Yard Work in the Northwest. I hear ridiculous things sometimes, about how people in the Northwest don't use umbrellas, that instead they just stay inside. Which -- although it makes for excellent travelogue talk for Marco Polo when he returns from the far reaches of the northwest -- is ignorant foolishness. NWers rarely use umbrellas because the precipitation is comparatively mild and a hood on a sweatshirt or jacket is typically sufficient to keep one warm and dry. And more than once I've caught myself standing in the middle of the rain talking to a friend, neither of us wearing a hood until the rain eventually fogs up his glasses and douses our hair. For those of us with sufficient hair, anyway. All that to say, when I set out to do yardwork yesterday I wore a baseball cap and a hooded sweatshirt so I could keep working through the rain. Because we do go out in the rain. Otherwise we would need to build an impressive city of hamster tunnels.
A Traveling Meat Market. Yesterday, what appeared to be an ice cream truck came by, but instead of ice cream they were selling frozen steaks. The driver slowed down as he passed me and shouted, "Hey! You look like a man who appreciates a good steak, right?" I'm not sure what such a man looks like, but I guess like me. I told him that I like steak fine, but we had plenty. I'm not sure how much steak we have, but enough that I don't need to buy any from traveling meat salesmen. He told me that they have "stupid prices" because of something or other. I assured him that I still did not want a meatsicle.
Man vs Nature or, the Tarps of Clark County. The big task of yesterday's yardwork had to do with winter-proofing our yard... so things like draining out the sprinkler system, moving the glass birdbath into the garage so it won't freeze while full of water, and covering up the summer furniture with a tarp. I spent a long time on the tarps, eventually getting everything all battened down and held in place with bricks. Only to discover that during last night's wind storm my tarps were blown all over creation. So, Mother Nature wants to fight me? Fine. Get ready, Mother Nature! It's go time.
Squirrel! We had a squirrel in our backyard yesterday! Which is the first time since they built our house! Our trees are finally getting big enough to interest the little clowns. Pretty exciting.
