A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Summer's off to a good start. Z-boy and I are doing SOMETHING physical almost every day. Our KenPo classes are the main event on Tuesday and Thursday, but we're either swimming or walking or doing something else most other days. Z and Darling Man ride bikes a couple of times a week. It is the way I would like this summer to go.

We are spending a lot of time together - enough to get on each other's nerves occasionally. This is where grandmas and grandpas and friends can come in handy. My dad has taken the Z-boy off last week and may do so again tomorrow. They both had a blast. Next week, a friend of Z's will come spend the night - and offer respite from being the only person around for Z to talk to.

I hope that next year, he will be old enough and mature enough to handle a sleep-away camp for a week or so. The church has a camp that I went to as a kid, my brothers went to, and most of my friends throughout my teens went to. I think he would love it. But he's not ready yet...

Granddaughter K is apparently keeping pretty busy too! She is taking gymnastics - which I think is absolutely terrific! It gets her moving and gives her something to think about and practice - which I believe is very important for youngsters.

I remember doing uneven parallel bars in middle school. I was pretty good, too. It was about the only gymnastics-type thing I was good at. Sometimes I wish that I had done more stuff like that when I was younger. I probably would have been more self-confident and more graceful!

I spotted MamaCoon yesterday, in a different part of our little greenspace. Still behind our yard, but a little to the south of her regular tree. I was so relieved. I was afraid they'd either been gotten or that Mama had been run over while foraging.

Then today, as we sat down to dinner on the back porch, Z-boy spotted the babies. They're big enough to climb on their own, and now we know that there are three of them. They're still very tiny, and climb the way new kittens walk - very clumsy and sort of leaving their limbs hanging out there awkwardly until they figure out what to do with them. One baby bravely went from one vine to another, hanging from both front paws for a moment until he figured out what to do with his feet.

Photo by Bill Ivy, available at allposters.com

They're not this big yet, but they are SO cute!

Had a plumber come today to give estimates... The shower controls in both bathrooms are messed up - they're original to the house, so they are just plumb wore out. And all the toilets rock (not in a good way), so we're getting them all replaced with new, high efficiency models, that will be properly installed. It's gonna cost us, but my grandmother in England sent me some money for house stuff and it's arrived just in time to save us from our plumbing. Thank you, Grandma! Thanks to your gift, we shall be able to turn our showers on and off, control the temperature of said showers, and sit on our thrones without fear of falling. It doesn't seem like much, but when you live with those kind of uncertainties everyday, well.. it means a lot to not have to think about or worry about it.

Progress is being made, slowly but surely. Windows? Check. Plumbing? Check. Roof? Sometime before next April. Painting? Working on it. Flooring? Gotta at least rip out the diningroom carpet. I can't even be in the same room with it without wanting to lose my lunch. But it's coming along. And in-between all these other adventures, I get work done at home. Thank goodness for computers and a job that lends itself to telecommunting!