The Latest: The Inaugural Issue (#1)

I've been thinking that it might be in my mind's best interest if I start a weekly blog entry about the latest things (crazy or normal) going on... both in my life and what's going on around me.  This way, when something doesn't warrant an entire blog entry for itself, or I forget to blog about something, I can dump it out of my brain once a week and have room for the new stuff of the coming week.  Rude Cactus does it (only, his are "Weeklies " as in, Weekly Worst Moment or Weekly Observation).  There are a few others out there who do the same... and since I don't want to copy off of RC (well, not completely copy, anyway), I'm going to go with The Latest.  Here's the Inaugural Issue!

The Latest Homecoming:  I picked Jon up at the airport this morning after his week of training out in San Francisco.  It's nice to have my companion back.  The cats just listen... they don't provide stimulating conversation (which, don't get me wrong, is good at times, but when you get a little lonely for some human contact, well, cats fall a little short in that department...).

The Latest Time the Evil Alarm Clock Bitched at Me: 5:15 AM.  On a Saturday.  This was, of course, so that I could go pick Jon up at the airport.  He one-upped me, though.  He had a red-eye flight from SF.  And a 15-minute power nap.

The Latest Scary Moment: This past Tuesday night.  I was sitting in the La-Z-Boy, with the TiVo paused so I could blog about something on American Idol, and I heard what distinctly sounded like an empty plastic cup hitting the floor, like it was knocked off of a countertop.  I know *I* didn't do it... and, after a quick search of the house, from top to bottom, it was obvious that neither of the cats did it.  It could have happened out in the garage, but I sure as hell wasn't going out there to look.  So yeah, my sleep was light on Tuesday night.

The Latest Rush to Get Something Done: I decided to cut our grass this past Thursday evening, since it was supposed to rain on Friday and the grass was already at a length that was going to make it a beast to cut.  Mind you, I've never cut the grass before at this house with this particular lawn mower (which was generously left here by the previous owners).  Since it's a newer mower, I had no effing idea how to start the bastard.  I had to come inside and download the user's manual from the manufacturer and read to see how to start it.  I finally got it started and made two passes on the one side of the house, from the front yard to the back yard when it ran out of effing gas.  Beautiful.  You can bet the word of the day was fuck.  The next problem?  Which gas can had the plain gas and which had the gas/oil mix?  I needed plain gas, and neither can was labeled.  Again, fuck.  It boiled down to a sniffing game.  I removed the lid of one can and sniffed its contents and then did the same for the other can.  Neither smelled like what I was planning to have regular gas smell like.  Now what?  I took the lid off of the gas tank on the mower and gave it a sniff.  Then back to the two cans.  I finally figured out which can to use, but I'm sure it was fun for my neighbors to witness me sniffing gas cans and gas tanks.  With the tank full, I got back to the task at hand... at 8 PM.  I'd worked too hard to get as far as I did, so I wasn't going to give up and call it a night.  Have you ever seen a woman nearly running behind her self-propelled push lawnmower?  That was me, rushing to get it done before 9 PM.  It was great fun.

The Latest Blooming Item:  The effing dandelions in my freshly-cut grass.  Apparently, I only encouraged them to bloom... in full force.  They will be enjoying life for only a little while longer... until I get after them with a weed killer.

The Latest 'Keeping Up With the Joneses':  I cut my grass on Thursday evening.  My neighbor to the east cut his during the day on Friday when I was at work.  Apparently, my cutting of my weed-infested grass in my lumpy yard made his fertilized and thick lawn look unkempt.  Even though he just cut it on Tuesday.  Is that what one does when he retires?  At any rate, this could become a fun game...

The Latest Obsession:  Plants and gardening.  I've essentially got a 'clean slate' here in my yard, and my head is spinning with what to plant and where.  I'm slowly becoming a plant/flower whore.

The Latest Tasks to Complete:  Laundry, rake out the ugly dark mulch from the front flower bed, play Grim Reaper to the dandelions in my yard, and grocery shopping.

Well, that's about it for my first issue of The Latest.  I'm hoping to post it every Friday evening or Saturday afternoon, whether or not anyone reads it.