Mah Skirt

Frag of the Flies

You know when you hear about the plagues of Egypt, and you got your blood, and boils, and death, and then you hear "flies" and you're all like "Flies? Seriously? Way to phone it in, God. Flies." And then one day you wake up and your house is actually full of them? Like a giant floating seething buzzing CLICKING for God's sake bunch of flies? And then you begin to appreciate just a little more how much of a punishment flies really are?
Well, it happened to me. I've had my problems with vermin before, admittedly, but my house has been almost sanitary these past few months so it really seemed unfair when I walked into the boy's room and it looked like a scene from CSI where they find the body of a dead guy three weeks after he died. Did you know that flies are LOUD? I can hear them through the walls. They have no fear of me, I can hear them giggling as they avoid my sweeping shoe attacks. Normally I can keep them out of the house by putting a stick of incense by the open door, but they've become bolder; organized...EVIL.
So I went out and armed myself with the weapons of the ancient hippies; patchouli, a stick of sage, and matches. I went from room to room, 'smudging', as the instructions call it. You light the stick of sage until it smolders, then in each corner of the room you blow on it until it belches out a thick cloud of pot-scented smoke.

You should have seen the destruction. Most were struck down in a daze immediately, crawling feebly for whatever escape they could find. Those that retained the power of flight suddenly discovered that they COULD fly in a straight line, usually directly away from me, sometimes splatting themselves amusingly into the walls. A couple flew directly into the smoke, and were immediately received into fly heaven, which I imagine is somewhere in India.

There are only a few hardy souls left, buzzing forlornly around the house in search of their loved ones; families, friends, maggots, all struck down in a single evening of tragedy, their thriving poo-based civilization gone forever, sponged from the history books, never to be duplicated, the descent into obscurity illuminated only by the poisonous fumes of patchouli oil burning long into the night.
It's a sad day if you're an evil disgusting chitinous bastard.

Marching Song

By Robert Louis Stevenson



Bring the comb and play upon it!
Marching, here we come!
Willie cocks his highland bonnet,
Johnnie beats the drum.



Mary Jane commands the party,
Peter leads the rear;
Feet in time, alert and hearty,
Each a Grenadier!



All in the most martial manner
Marching double-quick;
While the napkin, like a banner,
Waves upon the stick!




Here's enough of fame and pillage,
Great commander Jane!
Now that we've been round the village,
Let's go home again.

The archway

Here it is; It doesn't look so squalid in real life; I have to adjust the 'pathos' setting on the camera.



And from the other side:


I still have to go through the stuff on the table; imagine it with nice clean white drywall behind it, and no clutter. And a pony in the backyard. It looks better that way.



This is The Thing I got at Goodwill the other day. I like it.



The Virgin Mary Nook full of natural hstory stuff.

More destruction

I've been busy!
Once I tore off all the paneling, I discovered that the breakfast bar had been converted from a built-in window; yay, right? Wrong! Whoever cut the hole had neglected to add a real 'jack' stud to support the former 'king' studs, meaning that the left side of the whole load-bearing wall had been held up by a half inch piece of trim that had been used to prettify the bar. Crap. Support studs to be added as soon as that bar comes down.



Ignore the dog; Once we pulled the carpet up we discovered flooring made up of what appear to be deck supports; awesome! My plan is to paint them white. And replace the ones that have rotted, which should be fairly easy. Tommy approves.



The former outside of the house, clapboard(or whatever it is) still intact; I kind of like the color. A moody gray-blue. Anyhoo...we might cover it with drywall, or we might just paint it after tearing down that black stuff. Haven't decided yet, but I kind of like the look. The other three walls will have to be drywall, though. I really like the window; I'm thinking either shutters or shelves...thoughts?



Random dog related cuteness:



I've been busy.

Back home

Swiper and I are staying up, listening to the cholos race up and down the street.
He's glad to be home, but antsy. He spends a lot of time staring at me, chuffing to get me to come look out the window. The kids were pleased with their rooms but the little ones had a hard time going to sleep in a new place. The bathroom's done except for the shower head, and it looks great. A little grand for our tiny house, but we like it. The words 'Ghetto Fabulous' have been bandied about.

I should be really happy, but I feel oppressed. I think it's probably the open space in the living room, it just doesn't feel right. Maybe I'll put some Christmas lights in the rafters tomorrow. Found another rat's nest in a drawer, but at least there were no rats in it. Waiting for the camera to finish loading so I can post pictures. I will probably just post them in a long string later, I don't feel very creative right now.

Pictures:

Psalms 19:13

Also keep back Your servant
from presumptous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless
And I shall be aquitted of great
transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in your sight;
O Lord, my rock and my
Redeemer.