Cat on a Hot Asphalt Roof

Last week stunk.  The AC petered out on Thursday and our hot water heater sort of imploded on Saturday morning.  Shelled out mucho dinero and had both issues fixed on Monday.  And just our luck, those days without AC were toasty and humid.  We had to make more use of the windows, which Felix took advantage of by knocking out a loose upstairs screen to go explore the magical wonders of the roof.

Naughty beast.  Some day we'll let him back in.  We went to Canterbury on Father's Day and won 60 cents.  Lost a little more than that.  We were by the winner's circle at the end of the last race and a jockey gave Adrienne his muddy goggles.  Maybe he was just being nice, or maybe he was intimidated by her height and girth.

Rounding out a banner week were the 4 a.m. storms Tuesday that rocked the house and hail that made us fear for our windows.  Straight line winds of 60-80 mph, they say.  One of our willow trees partially lifted up and looks pretty bare on one side now.

3 storm chasers went through yesterday while we cleaned up, hunting for damaged roofs and cracked siding.  We came out pretty good compared to many in our area.  Trees are down everywhere and slammed into a few houses.  This pic is from a local news article - it's a street just northeast of us.

Ahh, June in MN.  Hoping that's the worst we see this season.

from the Messed Up files

Article: The Global War Against Baby Girls

"In terms of its sheer toll in human numbers, sex-selective abortion has assumed a scale tantamount to a global war against baby girls."

Scary stuff.  We haven't really learned from the past.  We just decide it's okay to kill a different group of people.

Movin' on up

Or down, rather.  We've been working on transforming the basement bedroom from Nate's office/collectibles room to a real bedroom for Michael.  He moved in a couple days ago.  I think he's going to like having more space and a bathroom to himself.

Ugh, painting...we hate painting.  Nate redid the trim too.  But it's done and looks pretty good.  Nate made the shelves when he was a teenager.  To his chagrin, the Star Wars action figures & sets that previously decorated them have been relegated to the closet to make way for Lego Technic etc.  It's the first time since '99 that there haven't been Transformers or Storm Troopers or sports cards actively displayed somewhere in our home.  Poor Nate.  I can't say there isn't a piece of me that's giddy, but I won't gloat.  They are not really gone.  Just like herpes, they merely lie dormant.  The kids will move out eventually, and then I bet the Empire Strikes Back.

Last week I went to an awards ceremony at Michael's middle school where lots of kids were honored for various things.  He and 15 other kids received an award because their History Day In MN projects went to regionals.  He created a website about how the automobile revolutionized society.  No one from his school advanced from there, but it was cool anyway.

And he got braces last week!  We're metal mouth buddies now.  The school year is winding down, too.  Thursday is the last day.  Yay, no homework for 3 months!