This, That, and the Other | Funny about Money

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Gotta hurry! Today I have to write chapter 2 of a client’s book, his check finally having arrived on the scene.

Up early and off to walk the dog by 5:30. Breakfast on the back porch, interrupted (as usual) by the roar of a flicking helicopter. This time it didn’t go away or hover over the war zone at 19th and Dunlap or park over the neighbor’s house, but kept buzzing back and forth, low to the ground. MedicEvac??? Get up to check.

It’s this splendid balloon floating past, accompanied by a copter buzzing like a turbocharged mosquito around it! What a hoot, eh?

Once I bought my ex- a balloon ride for his birthday. They invited me to climb into the basket, too. It was great fun. I think these things are the most hilarious and wonderful form of travel invented since the bay mare.

Tried to snap a photo of the balloon and the copter in formation, but by the time I got to the office, grabbed the camera, and ran back outside, they were too far away to get a really good shot. This was about the best I could do:

P1010301 — (Click on the images for larger, sharper versions.)

Working out of one’s home has a distinct disadvantage: when you’re in an office, you attend to office business all day. When you’re at home, you’re distracted by all the chores that need to be done. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been laboring like an animal and then at the end of the day feel like I’ve accomplished essentially nothing. Certainly nothing payable. Yesterday I decided to keep track of what the heck I do that kills so much of my time. And…no, it’s not like I’m doing nothing:

• Walked dog
• Fed dog
• Fed me
• Read New York Times
•Watered roses
• Set soaker hose
• Watered a little on west side
• Read Eng 235 paper
• Updated Quickbooks (after a month-long lapse…)d
• Transferred funds from PayPal to CED checking
• Updated records on investments
• Filed a mountain of paperwork
• Hassled with AMEX over an incorrect debit
• Bathed, washed & dried hair, painted face
• Raced to campus
• Wrestled with Registrar over incorrect withdrawal of 235 student
• Hauled student’s paperwork all over campus
• Met two classes
• Updated students’ grades; reported to graders on student progress
• Drove to credit union, deposited money
• Stopped by Fry’s Electronics on way home; bought printer cartridge, notecards
• Bolted down microwaved dinner
• Checked e-mail; skimmed Google News
• Cruised Zillow
• Raced to campus, just made it to real estate class on time
• Sat through class
• Drove home
• Consumed two Camparis on the rocks while watching old episodes of My Name Is Earl
• Dropped into the sack around 11 p.m.
• Attempted to read detective novel; fell asleep after about 15 words

So…today, damn it, I’ve GOT to get some work done!!!

And it must be admitted that work is the last thing I want to do. The day is just gorgeous. It beckons: Come to me, come to meeeee….

Water bill is high, it develops, because the last big power outage somehow reset the watering system to come on every day instead of every other day. That plus the fact that I’ve decided to actually water the plants has revived the landscaping. Quite a few moribund plants have come back to life. I’d about given up this rose for dead, for example:

Those blossoms are more fuschia-colored than orange: early-morning light through mare’s tails. And here’s a little beauty from another rose that really suffered last summer. In January, I decided not to prune this bush because it was so exhausted—better, I figured, to just leave it alone for a year. What it needed was not pruning but water:

The bougainvillea’s gone insane this spring:

Isn’t this cute? It’s growing on a weed-like thing that sprouted from the shade-loving seeds I sowed in the backyard flowerbed last fall, none of which germinated until the days started to get longer few weeks ago.