* * *
I see by my reading list that I’ve only read 10 books this month. That’s a verrrrry low number for me; guess I’ll need to spend less time in front of the TV and more time reading this week to at least bring it up into before the end of the month.
The reason I’ve read so few books this month is because two of them were Greg Iles books, and those things take me for-freakin’-ever to finish. Luckily, they’re usually pretty good.
Currently reading: Dancing in the Dark, by Mary Jane Clark (Poet! Knowit!).
The Footprints of God, by Greg Iles. Not bad, not my favorite of his. Dragged on a bit at the end.
The Colorado Kid, by Stephen King. Pretty good, but the end was a bummer.
Lost in the Forest, by Sue Miller. Pretty good, but a certain part of the book gave me the willies. No pun intended.
Dearly Devoted Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay. I find the idea of Dexter more compelling than the actual execution. I’m not sure I care for the writer’s style, but I don’t doubt that I’ll keep reading the Dexter books as they come out, because I do find myself wanting to know what happens next.
Mortal Fear, by Greg Iles. Very, very good.
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So yes, I took the week off from journaling, and didn’t really get all that much accomplished. I did force myself to do some house cleaning on Wednesday, which included mopping the floors downstairs. I don’t know why I have such a hard time getting the lead out and mopping the floors – I probably, literally, spend more time thinking about how I need to mop the floors than said mopping actually takes to accomplish. I’d like to say that I’m going to start mopping them weekly, but I think we all know me better than that.
* * *
Fred and I have spent some time, over the past two weekends, kayaking. This past Saturday we went to
Point Mallard in Decatur and paddled around for a couple of hours. The weekend before, we went to Decatur and paddled around on the Tennessee river itself. Both times I enjoyed myself a great deal (it helps that I’ve developed callouses on my inner thumbs, so I don’t have to deal with blisters), and I also took the camera with me.
So, for you! Pictures! Lots of ’em!
A crane Great Blue Heron, in flight. (I know nothin’ about birds (OBVIOUSLY) – Fred said it was a crane, so I believed him!)
The same crane Great Blue Heron, before he took off.
You can see the end of my kayak as I sit and wait for the boat to go by, and the wake to reach me. Some of those boats go damn fast, and the resulting wake makes me feel like I’m on the ocean.
A tree growing at the end of a marshy area in the middle of the river. There were a ton of turtles by this little island (I dubbed it “turtle island”), but I was never able to get a picture of any of them.
The marshy area, to the left. Straight ahead, big metal thingies (the scientific term, I believe) that barges are occasionally tied to.
Me, in a kayak. In the middle of the river. I had to get photographic proof, or I think my sister would never have believed it.
Fred’s kayak (the yellow one) and mine (the red one) as we sit side by side and drift for a few minutes.
A neat little cove we “discovered”. Only I couldn’t think of the word “cove”, so I called it a “cul-de-sac.” Heh.
Fred’s creeped out by stuff growing in the water.
A hawk’s nest up in an electrical tower. One hawk, taking off. The other, sitting in the nest giving me the hairy eyeball. As I drew closer, the one in the nest took off and circled above me. I think Fred was afraid I was going to get my ass kicked by a hawk.
I thought this was pretty cool-looking.
You can see all the kayaking pictures – and there are a ton more than the ones above –
here.
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Speaking of kayaks, anyone in the area interested in buying an inflatable kayak?
If anyone’s interested, we’re selling an
Advanced Elements AdvancedFrame inflatable kayak, plus a double-action pump and a paddle.
Basically, it’s everything you need to kayak except a life jacket.
The kayak’s been used 4 or 5 times (we’ve only had it about 2 months), and is in excellent shape. We bought another kayak and no longer have a need for this one.
Paid $460 for all three items, will sell for $275.
If you’re interested or have questions, shoot
Fred an email.
* * *
“Robyn,” you are asking, “What the hell? Why did Fred buy yet another kayak and why is he selling his inflatable kayak, when he appeared to love it so?”
The story is thusly: After he bought his new vehicle, we started talking about going kayaking together, and since he only had the one inflatable kayak, we had to use the old, plastic kayak for me. So he had to get a roof rack. And then we decided that having to inflate the inflatable kayak every time we went kayaking was turning out to be a pain in the butt, so he bought a new plastic kayak, and the roof rack thingies so that both kayaks could go on top of the rack. Which left us with an extra kayak we’ll probably never use, and voila! Time to sell it.
* * *
The spud went to Prom on Saturday. She was going to go with a friend, but between the time she decided to go to the Prom with her friend and the day of the Prom, she found herself a boyfriend, and ended up going with him. Here she is, all gussied up and ready to go:
She decided she didn’t want an updo this time around, just to blow-dry her hair and then curl it, only that didn’t work out so well and I ended up kind of blow-drying her hair straight for her. Which is not necessarily a good thing, since I can’t do shit with other peoples’ hair. She ended up looking pretty good, but I think the next time she goes to a big dance, I’ll be insisting on professional styling.
* * *
Brudderly love.
“HEY! YOU! GUYYYYYYYS! Daddy just said it’s S-N-A-X time!!!!”
Crappy picture, but the looks on their faces crack me UP.
All of today’s uploaded pictures are
hither.
* * *
Previously
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: $65 for that bullshit. Bargain, eh?
2001: Dumbass, take two.
2000: THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE IS APPARENTLY WHERE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO COME TO A DEAD STOP AND STARE, WITH GLAZED EYES, AT THE 145 POUND CANS OF KETCHUP]]>
yeah! Missed ya!
