May 31, 2006 - Wednesday | 8:44 AM, CST

I had an interesting weekend... filled with both excitement and discontent. I started the weekend off by paintballing out at William's grandma's. It was wonderful to be paintballing again after nearly two years. I can remember when Keith, Russell, and I played paintball every weekend. Ahh, the days of youth... when money was freely spent on whatever frivolous interest your heart desired. Sometimes I wish I still lived with my Mom.

Unfortunately, the paintballing wasn't all fun. Hopefully, Zach will e-mail me soon with the picture, but I got shot from very close distance, in the neck. It was without a doubt the worst paintball hit I've ever had. My neck instantly went numb and into a Charlie horse. The wound itself bled for about fifteen minutes. Just wait until you see the picture. Time to turn down that velocity, Adam...

And to top it off, I picked up some poison ivy while I was out. Poison ivy affects me strangely. It usually won't show up until two or three days after the event. I'll usually just brush it off, and a few days after that, its spread to just about every part of my body. This time, I didn't screw around. Unfortunately the doctor's office was closed, so I went straight to the emergency room. And we all know what kind of experience that becomes. I find that ER nurses are either quick to point out that you've said something wrong, or to state the obvious.

Me: I came in as soon as I noticed the rash, because I'm very allergic.

Nurse: Well, you must not be that allergic if you just now notice it!

Later on...

Me: Is it ok to use some benadryl lotion on this? I'm using benadryl occasionally as a sleep aid.

Nurse: Yes, thats fine! And you also need to wash the clothes you were wearing when you got the poison ivy to prevent reinfection.

So that's the secret!

I also had the pleasure of fixing my lawnmower over the weekend. I broke the drive belt a few days ago, which means no transmission. Now, go figure, but Wal-Mart (the store the mower was purchased), didn't have the replacement. The John Deere dealer had one close to a match, so I gave it a try. Several dents and a little less blood later, the mower and I still had not reached an agreement to end its strike. It was necessary to purchase a different belt at Big R, who actually had the correct replacement part. But as can be guessed, something else broke when I finished installing the new belt: now the motor won't turn over. Blown fuse? Maybe. I haven't had time yet to figure it out. In the meantime, the grass will continue to grow.

Speaking of growing, my garden is coming along very nicely. I transplanted some baby toads I caught near the Light Swamp to assist in insect control. That was a few days ago, and I noticed this morning that a few of them were hopping around the perimeter of the garden. Apparantly the transplant was successful. Below are some pictures from the homestead.

	My peas. They're starting to climb onto the trellis. Soon they will be unstoppable.
	The onions. I have two and a half rows of these. These are good for warding off Kelly's poisonous kisses.
	My taters! My favorite crop. I was worried these wouldn't grow.
	Corn even a hero like Mark could take pride in... I planted two rows, but I will have to replant some... only about half sprouted.
	Broccoli, filled with fiber and cancer fighting goodness.
	The carrots. I didn't think these were going to sprout, but a trip to the garden this morning told me they were just taking their sweet time.
	Here is my cat, hoping that a tree frog on the other side of the bay window will decide to come in and play.

Thats all for now.

grokkings

The idea of protecting minors with a curfew is about as valid as imprisoning law abiding citizens to protect them from street thugs.

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