Ch O Co La Te (as seen on a sticker for sale at the Scholastic book fair at Young Adventurer's school)

First off, the tile is DONE!! There's a few new photos in the album here.

Next, I was right about the sunset. It was pretty. It was also raining when I took the photo, which made it more awesome.

In other news, Young Adventurer thought it was very funny when I, while attempting to drive my car, and think about something else, and listen and respond appropriately to the story he was telling me, called him by only the first three letters of his full name. The rest of the way to our destination involved naming objects and stores, "ga sta, clou, tre, gro sto,..." You get the idea.

Also, the girls were having a discussion about forms of government. (this follows other discussions amongst the kids mostly revolving around chemical equations and types of mixtures). The forms of government discussion was precipitated by Stormageddon, Dark Lord of ALL (formerly known as Adventurer Two) having to read Animal Farm for her english class. Previously there was a social studies assignment involving whether one agrees more with the political philosophies of A. Hamilton the elitist or T. Jefferson the flag-waver for the common man (or something like that--answer was NO). Anyway, the girls were arguing the merits of a representative government, as well as whether the federal government has the constitutional authority to prevent states from legalizing marijuana. At least they are paying attention in school. In math, Venom is studying matrices. I never understood the point of those. She doesn't either. I feel vindicated, but if any of you understand what they are for, feel free to explain in the comments.

In yet other news, I started a new book today. It claims that it will convey to me the "sheer power and excitement of the modern discipline" ...of statistics.

Yeah.

"Modern statistics enables us to see through the mists and confusion of the world about us, to grasp the underlying reality."

If only I had known this sooner, it could have saved me a lot of trouble.
Or...if I keep reading there might be a real live monster at the end of the book. As soon as I can see through the mists and confusion and grasp the underlying reality, I will know one way or the other...

Finally, but most significantly, with the completion of the tile project, the TV is plugged in again. I would have missed it more if I had realized how very much Phineas and Ferb I could have been watching (well, that and the rugby world series). Phineas and Ferb is on at 10pm, people! Loading the dishwasher is so much better with Perry the Platypus and co.

Home Improvement Day 2

The very first tile going in

 The cracks all repaired. It's like the TARDIS was here and left tracks

 Intersection

More pictures added to album if this isn't enough to satisfy your curiosity. 

(see link from yesterday)

The guys got here today just before I had to leave for a while. I came down the stairs to an upside down tile propped on the stairs with some upside down writing on it's bumpy upside down surface. I stood a minute staring and doing the upside down brain translation of upside down bumpy writing thing, and finally figured out it said "wet tile." They had laid one more already and marked it for me with a friendly reminder. :-)

Demolition!

Getting tile installed has been interesting so far. 

There's been the striking of the floor with sledgehammers...

The exposure of cracks in the foundation (cracks that require chipping and leveling so that the tile will not crack later to match the foundation)...

 The signs of previous work (note the parallel lines--where the builder stained the baseboards, the works "RAISED HEARTH" near the fireplace, where we have never had a raised hearth)..

 The vast open spaces formed by the removal of all our junk, and the echo in our family room...

I love vast open spaces. If you come visit and there's no furniture, you will know why.

AND it's been noisy and messy!!

I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that HE is building quite a different house from the one you thought of-throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. ~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I will add that sometimes, even when you can see what He's building, the work is more than you anticipated. Bigger cracks.

But one of the installer guys explained to me what is wrong with the pump on the fish tank as well. Getting more than you paid for is nice. Oscar is especially thankful. :)

More photos here

North Rim of the Canyon

Here's the link to more photos from our trip. 

We ran up to the Canyon for the weekend. We headed to the north rim at the request of Young Adventurer, who thought it might be cool to take the road less travelled (even if it's a lot farther). We stayed in a cabin at Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim and had a lot of fun in the short time we had. There were nice sunrises, BEAUTIFUL sunsets, a snow-woman and fall colors in the aspens, some squirrels, a little bit of hiking (we took the Cliff Springs trail for an easy down-into-the-canyon experience), and generally a good time. I think it would be a disappointment to go in the summer after visiting in the fall. Unless there were more wildflowers...

Bugs, Birds, Bushes, and a Bunny

The weather is cooler again, and I remembered yesterday morning that I can grab my camera on the way out the door and detour to my favorite place after dropping the Adventurers at school. The dragonflies have never been so cooperative, the geese were grazing, the birds were active, there was a freak saguaro that thought it was spring, and there was even a bunny (two bunnies)! And I chatted for a moment with another woman who had just watched a raccoon walk across the road in front of her. Woulda liked to see that...

A surprise bug (for Sharon)

 Stealth dragonfly

 Really awesome dragonfly

 Cute dragonfly

Geese, for theydarenotlinger

 hummer!

 Morning light is just so nice!

 This heron looked like a speed skater to me

 Cool tail!

Waiting for a flood. I guess they'll run water back into this spot soon.

:-)

Poetry Reading