Memorial Day
11:32 a.m. - 2006-05-27


It poured buckets at the end of last week, which meant that we did not have to water the lawns at all, but it knocked a lot of my old roses off the bushes. A week later it looks as good as new, though. I haven't laid eyes on the new neighbors since the day I met them. We were gone for a week and then the allergies were too bad to hang around the yard. I hear that they have two dogs, but I have never seen them, or smelled them either, with is nice.

The weekend was very restful, even though I worked hard on the never-ending laundry. Something about having your husband out of town is a nice break in the routine. No dinner to make, your schedule is your own, and you can always find the remote. I am sure it would get lonely if it went on too long, but for a few days it is a nice vacation. On Sunday after church, I decided to go check out the Diablo Foods in Lafayette, since I have no local store anymore. I was happy to see the same butchers over there, which means they did not lose their jobs. The store is very nice, but my goodness, do they ever hike up the prices in yuppieville!

I was called to jury duty after decades of getting excused because of the babies in my care. I was dreading it because I loathe the crushing boredom of waiting for hours and hours, then listening to boring talk for hours and hours. In addition, I feared that if I was ever in a trial, my mind would wander, spurred on its way by the boring nature of the subject matter. I sat in on a trial once so I know whereof I speak. Perry Mason it is not. I was also worried about getting a parking space in Martinez. Well, all that worry was a waste of my time, since I found a parking place right next to the courthouse, and after 3 hours of sitting in the jury room reading a P.D. James book (The Lighthouse), we were all dismissed. The judge said that all the cases on the docket this week settled out of court so we were free to go, having satisfied the requirement for jury duty. Now I have painlessly done my civic duty and can only hope they forget all about me, never to be called again.

I spent my lunch hours this week going home to work on my plants. I started seed cubes and potted up the cuks and squashes. In other plant related news, I was thinking of taking a smaller purse to jury duty so I looked in my old purse, and lo, there was a wad of cash I had totally forgotten about. I once put aside some savings for a rototiller, but somehow forgot about it or assumed I had spent it, but there it was just where I left it over 4 years ago. Today we went down to Sears and bought a little Mantis tiller. It won't get here for a week or so, but life will now be easier for him and his shoulder.

Finally this week he appears to be on the mend. His hand is much better and the swelling is going away, and his shoulder is finally getting better. He is relieved to be progressing, finally.

I am going to sew this three-day weekend, and maybe have the in-laws over for Sunday dinner. I already have a pineapple upside down cake in the oven, and will shortly start a pork pot roast. Maybe I should load up the bread machine too.