An update

Caution, Adrienne. I'm putting up a challenger.

I on purpose didn't blog for a while so I could leave the metoer shower post up. (Which, btw, if you missed it, was awesome. For me, the second best in twenty years.) In that internet silence, a lot has happened. So here's my recent life if anyone's interested.

Friday night, Ell and I went into Columbiana. Our friend Steve bought a store-front a few months back and recently tore out all of the interior walls and ceiling. After filling a dumpster will all the nasty stuff, he still had a pile of wood scraps as long as the building. So we went to the store and started dragging out as much wood as would fit into my truck. (All after my friend Grant stepped on a big-'ol nail five minutes into the work and left a huge blood stain on the sidewalk.) My plan had been to take a couple loads back to the house, but the first one was more than we could use or even stack by the firepit. So we instead headed up to Quaker Steak & Lube for wings and beer. It was a good end to the work week.

Saturday morning I went to Lifeline (the pregnancy center I'm the treasurer of) for a board meeting where we interviewed two women for the vacant Director position. It was a bit taxing on the brain because they were both very good candidates and we had a hard time choosing. After the meeting I took a quick shower and loaded the car for a trip down to Columbus, Ohio.

Ell was keeping the Cafe open on Sunday for the John Wayne event, so I was making the trip alone. As I got close to the city, I was passed by two Ferrari's and two Lamborghini's; one of them a Diablo. Just because I have a car that can, I sped up to 90 mph just to see how fast the Diablo would pass me. Let's just say my 90 mph may as well have been a toy car next to the power of the Diablo. It was pretty awesome.

Almost there I get a call from Ell that some crazy lady came onto our porch and ripped four of Ell's plants right out of the pots. Ell chased her across our yard and into the neighbors and confronted her. If you see her, ask Ell the whole story. The short version is that the lady is mentally crazy and the local sherriff's office is keeping tabs on her good and bad days. Turns out her bad days seem to be of late happenning on our soil. Her name is Sandy and you'll see her name again soon.

Once in Columbus, I got to spend some alone time with my Dad. He's been going through a pretty intense time lately --on top of his already long list of problems-- and was scheduled for a kidney biopsy on the 12th. That evening, my sister's families all came over for a picnic and a good 'ol fashioned water fight. I watched some Olympics with my Mom later that night and saw Phelps win one of his golds. For some reason I was having some real emotional issues pertaining to my family, so I went upstairs early and called Ell. We talked through some of them and I tried to go to sleep.

Sleep was not good. First, the emotional stuff was busy in my head. Then a thunderstorm blew in and my Mom woke me up to move stuff. Then a fan crashed to the floor. Then my phone died, beeping away. Then I had to try and regulate an internal clock to wake me up at 4:30. All in all, I slept for about 45 minute spells broken up by 15 minute wide awake spells. Horrible night, really.

Getting up at 4:50 am, I headed to pick up my eleven year old nephew Isaiah for his first ever experience going fishing. It ended up being a horrible day for fishing, but we gave it a good shot. After going to lunch at Wendy's and discussing politics with an eleven year old, we played tennis in the shadow of the Horseshoe. That went well until we started doing power shots which meant every other ball flying into other courts occupied by other players. Funny for us, not so much for them. Isaiah still has some heavy emotional issues tied to his adoption at such a late (for a child) age, so every chance I have I want to spend time with him. The three hour drive puts a big damper on that, but I'm making as much of an effort as I can. I just wish it could be more.

Halfway through the tennis game I got a call from the guy who mows our lawn. He said a crazy lady named Sandy came and asked about some plants and a figurine. I told him not to give her any information and to make sure all our doors were locked. This lady was starting to piss me off.

Before I headed north, I asked Dad if I could pray for him. Unfortunately, I started crying so hard I couldn't talk. It was hard for me to see my rock-hard Dad in such a deflated state, and I just couldn't handle my emotions. He was crying too, and so we just cried together for about five minutes. When I could form words again, I told God how pissed I was that this was happening to my Dad, but gave him up to be used by God for whatever purpose He had planned. I told God it sucks, but was ready for the worst. After I prayed, my Dad and I sat and talked and he shared some emotional feelings he told me he hadn't, and wouldn't, share with anyone else. Oldest child and only son, I've always had a great bond with my Dad. So this ordeal is hard.

With random spattering of tears I headed for home. Since I was by myself and there would be no risk of annoying Ell, I took a different route home to do some Canal site seeing. All that accomplished was that it made me more excited about it's history and more anxious to plan a thru-hike of it. Oh don't get me started.

That night, our friends Grant, Jonathan, and Megan came over for dinner and some Olympic watching. I convinced Ell to call the sherriff about Sandy and they said to keep us informed if she came back. I told Ell that if she showed back up I was going to beat her up and if she told the cops I'd deny it all. Who'll believe a crazy lady anyway, right?

I'm on vacation this week, so I spent most of Monday cleaning up the house and getting ready for people coming over. We didn't have power for a few hours (same time as you Kimmy), so I weeded in the garden for about three hours. Around 7:00, people started showing up and the grilling began. As the sun set, someone lit the ginormous scrap pile from Steve's store and the group settled around it. Like I said at the beginning of this post, the stars were intense. Those that were paying attention to the stars (and not the socializing around the fire) saw more than fifty. Astronomers claim a peak happens in the mid hours of the night, but we didn't notice any difference. I finally crashed on the ground around 5:00 am, waking up around 6:30 to go inside. Only four or five people stayed the night, so we had a scaled down version of the big breakfast we'd planned. It was still too much food.

Ell and I napped the rest of the morning. She kept sleeping into the afternoon and I left to get a new sticker for my truck and to get a new driver's license. When I got back we started cleaning out the kitchen. It really is amazing how much "stuff" you can accumulate in only a few years. We actually threw away more stuff than we kept. Intense, isn't it? After that we went to our favorite restaurant, Pondi's, for dinner. No sooner had we got home (around 9:30 pm) when someone knocked on our porch door. It was Sandy. Oh man I was pissed. Ell went out and Sandy asked Ell if she could trade us a $300 figurine for one of the plants she'd stolen. Ell of course said no, so Sandy asked her if she could smell it one last time. (Before what?) She left and Ell begged me not to call the sherriff. I agreed and went outside and the crazy b**** had opened my car door and did or stole who knows what. I'm telling you this lady is gonna get beat.

The worst part about Sandy interrupting our evening (cover your children's eyes) is that I'd planned on having my birthday sex outside watching the leftover meteors. Some crazy lady wandering around your property really puts a damper on plans like that. So instead we retired to our living room, locked the doors, and watched Phelps win another gold medal. That dude is nuts. Ell eventually fell asleep on the couch after doing some sewing, so I woke her up and we went to bed.

Now I'm sitting in the Encore Cafe. I ate some breakfast, drank some tea, hung out with Ell and Megan (who might be starting a blog soon) and perused my blogroll. A nice day so far. We might go see a Pirates game tonight, so I need to do some stuff. Later.