Random Thoughts About Weekend and Week

It was warm and sunny this whole weekend in DC, and my family took full advantage of it. Sailor Boy threw himself into yard work, doing several hours of it on Saturday and Sunday. I did… decidedly fewer hours. I clipped the hedges, raked up the bare patches to prepare them for re-seeding (we have a very, very shady lawn, and grass is sometimes a pipe dream), and tended to my garden.

The garden is going reasonably well. The radishes have sprouted (yay) and the tomato seedlings haven’t died yet. I’ve yet to see any sign of the herbs I planted or the marigolds, but… baby steps. (Also, Rio steps, as she trampled the garden the other day. Darn dog.)

I really need a new camera so I can properly document this.

Sailor Boy mowed the lawn, edged, removed stumps, trimmed all the hedges, and did some landscape design. Rio followed us around like — well, like a puppy, and looked baffled by all the changes we were making to her lawn. If we threw a stick into the compost pile, she helpfully dragged it out and began composting it herself. If we clipped the hedges, she made sure the pile of clippings were as evenly distributed across the lawn as possible.

Oh, and she discovered the hose. That was fun.

Like I said, I really need a new camera so as to document some of these discoveries.

We also started a compost pile. Then, exhausted and warm, we left for a sushi dinner and a jaunt to the American FIlm Institute’s Silver Theater to see THE STING. I love THE STING. What a great flick.

On Sunday, I was all set to have a lazy day, and then Sailor Boy climbed out the window onto the roof to clean out gutters. Which is when I discovered we pretty much already had a compost pile and didn’t even know it.

Sunday afternoon, we hied ourselves over to some friends’ and had a barbecue. Real hamburgers, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini and strawberries. Yum!

It was super hot by last night, and even Rio was feeling the heat. Since she spent the first eight weeks of her life in an air-conditioned kennel, and probably barely remembers August, she’s never really experienced heat like this. I didn’t know she could drink so much water. BUt she has been sitting on the vents of the air conditioner (which isn’t actually on right now), most likely becuase she remembers sitting on them as a puppy and how pleasant that was. Also, when I went down into the basement to retrieve our upright fan last night, she plopped herself down ont e basement floor and demurred moving. I almost left her there. It’s about 65 degrees down there and I’m sure much more pleasant for my furry little monster.

It’s supposed to get up to 90 today. I hate to turn on the AC in April, though.

I’ve got a busy week ahead of me. A short story due, some work on my website, a big mailing, and an exciting new announcement, all to come.

By the way, if you have any camera suggestions — inexpensive, does movies as well as pictures, compact preferred to full body or SLR — leave ’em here in comments.