The Coffee Shop

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Freakin' MOSQUITOES are STILL just UNREAL...

So I bought another insect fogger. Had one but it gave up the ghost. Bought a different one that's supposed to be better. The things do work...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Burgess-144...53.m2749.l2649

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Well, enough sweating, mosquitoes and inhaling gnats for one day... I need beer.

[Abbey Marie]

Building your Purple Martin house yet?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Building your Purple Martin house yet?

If I do, it'll have to be after I'm done with all this yard work.

I have to take the Camaro up to the dealer in the morning and drop it off. They're going to give me a loaner and I have a few errands. They'll have it all day I think, maybe even overnight. They're not going to live me but I'm going to ask them to redo one of the big red stripes on the hood, it's crooked. I'm sure they'll love that...

They can write it off as warranty... it shouldn't cost them anything.

[Abbey Marie]

Are you spraying anything with DEET on yourself? I hate bugs!!

[LongTermGuy]

Getting late 1:07am...wife in bed...Cat well-fed and outside...doors locked...Pistol next to computer...Last stop here... (Oh..before I forget)..saw this warning minutes ago... ...

`Breaking: Latest GFS weather model shows a strong tropical storm slamming into the West Coast of Florida on Sunday morning`

[darin]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Are you spraying anything with DEET on yourself? I hate bugs!!

Yeah I've been using some Cutter insect repellent.

Can't wait until that new insect sprayer gets here though. I had a Black Flag fogger before and those things work.

The village finally came by with the big sprayer on the truck late yesterday afternoon. They had to do something. This is the worst I've ever seen the mosquitoes here in this town in the 30 years I've here.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

Your kid is a teenager, and spending time "alone" in Portugal?

I can relate to feeling "single." I've been single for 31 years. Unmarried, actually, I've had plenty of girl friends, but I have lived alone all that while. It's the norm for me. Doubt I could share my house with someone else at this point. I'd feel invaded.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Well, I better shower up quick before I take the car up to the dealer and piss them off... I'm out.

[darin]

Your kid is a teenager, and spending time "alone" in Portugal?

I can relate to feeling "single." I've been single for 31 years. Unmarried, actually, I've had plenty of girl friends, but I have lived alone all that while. It's the norm for me. Doubt I could share my house with someone else at this point. I'd feel invaded.

She's with a friend. She's good. She'll protect him if something goes wrong.


I definitely need time to wipe my slate clean. Not 31 years probably Doubt I'll be alive that long!

[Gunny]

If your son in law was complaining about the heat a few weeks ago...

He'll get his waterworks going. Sad thing is, *I* inadvertently gave him the excuse after I first got here not really knowing how he is. He was bitching about it and having to mow the lawn when he got home and I told him I understood completely.

The heat here in the summer IS a bitch. It used to suck the life out of me especially in July and August. But here's the difference:

I would get up, shower and shave, jump on the board I was running for about 30 minutes, and go to work by 7 (on a normal day). Work until 3:30 or 5:30 depending on the job. Come home and catch about 20 minutes in the recliner. Water all the plants my wife had to have that I got to take care of. Do whatever chores needed to get done. At 6 I'd run 3 miles-4 miles. Usually about 95-100 around that time. Come home and lift weights,then work out on the bag or do kata for 20-30 minutes. Shower. Get anything i needed for work the next day ready and deal with the old lady's latest drama moment. Then I'd get, depending on how late I was willing to stay up, anywhere from an hour or two on the board before I went to bed. Repeat. 5-6 days a week, depending on the job.

By comparison, this guy comes home and sits in the recliner until my daughter gets home. He is kind enough to put his dirty tupperware in the sink that if I don't wash it it'll sit there. He'll half-ass help my daughter get the kids and their stuff in. I get to clean the baby's bottles and make the younger granddaughter's lunch for the next day or he'll put it off and they'll have to scramble in the morning. If my daughter dares want to lay down for few minutes he bitches how he doesn't get to when he just spent an hour and a half playing on his phone. If my daughter doesn't get up and cook him dinner like a good little wifey he cries like a bitch and has a tantrum any 3 years old would be proud of. In the morning, I get a half hour earlier than they do so I can suck down mass quantities of coffee before I have to get Sybil up. ALWAYS a joy Clean the cat boxes and feed all the animals. Cook my daughter's breakfast. He DOES get himself dressed and bitch about how he can't be late.

Point is, yes, it's freakin' hot. Right now we have the added pleasure of humidity off the Gulf. But that doesn't mean you get to drop your pack the second you walk in the door and do nothing. The family and the house are STILL here. That shit you ignore yesterday is STILL there. If your wife is sick like my daughter is now, the kids don't just vanish and/or suddenly become self sufficient adults. You got 18 and life to go, brother. You're the one that wanted 3 kids when you can't handle even one, and at age 35.

Now step to the plate. I don't see that happening.

[Kathianne]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

I feel ya. It's not really 'empty' yet, but the wall is marked. I didn't feel the 'stirrings' of loss with college, first long solo trips, even first apartments. It hit when youngest was married to a really good woman for him. All were good, none would fly back.

I was happy they were on their own paths, but a bit melancholy. Suddenly after a few months, I was celebrating them and myself. For really the first time since my baby girl was born, I really could figure out myself. The good and the not so. While I'd been working on it for half a decade, it was after the wedding that I took the steps I always had urged the kids to: minimize and work on flaws, drop the negative. Follow your heart and passions, which should be based on your gifts. Enjoy life.

[darin]

I feel ya. It's not really 'empty' yet, but the wall is marked. I didn't feel the 'stirrings' of loss with college, first long solo trips, even first apartments. It hit when youngest was married to a really good woman for him. All were good, none would fly back.

I was happy they were on their own paths, but a bit melancholy. Suddenly after a few months, I was celebrating them and myself. For really the first time since my baby girl was born, I really could figure out myself. The good and the not so. While I'd been working on it for half a decade, it was after the wedding that I took the steps I always had urged the kids to: minimize and work on flaws, drop the negative. Follow your heart and passions, which should be based on your gifts. Enjoy life.

Thanks Kath. I suppose the measure of successful parenting is that our kids do not need us. WANT us, sure...but not need. It is, as they say, what it is. And life is good.

[Kathianne]

The following pics were from yesterday's hike at Sedona Airport trails. There's an "upper" trail and lower trail. We chose the lower.

Today three of us are going to Red Rock Crossing to swim. Out to dinner, as in "goodbye," though one is making the drive down to help.

Tomorrow the RV "lifers" are giving me a goodbye get together. I've only been there 3 months, but have felt a "community" there like no where else.

Change, has been for the good.

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