Yesterday was a
long day and not just because of the extended daylight hours. Any day that starts with a board meeting is
bound to earn that appellation. I was a
little surprised when the political boss lauded me for “coming up with some
needed changes” that he recommended for the board. The changes were a result of our excruciatingly
painful weekly Thursday meetings and I’m simply the guy that has to make them
work. I guess he needed a fall guy in case
they don’t. The best thing about the meeting
was the lead “Voice of Inappropriate Worth” being distracted when they called
for public comments. She rose in
indignant wrath when they ended the meeting without her monthly deposit of vile
invective. She was in high voice (but no
one was listening) as I walked out from under the miasma of inflated political
talk.
There followed
an entire afternoon wrestling with technology trying to get a Microsoft Access
based software package to function as advertised. Anyone who’s had that unhappy task can commiserate
with me. Even the WPI educated computer
engineer trying to assist me was reaching critical mass by the end of the
afternoon.
I came home in
need of some outdoor time due to this extended sentence behind the desk. Unfortunately this fell neatly into my wife’s
plans for the evening. On my way home I
dropped off our power washer which needs an overhaul and I dreaded the scraping
that would entail on the soon to be painted back deck. It’s so much easier to power wash than it is
to scrape – one of the great truisms of modern life.
Another great
truism – men just love the feel of a power washer in their hands. It’s almost primordial (not that power
washers existed in primordial times) but it certainly taps into some base male
need – more power the better. Show me a
man that denies this and I’ll show you a man who’s never used one or is missing
a Y-chromosome. It was thus with a heavy
heart that I anticipated the task sans power washer.
I failed to
take into account my wife’s boundless ability to make friends. She’s something of a gadfly around the
neighborhood having made friends with fellow wives up and down the street. She announced she had procured the loan of a
power washer from one of those neighbors!
She knows I would never ask to borrow anything so she took the initiative. I hid the gleeful dance my spirits were
taking so as to not encourage her on too grand a scale.
The power
washer turned out to be a small electric one which I’d never used before. I was immediately skeptical that it had the
appropriate level of power that my male needs called for. I wheeled it back to the house while my wife
engaged in a long conversation with the very cool neighbor lady that lent us
the device.
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| The Unloaded Deck |
Her conversation
lasted just long enough for me to move everything off the deck (something we
were supposed to do together). She’s
nothing if not a brilliant tactician. I
was a little leery of the power washer because I’d heard a rumor that electricity
and water were not necessarily good together.
I was immediately converted because the machine was AWESOME!!! I was soon covered in flakes of paint and
stain working in a cloud of deflected mist as I scoured the deck and railings.
I was at it for
a few hours since this was the second longest day of the year in terms of
daylight and I never stopped. I was
truly in my element. I’m totally serious
about this. If any of you ladies ever
have trouble getting your man to do chores – buy him a power washer. He’ll be seeking out things to scour soon
after. As I came out of my power washer
induced trance I was exhausted but the deck was fully prepped and will only
need a few days to dry.
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| The Scoured Deck and My New Favorite Toy If the Gasoline Powered One Can';t Be Repaired I'm Getting One of These! |
Not that my
spirits needed a boost this morning (it is in fact the First Friday of the week
don’tchaknow) but my daughter succeeding sublimely. She’s taking a quick trip out to Minnesota to
see the Wing Man this weekend but before she left she sent me some really great
pictures. They were taken from her surprise
30th birthday party last September.
Her birthday fell on the same day as a wedding of close friends in
Connecticut. Wing Man arranged for me to
join them at the after party where her very cool friends planned the birthday
celebration. It was a transcendent
moment and the pictures got me a little misty eyed, father and daughter kind of
stuff. See below:
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| The Moment I walked in Unexpectedly |
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| Daughter Hugs Are Medicinally Relevant |
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| Wing Man was Present as Architect of the Planned Surprise |
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| Since there was a Cake - There Needed to be a Sword Family Tradition |
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| Daughter Taking Aim |
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| She Didn't Miss |
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| Such a Fun Night |
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