Sorry if I have left anyone hanging. The mower is fixed. Nothing a little new gas and some carb cleaner couldn't fix. Now my attention will turn to trying to lend a sense of organization to my landscape. Everything is now the same height and nothing stands out or looks like it has been composed. I told a friend I think it is starting to look like god sneezed seeds and from there my garden sprouted. I will probably start on that this weekend.

Tyler will be in a commericial this weekend. The county is doing something to publicize their comprehensive plan and they are using the children to schill it. Tyler is very excited.

Matthew came to visit and together we figured out why the ice maker would no longer dispense ice out of the door of the fridge. It took awhile but we did fix it. It had a small plastic part that has not been working for awhile. Now that we fixed it, it works better than before it broke.

Last weekend was a beach day on Sunday. I found a handful of complete sand dollars while snorkelling off of the homeowner's assoc. beach. The air was breezy but hot. It was like being in a hairdryer. Tyler ended up staying with Leslie after we left to bring Gavin home for a nap. When I went to pick her up she was still swimming (in Leslie's pool), three hours later. She looked exhausted. Gavin got a good nap.

My evenings regularly consist of a visit to the YMCA to workout for 60 to 90 minutes. I am able to be home by 7:30 or earlier, usually. Last night I did strength training. I feel like I am improving and I can see more definition but my measurements are actually getting smaller. I may not be eating or sleeping enough. The night before I returned to spinning class for some cardio work. I have not been there, except Saturdays, for a couple of months now. It feels good to be getting back into it. I may look into getting a road bike to start riding outside with a group.

The people that the county contracts to maintain the landscape pruned the palms here yesterday. Not hardly a brown frond on the palms. Most of the palms would have been fine another year. Instead the green fronds, which are responsible for photosynthesis, were removed and the trees exposed to potential damage from what appears to me to be overpruning. The photos is what the palms looked like after being pruned.

rude awakening

I was asleep until I was awakened at 5:00 a.m. by Gavin screaming, in my bed right next to me. He must have snuck in sometime in the night, between Cheryl and I. Cheryl nor I even knew he was there. I don't know why he screamed but that was the end of his sleeping in our bed. Cheryl brought him back to sleep in Tyler's bed where he has been sleeping for about 4 months. They have bunks but they prefer to share Tyler's top bunk. The other night he woke me because he was hanging from the top bunk by one leg, trapped between the railing and the bed, and two arms. He went right back to sleep as soon as I moved him back onto his bed.

Mower Distress

I don't have much more than a postage stamp lawn but with all the rain we have been getting I still need to mow it. Too bad my mower won't start. New plug, new air filter. Gas gets in when primed and the mower starts briefly and then dies. I may try to clean the carburetor this weekend. I may try to borrow the neighbors mower in the meantime. I would buy one of those people powered rotary mowers but they don't work well on St. Augustine Grass that has a lot of thatch. I have never had my lawn thatched so I don't believe it would be a good choice. I spent 20.oo just to fill my gas can for the mower the other day. A people powered mower would pay for itself and I would burn a bunch of calories every time I used it.

If all else fails I will buy a new carberator and install it or just buy a new mower. If I didn't have the lawn out front I don't know what I would have there instead.

I found out today that one of my co-workers is pregnant with her second child. I am happy for her but I am not happy that I will have to fill in for her when she goes on leave. When she goes out in the field now she asks me to accompany her because her assistant left for a job in Hawaii about 5 months ago. She goes to some pretty remote places in the county and it is safer if she has someone to go with her. Work has been slowing down as it is summer and then there is the economy. I still have some landscape reviews to do but I can find time to go with her now. I don't know what it will be like in 9 months.

goofn off

Not even 6:30 and the rugrats are well into their day. Unbelievably awake for so early. Tyler must have recovered with the night's sleep. She is feeling well. I cannot eat Chinese and not get the most unpleasant indigestion. Sleep was broken and I cannot wake up as easily as the kids, even after walking Jake. It was a nice walk with a slow drizzle of rain falling. Not enough for an umbrella.

Spousal recreation and sense of place

Cheryl and I have found that we both enjoy playing raquetball. It is a laugh a minute. Neither one of is very good so we don't take it very seriously. She is a good loser. 3 out of 3. I might have to let her win one soon. Gavin and Tyler like to get in on it too, even though they are still kind of small. They are laughing it up in the backroom, playing with each other now. Bed time soon, 8:15 now.

Slow, slow day at the County. I think everyone is on summer vacation. The phone hardly even rang. My day was spent investigating the connection between transit oriented development and sprawl. Can planners create a sense of place? Sense of place is hard to nail down. It is so ephemeral. I think sense of place is like the weather. It can be planned for but it cannot be created. Sense of place develops as the result of a multitude of various factors, one of which is a persons' perception of sense of place.

Tyler is not feeling well. She was having so much fun with Gavin and now when bed time came she was looking very sick. Rain is audible with all the windows closed. It must really be coming down again. It is back to a more Florida like summer now.

Premier posting

My day has begun. Typical routine now. Wake at 5:45. Wake Jake, our dog. Wake my wife, Cheryl. Drowsily head out the door to give Jake his morning stroll. He refuses to go to the bathroom unless he gets his walk. He is atleast 12 years old now so we can't afford to risk the consequences of what he might do if he doesn't get his walk before we both leave for the day. Tyler and Gavin won't be up for another 45 minutes. They are usually up around 6:30 everyday, sometimes earlier on weekends for some sadistic reason. Gavin needs to eat as soon as he wakes. Tyler likes to talk and wake up first. She won't eat until shes been awake for about 30 minutes. I return from my walk and I have started this blog while I wait for the shower. Cheryl gets in the bathroom while I am out with Jake. It is still dark out. There is lightning flashing but no thunder or rain. I am driving this morning. I take turns sharing a ride from my house to my job in Port Charlotte 30 minutes south of Venice. Cheryl will still be primping for another 30 minutes but if I am going to get breakfast and get out of here to pick up Elaine I will need to get showered and shaved soon.

I wanted to post a picture from our trip to Sarasota last weekend, Sunday with the family and the neighbors from across the street, Deb, Will and Caroline. We had a great visit and I was able to get a few very good photos.