The other night we heard some strange noises coming from the kitchen. I went in to investigate and this is what I found. I think Emma has seen her old man drink one too many Coke Zeros…
Archive for June, 2008
Earlier this month, D and I took a trip to Florida. He had a convention in Orlando, so I flew into Tampa to visit my friend Jenn for a few days while he sat in a convention center and learned about computer stuff. I had a great time in Tampa, it was nice to catch up with her and I got to spend some quality time with her son. I am now a pro at peeling off crayon wrappers and also learned that Blue from Blue’s Clues is actually a girl. Who knew?
We also spent a day at the beach which gave me my first sunburn - I mean, tan- of the summer. And don’t even try to lecture me about wearing sunblock. Trust me, I use plenty of sunblock. Some of us (me) will burn no matter how much SPF we are wearing, unless we spend the entire time at the beach camped out in the shade (which I have done before). Others of us (my husband) select their sun “protection” (I’m using quotes because can you really consider SPF 5 to be protection?) based on which one smells like coconut. But, I digress.
On Thursday, I rented a car and headed to Orlando. D had secured a ticket for me to the big party that is always held on the last night of this convention. Most of Universal Studios was shut down for the party and everything was free. Food, drinks, rides, games. It’s a crazy experience to walk around a theme park and have people standing on every corner handing out chips, M&Ms, cotton candy, and turkey legs for free when normally each of the aforementioned items would run you about $8. D and his friend Tim took full advantage of every beer stand we passed. I think it improved their hand-eye coordination.
The next day, we headed to D’s parents’ house in North Ft. Myers. Highlights of our visit included a round of golf for D and his dad, a shopping trip for me and D’s mom, a fiercely competitive card game with two of D’s neices, an almost dance performance by his other niece (how about now, Kelley? ), a golf cart ride, a trip to the pool (aka sunburn #2), and dinner at D’s sister’s house. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of any of these highlights because for some reason I stopped taking pictures after Thursday. So, instead I will leave you with a picture of us on the golf cart during last year’s trip.
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I really do have a college degree. However, I’m not as mechanically inclined as I’d like to be. I have no delusions of rebuilding an engine, but I’d like to think I am able to keep up with general household tasks. So the following story is a little dismaying, but altogether not too surprising.
A few years ago, I was mowing the lawn and hit the water main in the front yard. The lawn stayed dry, but the mower blade was horribly twisted. After giving Lowe’s some money, I got a new blade, installed it, and finished mowing the lawn. Remember, this was years ago. This past week, I took a close look at my grass and saw that the tips weren’t neatly chopped. These frayed grass tips definitely make the lawn look a little dry. I figured that the blade wasn’t sharp and needed to be tuned up.
I took the blade down to the workshop and ground the cutting edge down until it was sharp. I thought it was weird that there was no paint missing off the cutting edge and it didn’t really look that dull. Whatever. While I was putting it back on, I made sure to put the blade on exactly as it had been before. Then, I dragged K out to take a look at the blade while I pulled the cord to make sure it was going clockwise (the direction of the cutting edge).
“No. It’s going the other direction.”
“Counter-clockwise?”
“Yep.”
-silence-
I had put the blade on upside down years ago. For years I’ve not been cutting the grass, I’ve been blunting it to death. No wonder the grass had frayed ends. After turning the blade right-side up, I gave it a test cut and immediately noticed a difference. And then…..
BANG!!!
Something hit the blade. I turned the mower upside down and found that a piece of metal that connects the blade to the deck had broken off and hit the spinning blade - and nicked it in the process. Now I need to get a new part AND resharpen the blade. Oh, well. At least it’s spinning in the right direction now.