ethaisa

Okay, so not really. But these two weeks have been somewhat of a holiday for us, at least in terms of taking a break from our usual hectic schedule. We've had not one, but TWO weekends with minimal scheduled plans. And multiple evenings in a row at home, to spend with puppies and mindless summer tv. ('So You Think You Can Dance' is great fun. 'Canadian Idol', not so much.)

With the break in the weather, and the cooperation of my back, I've been able to get working on the front garden. Which is quite a chore, considering the earth is entirely full of rootlets from the Norway maple next door. But the central bed is half-done, its border of rocks all in place. Next up, tilling and retilling part of our wanna-be lawn back into garden bed, and relaying the flagstone path to wind between bed one and bed two. If the weather holds, I'll continue on this part of the project through this week/weekend. I love digging in the dirt. The hardest part is listening to my back and stopping after a reasonable time (these days, 2-3hrs). It's frustrating to do this in fits and starts -- I'm much more a 'dig in and work 'til it's done' sort. Ah well, they tell me patience is a virtue...

I've also been working on miscellaneous projects around the house. Nothing exciting -- mostly organizational. Having some fun playing with the paper shredder (bwhahahah!). I was going to recycle the Great Bag 'o Shreds but now I'm thinking I might save it for some paper mache projects. I'm continuing the process I started way back in June (before the great fannish garage sale in July, where we sold a good number of our duplicated books and other gaming excesses) and doing the Clean Sweep Cha Cha. This involves me shuffling boxes of stuff I can't quite bear to get rid of yet into new and interesting configurations in an attempt to access the space-time continuum and create more storage space. I'll get back to you all when I'm successful.

Presently I'm waiting. And waiting. It's not too humid, but humid enough, it seems, that the shelf I am staining/verathaning is taking its own sweet time drying between coats. I'm hoping to be able to sand it down and apply a third coat today. We'll see.

"If you can't be a good example, be a dire warning."

A NEW HOME ON THE RANGE?

"Pleistocene Park" may not have the same cinematic cachet as its Jurassic cousin, but a controversial proposal to introduce free-ranging lions, cheetahs, elephants and other wild animals to North America's Great Plains is generating its own share of dramatic reviews.

The "rewilding" of parts of North America's heartland could restore some balance to an ecosystem that lost a slew of similar species around 13,000 years ago, according to a commentary in this week's issue of the journal Nature. Although conceding that "huge cultural obstacles" would have to be surmounted, lead author and Cornell University ecologist Josh Donlan argues that the long-range plan also might help preserve animals in danger of extinction elsewhere."


http://tinyurl.com/8gfkf