Home, Home in Spokane

Where I totally don't want to be.

Oh well. I'm just peeved because it's HOT HOT HOT. But the sun is down now and it's starting to cool off. Yeay! It's not too bad as long as I stay huddled directly in front of the fan blowing 88 degree air at me. The kid went over to a friend's house...probably a friend with AC.

I was going to make a pie today but it's too dang HOT so maybe first thing in the morning I can face turning on the stove.

Also we lost the laundry room key (I'm pretty sure it wasn't ME who lost it but I don't want to assign blame until we're totally sure) and I like laundry. Also, the laundry room is in the basement and cooler and I hide down there when it's hot.

So, the only flood report I have is that Stan was there yesterday and opened up the basement stairs. This is very good. Pam thinks he may get a bug up his butt and take the whole flight out and replace them on another trip. I had a bug up my butt because they are wood, there had to be poowater under there and that was the most likely place left that could get rot (that and the porch walls...but we'll deal with that another day).

OH! Pam also said that Sher managed to clear out the second floor so they can live up there and on the 3 season porch for a while! This will amaze anyone who has been there because that room was packed with their stuff. I mean packed. So was the closet. So was the attic. The bathroom had a bit of clear room but only in the tub. With a bed and potty right by they will be happier. (Fred has been peeing out the back door of the camper. Gross.) I don't know if they've moved in and I REALLY don't know what Sher has done with the stuff that was up there. She has this knack for consolidating things into smaller and smaller spaces. Sort of like when Bugs Bunny would fold a whole house up into a tiny packet the size of a matchbox.

I have NO idea what they ate today. Sorry.

At work today it was one of those days when I like working for the Tribe. An e-mail went out to all of us at about noon saying that we could leave at 1pm and still get paid for the whole day. That happens pretty often the day before a holiday. They let us go early so we're not in bad traffic and so people can get a head start on family activities.

And it was payday so win win.
The kid is working there with me this summer and took his first paycheck and got a PS3. This is apparently a very nice video game system. He says he'll save later paychecks. We'll see. He has been pining for this game system for over a year so it was not exactly an impulse purchase.

I stuffed my paycheck in my bag and will use it to pay exciting bills. woohoo. I may even use some to find out what the heck is SQUEAKING in the front end of the car. I don't know if it squeaked before I had the new bearing and whatnot put in in Iowa (the old bearing was dead. So was the hub. And the axle. And the CV boot). It squeaks now. But not all the time. This forces me to listen for the squeak all the time as I vainly try to determine the cause and location of said squeak. I was thinking of going to Boise in a couple of weeks to do some research at the SHPO office there but it might depend on getting rid of the squeak and if I can get caught up at work.

I went into work at 5am-ish to get through e-mail and phone messages before the parade of people came by the office to ask about my trip. Funny how they all start with "did you have a good trip?" Yeah. Who doesn't want to drive 1500 miles each way to help their folks clean poowater out of everything and watch their house be demolished from 2' above the floor all the way down through the basement. It was a laugh riot. Actually, there were many funny bits but people often misunderstand things we find funny. Like when Uncle Dick got Uncle Stan to bury Great Aunt Mary only it wasn't Great Aunt Mary's ashes, it was horse turds and a note saying "Gotcha" which was revealed when Uncle Don showed up a year later with the real Great Aunt Mary Ashes. The people at the cemetary who dug the hole 3 times (once in the wrong spot, once for turds, and once for Mary) did not think it was funny either.

Here are a few funny moment from flood clean up that haven't made the blog yet:

Brian and Fred going fishing for about 2 hours. Brian coming back and repeatedly announcing in the way that only Brian can that this was, "The best goddamn bullhead fishing of my life."

Shelly pointing out that Brian had grown up to be Fred. (and it is kinda true)

Pam wearing her doo-rag all the time...it's really a dishcloth tied around her head.

Sara Jane coming back after seeing her REO truck photo on this blog and saying "I look like a guy"...yes, Sara, you do in THAT photo. Actually, I thought you looked like Grampa Wagner and Shelly thought you looked like Grampa Hawbaker.

The lawn mower races were even funnier than they look in the photo but I can't really describe how or why.

Sher playing Wii Fit is HYSTERICAL and when Sher wasn't there Pam and I were playing and Sher's "mii" (pronounced "me", it is the little cartoon of yourself that you create in the game to represent you) starting doing things Sher actually does. It was a little creepy but mostly funny. Also, Sher just playing this video game is hysterical. Perhaps moreso because she had a nice glass of wine before she played.

That's enough for one entry. I'm sure there will be other funny moments that occur to me.

Happy 4th of July to you all.