The Elysian Fields

Poetry was written today, and a kissmas card was made!

Follow the link to see the card (we're not sending any out this year, so this is how you get it!):

http://www.greenmanenvy.com/card2011.pdf

Cheers!

Justin made the dean's list at college.

(For those newly arrived, he's a junior in high school, and has been taking one or more college courses during the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2008 semesters, and the Spring 2009 semester.)

#10: The Slippery Slope
#11: The Grim Grotto
#12: The Penultimate Peril
#13: The End
         - All by Lemony Snicket


I really kind of lost momentum by waiting so long until reviewing these books - not just stacking up the last titles, but with such a long interval between now and that last page of the last book.

So instead of focusing on the obvious - a rising level of unfortunateness and the inevitable unhappy ending - I'll just go into wide swathes about the series as a whole, in order to twist your arm and make you suffer through reading each and every book.

I suppose it's not coincidence that I'm writing this on Friday the Thirteenth. As always, the date that the review was allegedly posted has no relationship - not even a casual introduction in some sordid little diner down the road - with the date the review was written.

Of course, with these books being as horrible as they are - a truly insufferable experience - you should ignore all advice not to read these books that you may or may not or must have received, because, truly, you deserve it.

These are quick reads. I read some of them in under an hour. My teenage son and my pre-teen daughter have both rocketed through them at a pace not altogether slower than mine. Of course, the record would have to go to my toddler son, should we ever let one of the volumes come within reach of his teeth. I mean, eyes.

Yes, in less than a second, he would have absorbed all he needed to know about the book, and would then promptly bring it to the attention of an Older Person for general deciphering.

To further shed light on this series as a whole, I do not suspect that a toddler would actually remain interested throughout the whole work. After all, there's better things to do, and they're off and doing them before even the fastest reader could get through all thirteen books.

Those who have read only the first few books and have discovered them to be formulaic, repetitious, and miserable will be in for a surprise if they torture themselves with the remainder of the books. It turns out that the books to have a formula, and they use repetition as part of that formula, and if you stopped at some point prior to the ending of the series, you're certainly not clever enough to discover what that formula is. To be fair, you will - unless you're a complete moron - have an idea of what the author wants you to think the formula is. This, of course, is something completely different.

Of course, if you've gathered that I actually like these books and would highly recommend them to anyone who can read, then you're probably clever enough to click through a link above and order each and every one of the books you don't already own, right?

New Orleans
See alobar. 'Nuff said.

Kids
Rachel is off to school - shipped off on the bus - she allowed for a little photo shoot in the driveway, but refused to let Deb take the camera to the bus stop.

Justin already had his first "class" - they're following the schedule today, but the classes are only 10-15 minute "Meet the Teacher" sessions. School won't actually start for him until after Labor Day.

Sick
Deb is still really sick - bad cough that pretty much stops her for ten minutes at a shot; Justin is all sniffly and coughy; Brandon hasn't been up long enough to tell; Rachel seems ok; I'm having some trouble breathing, and feel blah.

All children are now at home, present and accounted for. While Rachel and Justin each took a week up at my parents house, Brandon spent both weeks warming himself up for walking, as well as the creation of an 8th tooth. We estimate Brandon will be walking unassisted by next weekend, running by the following Monday, and asking to borrow the car by Tuesday.

My new phone should be here on Wednesday, and I was reminded today why we have them - had a slight scare on the drive to work as, while gas prices climb high, the gas in my tank seemed to be alarmingly low. I usually get about 100 miles per quarter tank, and was at the 3/4 tank - nearly 300 mile point on Friday. The empty light came on today @ 320 miles. Fun!

Musikfest this week - which means live music at lunchtime. Accordingly, it started pouring for the first time in quite awhile. If you ever want rain, plan a major outdoor music festival, and it will show up by the bucketfull.

Tain't been updatin' much - but... another snow day! Just like last Friday. And last Monday. Aiii, there goes my personal holidays....

I'd work from home, but I still don't have the laptop - and unfortunately, Apple's OS 9.1 doesn't cut it for running any work related stuff.

Shoveled 2" last night, 6-8" today, on top of what ever was left from the 10" inches that fell over the course of last week. Still have to clear the top of the driveway off, taking shifts with Justin while I watch Brandon (who is currently napping.) For those of you who received more snow, please remember my driveway is somewhere between 300-400' long, and gravel, and anywhere from 15-30' wide, so even a soft fluffy skim of snow takes about 2-3 hours to clear (especially considering we have one shovel, which went into a coma last Monday, was revived after emergency surgery removed it's entire leading edge, and is currently languishing with a split front and center that has several pine needles and twigs jammed in it.)

Had a breakfast of Deeper n' Ever^TM scrambled eggs (12 eggs, 1 package bacon, 1/2 a block of cheddar cheese, tarragon vinegar, tarragon, chervil, fresh ground black pepper) between rounds of shoveling, and followed that up with a dessert of Vermont Snow (Pennsylvania snow topped with New Hampshire maple syrup) between more rounds.

A snow blower is in the budget in about 2-3 years. Has to be a two-stage (more $$) to clear the gravel. Of course, we need another load of gravel to top off the driveway - I'll have to look at the numbers and see if getting it paved isn't cheaper - the one quote for a truck load of gravel last year seemed to high to be believed and left me staggering in shock. Paving should make it quicker to shovel, and easier to use a snow blower on once we get one.

Just checked on the kids - Brandon is still out like a light, Rachel is walking around with handfuls of snow, and Justin is still doing some shoveling. I think he just might be nuts enough to try to finish the job so that he can play.

Took about 20 pics of the house and woods and kids today. That makes 3 rolls since late last year, when we found the still-packed-from-the-move camera. Have to get those over to Dan's for developing. Think I'll have to add a new category to the budget (maybe 0.25%) to save for a digital camera. I enjoy taking pictures - and I'm realizing how much I've missed it since we moved (and, of course, packing the camera in an easy-to-find spot that took us nearly 2 years to find!)

Snow forts are being constructed, Brandon's up, and so is Deb - long rambling update officially over! =)