Admittedly, this year was only two weeks long instead of three and it was held early in the season so it was not too bad a gig but I still came home exhausted every afternoon and it was still a four and a half-hour chunk out of my day. My first hour was team teaching the 7th grade large-group orchestra – students who have only started last September. Second hour was sectionals with these kids – I had the violas and cellos and one bass. Third hour was sectionals (violas and cellos and one bass again) with the advanced group. We use the term “advanced” loosely here since several of these students have only been playing for two or three years and are still pretty squeamish about shifting and vibrato. Last hour was all the advanced kids in the large orchestra. We had a concert last Friday night. They played well, the auditorium was cool (for once), and I made no heinous conducting errors. Plus, I got to play bass when I wasn’t conducting. That was pretty fun.
We have been seeing an unusually large number of repair-type people lately. You already know the earlier things – floors, heat pump. Well, thanks to Steve’s and my plumbing ignorance, we have seen a plumber twice since last I blogged. I burned out one of the heating elements to our water heater when I tried to drain it and thankfully, the plumber came over that same day. Then, when Steve tried to remove the shower head in the downstairs bathroom, part of the pipe broke off leaving not enough thread to screw on the new one. So, back he came a second time to fix the pipe. We just had a bunch of insulation blown up into our attic to make our home more energy efficient. And, on another day, we had soffit vents installed, windows reconditioned and weather stripped, and foam board installed up near the ceiling of our laundry room (where Tonks likes to hide. She was actually hiding up there when the repairman was working and I had to climb onto the dryer, then kneel on the water heater, and, with work-gloved hands, reach waaaaay back into the recesses and pull Tonks out by her paw while she hissed and fussed at me. Sorry Tonks.). Finally, remember that roll of carpet for the stairs? Well, it looks like we will finally have that installed on Thursday of this week. I will believe it when I see it.
We were in St. Louis last Saturday. Papa Joe was in town and below is a photo of everyone.
While the grandpas dandled Lucy on their knees, Emily cleared out a corner of her living room that had been collecting stuff and she and I re-arranged her kitchen to make more of the cute built-in shelves she has around her east window. Here are the after photos.
Beckie came with us and, while Steve and I were at the temple, she and Emily visited the Soulard Farmer’s Market. I think it was good therapy for a baby-weary Emily.
Lucy seemed happier that day – maybe she is growing out of her colic or maybe the baby zantac is helping – who knows?
Speaking of medicine – we seem to be having more than our share of overnight thunder storms lately and thank goodness for the drug cocktail we give Trissy. Still makes for a rough night, though. But, I have to admit Trissy is a good dog in many ways. She found another mole in the yard and, when I ran short errands today after taking her to the vet, she calmly hung out in the back seat instead of whipping herself into a complete panic attack like Sadie would have.
Oh, Steve and I are currently picking wild black raspberries on the nature trail. They are quite plentiful this year. And, our domestic blackberries and red raspberries in our front yard are doing extremely well. Steve picks a handful every morning. Blueberries were sparce as were the pie cherries. Did we have a killing frost sometime back in the spring that I didn’t know about because we also have no plums nor peaches and one (just one) pear?
To follow up on the last blog – the new mailbox is up and the quilts are done! All while watching Secretariat and the new Tron and an old Horatio Hornblower (with Gregory Peck).
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