Hey Hey...

So now I seem to have misplaced the little cable I need to connect my camera to my computer to transfer pictures so I can post them here. I'm sure it will turn up.

In the meantime, here's a quick update on our world.

Work has been busy, and in a good way in that I'm working on some cool applications.

Rachel had her annual review and it went well. Also, the plant will start generating electricity on Monday. That's a very big deal.

Jake is wrestling and will be starting baseball soon. His grades seem to be holding steady at honor roll levels. He is wearing size 12 shoes but is not yet taller than me. I think he was taller than Laurie.

Laurie came for a visit (imagine a nice photo here). Lots of fun - we went antique store shopping, ate some lunch in Clear Lake, hung out, tubbed and such. Great visit. And she (the little stinker) only rearranged a few of my spices.

The golf cart is pretty much finished. (Imagine before and after pictures here.) The paint job isn't perfect, but it looks a lot better than it did before when it was sort of beige, sort of white, and all scuffed up. I got the lights working so we can drive it safely at night. I think the thing I am most proud of is using a hole saw to mount the charger receptacle - it fits perfectly. Oh, and replacing the forward reverse switch was a little challenging, but basically by removing one wire at a time from the old and connecting to the new, I was able to do it. So that's cool.

I have finally managed to get down to 1 (one, that's right, one) remote control to control the stereo, DVD, DirectTV box, Tivo, and TV. Wanna watch TV? Push the button that says, "Watch TV." Wanna watch a movie? Push the button that says, "Watch A Movie." The only thing that seems to be missing is the handy "skip 30 seconds" Tivo button.

Is Tivo in the dictionary yet like "google" as a verb?

I weeded Glendale Beach last weekend. (Imagine a picture of Glenndale Beach with weeds 3 and 4 feet high) That was no fun. And there's still a few left. (Imagine a picture of Glenndale Beach with a few little weeds left)

Why are there two 'n's in Glenn but only one 'l' in Michele? And why aren't there two 'c's in Eric(c)?

I haven't done much writing lately, but I did write down some more ideas for where that little story is headed. I need to do some research in to meteors and Astronomy in general. So nothing to add right now, but soon, I hope. This research will be much more fun because dear sister got me a great backyard astronomy book. And if I wasn't so in to Against The Day right now (760 or so) I would be reading that non-stop.

I was considering being a vampire developer tonight, but I've got a review Thursday morning that I'd really rather not sleep through. And if I pull a 4AM night tonight, I won't get to sleep tomorrow night and I'll be groggy at best on Thrusday Mroning.

That's right, Thrusday Mroning.

Oh, and it seems that just the male peacock has been coming around lately. Hopefully that means that the females (pea hens?) are off somewhere guarding nests with eggs and we'll have a few more this Spring.

(Imagine the picture Jake took of the peacock with its feathers out)

And then?...

And then another weeks goes by and still no posts. Sorry 'bout that. But I have been writing a bit. Not blogging, but actual writing, like what might become a short story or something. That's a big deal for me.

Anyway - things are good, or at least good enough.

I will get around to getting caught up. I will start with when Paul's mates were here and go from there- that's a good 6-8 weeks of pictures to get caught up on. But I also want to get the painted body parts on our Golf Cart so it's done. I think I finally put the 15th "last coat" of paint on the body parts we are stealing from cart #2 on to cart #1 - The "Hotel Yorba Courtesy Car," and I'm ready for Jake and I to finish this project.

I'm really looking forward to getting up early, hopping in the cart, going fishing, and playing the front nine, then coming home and going to work before 9:00 A.M.

More to come. And I promise I will "publish" my short story here before I do anything else with it.

Here's what I've got so far...

“It ain’t right. I mean, it don’t matter so much when it’s a Friday and then Monday, you know? But this middle of the week sheeee…it just ain’t right.”

And you’d expect someone to nod in agreement and respond with appropriate sympathy or even maybe empathy.

“I know, sweetie,” said his comely wife over the drone of the television, looking up from solving the T.V. Guide crossword puzzle.

Or

“Yep. I might as well sleep here in place of driving an hour home and an hour back. I don’t know why they have to keep changing our shifts anyway,” said Tom, red in the face, struggling over his gut to reach his feet and unlace the required steel toe work boots, for which the company still had not reimbursed him.

Or

“Yeah, but it will be nice to be back on days. I hate third shift. At least I’ll get to see my wife for a change,” said the new kid, still unsure of where he stood with him, and managing to sink even lower in his esteem with this insensitive comment about having a wife at home.

Or just

“Yeeahup,” said Farley, as he smiled politely, raised his eyebrows, and signaled with his good left hand to Marla at the end of the bar to bring them two more two dollar drafts.

Or perhaps you’d expect a boss figure to chastise him, saying, “That’s just the sort of attitude that keeps you on shift work.”

Or his dog looking up at him with sympathetic eyes saying, “Woof!”

But there was no one. He was not at work or in a bar, but at home, alone. His wife had left him 12 years ago, ran off with a transgendered optometrist. He couldn’t recall or never knew if it was a man who became a woman or a woman who became a man. But he often wondered aloud, to no one, “Which would be worse, do you think, would it be if she ran off with another man or with another woman?”

If a sensible person were around, that person might have responded, “Well, if you think about it, Bobby, you got what you could call one of them worst case scenarios since she sort of run off with both of ‘em at once.”

If a witty person were around, that person might have responded, “An optometrist, huh? Bet you didn’t see that comin’.”

And if Farley were around, he would have said, “Yeeahup.”

Over the course of drinking in bars from 4 P.M. until closing four nights a week for over 46 years, Farley had mastered his “Yeeahup.” It was the perfect response to almost every bar room lamentation, conveying the exact right amount of sympathy and empathy, implying he was possessed of a deep wisdom that was, in reality, altogether absent. Farley liked people, and was well liked, but he did not like talking. Many people remembered long talks with Farley as some of the best conversations they had ever had without noticing that Farley didn’t say much of anything.

But Farley was not around. And Bobby Ray didn’t have a dog.

There was no one.

He sat, tonight, alone, on the steps of his back porch, weeds occasionally tickling the backs of his calves and the back of the bends in his knees. This was the site of his ritual.

I'm gonna move some things around, but that's definitely how it starts out.

More to come...