The single hammock acts like a sail on the back porch, swirling in circles and flinging itself into the air. It’s a glimpse of foreshadowing; a thin strip on the weather map shows our area as the target for gusts up to 50 mph. For now, the weather station is clocking us in at 4.5 mph.
Not knowing what 50 mph means, I googled it, and “Weather.gov” had 46-53 mph boldly in red with a high threat to life and property.
I looked up from my laptop and stationed in the center of the aquarium, flapping his fins to stay perfectly centered, and staring right at me was the angel fish. He always does that. As the other fish do fish things, like swim incessantly to and fro or peck at rocks and plants to eat, the angel stays dead center for minutes at a time looking out. “He’s doing it again,” I’ll tell Dave, noting our flippered friend’s weird behavior. Doesn’t he look like he’s judging me?
We went to Monster Jam, a show of motocross and monster trucks at the Tacoma Dome. It wasn’t as superly awesome as I remember as a kid, but what is? Here are a few videos.
Tomorrow’s my birthday, and I’ll be forty-two years old. Which is very exciting! Not to spoil the meaning of life, but according to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which if you haven’t read you definitely should, it’s the number 42.
What will I be doing on my birthday, you ask? Well, two hours before sunrise, I’ll take my parents to the airport. They’re off on a two-month cruise, so they’re swinging by to pick me up to take them, then leaving with me their truck. It’s a nice truck, which will be excellent for our one-car family. We will no longer need to coordinate Evelyn’s school and YMCA classes with my workdays. Then later we’re heading to pho with some friends. After that, I’ll eat more of my Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Eat more, you ask? Why, yes. Today was a pre-tasting event, a practice session for the actual eating of the cake.
As a kid, Dairy Queen ice cream cakes at birthday parties were like going to Disneyland. But then everyone grew up, and no one gets them as adults. Except for me. Every. Single. Year.
I have two pairs of shoes for birthdays presents coming in the mail. A pair of, what I hope to be, comfy black boots, and a pair of embroidered slippers.
I hope you’re staying warm out there. But not too warm. Our power company sent an email that due to the cold weather there’s more use on the electrical grid and they’re asking everyone to cut back. That’s fine. We already are since our furnace is shorting out and on auxiliary. The technician told us earlier this week, “You’re lucky it didn’t start a fire.” Yes we are.
Love, Jaclynn
PS Here’s todays Dad joke.
Going On 40 