And A Quick Personal Update...

Because I knew I would have to explain why my podcast is going to be a little late this week, I may as well throw in a few other bits of excitement from the past few weeks.  The podcast will be late this week either because the flowering bushes alongside our fence have bloomed or because my body has proven hospitable to a cold or 'flu virus.  I have no idea if I am stricken with allergies or a cold.  Contagion is the only real difference I can see from my point of view.  But this matters to the podcast because, trust me, you really don't want to hear me reading in your ear right now in my condition.  So, I imagine it will be up over the weekend.  I am already feeling a-ways down the road to recovery.

Also interesting today, Laurie found, when she went to go to work this morning, that someone has slashed both of her driver's side tires with a knife.  There's not really a whole lot to be said about that except that it is a miserable thing for one human to do to another.  Of course we don't know who did it.  We do however think we can rule out casual vandalism in that Laurie's was the only car in the area that this happened to and that it seems as if there was some emotional connection in the act as one of the tires was stabbed far more times than would have been necessary to effect that outcome.  We, however, refuse to quail at such craven acts.  I would add that if it were casual vandalism it would be more evidence for my hypothesis that vandalism is classism in that it targets the poor.  Again, support your local libraries, people.  Society could use some good shifts.

But, in cheerier news, our tax refund occasioned the purchase and installation of an electrical dishwasher in our kitchen.  This will save us a tremendous amount of time.  We've also settled on a color to paint Tony's former room (which is currently being employed as a room for the sole purpose of a place for the cats to look out the window.)  More on that after we paint although the short answer is: Peach.

The local electric and gas company has a program for lower income homes where they come and assess your home for repairs that could potentially make the home more energy efficient and then they send someone out to make those very repairs.  The man who came the other day replaced a light fixture in our kitchen, gave us new shower heads, weather-stripped our doors (which involved removing one of them and shaving it down) and sent another man to fix the massive carbon monoxide leak in our kitchen that we were entirely unaware of. All at no cost to us.  Sometime soon, presumably in the forthcoming drier season, they said that they will replace several of our windows as well!

My parents are coming up this weekend to celebrate what will be my 33rd birthday.  That is always pleasant.  I hear tell I may be getting a new pair of glasses.

I also have an upcoming test for a career type job.

Also, aside from the allergin spewing bushes, we have a lot of great flora blooming in our yard.  It's a wonderful time of year.  Our grapevine is excelling, our mint is coming back as is our basil, both of the trees we planted last year have come back, and our clematis vine is blooming with huge flowers.  My hand is in the picture for size context.  For size context for the hand, I have the normal sized human male adult hand:

More soon.