oh, pool boy...
November 14, 2005, 10:04 P.M.

Pardon my exhaustion.

Spouse had the weekend off again. (Sure, now that all the guys WANT overtime, for holiday spending money�NOW they decide to cut the budget.)

Just the fact that he�s home is exhausting enough. But I actually did work hard this weekend, so I�m double-pooped. Saturday morning was spent in the yard, raking and bagging leaves, cleaning off the porch, scrubbing and stowing flowerpots, furniture and such for the winter. While I did it all out front, Spouse and Raji wandered the newly (and beautifully) fenced backyard, cleaning up old lumber, redistributing dirt, and generally tidying up.

Once we finished that, we ran to the hardware store, stopped at Baker Street and grabbed some lunch, and�visited the swimming pool store.

You heard me.

We spoke to a very helpful and knowledgeable sales rep (the manager, actually) and came away feeling well-informed, then headed home to chill out. Spouse was waaay overdue for bed by that point, and I was feeling a bit wiped out myself. All three of us ended up napping heavily. I got up at six, and he woke at seven to talk to his brother on the phone, let me know he didn�t want dinner, and clean himself up�then he went back to bed. Since the weather turned foul while we were napping, the wind had started blowing, the rain had started pouring, and the satellite had given up the ghost. So I FINALLY popped the �Dead Like Me� pilot episode in and watched it.

Yeah, I was right. LOVE that show. And as soon as Mandy appeared, and called her �Peanut� for the first time, I was in love again. Mandy Patinkin has that effect on me. I can be completely sane for years, and then I see hem, or hear him, and some little gesture or bit of timing of phrasing makes the bottom of my stomach hit the floor. And I fall, yet again, like the proverbial ton of bricks. I�ve been this way since, like, 1980.

I like to call it the �Inigo Montoya Effect�.

Anyway, I plan on making the time this week to watch some more episodes, and to re-watch at least some of the pilot with the commentary on. And since I�ve had this set on loan for a month and a half, I really do need to get it back to W. I know she trusts me and doesn�t mind my keeping it for so long, but I feel rude, holding on to it.

Saturday night and most of Sunday, the wind howled like a thousand banshees. I guess it got up to 55 mph here at one point. When I waked Raj on Sunday morning, I felt as if I would be flying her like a kite any minute. But she was bone-head determined that she was going to get her good, long Sunday walk, gale or no gale.

We weathered it well; no damage. All of Saturday�s leaf-raking was for naught, of course, and the flag whipped itself to shreds. But nothing blew off or blew away, so we were fortunate there.

Spouse and I took advantage of his Sunday off to go have breakfast at the diner. He had his usual, but I was trying to avoid the saltiness of bacon or ham, because I�d awakened feeling toxic and bloated. So I had Rita�s special Pumpkin Pancake, and lordy! Was it ever good. Pumpkiny, but not too sweet, and perfect with maple syrup. And huge, of course. I came within three bites of finishing, only to be defeated once more by a pancake the size of a horseblanket.

After breakfast, we went to Racine, and poked around Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and Farm & Fleet. I bought myself a paperback of Huckleberry Finn, as listening to it on XM had whetted my appetite for a re-read. And I made my annual purchase of Christmas music for my CD collection. This year I got a Dean Martin, and the soundtrack from the Rankin/Bass �Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer�.

And we went to another pool store. The place was open, but the door was locked. One we gained admittance, we were ignored by the salesman for ten minutes, and then dismissed rudely when he informed us that he didn�t care what our other quote was, and he didn�t sell anything that �cheap�. Dickweed.

Spouse had decided he wanted real, homemade beef stew and biscuits for dinner, so we went to the meat market and the grocery store before visiting yet another pool store.

Where the young man was helpful enough, but the prices were not anything great. SO. One more stop, to get some more info from the first place we�d tried�and to pretty much buy the damn pool. This pool. 15 foot, 52� deep. Spouse is dropping off the down payment today.

Anyway, we spent the afternoon at home�no nap on Sunday, though. Five loads of wash, cleaned up the kitchen I�d been neglecting since Friday, made a pot of real beef stew, and a batch of biscuits, cleaned up the kitchen again, and just kind of pottered away at the evening without accomplishing much. I shoved some beads around on my beading tray, channel-surfed a bit, read a bit, and got my shit together for Monday morning.

Well, at least a pool is something I would want and enjoy, so I won�t mind too much if I end up being its mommy.

There�s also supposed to be a Paris leg to this journey, but I believe that may be up in the air now�

Perfect chiro day, huh?