Unkept greenery

I don't like lawn work, but it needs doing. The grass, thankfully, grows slower once it gets cooler, but alas it still grows.

At least until I have to clear snow out of my driveway.

Regardless, despite the cooler temperatures, I have to cut my burgeoning hayfield. The only issue with this requirement is that it won't stop raining.

At all.

Every single time I have a break long enough to actually do this job, it rains. When it's not raining, it's soaking from the last rain. At this rate I'm going to have to just drop whatever I'm doing when the opportunity is there and just go.

Now, I'm a big fan of just not mowing a lawn. Something about nature, whatever I just hate doing it. But I hate invasive species even worse. And by invasive, I mean the kind that will invade my house if the tall grass gives them enough courage to get close.

So it's gotta go. I chop it down so mice and other critters don't have a reason to get anywhere near my house.

I should get a cat while I'm at it.

The dream again

It happened again. It's been a very long time, but it happened again.

Here, it's been awhile.

Only this time, it was about college. I dreamed I was back in college. I was only signed up for two classes, but I knew it didn't make sense. I clearly remembered meeting all my requirements and graduating, and long since moving on. The classes didn't make sense, I didn't need them for any continuing education or certifications.

The dream made so little sense that I woke myself up.

The all clear

Another important visit with the oncologist today. She was given the all clear, and they're going to remove the port. The risk of reoccurrence is minimal.

Whenever the surgeon's office gets around to contacting us to schedule that, anyway. She tells me that it's been incredibly convenient, not having to have a new hole poked in her arm every time, but I know that she doesn't like anything artificial just living in her like that, so I know she's very much looking forward to having it removed.

Just gotta wait for that procedure to get scheduled.

Milestones

Went apple picking again. Since the kids have the day off of school on Columbus day, we just take the day off work and go. My whole family goes; my parents and my siblings with their families. It's become quite a crowd, but over the years, as the kids have gotten older, the crowd moves differently.

We started joining the group when we first moved back from Buffalo (would have been tricky before), and my oldest was six, while my youngest was a baby of five months. There was a lot of shepherding, carrying, and corralling. Now, my oldest is fourteen, while my youngest is eight. We just set them loose and vaguely make sure they're with the crowd. It's amazing, looking back, at how sharply the dynamic has changed over the years.

This is the part where I add something poetic, but it's just not coming to me right now. 

Overfull

You were hungry. You sat down to a nice meal. It started off with a nice appetizer. The main course came, and it was amazing. second course? What level of bourgeoisie is this? Ok, second course. Gotta slow down a bit. Dessert comes, and as usual there's always room for dessert.

You're full, you're done. It's over, time to go.

Another large plate is put in front of you. It's big, and you *have* to eat it before you can leave. This is BS. I hate this. Why is this happening.

Anyway, that's how I feel about 80 degree days in October.

The hunch

There's a vehicle repair shop within walking distance of my house. I'll bring my car there for routine things, like brakes. In fact, I took it there a month ago for brakes. I could just walk home after dropping it off, and walk back to pick it up. In and out no problem.

They can't do state inspections though, so I had to go elsewhere. There's another place I'll do that. Usually I drop it off at the end of the day, and they'll pick it up the next morning and I'll have it back by the end of the day. It passed inspection, but they 'found' a host of other issues that are gonna cost me $2K to fix.

Issues that the other guy didn't see at all. Things they can and will take care of, they didn't see any issues whatsoever. But they just appeared in the two weeks between.

I took the car back, and a couple days later half the warning lights went off and I started to hear a grinding noise.

The reason I don't take it back to the dealership for maintenance is because I need to schedule an appointment, and it's never convenient. I booked it anyway, and waited a week doing so. They had the car, and discovered two problems. One under warranty (nice), and another minor issue that was definitely the cause of the noise I was hearing. Didn't cost me a fraction to fix that issue.

And people wonder why I have trust issues.

Tinker Falls

So we took the kids on a hike. Supposed to be an easy one, for hikers anyway. Tinker Falls is close to a hang glider launch site, which is a 1260 elevation from the parking lot. My kids tuckered out about halfway up, but powered through and got their second wind. The wife lost steam about a third of the way up, but slowly finished the climb.

I spend 15 minutes on a stair master every day, so it was nothing to me. Until we had to go down.

Going down uses a different muscle group, one that apparently doesn't get worked nearly as much as the ones used going up. Oh no, the kids were racing down the trail. The wife merrily hopped downhill, and I wobbled like a rookie sailor.

I earned that one.