On the go, OOTF

On my way home from work on Friday I swung by Ali’s place and picked up the girls.  I am dog sitting them until Thursday this week as Ali is in Costa Rica.  When we got back to the house I let them out in the back yard.  Sadie returned to the door sporting a nasty limp.  I did not watch them while they were in the yard so I am not sure what she did.  We checked her paws extensively and didn’t find anything lodged which could be causing her pain.  I am wondering if the rabbit that has been hanging around was out in plain view, causing Sadie to instantly haul ass after it.  Perhaps she pulled something in the process.  She has been limping all weekend.

My Saturday was very, very busy.  Shortly after 8 am I started on yard manicuring.  Weed whacking, mowing and a couple other outdoor todo’s took me until 11:30 to knock out.  After eating lunch I loaded up the girls in the party van for a ride up to exit 131.  I was returning the PC I set up for my accountants.  I didn’t want to pollute their home with dog fur so I just left the girls in the van with the AC cranking while I was inside.

After setting up the PC it was back in the van for the return trip of 35 miles back to the house where I had a mental list of indoor chores awaiting me.  I cleaned the bathrooms, the kitchen counters, dusted, watered the indoor plants, did laundry, and was working on running club membership stuff when Cindy walked in the door after work.

During the day I got not one but two calls from a lady that we probably will be buying our chickens from.  Evidently she is quite anxious to get them relocated because she said she needed room for a new goat.  I told her that I couldn’t get hens until I got back from PA next week.  She wants me to pick them up asap.  The hens we should be getting are a breed named Buff Orpington.  They are supposed to be good egg layers and docile.  The woman said they don’t mind being held at all.

Getting chickens is going to mean I have to be more mindful of what is going on in the backyard.  One such example is my never ending battle against fire ants.  My number one weapon against these little bastards is Amdro, it’s the only thing I have found that at least helps stem the red fire ant tide.  Well Amdro is deadly to chickens if they eat enough of it.  Typically I would just walk the yard and dump Amdro with reckless abandon.  If I am going to use it in the future I will need to cover the area so the chickens can’t get to it.  I am envisioning a large upside down empty pot as a good way to do this.

On Saturday night Cindy and I decided to just stay home.  I was beat from my day of labor and Cindy was sweating her ass off in the sweltering heat delivering mail all day.  We had a Netflix DVD in house so we just chilled with the girls and watched it.  The movie was Out of the Furnace with Christian Bale, Ben Afflecks brother, Woody Harrelson and Forrest Whitaker.  It was a good movie but is guaranteed to not make you feel better about the world when it is over.  A lot of pretty horrible shit goes down.  Still, I appreciate dark movies and would give this one a B+ bordering on A-.

Cindy and I started off our Sunday with the 20 mile Dunkin Donuts ride, the first time either of us have done any open road biking in a loong time.  I was expecting to struggle but thanks to a more or less neutral wind both directions we actually  held a good speed, 20+ mph for a large portion of the ride.  For the entire ride as a whole we averaged 19mph.  I was soaked with sweat when we got home.  I cooled off with a dip in the pool which Sadie appreciated, despite having her laps around the pool limited by her limp.

I had one project I wanted to complete on Sunday, replacing the rear hatch switch on Cindy’s Prius. In 2007 Toyota evidently had an issue with the rubber used for these switches which cause them to turn into a sticky tar consistency, especially in warmer climates.  The prior owner combated this problem by sticking some duct tape over the slimy switch. I was looking for a little more permanent and cleaner solution so I ordered a new switch assembly and wire harness.

My search for a how to video for the process came up empty, making it a prime candidate for another entry in my growing automotive maintenance YouTube collection.  I did find some text directions on the procedure which seemed pretty straightforward.  The worst part of the switch replacement was cleaning up the black goopy hole where the old switch resided.  I used half of a bottle of Goo Gone and a dozen shop towels in the clean up procedure.   The new switch works great and no longer coats your hand in road tar.

I had to do a few boring things like more laundry and pay my bills on Sunday but I also spent a lot of time geeking out playing Diablo, trying to get my monk through the expansion content.  I love that Cindy actually encourages me to just play games sometimes as she appreciates the various types of hard work I am doing the rest of the time.  She was quite content baking/cooking in the kitchen as I killed thousands of demon spawn.

Sunday night we finally almost closed out the original run of 24.  We have exactly one episode left in season 8.  I have to say that even though I thought it was impossible, Jack has somehow managed to set the bar even higher in lunacy during this season.  He flips back and forth between the roles of patriot, super hero, lover and cold blooded killer so frequently and easily it makes my head spin.  Just trying to document everything that happens to the guy in a 24 hour period and just how silly and far fetched it is for any human being would ruin the 24 experience.  Just strap in and hold on, check your sense of reality at the door.