Threading the Needle
Jul. 10th, 2011 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenRob Brezsny's Horoscope for Libras for the week of July 7 is an astonishingly welcome one. *laughs*
"One must choose in life between boredom and suffering," proclaimed author Madame de Staël (1766-1817). I beg to differ with her, however. As evidence, I present the course of your life during the next few weeks. After analyzing the astrological omens, I expect you will consistently steer a middle course between boredom and suffering, being able to enjoy some interesting departures from the routine that don't hurt a bit. There may even be pain-free excursions into high adventure mixed in, along with a fascinating riddle that taxes your imagination in rather pleasurable ways.
Been busy all day with the last-day errands, trying to get what we all need and want together before leaving, and making sure that everything is cared for while we're gone. Jet finished buying the last pieces of his aquarium with all his lawn mowing money and has put everything together, filled it with water, and will just leave it to run and filter and heat while we're gone so that the system will balance out before he introduces fish to it. It's a tropical fish tank, with salt, so we'll see how well he can establish it while we're gone.
We set up a neighbor kids to water all the plants. We ran to the library, ran to the drug store, did laundry, picked up the house (for the housecleaners and the plant waterers), and (laughs) of all things I've bedded down my Farmville farm. *laughs more*
Two things failed in the last three weeks. One was the solar array, squirrels had gotten up on the roof and were chewing on the wires and shorted one of the panels to ground with no harm to its furry little self. The solar guys came out and did a free fix, but we had to do something about the squirrels before they'll come and make the fixes permanent. A wildlife mitigation guy came and said that the squirrels were attracted to the fact that they could make nests under the roof as the builders hadn't covered some places up there. So John put flashing all around the roof of the house.
Also the sprinkler system went weird, and one patch *always* went on when the other sprinklers went on, and lowered the water pressure enough that nothing really got watered. At first, everyone thought it was an electrical problem, but when they cut the wire that was supposed to control that zone, it kept on watering. It took John four days, a contractor who came in and helped him dig, witch for the water lines, and try and find three different buried control boxes. They finally found the right one by accident, and took advantage of their luck. Turned out the valve was broken for that one patch, so it was always running water whenever anything else ran.
It's actually a very good thing that it didn't break down during our time away, and gave us plenty of time to fix it beforehand. Otherwise most of the yard would be dead in this nearly 100 degree heat every day.
Today, John went off to help someone else with a computer problem, and Jet and I went swimming at about 3pm just to cool off from the day. When Jet was finished and wanted to go, we got out of the pool, dried off, and started walking home when the whole sky rumbled with thunder. Perfect timing, as when lightning strikes, the pool closes for half an hour straight. It was even better when we got into the house and it just started to pour. The water cooled the world, and I opened the house. So by the time we ate our dinner, the house was very very comfortable indeed.
I actually painted a little tonight. I've lost my touch, but did some calligraphy, a piecemeal puzzlework bird, and a couple of cloudy roses. They were all horrible; but I could feel the touch and eye starting to come back. I'm going to have no chance to do it when I'm on the road; but anything I do now will mend a few things for sketching while I'm away. And the only way I'm going to get my eye back is by ruining a bunch of paper. *laughs* I might bring my field watercolor kit, with some paper, and just wing it while I'm on the road. It would be something anyway.
"One must choose in life between boredom and suffering," proclaimed author Madame de Staël (1766-1817). I beg to differ with her, however. As evidence, I present the course of your life during the next few weeks. After analyzing the astrological omens, I expect you will consistently steer a middle course between boredom and suffering, being able to enjoy some interesting departures from the routine that don't hurt a bit. There may even be pain-free excursions into high adventure mixed in, along with a fascinating riddle that taxes your imagination in rather pleasurable ways.
Been busy all day with the last-day errands, trying to get what we all need and want together before leaving, and making sure that everything is cared for while we're gone. Jet finished buying the last pieces of his aquarium with all his lawn mowing money and has put everything together, filled it with water, and will just leave it to run and filter and heat while we're gone so that the system will balance out before he introduces fish to it. It's a tropical fish tank, with salt, so we'll see how well he can establish it while we're gone.
We set up a neighbor kids to water all the plants. We ran to the library, ran to the drug store, did laundry, picked up the house (for the housecleaners and the plant waterers), and (laughs) of all things I've bedded down my Farmville farm. *laughs more*
Two things failed in the last three weeks. One was the solar array, squirrels had gotten up on the roof and were chewing on the wires and shorted one of the panels to ground with no harm to its furry little self. The solar guys came out and did a free fix, but we had to do something about the squirrels before they'll come and make the fixes permanent. A wildlife mitigation guy came and said that the squirrels were attracted to the fact that they could make nests under the roof as the builders hadn't covered some places up there. So John put flashing all around the roof of the house.
Also the sprinkler system went weird, and one patch *always* went on when the other sprinklers went on, and lowered the water pressure enough that nothing really got watered. At first, everyone thought it was an electrical problem, but when they cut the wire that was supposed to control that zone, it kept on watering. It took John four days, a contractor who came in and helped him dig, witch for the water lines, and try and find three different buried control boxes. They finally found the right one by accident, and took advantage of their luck. Turned out the valve was broken for that one patch, so it was always running water whenever anything else ran.
It's actually a very good thing that it didn't break down during our time away, and gave us plenty of time to fix it beforehand. Otherwise most of the yard would be dead in this nearly 100 degree heat every day.
Today, John went off to help someone else with a computer problem, and Jet and I went swimming at about 3pm just to cool off from the day. When Jet was finished and wanted to go, we got out of the pool, dried off, and started walking home when the whole sky rumbled with thunder. Perfect timing, as when lightning strikes, the pool closes for half an hour straight. It was even better when we got into the house and it just started to pour. The water cooled the world, and I opened the house. So by the time we ate our dinner, the house was very very comfortable indeed.
I actually painted a little tonight. I've lost my touch, but did some calligraphy, a piecemeal puzzlework bird, and a couple of cloudy roses. They were all horrible; but I could feel the touch and eye starting to come back. I'm going to have no chance to do it when I'm on the road; but anything I do now will mend a few things for sketching while I'm away. And the only way I'm going to get my eye back is by ruining a bunch of paper. *laughs* I might bring my field watercolor kit, with some paper, and just wing it while I'm on the road. It would be something anyway.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}