(First posted on Mark Is Cranky
Somehow, I sort of lost track of the tail end of yesterday.
First it was the housework. The picking up and depositing of stuff so as to make the place look presentable for assorted guests. Then the vacuuming that followed. As my wheezing machine kept increasing in pitch, that Dyson guy's velvet British accent echoed in my head "...never loses suction".
This of course was all going on as the first snowfall of the season was winding down. I don't mind shoveling and snowblowing, but I'm ain't about ta do it twice in one day. Around one in the afternoon the flake drop finally ceased. First, out to the garage to move all of the crap that has been encasing that poor snowblower for the past seven months. Then ten minutes of begging, pleading and foul language as we try to get the (only one year old) snowblower started. Funny thing, if that danged kill switch is in the wrong position, she just won't start.
Damned safety 'features'.
A giant cloud of blue smoke and Mr. Husqvarna roars to life.
One pass down to the road and back up and stepson #2 is waving at me. Apparently, only one side of the beast is doing anything useful. A quick trip back to the garage confirms that one of the shear pins has, well, sheared.
Damned safety 'features'.
So we replace the pin and I'm back off to hurling rocks, leaves and snow at my neighbor's Grange Hall (it's a long story, ask me about it some time).
With the snow cleared, it's time for a shower.
The rest of the evening is a blur of conspicuous food consumption, bad NFL football, beer slurping, waiting what seemed like ten hours for stepson #1's friends to arrive for post-dinner Olympic beer slurping, more conspicuous food consumption, and two hours of The Apprentice. The evening was topped off by watching my mother, all 70-something years of her, playing a round of some card game called 'bullshit' with the now-drunk college kids. That was enough for me...I went to bed.
This morning I was just plain tired out. Obviously, too much activity the day before. I didn't even drink very much so I couldn't use that as an excuse. Oh well, just gettin' old I guess.
The now-hungover college kids got up to make a giant brunch (I gotta hand it to them, back in my day brunch woulda been cancelled!). After round three of conspicuous food consumption, the kids cleaned up and went off to deal with the rest of their Friday.
I, still being too tired to march up to the third floor for a new music selection, pawed through a couple of the CD piles on top of the piano. Explosions In The Sky is a sort of Godspeed You Black Emperor if Godspeed came from Austin, Texas. Sorta bombastic, sorta pensive. I popped that sucker in and hung out on the couch with the dog while finishing up the book Live What You Love: Notes from an Unusual Life.
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