This post is not about the fact that it's full-on raining outside now, with thunder and lightning and cool breezes and everything.

There was a school meeting last night. It was very poorly timed with respect to my own needs and schedule, and I wasn't too crazy about the OMG FAT CHILDREN lecture from the nutritionist (she very pro-healthy eating and overall giving good recommendations, but ... anyway. Rant for another day), but there were some decent points as well.

My favorite part was learning that Robin's classroom (4th, 5th & 6th grades) is basing the current trimester's studies on a book by Stephen Hawking [read an excerpt] that is being read aloud by and to the students.

So much to love.

About a two on the "Brushes With Greatness" scale

Where a one is "inadvertently being in the same country with" [Joe Biden] and a two is "crossing a highway overpass on which two guys with guns and radios are anticipating [Joe Biden] being driven by on the highway below at some point during the day."

Try not to be too jealous.

Hey, at least it's not about my laundry

Notice how I never get quite as far as an "I'm sick of the dry season" post? These dry seasons, they go by much too quickly.

We shouldn't have daily, torrential rains for another month or two, but we got our first sprinkle today - just now in fact.

In other news, the turtle not only climbed up onto her little rock plateau, she also buried herself in the rocks for about 18 hours, until I finally poked at her and pulled her out. She glared at me and got up for a while, and now she's working her way back under the pebbles again. At this rate, she should be buried by...about 10:00 p.m.

Let's see...we also went grocery shopping today, and got the last of the wood & hardware for my bed frame. And I messed around a little with the DNS and form settings for the retreat website.

Yeah, I got nothing for ya today.

Well, the turtle part wasn't so bad, right?

Maybe Bob's got something of interest to say ... (checks) ... well, not as yet, but we can hope, right?

Saturday observations

• The local Wal-Mart equivalent (preexisting large supermarket chain, in which Wal-Mart bought a controlling interest a year or two ago) is so very much more pleasant on weekdays at 3:00 than it is on Saturdays at noon.
  
  
• The turtle can, in fact, climb up onto her little rock plateau. Apparently, until now, she's simply chosen not to.
  
  
• The bird is much less afraid of Bob than I would have thought. Of course, he controls the almond supply, so that probably doesn't hurt.
  
  
• The existence of a long list of weekend tasks large and small, important and sundry, does not, in fact, have much bearing on the number of tasks that are accomplished.
  
  
• As long as the most pressing ones get done (despite the discovery that prompted Saturday Observation #1), failing to accomplish a significant percentage of a weekend list doesn't actually imply a wasted weekend day.
  
  
• The phone company sent out a text message inviting us (and, presumably, everyone else with a cell phone) to participate in Earth Hour, so the planned evening fare of Men in Black may have to wait till later.

Sawdust: Still smells pretty good in the evening

Coming to you live from Bob's new desk. He had all the fun today, while I conversed with lawyers and reticent hardware store salesmen (not to contradict Bob there. Despite his reticence in filling my purchase order, he was, in fact, both knowledgeable and nice) and revamped the format of inventory supply lists. Try not to be too jealous.

With the desk done, we went ahead and moved the futon couch down to the new media/guest room* in preparation for my new bedframe, coming soon.

* I wanted to call it a simple media room, but I've got a backseat blogger here, so...

Ten great tastes that tase great together

Spinach (or lettuce for the spinach ambivalent), tomato, mango, avocado, raisins, sunflower seeds, goat cheese, black olives, olive oil, vinegar and sugar.

I know, I should have taken a picture (it was pretty too), but after work, grocery shopping and lumber shopping (for furniture construction) I was much more interested in eating it than photographing it.

As Ralph would say, 'twas guuuud.

Because Brave Sir Robin asked

And what Brave Sir Robin wants, Brave Sir Robin gets.

Well, you know. When it's something this reasonable.

Before

After

You can take the man out of the mountains...but then you gotta trim him up a little.

Well, I checked the flight status...more than once. But not obsessively. It wasn't the fancy plane-on-a-map kind of flight status, after all. All it ever said was "Scheduled Arrival 1:30p.m." and "Expected Arrival 1:55 p.m." and there's only so many times a girl can refresh a thing like that. At work.

So, he got in at 1:55 and I got there a few minutes before he came wheeling the suitcase out of the customs area, blinking in the tropical sunlight and putting his fedora on my head.

First thing he did* when we got settled was ask me to give him a beard cut. The man whose beard has been described as "epic" (yup, I was there) and has not been without facial hair since he first started growing any, put his trademark beard in my hands for thinning, shaping and general tidying. Which, we both agree, ended well:

In addition to the barbering, we got most of the basics set up today - the router works fine, so both computers are online now, and he's got a fridge and a bed. A computer desk is next up, but there's time.

* Okay, no. Totally not the first thing.

Waiting for Phydot

I will not obsessively track US Airways flight 1773 at work.
I will not obsessively track US Airways flight 1773 at work.
I will not obsessively track US Airways flight 1773 at work.
I will not obsessively track US Airways flight 1773 at work.
I will not obsessively track US Airways flight 1773 at work.

There. That ought to do it.

Again with the fruit

Heh.

The girls' school is good at a lot of things. Communication is not really at the top of the list, though. Given that and good intentions all around, the girls and I ended up finding out about a school family picnic at the last minute this morning, so we got ourselves organized and headed on up the mountain.

'Cept, in this particular case it wasn't the school failing to notify us - it was that it was an activity for the Kindergarten and preschool level. The girls' version is next week, like it says on the schedule they passed out at the beginning of the year.

But, it got us out of the house this morning, and we came back by way of the farmer's market for goat cheese and the mini mandarin oranges from the guy in the cowboy hat. Sadly, this was his last harvest for the season.