Miscellaneous shellfish

If Enrico is Pig Boy, I may be Bird Girl. Lately the birds seem to be all around me. There's a pair of hummingbirds in the back yard, which is nothing particularly special except for how close they've been coming, feeding off the fuscia right on the patio, and even resting quietly in the tree. I don't think I've ever seen a hummingbird sitting still before. And then there was the woodpecker pounding away right overhead (again, notable for closeness rather than rarity), the Stellar's jay in the bedroom flowerbox, and the flicker who apparently lives along my running route. Northern flickers are particularly beautiful birds, related to the woodpecker but sitting horizontal instead of vertical, with incredible orange stripes on their wings, a lovely speckled breast, and a distinctive red spot on their head.

Under the watchful eye of my bird-friends, I have made a list of the desired home maintenance projects for my summer down time, and the estimated work days alone add up to nearly three weeks. That doesn't include time going to the hardware store for supplies, discovering I have the wrong supplies, returning to the hardware store for different supplies, etc. etc. I genuinely like doing home projects - they give me a feeling of accomplishment and I always learn something new - but this year's list is entirely un-fun, with the exception of painting the den orange. Other jobs include a drywall patch (ugh, sheetrock dust), removing the gutters to put in metal flashing that will keep rats out of the attic (woo-hoo, rats!), recaulking and resealing the bathtub (backbreaking), scrubbing the fence clean and re-staining it (shoulder-aching), and hanging a new screen door (which requires a precision that I sadly lack and thus is guaranteed to lead to much colorful cursing). Bleh. But, that's home ownership - I'd rather repaint fence and install the flashing than have to replace the fence or have my house eaten by rats. Besides, there are worse home problems - this week my parents are doing something that involves pipes, concrete, and drilling holes in their garage floor (I'm a little fuzzy on the details but it sounds ghastly).

Today, however, I am going to the pool with my friend Monica, because it's going to hit a scorching 83 degrees here in Seattle (that's 28 for our international readers). I know, elsewhere in the country you're recovering from 100+ days, but here in Seattle we like it mild and have no air conditioning. We also have only two outdoor public pools in the entire city, one of which (the one I'm going to today) is a heated saltwater pool, filled with (cleaned) Puget Sound water and sitting right on the beach - so it's like you're swimming in Puget Sound, only you're not hypothermic or smelling like low tide.

And last but not least, Monica and I have actually registered ourselves for the half-marathon, so barring injury - it's official. Victoria, here we come!