Black spots and domestic thoughts

After Chloe's little mishap on Saturday (details coming soon from Chloe herself), I have been calming myself by puttering around the house and yards.

I am not big on yard work, as anyone who has ever visited my house can attest. But it's not looking too horrible right now (except for The Jungle, our most prominent flowerweedbed). Before Frank left, we had a family day of weeding and weed-whacking (the latter known here as "killing aliens," since wielding the weed-whacker reminds us of Ripley's pose when she mowed down aliens with her futuristic machine gun). I have supplemented this effort with some additional weeding, and today I mowed the back with our newly repaired lawn mower. Phew! Hard work! I have a lovely little blister to show for it.

The rose bush is covered with black spots but flourishing nonetheless. If my puttering mood continues, I'll research what's causing the problem.

The original bout of weeding was inspired by our wish to pull the tent trailer into the yard and set it up. This is done, and we've barely seen Chloe since. She calls it her apartment and comes in now and then to "rent" a movie or grab some food. With the Golden Ones coming up for the 4th, she might have some company out there soon.

I've also been contemplating a few changes to the kitchen, since Frank isn't here to defend his territory. It doesn't seem quite fair, so I'll probably resist. Probably.

We're starting to think about starting to plan for starting to get ready for the 4th of July festivities and parade out at the beach. My mom and Tom and Chris do most of the work, of course, but our efforts gathering pirate gear and tables and chairs and coolers and potluck contributions and sunscreen and fireworks are measurable. It's a drop in the bucket of preparation, but I dread and procrastinate over it just the same.

And then it's my big start day. My boss (or maybe he's just my coworker now...?) sent me a little map that shows where my very own office will be in the new building. Pretty exciting! Except that I won't get to move in there until the 21st.