Robyn, so glad to have you back on the job! The kayaking sounds fantastic. I’ll have to try that again sometime soon. I love me some water! And also, some birds. I am not sure, but I think the first bird is a Great Blue Heron. It is one of about 5 birds I can actually identify fairly consistently. See what you think: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Great_Blue_Heron.html. OK nothing like starting the day, and your first back after a break, with some NITPICKING, EH? The pics are GREAT! Thanks for sharing them. Oh, love the brudderly love, too. Wonder how my cats are going to like their new DOG? OK I’m going to go write in my own journal now. Sorry 🙂
P.S. Your daughter looks so lovely! The fancy shoes & toes are a definite improvement over the footwear in the earlier photo. I hope she had a great time!
Love the spud’s dress and shoes! And you did a pretty good job on the hair. She looks cute!
Glad you posted! I missed you!
The Spud is gorgeous!
Missed you last week, glad you’re back!!
That’s most definitely a great blue heron. 🙂
I admit I’m a little disappointed that the spud didn’t wear the socks as pictured in the preview of the dress.
Sure she looked super pretty and what not- but those socks were genius.
Fred has the yellow kayak and you have a red one!?! Now that’s just not right!
By the way, Jennifer Crusie has a new one- co-written with Bob Mayer- “Don’t Look Down.” Started it last night and haven’t gotten very far but it doesn’t seem as funny as her solo efforts.
What camera do you guys use while you are kayaking? I’m paraniod to take my digital when we go out and about in the water. If you are taking the digital, how is that working out for you guys?
Thanks!
Someone else beat me to it, but I was all, “!!!!!!!!!” when I saw that you weren’t in the yellow kayak! What’s up with that?!
Beautiful pictures! I also think the flying bird is a great blue heron. Love seeing them in flight.
Beautiful pic of the Spud in her gorgeous dress and shoes — I hope she had a marvelous time.
I missed you — glad to see you back.
The Spud looks so pretty, hope she had a great time!
We missed you! Welcome back 🙂
Oh, forgot, did you see the thing on “Best Week Ever” I think it was.. Tom Cruise did an interview and said he was going to eat the placenta when the baby was born. He later said he was joking, but ummm EWW. I used to like him, now I think he is just cracked his skull. I’m with you on being sick of them, them and Brangelina. Good Grief, can you see the media when she has her baby. Arg.
Have you tried one of those Swiffer mops? Seems like getting the bucket/mop and crap out would be less of a pain than just busting out the little swiffer thingy, and you might do it more often.
That’s my plan too, heh.
(And the Spud looks awesome 🙂 )
~Juby
Those Herons are bigger than you think. My mother-in-law had one camp out in her back yard last year. She had a Koi pond and the Heron helped itself to a few of them. She didn’t want to hurt it, but she was getting tired of losing her fish. Finally she used some kind of netting on the pond and the Heron got aggravated and left.
Missed you but am glad you had a good week. Kayaking looks fun but a little scary. Does the kayak rock a lot from the other boats’ wakes? I’d be afraid of tipping over, those plants growing in the water creep me out too! The spud looks beautiful, love the dress and shoes. Hope she had a good time at the prom!
If your issue with mopping is the same as mine… I mop every other day now. I sit on a swivel office chair and just push myself back. Much easier on my back and I totally don’t mind it anymore.
I am also slightly disappointed the spud didn’t wear the socks with her dress. But, she looked really good!
Just to help you a little more with the birding thing, because I know you care so much, 😉 the hawks are ospreys.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Osprey.html
SOOOOOOOOOO glad you’re back. Tom Cruise just makes me want to puke too….
{insert ‘Memories’ melody here}
{sniff} The Spud is all grown up…
I too would rather put hot pokers in my eyeballs than read/hear/see/feel one more thing about TomKat. Suri? SURI????? I mean for Chrissakes people.
Glad you are back. I miss me some bitchypoo…
Fred and I are obviously kindred spirits. I also get squicked out and disturbed by things growing in water.
Why is Fred’s yellow and yours is not? Who let him have yellow when you were stuck with red. I thought you were the queen of yellow.
The Spud looks awesome!! Her hair looked good too! I have to say I prefer the dress without the socks, the sandals looked very cute.
I vote for naming the kayaks mustard and ketchup! They are the colors of those squirty bottles used for the aboved named condiments.
Robynnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!! Girl, you are not allowed to take a week off of journaling EVAH again…. I missed you!!! I have no life and depend on you to provide me with glimpses into YOURS – how pathetic is that??!!!
Seriously though, hope you enjoyed your week. The kayaking looks COOL… and the Spud looked absolutely gorgeous in her prom dress!!
Robyn – my husband and I kayak too, and you can get gloves specifically for kayaking. They’ll keep the hands from getting too farmer like! If you don’t want to spend the money on “kayaking” gloves, go to Target and get some $12 biking gloves. They’ve got padding in the right places too.
Got the book you sent. Thanks so much! I heart your give away page!
YEAH! You are back and with MORE pics for me to STEAL! Um,I mean look at…
Dang,but you folks back East have WIDE rivers! I can throw a rock across our river at most points,BUT it has some knarly white water sections to make up for it.
so why is that your not in the yellow boat??? i agree….just not right
welcome back!!
The spud looks beautiful! About the Scientologists. I was abducted by those whackjobs during a trip to San Francisco many moons ago, and you are right to be afraid of them. For the record, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ARE responsible for Katie’s picture being on every magazine cover!
Robin, have you watched the Six Feet Under series yet? If not, get it on your Netflix list! The reason I ask; I read that Michael C. Hall, who played David Fisher is supposed to be doing a movie based on a “Dexter” novel. Until reading that, I had never heard of the series. If you like the books, I better check them out!