I need a vacation

Well, I'm back. It was good to see (almost) everybody while I was in Calgary. It's also amazing how two weeks can seem like such a short time. Dad's doing good and is now the proud parent of two bouncing baby kidneys (15 - 20 lb each). Not a bad weight loss plan, though obviously not for everybody.

On the home front, almost everything is doing as well as could be expected in my yard - perhaps too well in some cases. The lemon balm has taken over my herb garden in a way that I didn't think was possible, and I've got at least 20 pounds of tomatoes sitting on the vine waiting to ripen (six plants might have been a little too much for one person). My blueberries have started to ripen, so all in all, it's good. I do have some sort of "thing" (all I know is that it's plantlike) growing in my herb garden that I'm not happy about. It showed up last year, and looks like little single nodules, not unlike a single cell of a wasp's nest except that they carpet the ground. When they open up they release a bunch of tiny, pinhead sized seeds that coat everything around it. I tried burning it all out before I planted this spring, but apparently didn't get it all. Nobody around here can identify it. I might have to try getting a photograph of it if I can get a picture of something that small.

Also, my swallows have hatched. Unfortunately, one is already dead (looked like he either fell from the nest or was pushed out). The others are still alive, but in the 100 degree heat they look like they're having a hard time with it. They just lean their heads over the edge of the nest and pant a lot. I hope they make it.

Not a moment too soon

It's been a good weekend and half week. Last Saturday I availed myself to some of my flex days that the company has given me (as a consolation for the wage rollbacks) and flew out to Washington DC to visit my sister, who is currently working there for about 3 months. It was very relaxing (and in fact, likely saved my liver from a weekend of binge drinking just to forget about work). I did visit DC once, a long time ago when I was still in elementary school, but I don't remember a whole lot of it, so it was fun to revisit a lot of the sites that I barely remembered and visit some sites that I didn't (It was also somewhat painful. I really didn't think that The Mall was that big, and I am fat and lazy.) I also managed to catch a great performance of The Pirates of Penzance at Wolf Trap (the only National Park for the Performing Arts) and have a burger at Ray's Hell Burger (it was good).

Now I'm back home for a week of work and stress and gnashing of teeth before I take off again, this time for two weeks up in Calgary while my dad get's his old kidneys repossessed.

Also, I have house guests. A pair of barn swallows have decided to make a nest in my front porch. They currently have eggs as well. Hopefully they don't make too much of a mess. I rather like having them flit in and out around my yard.