Mad dogs and Englishmen

It’s 105 on the deck right now, but nicely in the shade. There is a small breeze blowing, augmented by the ceiling fan over my head.

Four pm and the smiley dog is fed. Tommy, aka Gyrth-boy(got to make his name special), is happy. He is always happy when he is fed on time. Okay, he is just happy being fed.


We got the heavy work done early, knowing that it would be hot today. Little stuff, done in the shade, was all we planned for the rest of day. Wonder Girl picked out a brick red paint for the front door. And while I was busy doing a little concrete patching, she was painting.

On hot days, we try to keep to the simple life. Unlike the folks across the street. They are busy putting up a picket fence on their corner lot. Has to picket, because the little twirps that go to school next door like to sit on the fence. Everyone has always had a simple fence there. Posts and 2x6’s. Great for the miscreants to sit on, and when they sit on it, it eventually breaks. They will be in for a rude awakening when school starts and the points dig into their little butts. I will laugh.

We have a hedge around our front lawn, not good to sit on, but great for the kids to stuff their trash into it. Nothing is perfect. Hedges have to be trimmed, pickets sharpened and painted. Always maintenance to be done.

Two years ago, older brother and his family were visiting. One morning, he looked out the front window and called us all over. “Look at the color they are painting the house across the street!”
And Wonder Girls said, “Oh, that’s only the primer.” As she stared in horror at the mustard-yellow paint being applied.

The next morning, we looked out and saw them painting the trim a yellow-brown. As WG came in, my brother said, “WG, I don’t think it’s the primer.” He laughed and WG winced. “It’s baby-shit-brown!” She declared. WG has a good eye for color.
So we have lived with the mustard house for two years and people we meet tease us about it. “How do you like living across the street from the yellow house?”
“The baby-shit-brown one?: WG asks.

So now they are doing the pickets. The new posts were white, for a day. And we held our breath. The next day the posts became BSB! And we knew all was lost!
Today they are working in the hot sun, screwing on the pickets…painted bright mustard yellow!
Mad dogs!


PS. It’s now dark, 10pm, and 85 degrees outside(and a damp 25% humidity) The house across the street doesn’t look so bad at night.

Sleeping with Darth Vader

When you laugh, the whole world laughs with you.

When you snore, you sleep alone!

That’s what my strange friend DAC says and if you talk to anyone who has a bed partner who snores, they will say the same thing.

In fact, anyone who lives within the same house or apartment complex can say the same thing.

So think of poor Wonder Girl, a light sleeper, stuck with this giant warthog that can shake the house when he snores. And when the snoring stops, so does the breathing. And she waits, and waits, and waits, and then with a gasp, I begin to breath again.

And she tells me she does not know what is worse, the noise of the snoring, or the silence.

And surprise, it really isn’t healthy for you. Or the comely lass trying to sleep at you side. For the poor gal has to do what she can to get you to roll over and sleep on your side, where you don’t snore as much. Now over two hundred pounds of sleeping like the dead warthog does not move easily. Poor Wonder Girl!

Though it may sound funny, there can be serious consequences. The lack of oxygen puts a big strain on the heart and lungs. Plus the constant half waking up to start breathing again robs a person of their deep REM sleep. The result is that they don’t get a good nights sleep and are not at their peak during the day.

So I finally mentioned the problem to my doctor, and quick as a wink, he had me scheduled for a sleep study. The study involves strapping some equipment on and sleeping. It little machine records air intake, heart rate, breathing rate and if you are on your back or side.

Long story short, I have moderate to severe Sleep Apnea. (but only when I sleep on my back) What they suspect happens to me, is that when I am on my back, my breathing passages get blocked by my tongue collapsing. Short of having a nurse sit there all night and turn me over, I need a CPAP machine. It blows a continual stream of air trough my nose and keeps my breathing passages open. With luck, it will enable me to breath well and get a good nights sleep. As will the comely lass that shares my bed.

So now I wait for my appointment to get the machine. And we will see what happens.

Will it be a nice quiet machine? Or will Wonder Girl claim that she is now sleeping with Darth Vader?

Me, or a close facsimile

Nuff said

Second hand Rose

I took Friday off because my sisters were coming over for a shopping trip. I know, ‘woo-hoo’ you say. Well, older sis was up from LA and we have not seen her for a while. Younger sis just lives fifteen miles away, so we see her often.
The shopping trip was not your usual type. We planned to hit the antique and second-hand stores. Nothing specific, but we have ideas. Wonder girl was looking for more old things for the kitchen. The decorations there are late thirties. Old coffee pot, sifter, old cans. We were thinking of maybe an old electric mixer. You can get them on eBay for twenty dollars(plus shipping), we at least know the value.

It always fun to go through these stores and look at the old junk, some of which we own.

By the third store, a break for lunch. We had seen a couple of mixers, but they were sixties models and not quite right. Yes, we can be picky. My sisters found a few little things, Wonder Girl found an old, interesting aluminum coffee pot.
More browsing. Mixing bowl for the mixer run fifteen dollars each, but we have the mixing bowls.

And in the eight or ninth store, we found a nice, 1939 model Sunbeam Mixmaster! It was in excellent shape and actually works! You couldn’t beat the price, $8.50.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the shopping, but the sisters found a few more interesting items, as did WG.
A good, fun day.

So tonight, get out the scrub rags, old toothbrush, spray cleaner and soldering iron. A little scrubbing, dismantling and more scrubbing and the gunk is cleaned off. New cord takes a bit of work, but after an hour and a half, we have a cool looking old mixer on the counter, and it works! Wonder Girl is quite pleased. It is just the old look she wants.

Now I wonder if I should look for the juicer attachment?