No respect, I tell you...

A few days ago, I was standing out on the porch, and I suffered grievous abuse, berated up and down with language that would make a sailor blush.

No, it wasn't Deb, why do you ask?

You see, I stepped out on to the porch, and saw movement under the swinging chair. As I started to investigate, a chipmunk ran out from that area and dived into one of the cat beds. I flipped it over, but before I could get the other one on top to capture the little booger, it darted up and out, ran along the porch edge, hidden by the ferns, and proceeded to rip me a new one, as only a foul-mouthed little rodent can.

I took a step towards it, and it ran down along the foundation and into one of the cellar window wells, where it continued its verbal abuse.

And where were the cats when all this happened? Down at the end of the driveway, lounging in the azaleas. Oy.

Today (Act now! Limited time offer! Expires at midnight!)

Rachel and Justin finished the job of clearing out all the sticks and branches in the lawn areas today. I had to run and get some gas for the mower, and then fired it up. Still using the el cheapo $100 special, so it's got the cord-pull starting. Took about 15 tries, which really isn't bad for the first start of the year.

Mowing the front lawn only took about an hour, the back yard, maybe 45 minutes, so it's quite understandable why Deb is so upset about my landscaping - allowing bits and pieces to revert to a natural woodland state in places where the grass is failing, and getting a meadow going on the sandmound where no one is supposed to walk. After all, I've left hardly *any* room for the kids to play.

As a kid, I'd much rather have had the trails and other things to jump over and hide behind. I remember my grandparents's yard - in Meadville - and I recall little actual lawn area, and lots of rhodos and other evergreens to run around. Much more fun - of course, it will be quite a few years before the little sticks of winterberry holly and other stuff grow into mature shrubs, but someday the yard will get to that point.

I notated the foundation tour pics over at Flickr this morning. I've actually got some more pictures showing some greenery - which makes them visible, if not yet impressive - but I still have to get them developed. Have to take a few of the iris, several of which just bloomed.

We started in on pulling the oak and maple seedlings, but the rain also decided to start up - it hasn't done anything beyond that, so we'll probably get out later and finish up.

Prime!

Okay, so I already reviewed Mr. Poppy's Prime, and, having just finished Liquor, I do need to do a review of that book... in brief, excellent... but this is not that review!

Ever since I came up with the great marinade used for Hair o' The Cow What Bit You (since nobody played along with naming that burger, I just dropped "Mad" from the title, because, unlike the burger, jokes about anthrax in the title of a food item just aren't funny...) I've been thinking about grilling some steaks. Even the steak tips I did for Mother's Day didn't get rid of that gnawing craving.

Which somehow came out even stronger after having a huge salad and some nachos for dinner. Go figure.

I tend not to eat a lot of steak - steakburgers or steak tips, but that's about it. I figure at least a small portion of my cluelessness about cuts of meat and so forth needs to go bye-bye.

Here be knowledge gathering. Feel free to add to it.

( steak links )