Well, back to the grind for us Canucks. The great thing about long weekends (other than the extra day off) is the short week that follows. I bought an Atalufo mango this morning. I don’t even remember if I like mangos, but it’s a wee thing, so I thought I’d try it. I also made up a big ol’ crock pot of my chili yesterday, too, which I allowed to cook for a good 6 hours. I made it a little differently this time, adding tarragon (N.O.Tarragon) and three beans (50% red kidney, the other 50% split between navy and pinto) along with the usual red & green peppers, celery, ground beef (Angus sirloin, extra lean – very tender!), sliced mushrooms and other various spices. Turned out quite good, except there’s a bit too much of the tarragon in it, so it’s a bit on the sweet side and quite aromatic – in a good way, just not the way I was intending. It also wasn’t spicy enough, despite being loaded down with chili powder, cracked black pepper, and red and green Tabasco. I should have added some chili peppers or cayenne, but I was trying for a tangy yet flavourful heat. Din’ work. Oh well, I know for next time to add some raw heat somewhere along the line. I brought some for lunch anyway.
Heff & Roo - Thanks. 
Yeah, that house is quite nice. I should have taken more pics of the inside, it’s surprisingly well appointed and really nicely laid out. MindWife is doing okay at the moment. We are still awaiting the results of the bloodwork, so no clues or confirmations yet. She only went last Thursday so it may be a few more days to a week yet. I’ll post when we know the results. Hope things pick up for you; your fireworks are on tomorrow, and you can’t stay bummed when things are all sparkly and shiny and explody around you. 
Kai - I’ve never had a root canal, but I’m intimately familiar with tooth pain. I had to get one pulled a few years ago because the pain had built to such a level that I couldn’t sleep, eat, drink – nothin’. I can handle pain pretty well – I don’t like it and I’d like to beat the snot out of it, but I put up with that which I have no control over. (What else can I do?) It’s the perpetuity of it, never subsiding, never letting me do anything, it just wore me right down until I went to the dentist finally. I wanted to crawl into the fetal position while in that waiting chair it was so bad. When the dentist finally put me in the chair and injected the novocaine (five shots!), the relief was almost as palpable as it was instantaneous. From that point on I didn’t care what he did, ‘cos man, I didn’t feel a thing, even when he practically had his foot on my chest, yanking like there was a pot o’ gold at the other end of that tooth. I can’t imagine that a root canal would be much more than uncomfortable once they numb the hell out of your mouth, and perhaps even give you the gas.
Hank - I don’t know if you could off lightly for strangling him. They might be a lot more understanding if you found a new storage place for his phone, though.
SCL - Two Lumps is awesome. It’s one of the only webcomics that read on a regular basis. I have a black kitty who could be twin to Eben.
Swampy - Har. S’okay, I know the pooch is cuter than I am. I mean look at 'im. Look at 'im! He’s constitutionally cute.
DoggieButler - Yeah, that observation was made about that mutt. If you covered his ears though, he looked like a little baby seal.
Rigs - Well, yeah, but garden angels has a cute double entendre do it, so I called them that instead. Garden Fairies sounds more like Queer Eye for green thumbs.
Haze - That’s a generous description. I’m going to get my hair cut this weekend though, so I won’t have to worry about the bad hair days for a while, because I won’t have much hair left for the wind to sweep.
