Thursday Update

Reading time at the library is on hiatus until September, so we haven't left the house today. We did play in the backyard long enough for Henry to step in some dog poop. I was tempted to just throw the shoes away, but had to admit that was a pretty wasteful solution. I had the lawn mowed by 9:00 this morning, but it was still hot and humid. Between the heat and the terrible mosquitoes, there isn't much incentive to go outside.

Vacuuming up flies is a poor solution to having flies. Yesterday we had some flies in the house. I vacuumed them up, which is not as easy as it sounds. The trick was cornering them in a window. But them I turned the vacuum off, and they promptly flew out. I had assumed the vacuum would kill them, instead I just managed to relocate all the flies to be in the kitchen. Henry and I went to the store and bought a fly swatter, which is an effective solution to having flies.

Katie is in Slovenia, the homeland of my maternal line, visiting our Slovene cousin and meeting other relatives. We haven't seen Alja, the cousin in question, since her 2002 visit, but she and Jo Ellen correspond regularly. Kristy is with Katie, and Liz is leaving for the airport to join them as I type. Katie and Kristy have already been to Ukraine, as part of Kristy's charitable work, and Turkey. I'm a little jealous, but tourism is also hard work and it's just too hot there right now. I think Slovenia will be more comfortable than their last two stops.

I've been doing quite a bit of sewing recently, but it's all straight lines. I put more pockets on Nick's current white coat. I cut up the white coat from his med school days to use the fabric. Now he has a pockets actually big enough to keep a stethoscope in. I've also made some nursing covers and have a few more to make before too long. I think I need something else to be my next project though- perhaps an apron.

In St. Louis, there were weird goings-on I could tell you about. Here, not so much. Several nights ago, I was laying in bed when I heard a car horn honk once. That's as weird as it's been. Also, the neighbor two houses down is having a new roof put on today, so there is some construction noise. That's exciting.

We used to hear people yelling at each other (sometimes angry, often not) across the street from our apartment in St. Louis. Yesterday, I thought I heard someone yelling outside. I figured out what had actually happened was Henry had managed to turn on the TV and some cartoon characters were having a disagreement. I guess I'm just looking for some excitement.