Hooo-Yaaahh

They're so pleasant when they're asleep.

I don't know when this was taken, but he sure seems to be enjoying himself.

Cindy's safe and sound at her folks right now. I'm leaving on Saturday - the house is big and lonely. I've been doing some yard work and cleaning, but it's definitely less hectic without kids around. E-mail me and let me know what you're all doing so I can arrange to meet up while I'm out - current phone numbers might be good too, since I've done a poor job of keeping those current.

Word.

I Am Alone

As most of you know, Cindy has left me. She packed her bags, took the kids, and went...But I meet up with her in a week for a much needed (and hopefully deserved) vacation. And boy howdy is our house big, quiet, and empty. It's quite unusual now to not have kids under foot. Those of you who knew me as the perennial bachelor of three years ago may find it hard to imagine, but I hardly know what to do with myself. I've embarked on some cleaning, need to do some more DIY around the house, and would love to do some yard work - if I could only stop sneezing for 5 seconds. I think I burst a blood vessel in my eye. What purpose is it that allergies serve?

Our hot, humid weather has returned, and with it the pollen is out in force. On Saturday the drive from here to Albany and back was made all the more beautiful by the gentle blue overtone of mountains and the state capital in their respective distances - all caused by the insane amount of moisture in the air. If I run the ceiling fans downstairs at full tilt and open windows on either side of the house, it's comfortable on the couch in the evening. But going upstairs to bed is like stepping into a sauna.

Here's some pictures - limited supply, Cindy has the camera. I don't know how much posting I'll be able to do whilst in Warshington, but I should have pictures of the trip when all is said and done.

Word


Adorable, idn't he?

Chomp!

To give some scale to the drill bits I posted pictures of a while back...

The angry look...

Watch out! He'll get cha! That rascool. Fortunately I don't think the thing could drill through butter - I tried it on some wood and it didn't do very well.

(Insert song lyrics here - I'm listening to jazz right now, so I don't have any catchy choruses running through my head like most of the time - skeediddlyboowop)

Uncle Saddam

I think maybe there's a sitcom in here that's just dying to get out...

Monday, Monday

I haven't posted for a while, I know. Connor managed to screw up our home computer for us. No home PC = no pics online = no posts. Also work's been slow = no sorting = no sedentary hours watching cells fall into tubes = no posts. I have fixed the computer myself - I'd tell you what was wrong, but it's probably means I'm stupid that it took me so long to fix it. I still have no new pictures, but I'll try to remedy that.

Father's day - wife and kids got me some nice things. Made me breakfast in bed. Went fishing with Ethan. Felt like a schlub - Mother's day I got Cindy chocolates and flowers, probably a day late. And she had to get up early to give the baby "MamaBaba." So we went fishing, and we both have nice farmer's burns to show for it.

Well. Keith has an interesting post over at his blog you should read. I took an ichthyology class in College, so I've done some of this stuff on a much, much smaller scale. But it can be fun, interesting stuff to do.

If there'’s a bustle in your hedgerow
Don'’t be alarmed now,
It'’s just a spring clean for the may queen.
What the hell was Robert Plant carrying on about?

It's Hotter Than A...

Geez, it's been muggy in my neck of the woods. I can't go outside and do much, because sweat runs out of like wine does from that magical fountain I have in my basement. Inside isn't much better, but at least we have ceiling fans to move the "air" around. The gardens are growing well - most of the plants are up. I need to replace my tomato plants, though. I saw someone with them planted in 5 gallon buckets during an extended walk yesterday, and that looks like a pretty good plan of action. We need a lawn mower - yesterday evening I opened the back door and distinctly heard monkeys chattering and the sound of far off headhunter drums. Seriously though, it's higher than my knee in many places, I don't even know if the average lawn mower could handle it.

And now the air conditioning in our lab is off again. I bid you adieu.



The INH I'm on for the thing I shouldn't talk about is starting to mess with me a bit, I think. At least there's no GI upset...Yet. Hooray for me!

