In which Piers pulls out of that nosedive

I don't mean to complain, but the children are lucky to be alive after this past week.  Lots of patience exercised, and some tempers lost.  Little Red, speaking of losing, has a flatter tummy, poor guy.  He was still awake at 10:00 last night, curled up in our bed (!), "reading" The Runner's copy of The Noticer.

Yesterday afternoon I was wandering around in the yard and heard a loud cheep near my feet.  I looked down, and there in the grass, looking petulantly at me, was a fledgeling Robin (yes, just like that one).  I wondered if it were injured or abandoned, but after bringing the boys out to look at it, we discovered that it was perfectly capable of hopping all around the flowerbed.  And so it did.  I'm guessing I just startled it by showing up.  The Runner reported that the puppy next door had been nosing around our bushes earlier in the day, and had been suffering the assaults of dive-bombing mama bird.

Speaking of little creatures, Simon has now brought at least two mice up to the house for our examination.  Didn't think he had it in him, but I guess he feels like he needs to pick up the slack now that Sock The Garage Kitty has left us (*snif*).

Our garden is not succeeding this year.  I don't know what we did wrong when we did the planting, but it's just not thriving, even though we've had plenty of rain (well, up until this past week).  Which is okay, I guess.  I don't feel so bad about ignoring it in this heat if it's not producing much of anything except cayenne peppers (which we planted by accident and are too hot for us to eat). 

Teaching summer classes is a challenge because it's hard to get the timing right . . . when you've calibrated your approach for a regular semester, it's difficult to adjust to the variable times required during the 1.5 hours/day, 5 days/week schedule.  I've already had to significantly adjust my approach in the composition class. 

I don't think people like me have any business going around in pro racing kits, but I'll admit that the Leopard Trek kits are pretty sweet.  Birthday present idea, if you're wanting one.  The non-pro level stuff is actually reasonably priced.  It wouldn't be a waste:  I averaged 17mph on my ride this morning.  That's faster than I've been in a few years.  It's not fast, mind you . . . just fast for me.