The Time Sink

I think one of the reasons I am sometimes less than sympathetic to "kids these days" is things like:

"Mom, we're all out of clean ice cream scoops!"

The virtual vacation continues: Shelley is recovering from her surgery and about ready to break out of the house; I'm getting a few things done, but only a few (running a taxi service is my new hobby); Brad is kicking it and attending tennis camp; and poor Daniel is in summer school to get a class out of the way for his junior year and is absolutely hammered with work and homework.

...and darn, is it ever harder digging in the dirt and the hardpan in front of the house rather than the sand in Cayucos! ...but 'dig we must' to locate the existing piping and be able to reactivate sprinkler lines and to drop drain lines in.

The good news is that the agapanthus seem to have survived their ten foot journey; they all seem to be handling the new location well and to be surviving the 100 degree days.

Most of the time when I post a photo with no reference points I get a guess or two from regular readers as to what it might me. Cassie B usually leads the pack, both in guesses and in accuracy. ...but Tuesday's starburst gave her vapor lock; so here goes the story: as I was getting out of the car after driving Daniel to the dental surgeon I noticed this pattern in light just touching my right front tire. It turned out to be the sun's reflection off the wheel cover/spinner on the SUV parked to my left. That was the better of two shots with the belt camera; here's an overview of the reflection from their right rear to give you an idea of how the shot came about:

A very busy day, even by our standards!

Ummm... The AC went out? In the afternoon? In central CaliLand? On the second day of Summer?

Okay, let's wind down the craziness just a little bit and see about returning things to something approaching normalacy. ...realizing, of course, that words with a root of 'normal' generally do not apply around this asylum.

Then again, I'm writing this post on the patio by laptop light (and a candle or two) while the Summer breezes swirl about me. ...and loading up a huge batch of modules from CPAN so I can do development work on the laptop after a day of working outside in the heat. ...and that's because there's nothing like a string of 100+ days here to give you some serious appreciation of the mid-nineties and how nice they can be for working outside.

Click image for larger version

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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