Mornin' Peeps!

   My mommy said she'd like to see pictures of the improvements Bob and i have been making to our deck, which i spoke about in my last blog. Maybe you would, too? Whether you do or don't, here are a few :

   First, two shots of the old deck:

   Two shots of how it looked when we were done, and how it looked when we began the re-build two months ago:

   Now, here's what we've done so far:

This is probably the best picture. The deck is now 8'X12', instead of something like 16'X20-something. We still have to put up the slats on the railings. The old piece of lattice is a test to see if it will be a good tomato support. If so, we'll buy a nice new one next year. Bob built a ramp so we can run the wheelbarrow up to stack firewood on the deck in the winter. The garden bed in the left foreground has two plantings of green beans in it, the one behind it has sweet corn.

The front bed has zucchni growning, and the back bed has tomatoes and freebie melon plants that just came up. We don't even know what they are (probably cantaloupes), and they'll probably get way to big to leave in, but we'll see. In the background you can see the old glider swing we had on the old deck. Bob made a new tin roof for it to replace the original rotted-out one.

Just a pic from the side.

This shows the walkway Bob put in from the patio to the new stuff. The wooden ramp you might be able to see here is to cover the ditch he had to put in for the downspout drain.

   There's a lot to be done yet. I'm happy to say we haven't bought anything for this construction except new bolts, hardware, etc., and the tin for the swing roof. Everything else was recycled from the old deck boards that were still good enough to use, and the patio block left over from other projects. The walkways aren't done to precision, but that's on purpose. Bob wanted everything to look as if it were there for years, so he "built in" a few flaws.

   I'm proud of how things have turned out so far. Not bad for a couple of old folks doing a little bit at a time and working with what we had. I'm also proud of Bob... all this came from the vision he had in his head, and he worked it all out and made it come to be.

   I've got a good man, me.

   Have the best day, Xangamigos!

   Yesterday we had quite the thunderstorm in the late afternoon. Bob was outside working when he noticed the western sky getting darker and darker as the breeze began picking up and became a pretty stiff wind. Since he's such a storm lover, he decided to sit on the front porch and watch the storm come in. (I stood behind him, inside the door where i was protected... wimp...) We could see the rain sweeping across the fields from the west and getting closer and closer. Just about the time the wind threatened to blow the hair right off his head, the first fat raindrops began pounding the yard, and Bob grabbed his camp chair and hightailed it into the house... and just in time! 

   For the first few seconds it was only rain, and then the hail started! We don't get hail here very often, and when we do it's usually mixed in with a cold rain and doesn't amount to much. This time was different! It was only pea-sized, but it the wind was really blasting, and the hail sounded like bullets on the roof and front storm door where we were standing. The hailstorm lasted only about five minutes, but with the gale-like winds driving it it put down more than we've ever had up to this point. It rained for quite a while afterwards, giving us the good soaking we've been needing for a while. I hurried for the camera so i could show you the hail before it melted in the rain.

This is right outside our front door, to the right of where we were standing:

And this is on the side of the house where the deck used to be, off our living room:

   The wind was very strong, as i've mentioned. It was all the way up to 59 mph there for a while, and we weren't sure if the hail would damage the storm door or not. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage anywhere that we could see, and the van, which we had left parked in the driveway, wasn't hurt at all.

   The next county over to the east, however, must have gotten it a lot harder than we did, because on the news this morning they showed a trailer park that was very heavily damaged, with three persons injured. I realize trailers are often victims of high winds, but it takes a lot of force to blow a building apart the way these had been. There were numerous reports of trees down and shingles blown off, etc., around here, too, but nothing of that magnitude. Those trailers were destroyed.

   About an hour after the height of the storm, when the rain had diminished to a light drizzle, Bob noticed a beautiful, perfect rainbow in the east. The arc was complete and the colors so brilliant! Because it was still drizzling and the ground was pure mud where i had to stand, i could only get a picture of part of the bow, but i'm sure you'll think it's as beautiful as we did. We watched it for nearly 10 minutes before it became almost too faint to see.

   I haven't been on Xanga much in the past week, but i have tried to catch up with you all the best i could. Don't know if i missed anything big or not, but i hope everything's been going well for all of you. I might not be on much this week, either (stupid real life! why do we let it interfere with our Xanga addiction?? ).

   I don't have anything more to say, so i won't bore you by trying to make something up. :)

   May your day be interesting!

   Grandma Kitty

"Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it." - Robert A. Heinlein

   Every time i think mankind has finally settled itself happily into the muddy bottom of the Pond of Human Imbicility, some new idiot comes along to prove me wrong. There really are new life forms digging their way up out of the sludge, bent on inventing the New, Improved and Stupider...

   This morning i was watching Kathie Lee and Hoda (don't judge me! I was on the treadmill, needed something to pass the time, and we can only get three channels on the tv in the basement. It's not my fault there's nothing good on in the morning. Buy me some good excercise tapes if you have a problem with what i watch. [Please! I'm serious... i need some good tapes!!] )).

   Anyway, the gals showed a video of a town meeting somewhere in the midwest. Things were moving along well when suddenly, someone ripped off a big one that was clearly audible. At first, there was stunned silence. Then you could hear a few muffled giggles, but that was all. The committee member who was speaking continued with the proposal she was bringing up before the council. All's good until whoops! The horn sounded again, this time a little louder and a little longer. The speaker stopped in mid-sentence as more snickers and titters spread out through the audience, this time even affecting a few council members. It took a minute or two for things to settle down, but the speaker soldiered on. To her credit, the poor thing made a valiant attempt to keep a straight face and commence with her proposal, and she probably would have made it, too... if not for the third toot, this one a juicy, prolonged ppfffffffttttttthhhhhhhh.

   All efforts by both committee and audience to maintain any shred of decorum and gentility were... shall we say... gone with the wind. At this point the entire room collapsed into laughter, snorts, guffaws and howls, some even to the point of tears. Meeting adjourned, i guess.

   Turns out, no one in attendance had had beans and weenies for lunch, with a milkshake chaser. It was later determined that some young, mischevous member of a local Boy Scout group who were there to observe their town fathers in action, projected the flatulent sounds with his IPhone.

   Yes, folks, if you own an IPhone, you can now click on an app called "IFart". Srsly.

   I don't own an IPhone, so i couldn't access this new app, but i can just picture the menu and the sounds you may be able to download. There's probably "The Elevator-Evacuator"; "The Pop-Gun"; "The SSssssnake"; "The A-Bomb"; "The JuicyFruit"; and maybe even "The HineyChuckle".

   And oh, the possibilities!! Besides reducing your city council to helpless, quivering jelly, what better way can you think of to end The Date From Hell, silence the droning professor, or spice up a family gathering of grumpy, stuffy old relatives? How about the joy of nailing your shrew of a mother-in-law just as she sits down on that comfy chair? Need a little more personal space in a crowd? Now there's an app for that!

   Now for the disclaimer: I have always considered the aformentioned bodily function to be rude and crude, and to be avoided under penalty of death when with other human beings. I will not even use the word f**t. I'm with Kathie Lee, who said she always told her kids f**t was the F-word... which worked until they learned the real F-word. I don't use it, i don't like to hear it, and i can't understand the universal, juvenile glee with which comedies and movies employ the ubiquitous "f**t joke". However, i acknowledge that this silliness tickles a lot of people, so i'm asking you what you think:

   The "IFart" app... rude, crude, or hi-lar-ious? Would you use it?

   (Not understanding why i'm even doing this......),

   Grandma Kitty