What day is it anyway? I hate it when three day weekends come at the wrong time and totally mess up your routine. I’ve got a trip to Portland scheduled for next week, about a million things going on this week, and I have no idea where time went.
I’m watching the Seinfeld marathon on TBS Wednesday night and saw one of my all time favorite lines. In The Jimmy, Kramer is sharing how Dr. Whatley has turned his dental practice into an adults only office. “When they ripped that molar out, I let the expletives fly!” I’m hearing all about the Manssiere now. They just don’t make them like they used to, back when I was a kid, way back in the 90s.
A greatly edited accounting of Storm Sunday here in Indy. For the third straight summer holiday, we got slammed with bad weather. Last Fourth of July brought tornadoes and severe storms, followed by minor flooding. Labor Day brought 20 inches of rain in some parts of town. Now Memorial Day weekend is full of storms. Couldn’t have happened on a worse day, only like the biggest day ever in Indy or whatever. The World’s Biggest Single Day Sporting Event followed by an NBA playoff game. Instead of listening to the race (since it’s not carried on live television here) and watching the Pacers game, I spent at least four hours glued to the wall-to-wall coverage of the weather. Like the good Kansan I am, of course. We totally lucked out in our neighborhood. Although we could hear the sirens from across the county lines, we had nothing but torrential rains for about an hour. Very little wind, no hail, and no damage. There was supposedly a tornado spotted just five miles from our house, but the sirens never went off so I assume that was a mistaken sighting.
The southern half of the city wasn’t so lucky. As crowds left the Speedway and packed into the fieldhouse, huge storms battered the area from downtown to the south. News copters and traffic cameras showed funnel clouds, showed trees uprooted, a nursing home that had been ripped wide open, and houses that were destroyed. For someone who generally likes storms, seeing homes very similar to mine devastated was a sobering reminder of how quickly life can change. I was contemplating moving the Little Girlfriend’s room down to the basement so she never has to worry about trees crashing through the roof or her ceiling being ripped open.
I’m sad to say there are no weather personalities here that can rival Gary Lezak. He would have been going nuts with six hours of severe weather and a map lit up with warnings like election night results. Sure, we’ve got a weather hottie, but she’s more hot in the attractive mom way than the ridiculousness that can be found on Southern California newscasts. But she was out of action Sunday, and weather geeks were forced to deal with traditional, sober weathermen to guide us through the afternoon and evening.
Monday we visited some friends who had just moved into their new house over the weekend. Natasha’s mother asked if I had gone into the basement when the storms hit. “No,” I answered, “I’m from Kansas. I went outside and watched!” “We’re from Kansas too and we had one foot out the back door and the other down to the basement!” I heard a lot about Hoosier pride this weekend with the race, its surrounding events, and the playoff games. Apparently this is how Kansas pride manifests itself: bragging about being the last one into the basement when the sirens go off.
In other news, we now have diapers in our house. That really is the last step in preparation, isn’t it? Yeah, the changing table doesn’t get here for a few more days, we still have lots of day-to-day things to acquire, but when it comes down to it, once you have a crib, a few clothes, a couple functioning nipples (or stock of formula) and some diapers, you’re pretty much set if the kid decides to show up early.
Speaking of, S had her latest check up Tuesday and all continues to go well. We were really sure about positioning, so she asked her OB for a guess. He thought she is head down, although she tends to lay at an angle so her feet are over on the right side of S’s abdomen. Her favorite game now is to kick mommy’s ribs. She thinks it’s great fun! Mommy wishes she would either run out of room to move or just cut it out.
No good baby related conversations to share, although there was this gem from Tuesday that could have been kid influenced. S had been having a bit of a rough day and when ESPN flashed a shot of Tayshaun Prince during the Pacers-Pistons game, she let loose, “I just hate him. He looks like such a whiny little baby all the time. WAAAAAAHHHH!” Wow! This from someone who hadn’t watched much of the series and had probably never seen Prince in her life before the previous week. For my readers not familiar with Prince, he’s Detroit’s 6’8”, 125 small forward. He makes Reggie Miller look buff. He has a rather unfortunate complexion (lots of lingering acne), a spotty beard, and in general just isn’t an attractive cat. But he hits just enough three pointers and plays just enough defense to be a solid NBA player.
You all know I’m a geek, so I don’t mind sharing stories like this. I have recently become fascinated by the birds that entertain us on a daily basis. I’ve got my buddy the cardinal who is always flitting around just outside our kitchen window. Actually, I saw two males out there Wednesday, and saw a female for the first time in a long time as well. As a part of my fascination, I made two realizations: A) My daughter needs to know what the birds are called B) I’m a city kid and can name about five birds. So, using the free points I had accumulated in the book club I’m a member of, I ordered a bird guide. If that wasn’t bad enough, now I’ve totally geeked out and spend hours, well dozens of minutes anyway, staring out the windows trying to identify the birds and take pictures of them. The cardinal(s) are visible each day. Like most of you, we have robins out the ass. Grackles take over our yard each evening. Wednesday, a flock of Chipping Sparrows spent the better part of an hour enjoying our collection of bugs. One of the trees in our front yard has berries on it, so I’m hoping I can catch some more interesting birds there soon. I’m also working on picking just the right kind of bird feeders to put in the backyard so I can keep them coming. Like I said, geek.