July 4th Come and Gone

July 06, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a whirlwind last few days, with lots of family activities and general excitement.  I think today is going to be relatively calm, though I have a to-do list with lots of items on it, plus laundry to fold, a kitchen to clean, and breakfast to make.  

Emma came over the morning of the 4th and we headed down to Seraph and Robbie's to watch the parade.  Traffice was bad, but the company and parade were fun.  Emma hadn't gone before, so the horses, beauty queens, and dirt bikes doing jumps was all wonderfully new to her.  I enjoyed hanging out with everyone and catching up.  We met Francis' sweetie Leo, who we all liked and not just because they worked at Sweet Life.  The parade eventually ended, the town cleared out, and we headed home.

Next up was Jenny's BBQ.  Another big group of people were there, including Jenny's boyfriend Rod and his incredibly good granddaughter who was just turning one.  She was the best baby ever, never crying or getting upset at being handed around to various adults.  It was fun seeing an entire group of 20 year olds hang out at the pool and do young people stuff, while the rest of us talked about retirement homes and the like.

Yesterday I made my usual hearty breakfast, followed by a trip to the library.  After lunch Emma and I headed to see Spinal Tap at The Art House, which she greatly appreciated.  I remember when it was The Bijoux and my friend Devon and I would regularly watch movies there.  Emma and I stopped by House of Records on the way home to complete the nostalgia tour, picking up a CD for Yvonne that she'd been wanting.

As for me, I've got various projects I'm working on.  For some zany reason I'm printing a retro PC case for a Raspberry pi.  The parts are all printed and now it's time to sand, glue, and paint it all together.  Our Delta Green game was postponed due to young people's party plans, but I've got a few finishing touches left to put on that.  

It's also time for a mad scramble to take advantage of energy savings tax breaks, so it's time to review the things we want to do.  We've been wanting a second heat pump for a few rooms that don't cool down very well.  There might be some other things we can do before they expire in a few months.

July!

July 01, 2025 by Adam in Family

Okay, I've completely fallen down when it comes to updating the blog.  There's no crisis or anything - I just keep getting distracted by work or projects or something.

It's been a mostly good last few days.  Saturday started wonderfully chill, with a hearty breakfast and opening the cool packages Guillaume sent us.  He stayed with my mom seven years ago to teach at the French school and our families really connected.  He sent crocheted treasures, a beautifully calligraphied letter, and various goodies from his region of France.  Not to mention a map from a roleplaying game session I still fondly remember from when he was around.

Later Emma and I went to the library and stopped in a thrift store to see if anything caught our attention. 

Unfortunately when we returned the familiar smell of backed up drains wafted into our nostrils and we discovered the usual places had filled with water.  After a lot of trying to clean the blockage I opened up the pump itself and discovered the float was apparently not going up.  Jo cleaned it, found the float had filled with water, and eventually went to get a replacement.  Not my favorite way to spend a Saturday, but we're both becoming expert plumbers at this point.

Sunday was our D&D game, where the players battled it out inside a giant robot, then each tool control of a limb to take it back home.  I based that part on a game called Crash Pandas where a bunch of pandas try to drive a car at once.  I think they had a good time, battling other giant robots and flailing about as they all tried to take actions at the same time.

Sunday evening was a writer's dinner that we hosted on the patio, where I met a bunch of Jo's writer friends and proved that I was a real husband and not a paid actor.  It was fun chatting and the patio was beautiful once it cooled down.

Now it's somehow July, with endless events and things going on.  I've got a fun medical procedure I'm taking the day off for tomorrow, which comes with a weird diet of not eaching all the things I like for a few days.  Thursday I'm having lunch with my manager Megan, who is visiting family with her husband and happens to be in town.  Friday are various Fourth of July events.  I've got Delta Green on Sunday.  Next weekend Emma and I are seeing Spinal Tap in the theaters. Then there's Jo's school for ten days, a couple birthday events, and probably some other things I'm forgetting about.  Ah, summertime.