble genitalia shock a town in (wait for it) Oregon.

Only on the West coast

A friend of mine passed along this article with the comment, "I thought this kind of thing only happened in cartoons!"

Hot! Hot! Hot!

I went camping at Rend Lake last weekend with my three sisters and some friends. I think a good time was had by all, despite bug bites, sunburns, and serious heat & humidity. We'd never been camping there before, and won't be going back - to that campground, anyway. We found another, much nicer one close by on the same lake. But it was a lot of fun anyway. We set off fireworks and the kids ran around with sparklers. We tested out the new modular cooking system and the camping table. We had a drumming circle late on Saturday night. We spent all day at the beach on Saturday, baking in the sun but staying cool in the water, and enjoying our lunch on the cool grass under the trees. Sunday, after scouting the other campgrounds, we headed back after a stop at the Cracker Barrel so the kids could enjoy their favorite - fruit pancakes and hot chocolate.

Yesterday, all I wanted to do was go to bed after work, but I cleaned the house and put away gear instead, and then ended up staying up too late catching up on Big Love (which is getting really exciting this season!). Lately I've been playing World of Warcraft, and my poor Night Elves probably miss me because I haven't played for more than a week. (But it's not an addiction - I can stop any time.)

Tomorrow is L.A.'s birthday, may she have a hundred more; and also the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Can't wait to see it; I'm taking the whole family. And in another week, the last Harry Potter book! You can expect a review within 36 hours, I imagine, especially since it comes out on a Saturday.