Ants and Bad Bosses

The two do not have much in common except they are very annoying.

Steve has this fairly dangerous job that he is grossly underpaid for. Now I find out that he has not been paid in over a month despite sending reminders to the boss saying he has not been paid. These e-mails are ignored and Steve hates confrontation. I on the other hand feel like finding this guy to visit him in person and give him a piece of my mind. He has 'forgotten' before and has made good in the past after a couple of e-mails so Steve is not worried though he is annoyed that he has to continually beg to be paid. The guy has been gone a lot though he did find some time to come and ask Steve when this stupid project is going to be done. I've been urging him to quit and now that I found this out, I don't think they deserve any notice.

As for ants, I was thinking how lucky that these little disgusting things didn't find their way into our house this year or to my hummingbird feeder but then I look and my solar light string is the I-94 of an ant trail. Amazing the convoluted path they had to take and then the communication to their fellow ants. But the solar light string will no longer lead them to ant heaven and now they have to wade through a thick wad of vaseline to reach ant nirvana.

This morning was to be a running day but with it already in the 80s with matching humidity, I biked instead. Yesterday a record was broken and today it will be above 100 too. All these records were set in 1988, the summer we went to Yellowstone and they had the fires.

The self-seeded cleomes are in bloom now.

Too damn hot!

101 and humid. I am so tired of it. I went out running at 6 am and biked a little after. My patio is shaded in the morning where I like to do my puzzle, drink my coffee and watch my hummingbirds but soon it was too hot to do that. And tomorrow, despite the earlier cool forecast, will be just as hot. I go outside just  to rescue my flowers. The humidity actually helps them so I don't need to water as often as that dry week.

I did have a nice lunch with Shanna sans kids..a nice break for her and fun for me.

I do hope it cools down for my big ride in a week.

A Hen and Chick blossoms

Calla lily

Campanula

Evening primrose

Every day my rooster grows taller and thinner. The blossoms at the tip are forming their own stalks. Soon I should see actual flowers. In Seattle, many people have rock gardens in their retaining walls. Hens and chicks seem to be a favorite. When I was there one June, some of them went into blossom mode with their sort of obscene erections sticking out of the vertical walls.

I had forgotten about my pot of callas wintering in my laundry room. It took less than 2 weeks of watering to give me blossoms from bare dirt.

I was woken up by the loud storms we had in the middle of the night. We really needed the rain and things cooled off. But tomorrow will be hotter than  ever and humid. Hard to exercise though I was able to run in the early morning drizzle and bike a bit.

On my way to Onaway

Despite the heat, I managed to get a bike ride in today. Steve said it was 86 degrees when I left early this morning. Today felt worse than last week when it was 102. That day was dry, tough on plants but somewhat easier for me to tolerate. 101 and humid; not good.

Onaway is the first overnight stop after I leave Mackinaw City next week. Never have been there before nor have I been to Atlanta (MI) another stop. Hope I can do it. I have 320 miles under my belt and I can see my quads getting a little bigger.

I did our Border-to-border trail going along the Huron River from the east boundary to the west. A new addition: the Argo Cascades. They have a 500 foot stretch of the river tiered like a wedding cake with about 6 minirapids to shoot. Even early in the morning, the kayakers and tubers were there. Problem with riding in the river valley is that eventually I have to climb out of it. I tried a more gradual route this time but with the extreme heat, I was not having that much fun.

Steve spent most of today working. It scared me because lots could go wrong and he was completely by himself. He said he needed to use a piece of equipment that on other days would not be available to him. I kept calling him as he kept missing the times he said he would be home. They pay peanuts for high stress; high danger. Once this particular project is done, he is outta there.

Had a visit from Shanna's family. The boys wanted to play outside but it was just too hot for anyone to be out there. Josh went with some of his friends to Naomi's pool.

Happy Fourth Everyone!

Argo Cascades  photo from city website

Why do they turn out the way they do?

I watched A Beautiful Boy this afternoon. A couple's only child without any warning kills 21 classmates and himself at his university. They go into hiding from the press asking the same question over and over What kind of parents raised this kind of monster? Then they play the blame game with each other, If only you didn't do this and this...


None of my children so far have turned out to be  crazy murderers but each has done at least one thing in their lives that seemed inexplicable. We've played the blame game with each other. Others have chimed in uninvited to opine what we (usually me) has done wrong.

And I have done this myself. Why did my father turn out to be such a selfish, racist boor? He was raised in the lap of luxury by well educated, polite, generous parents. His step-mother placed the onus on the mother she never met. She must have spoiled him...

I spent a good part of the day with my own beautiful boy. I am very proud of him (and my other children). He is making steps to better his situation.

It is scary to think you have known someone so well and then they turn out to be a complete stranger. Fortunately he is an optimist and believes the situation was a fluke.

Finally we have had a bit of rain. It has made everything now so humid.

Scenes from a Birthday

Cheesecake

Getting a ride from Uncle Josh

Watching Tess

With Aunt Shanna and cousin Danny

Maya turns Two Today

How time flies!

I must admit that I was not thrilled to hear of her existence. Her mom was only 18 and  I thought no way ready to be a mother. It wasn't even clear how pregnant Naomi was. By looking at her, one would guess not very. She thought she might be 10 or 12 weeks. So at the ultrasound, we were very surprised to find out she was 16 weeks. The sonographer and I saw a flash of the hamburger sign (a girl) but it was fleeting. She did take a picture of a swelling down there that indicated that we might have a little boy. At 16 weeks, it is hard to tell the difference. But later sonograms never showed any boy parts.


Anyway, it has not been easy but Maya is a little gem. She celebrated her birthday at a water park. Later she will come over for dinner and cake with her aunt, uncle and cousins.


We went to The Top of the Park last night to hear swing music. As it is so dry, as soon as the set  goes down, the temperature does too.


I woke very early to do 32 miles of biking, most of it on what is the main bike way around here, Huron River Drive which goes along the river. Very pretty. For an hour, I had the road to myself but then the hoards of bikers passed me. I felt so slow. I am riding a mountain bike so that does slow me down but still... But I have to get out of the river valley to go home. Going up Whitmore Lake Rd, I went from 780 feet to 974 feet in too short of a period. I am sure I will encounter much larger hills on my ride in 2 weeks.