Sunday, July 27, 2003

I've just been out tweaking the front sprinkler system. We have a few bare patches beginning in the front lawn. So I went out to observe the water patterns and see if I could improve the coverage.

My skirt is wet from mid-thigh down. Fortunately, linen doesn't become too transparent, and the neighbors aren't too active at 6 am. It has been warm enough that I enjoy the cooling as the water evaporates around my legs.

One of the sprinkler heads was covered by foliage. I cleared the leaves away and gathered a good deal of skirt water on that one. Another has a leak, and that I can't repair while the water is running. There seems to be one area that the sprinklers don't quite reach. With luck, when the leak is repaired, there will be just enough additional pressure to send the water farther from the heads and cover that patch as well.

I have been savoring my domestic pleasures recently. Since we added the evaporative cooler, (affectionately called Joey,) our house has become an even more pleasant refuge from the heat and expectations of small town desert life. Doug and I have begun playing Final Fantasy, the original, out of the Origins package, and hope to play FF2, FF4, FF5, FF6, FF7, FF8, and FF9 in order over the next year or two, returning to our beloved FFX with new appreciation of the development of its play, in plenty of time to play FFX2 when it comes out. We may slip in Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Trigger somewhere. Outside entertainment doesn't draw us as strongly. Especially since only The Matrix reloaded, of four films we've seen in the last month, provided a truly outstanding experience. That film well exceeded our expectations. Bruce Almighty was competent fluff, The Hulk interesting visually and psychologically, but somehow slight, and Legally Blonde II really dropped the ball, with dead dialogue from scene 1. The talent of Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, and especially Bob Newhart salvaged some interest from their scenes, but I still have a bad taste left from that film. A true waste of good characters and good talent. How could the charm of the first one go so wrong, wrong, wrong?

Today, we plan to hit the local tour of homes. Every year, I see the signs, and think "I'd like to do that!" and by the time I free a weekend day to tour, it's over. This year, we are catching the last day of the last weekend. It's progress. Maybe next year, I'll be organized sooner.

And despite my cri de coeur over the dishes a few blogs back, the state of the house is improving. I'm keeping up pretty well on the necessities, and catching some of the occasionally needed tasks up to date -- like vetting the sprinkler system.

So, life is good.

And I hope yours is, too.