a friend heard we got a piano and was kind enough to send the e-book “play piano in a flash“.

flash, as in, 45 pages deep they finally encourage you to touch the piano.

i’m putting more trees in the yard so yesterday i had my truck bed filled with a combination of top soil and manure. it’s the second load of this blend i’ve picked up and i was equally giddy both times having a truck full of shit.

“horrible ugly beast”

thanks to a summer of road trips and a viewing or ten too many of shrek, thats what we hear from ethan when we aren’t doing what he wants.

its also what kept playing through my head as i listened to news of a school shooting by charles roberts and then that the co-chair of the missing and exploited children’s caucus, republican representative mark foley, made sexual advances to a teenage page.

what a miserable day to be a parent or human.

excerpts from a recent email exchange:

the making of carl spackler

september 24, 2006
i have heart. well, i have a have a heart trap. last night we caught our third skunk. as usual i drove it away from our hose and released it. i didnt notice that it did anything except run away. but, things smelled a little funny on the drive home. sharon threw me out of the house. i guess it got me a bit and ive smelled to high heaven from the knees down all day, even after a thorough shower and change of clothes. i wont have a heart next time

september 25, 2006
i am now smelling more or less normal for whatever that is worth, but my truck cab is still a bit odorific.

september 30, 2006
so, my admin gave me some spray that is supposed to keep rabbits away. it smells like pee. (she didnt like the idea of me shooting rabbits.) we saw signs of anther skunk visit last night. so, i decided to spray the rabbit deterrent so that i wouldnt have another trapped skunk to deal with. i really thought i knew which way the wind was blowing. wrong. now i smell like pee. i like the skunk smell better. geez