h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good night all.

Syn has an appointment with his eye surgeon today in Little Rock, so it is going to be a road trippy day. 4.5 hours down, an hour in the hospital and another 4.5 hours back. I will likely be a bit on the grumpy side by bedtime. I'll caztch all of you tomorrow.

I was staying at the Westin Bonaventure, though next time I will probably stay at the Wilshire Grand as it's better situated to our dc.

I did see SEA while I was there.

Morning all.

Great that you got out and about Lil.

A birthday for a mini !

*comes in looking thoughtful and gets a cup of tea, after a morning of reading exhaustive and sometimes hilarious analyses of a crotch shot*

evening all

eating superior cheese on toast with a cat on my lap.

What makes it superior cheese, Rosemary?

Good night all.

Belated happy birthday, mini

Superior cheese on toast. Does that mean the cheese is on top of the toast rather than the other way round

the meal thinks its better than all the other snax around

especially better than the cereals

*pant, pant*

+26ºC/79ºF in the shade, at 6 pm - and on my way home I saw a man ahead of me wearing a dark overcoat, all buttoned up!

About to start pouring down here... just as we're going out to do the weekly shop!

English cheese does seem to be more flavorful than most of the cheeses available in the Ozarks. We're getting more imported stuff though, so there's always hope. There are a couple of American companies that make really delicious cheddars, but one gets tired of cheddar.

[]

Most of my favourite cheeses seem to have one thing in common - saltiness. I love Feta, Manchego, Stilton, Gorgonzola, Cambozola (especially the kind with garlic) and Chèvre. And some of the Haloumis aren't too bad. A nice Brie is quite good too, especially when it's soft and almost creamy *gets a dreamy look in her eyes*

Not to mention melted cheese dishes like raclette and cheese fondue

Oh, and any cheese gratinated food stuff, of course. And using shredded cheese to create small 'cheese crisps' (very thin piles of shredded cheese in a frying pan, medium heat).

Did I mention I love ?

You folks have doubtless gotten many-a Mid-Western USA weather report from Hypatia, especially in light of the tornado that ripped through Joplin in her neck of the woods. It’ll come as no surprise, then, that I piggy-back off Titania’s observation of the temperature. In Fulton, we’ve been experiencing highs of 95º F / 35º C for the last week. Okay, I could normally bear with that easily. Just stay inside with the windows open, or close ‘em all and turn on the HVAC. However, we have an outdoor project in the works.

Y’all know we finally invested in a home of our own at the end of 2009. We had it built to our specifications…mostly. We’re still doing some “finishing touches” on it, especially in the landscaping department. You know how they bulldoze all the natural fauna and start you out with nothing except topsoil? Yeah, well, we didn’t even have that. Clay. Good ol’ Mizzurah clay. Why? Because some dunderhead decided to fill a small ravine at the back of the community by pushing all the soil from the lots into it.

So, it’s taken a while to establish even a smattering of grass on our lot. Anything we try to grow (trees, flower beds, ornamental grass) has all had to have huge amounts of potting soil, topsoil, and fertilizer dumped on it just to survive in the unproductive clay. In lieu of certain “normal” landscaping projects, my wife, A---, talked me into improving the looks of the westward side of the property. It started with bringing in 16 tons of 6/8 light grey sandstone rocks, dumped at the curb in a massive mound. We have been steadily placing the rocks, jigsaw-puzzle-fashion, along the edge of our driveway to about twelve feet outward. Why? To cover the clay, of course. It was still brown and squishy and wettish (because it’s clay), and the run-off from the neighborhood finds its way through our property, to drown all but the hardiest and thirstiest plants. So, for the last month, we’ve been filling our yellow dump wagon with rocks, pulling it successively further up the property, dumping it, and spending hours on our knees building a 10,000-piece puzzle. It’s looking so much better; it’s been a tremendous facelift for the place. Don’t talk to me about the sweat, though.

When we reached the far end of the drive, even with the leading edge of the house, we set aside the stone puzzle in favor of another project that “just has to get done.” We’ve been working on a walkway from the end of the double-wide driveway to the cedar fence single gate that leads into the back yard. A--- wanted to have it done as a special addition, and to give her clients a pleasant way to enter her salon at the back of the house, without walking through our home. (She’s a certified Cosmetologist, dontcha know!) Not a bad a idea, really, and we scouted up some really nice 16” pavers at a DIY store in Columbia for a good price. We started leveling the ground over the last week, so when we put down the “weed block” sheets, spread the pea gravel along the length, then top it off with sand, then the pavers will set nicely and evenly. They’ll be three wide and 42 long, forming a serpentine path because of the pattern embossed on the pavers.

Where was I going with all this? Oh, yeah! Sweating our buns off in the heat and humidity! We were working this weekend with a friend from our church fellowship and my daughter’s (Y---) boyfriend. [Have I said lately that I feel she’s still too young to date?] Back to the point: we had to implement a more-and-more restrictive inside vs. outside work schedule as the day wore on. Instead of concentrating on shoveling for an hour or more at a time, we wound up at twenty minutes out and about an hour in. I was following the format of our “stay times” for working in the Reactor Containment when we’re at full power and have to make a survey entry. After all, these are friends and I didn’t want any of us going into Heat Stroke for the sake of a home project. We grilled out for lunch and the adults had a few brews along the way, and by pacing ourselves, we’re about ready to move on to the gravel / sand part of the project.

Well, you’re updated; whether you wanted to be, or not.

B4ishowyouthedozenorsojarsofsweaticollectedtogaugehowmuchwaterweightilostsofar

[BB] Santra'ing from York tonight.

For me any cheese except that stange type of plastic hey put in burgers.

and belated Hippo Birdy to Mini