Monica

At quarter to nine this morning it was already 78 degrees out. Today is going to suck even worse than yesterday did, and yesterday was bad. It feels like the humidity has been hovering at 99%, though apparently it's been closer to 75-80%.

Sunday a bunch of us went up to Cooper's Lake to paint the little house on the flatbed. They've got all the building-trailers lined up in a row out in the field; it looks sort of like a forming village. :-) Painting made a remarkable difference in the appearance, and I didn't think it was especially bad before. One of the others is way overdue for a paint job; Dani suggested that we paint it (it's also white) while we were there, but saner heads prevailed. (No, I don't think he was serious.)

We've got hornets in the eaves; the folks painting up near the top spotted three nests. Yuck. We'll have to remove those at the beginning of Pennsic. (Last year we got through the year without any infestations of any sort -- not even mice.) That's going to be unpleasant. I don't know how one tackles hornets (beyond the general mantra of "chemical warfare"), and I'm told I'm allergic. (I've never independently verified the allergy test.)

While I was updating my Amazon wish list (I think of it as personal bookmarks, not a list to be handed around) about a week ago, I noticed that there were used copies available of a couple out-of-print books I've been wanting. I think we have now completed the "Rabbi Small" novel series, though there might be one more out there that we're missing. Both used copies were under a dollar (one was one cent!), plus postage. I guess the guys who sell small-stakes used items through Amazon make their money on the postage-and-handling fees, because there's no way it's cost-effective to sell a book for a penny otherwise. Both books came Saturday, which was convenient timing.

I've also picked up a couple DVDs used via the net. I think getting the DVD player has turned out to be a good idea, even if we haven't watched an awful lot yet. DVDs win over tapes on picture quality, storage space, and convenience, and we haven't even learned how to do anything with a DVD other than watch the movie yet. We're probably going to upgrade to a zone-free player while they're still legal, though. We want the flexibility of watching DVDs without regard for their countries of origin.

Dani is heading off to Origins today. Once a year he engages in this multi-day gaming orgy. He might even succeed in finding a quick game of Titan. :-)