Month: March 2003

We’ve still got lots of snow piles here and there, so full-blown yardwork is out (I mean, we’re talking lots of much out there…) However, I got to do one of my favorite tasks this morning, in the 60 degree sunshine, in a short-sleeved shirt.

When this development was built, the slope of the land provided natural drainage down toward the railroad tracks. When 40 houses were put in, obviously the land was leveled, and that water wasn’t able to flow. As one of the first houses at my end of the development, that means my property gets very very wet in the spring. It’s not classified as wetlands (because before they put houses in it wasn’t) but man, right now it is. When the house was built the builder had a good idea this was going to happen and he put a drain in out there. My [favorite] job is to go out there and make sure the drain is clear of leaves and debris. Obviously there are a ton of leaves out there simply because it’s not cleared. Well I had noticed this week that there was a LOT of water out there, and I made a mental note to go clear off the drain. I’m so glad I did….That water had to be a foot deep OVER the drain! I moved the leaves and it started swirling down. Now this won’t get it totally dry, and I will end up going back out there in a week or two to make sure there’s a good flow from the absolute back of the property to the drain (because yes, a contractor built a house abutting my property that drains into my yard, on a technicality that it drains out of a pipe maybe a foot on THEIR yard first. Which is sloped and the water obviously comes right into my yard.)

By summer it’s usually dry, but I don’t really want a quarter of an acre of standing water in my backyard all spring, if you know what I mean. We got over 100 inches of snow, plus some extra rain lately. The ground is still frozen and the water has no place to go. If you have a canoe, come on by!

Click thumbnails for larger (100k-ish) images.

My new daughter-in-law is still hanging around. Apparently she slept in the spare room last night. She hung around with us in the car today but at some point she must have wandered off because he hasn’t talked about her or to her for 5 or so hours now.

Even the sky is sad today. It’s the first really dreary overcast day in a long while. It looks like it should rain any second but not a drop has fallen all day. I think it’s God’s way of telling me he is disappointed with us. As he should be. When I read stories of world leaders saying this is a black mark on our history, I agree with them. I agree that the person who claimed ownership of the Oval Office has his own agenda, American citizens and the World be-damned. I did not vote for that man. He does not represent me. He does not speak for me. And hell, he doesn’t even care that he doesn’t. I have lost all respect for him, period.

That being said, my prayers are with each and every person whose life he has put on the line. For the parents and husbands and wives who had to kiss someone for the last time as they were shipped out to the desert. I couldn’t bear it if it were my son, and yet I would have to. Our President wouldn’t have gone, I’m sure his Daddy or his Daddy’s friends would have gotten him out of this, just like they got him out of everything else. I wonder if he’d have been so quick to go in guns blazing if his daughters were out there with an artillery group. I seriously doubt it.

Maybe if his facial expressions didn’t imply that he was bullshtting us every time he gets on television, I’d have started to buy in to the need for this. But we get the little monkey face with the half smirk and I feel like he’s giving me a good old boy act pretending to be my friend while making rabbit ears behind my head. It enrages me.

So that’s my post on this atrocity. I see Iraq may have set fire to 3 or 4 oil wells. Ooopsie Daisy Georgie, that’s gotta be a big ouchie considering you’re so tied to the oil industry that you sweat it from your pores. Do I sound bitter? I am. I’m embarrassed to be an American today. We are the aggressors. We are the bad guys. We dropped the first bomb.

After showing me the “ninja dance” this evening, Junior added “You know why we do that kick at the end? Because the grown-ups only want to see the cheerleaders.”

He also introduced me to his invisible girlfriend Julia. When I said hello to her, he informed me that he doesn’t speak for her, she does her own talking. This should be a quiet evening.

*newsflash* Oh, wait, it isn’t his girlfriend…it’s his WIFE! He told me the reason I didn’t get to go to the wedding is because “you weren’t invited.” Wow, I already hate my daughter-in-law and I just met her.

Junior announced to me this morning that he had to go to work, get into his ninja costume and do the ninja dance (that his boss had taught him) with his girlfriend the cheerleader, Julia.

I had no idea he’d finally found a job.