Damned rain. I haven’t touched my gahden since I planted, and it shows. Every time I work up the energy to weed, rain is involved somewhere, and I’d have to work in a sticky mess. Hoes (the long handled kind) and mud don’t mix.
The other kind of hoe in mud might be kind of fun…
So I got to scratch one off the list o’ cool things yesterday: our assignment was a press conference about the poor condition of the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Officials & the like wasn’t the cool part, the cool part was they gave us a tour down inside the part that is falling apart (the hidden drawbridge portion). We entered down a tight concealed spiral staircase into the machinery that hadn’t raised the bridge since 1961 - the old controls covered in concrete dust & debris. The bridge is in rotten shape with some girders rusted totally through.
My reporter linked a couple photos to Twitter.
Now off to a morning DR appt then to a press conference about aggressive driving. Pot meets kettle.
Up, caffeinated, closing tonight. It did not rain last night, but it did cool down. Right now it’s cloudy and <snerk > 69. Gordie is no worse for wear after his incident last night.
Good luck with the pre-Op stuff, sari.
BBBobbio, “Mud Rasslin’ Hoes VIII” sounds like a high class film:D
Mooooom (if I may call you that), what is the genesis for the name Higgs for your dog (I presume he is a dog, might be your husband…
)
Only two things I know called Higgs is an elementary particle/field and one of my favorite characters in a webcomic.
Rained and thundered last night and a chance (20%) for most of the week. Have to get the grass mowed sometime this week or I’ll need a scythe and a flamethrower to trim it back.
Went to my financial guru (Edward D. Jones) to discuss my status 15 months prior to retirement and am looking at putting a good chunk into a deferred annunity. Still researching and if any other retirees/near retirees here have any thoughts about that, I’m all ears (well, closer to all stomach, but you get my drift…)
Higgsis our pug and she’s named for Dr. Peter Higgs, he of the boson fame. Spousal unit and I are both engineers with a great love of physics, so a sorta-geeky name seemed appropriate. Calling her Blackie would have been too boring.
After yesterday’s productivity, I’ve done pretty much nothing today but have breakfast. I supposed I should at least reassemble the carpet cleaner and put it away. And get dressed - can’t spend all day in a robe and slippers, right?
And regarding retirement, my TSP (which is the gummint 401k equivalent) was divided between a CD for easy access and an annuity for future payouts. It seemed to be the best choice for us. At the very least, it should keep us living indoors. 
Just found out my cousin died last night. It was a combination of sudden and expected. She’d been sick for a week starting with a high fever, and slipped quite a ways into multiple organ failure over the days. I’ll be blasting off to Indyanner when I know about arrangements.
So much for weeding the damned garden this weekend. 
Sorry to hear that, {{{BBBobbio}}}.
I lost a cousin a few years back, and now the oldest of my cousins is in her 70s, so I expect there will be more before too long.
It’s not that I don’t wanna be at work, necessarily, but if I was home, I’d definitely be crawling back into bed right about now.
I buy my peeps with money. 
I’m reminded of the wrasslin’ scene in Stripes (though they were strippers, I believe).
There must be a disturbance in The Force. I’m dressed and I’m about to head to a store to look at possible garments for my niece’s wedding. That’s how bored I am - I’m going clothes shopping! And there’s a Hair Cuttery nearby, so I’ll probably stop in for a trim. WOOHOO!! Wild woman on the loose!!!
{{BBBobbio}}
The odd part is that of my set of cousins (11 of us), the 2 that have died have been at the tail end of the age range. The oldest are 60-65 now; Scott was 49 when he went 2 years ago, and Deb was 2 weeks short of her 54th birthday cake.
She was an ersatz sister; we certainly fought like siblings growing up 
Actually, us younger cuzzes were all pretty tight (and bruised).
{{{{{Bbbobbio}}}}}
BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
I got off an hour long conference call a few minutes ago. The above is what it sounded like to me. 
{{{BBBobbio}}} sorry for your loss. All my cousins that have died have been younger ones except for the oldest of ‘em all who died in a car wreck (he was speedin’, missed a curve and slammed into the side of a church, the same church where his funeral was held and where he is buried) when he was twenty and I was a cub of seven. That was fifty-three years ago! Whoa!
MOOOOOOM if you have N.O.L. while you’re out you can be a lady who shops and lunches.
For that we may have to talk via PM. Consider if you would want to be me and three other people for a day.
{{{{{BBBobbio}}}}}
You and your cousins sound something like me and a branch of mine. Which confused some of their kids growing up. One, when she was about four, got all serious this one day and asked me “Are you my Uncle Mike or Cousin Mike”. Me, being a smartass even with kids said “I’m not sure. Maybe since I live closest to West Virginia I’m your Uncle Cousin!”
Well, the next day the whole crew was at this salad bar place and she wanted to point out this one item to me and she yelled out “Uncle Cousin - come look at these cookies!” What made it especially funny was everyone turned to look except our crew - they just went along like they had heard it a hundred times. Freaked out some of the other diners though.
Off to work in the rain. Joy.
{{{bobbio}}} It’s hard to lose family, but especially the ones close to you. Have a safe trip back to Indiana (and eat a Charlie Chaplin from Olympia for me).
Slow, rainy day. I just checked in with SIL to see which showtime we’ll get for Guys and Dolls. I think that this weekend, it will be a local bluegrass festival though.
I have a flute-playing friend who was told she couldn’t play bluegrass music on the flute, but she learned how to anyway. 
On that note (ha), I should go practice my alto clarinet. That alto clarinet thumb callus ain’t gonna maintain itself.
If Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull could do it, there’s no reason she couldn’t.
Missy, if I get anywhere close to Olympia on this trip, I’ll have a pork and olive sammich. Get with me offline, and I’ll see about sending you some CChaplins.
Ruble, when I hear about arrangements, I’ll make travel plans. I wouldn’t want you to miss me hollering “Wie gehts?!?” out the window as I drive by Pittsboig…
