3 Horned Owls Singing You to Sleep

I don't think it's that I'm lonely. I just haven't spoken aloud much, and my surroundings seem bare.

I hate what they are doing to the roads right now. The streets smell like a dirty shop rag and my bike slumps into the soft shoulders.

I am sorry for all the tears you cried, but I am glad you took the kleenex I offered. Everything is good; everything is fine.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I do put too much stock in people. I throw myself in full body. I would proclaim that I am done doing that, but I tell myself I am also done announcing things.

Why must people use that damned Jurassic Park ring? I don't need this stress.

This is a weird post, I think. But I am in a weird mood, maybe.

I just
wish you would show up
on the doorstep,
but you are so far,
far away.

North to Alaska,

North, the rush is on.

I took Bridge to the airport today. She is in the air right now, on her way to Fairbanks. I will probably miss her.

I told her to be good. She and her sis are going to an Indigo Girls concert, for heaven's sake. Can you imagine all the gay chicks? Again, like shooting fish in a barrel. I always tell her, "if anyone asks for your number, it's 1-800-TAKEN."

It will be a quiet week, which I am looking forward to a bit, but if anyone wants to hang out at all this week, at any time of day or night, call me. Or text me. Or send up a flare.

In other news, I got my eyebrows waxed today. Eee-ouch!

White Girls Can Rap.

You don't even know.

I am stealing your astericks because they work so darn well.

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I would like to talk about it. Please let me know when you would like to talk about it.

When I got the book, I also got 2 super cool Harry Potter tattoos, and I put one on my calf cuz it's totally awesome. It's fading a bit now.


**********

As many of you know, my sister is going to have a baby boy in November. I have been scouring baby clothes sections of stores. I could seriously buy this kid the world. In Target yesterday, I found two onesies that said:

"I Pulled an All-Nighter."

and

"Party at my crib. 2 am."

My little nephew's gonna be the coolest kid on the block.

**********

Bridge and I and BFF Erin went to Hairspray yesterday afternoon. I loved every second of it. I now am having 60's music dance parties all by myself. I was mashed potato-ing in the kitchen yesterday, and it's hard ya'll. I'm getting better, though.

I really want to see Transformers next. Then I will be doing the Robot! Ha! (If you haven't seen Vani's Robot Dance Off shirt yet, you're going to need to.)

**********

On my bike ride last night, I cruised downtown and some drunk girl stumbled out of Carey's, saw me, and started singing Queen: "I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike."

Then, today, I wanted to go swimming, so I biked down to the Community Pool for an hour of lap swim, and got lapped over and over again by an ancient man in flowered trunks. To my credit, though, this guy is hardcore. I've seen him lots at the Dome in the winter for lap swim. To my discredit, he is ancient. He's nice, though. He warned me of a ladder I nearly banged into.

(I cannot swim in a straight line when I am backstroking. I just can't.)

**********

I have to write a poem about limelight. I suppose I could just write about "lime" and compose an ode to tequila. Like the $50 dollar bottle some Bronto left in my freezer ....

**********

It's kinda hot in these rhinos.

My Heart is (Sorta) Breaking

Okay, okay, okay...

BEFORE:



AFTER:



Happy South Dakota?

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I did some mowing, hauled some branches, cleaned out a few shops on the farm and then hung out all week with a 3 yr old, a 4 yr old, a 5 yr old, a 6 yr old, a 7 yr old who turned 8, a 9 yr old, and a 10 yr old:


I don't even like kids that much. (I love 'em.)


My dog, Rufus, and I also went for lots of Jeep rides all over the countryside:



We saw two white-tail bucks that Rufus chased each time. While Rufus is pretty fast and fearless, he didn't have a chance. The bucks would watch him zigzag through the prairie, let him get about 50 yards away, and then bound off. They smoked poor Rufus.

I had an awesome, awesome time in North Dakota. We went to the pool, the lake, Harry Potter. Super-duper fun.

Conversations:

At the weekly Belfield community grill-out, where my dad asks a neighbor about rain.

Dad: Ray, how much rain did you get the oher night?
Ray: An inch and a quarter.
Dad: Huh. We got 65 hundredths. Man, you people up north get everything: more rain, more land, more sex.
Me, to my mom: Aaaand, I am gone.
Mom: I'm right behind you.

At the lake, I made my 8 yr old cousin Tucker strap on his life jacket and swim way out with me.

Tuck: Lindy, are there sharks in here?
Me: Sharks? Nah. You have to watch out for the octopus, though.
Tuck: Nuh-uh! Really?
Me: And the giant squid.
Tuck: Giant squid! Oh, man!

And later in the lake, I am once again explaining to Tucker how he and I are related while 10 yr old Trevor is swimming with us.

Me: Tucker, your mom and my mom are sisters. Your mom is my mom's youngest sister.
Trev: Yeah, you moron.
Me: Just like you are Trevor's youngest sister.
Trev (laughing): Yeah!
Tuck (matter of factly): Trevor, I am not your sister. I am your brother.
Me: Oh, that's right.

And to round the week off, we had a big cook-out at the farm and ended the evening with fireworks. For the big grand finale, I had this awesome reloader and the first two went off beautifully. Then I put the third firework in the tube.

Me: Dad, it's stuck.
Dad: Just light it.
Me: Um, yeah, but if it's stuck, don't you think it will--
Dad: Just light it.
Me: Okay...

So, you know those great fireworks that fill the sky and bloom and flower out, and then at the ends, they pop some more? Picture that fifty feet in front of you on the ground.

The smoke cleared and my family uncurled from the duck and cover position:

Me: Ta daa!!

Amarillo by Morning...

... or, at least, southwest North Dakota.

I am heading west today. Going home, to the farm, where things make sense to me.

I am going to hang out in Belfield with my little cousins at the pool. I'm going to hit the courts. I am going to tune up an old mountain bike and take it into town. I'm going to do some mowing, take the '56 Jeep out, go on some walks with my mom, tear some buildings down with my dad.

I can't wait to see the grasslands and the badlands.

I think I am going to be a bit of a Luddite.