If drinkin' coffee's your idea of really cool
You can't expect no crazy chick to notice you

The Things I Find At This Wacky House...

What Are We? v1.2

Okay, I've got some pictures of the assorted odds and ends that were left in the shop. Some of the things I'm about to post I know the function of, some I don't have a clue, some are just odds and ends that will be thrown out. Here we go.



Bits & Pieces...

See anything useful? I'll send it to you!

Que?

I am large and metal! I am large and Me-uh-tal!

Trepan drills for elephants? What other use could they possibly have - in my house, anyways.

I don't have anything but a few crooked nails to store my tools. Why yes, those are old pairs of my underwear in the picture.

Seriously. Let me know what some of these odds and ends are, so I can use them when I build my time machi...Erm, ultra lig...Ur, lawn mower.

Here's the wood eating baby!

He kept mumbling around it. Adorable, I tell you, absolutely adorable.

Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey.
Gold star to the fist person to name the album that comes from.

My Weekend Was Fine, Thank You

And I have pictures to prove it. The weather was fine, the gardens still planted. We need a lawnmower, and I'll be weeding from now until the snow falls. Here ya go:


Hi. We're orchids, aren't we?

Are we apple blossoms?

We smell good. Say, is that a smudge on the camera lens, or have all of the picture subjects so far been imbued with a saintly aura?

The boy and the perennials.

We were tomato plants. Then we were given too little water. Or too much. Woe to the tomatoes!

Lovely Brandon's lovely wife, showing her love in lovely loving ways.

I really need to get up to more interesting things.

Sorry.

Jai guru deva om.

Friday, 2:00pm, Where's My Weekend?

Yeah, another slow week, so there haven't been many posts. Silly pHd's and there cancellations. Of course today Simon's out of town and there's a million and one things going on in the lab. But I've got to be over here at the sorter, so everyone out their in the internets gets to enjoy my presence for a few minutes.

Does anyone know much about tuhmaytuhs? I had some nice starts that I transplanted to the garden that are dying slow and agonizing deaths. I've kept them watered. It's been warm. They get plenty of sunshine. The cats (there's now at least three that hang around the house, still only one that craps in the shop) don't seem to be eating or peeing on them. Hmmmm...

Looks like a slow weekend's in store for me. At least the weather's supposed to be decent, so I won't get rained on while I tearfully pull the dead tuhmaytuh plants out of the ground.

Here's a plethora of pictures from the last week, yo.

HULK SMASH!!!

He didn't keep them on long enough for us to get a picture from the front. He put the first one on by himself, with no prompting from anyone. It was funny.


Before...

After...

And the weirdo that rode by while I was doing it...

Apparently Memorial Day was the Couch Potato Bike Tour of TL. Those two guys rode past while I was trying to improve the silly walk thingy (I hate hauling rocks) to the front door. They had tons of gear piled on their bikes, were pudgy, and relatively sweat free. Which leads me to believe they hadn't peddled far - they went by 2-3 times. I would have taken a larger picture - because it was humorous to me - but I didn't want to piss them off with the flash. Like ridiculing them on my blog wouldn't.


He can stand on his own now, walking's right around the corner. I, however, can't operate a flash.

He can also get into lots of things...

Okay, that's all for now.
Hasta la pasta.

Also, I went to a specialist yesterday for the thing I'm not supposed to talk about. He was exactly what a small town doctor should be - large glasses, bow tie, slacks that were just a bit too short, told me way too much about what I was there for. Long story short, 6 mo's of antibiotics, possibly meaning no beer for that time - mixed reviews. Doctor said "Drinking's okay, alcoholics are the ones contracting TB, do you think being on antibiotics would stop them?" But everyone else I've talked to says no to the ethanol whilst the antibiotics you take. I've even heard that one of the ingredients is the same thing they give to boozehounds so they get sick if they touch the stuff. We'll see. Don't blame me if I'm cranky while I'm in Washington, blame the absence of barley, malt, and hops...

Hasta la pasta.