Dog Days? Where?

Hasn't the last few days been absolutely beautiful? If I didn't have a calendar, I could never, ever believe that this is the last day of August, in the year 2009, in Kansas. As I am typing this, it is 12:48 pm and the temperature outside is 70 degrees. You read that right. 70. The almanac will tell you that the average temperature for today here in Doo-dah is 91 degrees (which gives you no real clue as to the typical August 31 temperature, for most of my adult life it has hovered right around 100 degrees.) I have no clue why Mother Nature is being so kind to Kansas of late, but I ain't gonna argue!! We can have this kind of weather clear up to November, and that will sit just fine with me!

Yesterday, the Wonder Hubby actually broke the shackles of perpetual overtime, and had the day off. Well, "day off" is a figurative term, isn't it? We spent the day in the back yard attempting to reclaim it from the wilderness that had consumed it while we weren't looking. I have to confess that it was really wonderful to be out in my garden again; the last two months have been pretty rough for me, pain and fatigue have won most of the daily battles. Now, however, I'm on a brand new medication, Savella, and I've got to tell you, it seems to be working. My pain level has dropped significantly, I'm taking fewer pain pills, and so far, I'm not experiencing any of the emotional and physical issues I had with Lyrica. Yay me!! ( I wonder how many hoops the insurance company is going to make me jump through before it will break down and pay for this stuff? Oh well, guess I'll worry about that when I run out of the sample packs the PA gave me....)

The garden needed a lot of clean up: I pulled the last of the cucumber vines' dead clingers; attempted to beat back the interloping grass (I guess I now know how that old cliche "Grass grows everywhere but where you want it to" gained popularity); and picked, picked, picked tomatoes. Somehow, I'm going to have to squeeze in a marinara sauce-making session before next weekend. Right. I wonder how many Diet Pepsis I'd have to drink in order to stay up for 24 hours......? (Yeah, I know: BAD IDEA!!! I'm not serious. Much.) By last evening, what with my tidying and his mowing and weed-eating, we were pretty much zombies. Make that very sore, very sweaty, very tired zombies. But the garden and the yard look ever-so-much better, and I don't feel nearly as bad today as I expected to, so all is well. After showers, viewing "True Blood" (the show is a real hoot to watch, I fracking love it!) and dining on homemade pizza (using my homemade tomato sauce, by the way!), we were both ready for a brisk coma, which we promptly proceeded to indulge in. Romance isn't dead at our house, not by any means, but it often does involve a rain check. *sigh* And I do have to suppress a lot of guilt over the fact that Lachlan's days off, few and far between as they are, are seldom actually off: He usually ends up working harder around the house than he does at his actual job. Like he's always said, "You don't buy a house; you buy another job."

This week is going to be super busy: I have sewing and painting and (hopefully) embroidering to do before this weekend, when the local SCA group will be hosting its annual "Tournament of Valor" event for all the SCAdians of the world who wish to come. This year's event promises to be great fun--lots of fighting, lots of Arts and Sciences, sumo wrestling (I'm serious!), and the joy of friends getting together to wallow in each other's company. If any of my readers are curious, send me a message and I'll give you directions to the camp where the event is being held--you can come and see our weirdness in person if you like. All are welcome!

AND I also need to get some laundry done, keep up the housework, spread newspapers and mulch in the garden to keep the grass and weeds at bay, as seen here; AND the aforementioned marinara sauce-making session. Labor Day is to be spent with my folks and brother for a barbecue. Bring on the yum!!

I thought your life was supposed to slow down as you age......when exactly does that begin?