The other afternoon there was a knock on the door, and it was the Beckster from the other yard, come to announce that the training wheels have been taken off her bike and she would like me to come out and see her ride without them.

In other news, the heat wave has broken! This morning I am baking a frozen pie (made by my great aunt; wish I could take credit) and as soon as it comes out of the oven, in will go a new batch of granola. Naturally just yesterday I purchased two boxes of "healthy" (ha; as if such a thing can be found in the grocery store) cereal to keep me going till the next cool day.

In even better news, my friend Shelly is driving out from the Edmonton area tomorrow. Woo hoo!! She is bringing me an old white dog and the sewing machine Mom bought me at a garage sale 10 years ago, which Shelly has been using ever since. We are going to (she is going to) sew up a dozen cushion covers for me. She can put me to work cutting fabric and sewing straight seams, and maybe ironing them, if need be. Otherwise sewing by machine is something that just frustrates me. I'd rather hand-sew.

And I have to earn some money while she's here, so the cushion-covers project can keep her busy while I'm at my desk, and I won't feel guilty about leaving my guest to her own devices for four hours a day.

In shitty news, Scott and I have dental appointments this afternoon. He could use the afternoon off, as he's been working in this extreme heat for many days in a row, outside. Unfortunately it won't be an enjoyable afternoon off for either of us. He'll be getting fillings and the dentist will be doing the preliminary work for two crowns I need.

I'll leave you with this warning story I found on a discussion list I am on:

"The original message was written by a lady whose brother and wife learned a hard lesson this past week.

Their house burnt down.. nothing left but ashes. They have good insurance so the house will be replaced and most of the contents. That is the good news.

However, they were sick when they found out the cause of the fire. The insurance investigator sifted through the ashes for several hours. He had the cause of the fire traced to the master bathroom. He asked her sister-in-law what she had plugged in the bathroom. She listed the normal things...curling iron, blow dryer. He kept saying to her, "No, this would be something that would disintegrate at high temperatures." Then her sister-in-law remembered she had a Glade Plug-In, in the bathroom.

The investigator had one of those "Aha" moments. He said that was the cause of the fire. He said he has seen more house fires started with the plug-in
type room fresheners than anything else. He said the plastic they are made from is THIN. He also said that in every case there was nothing left to prove that it even existed. When the investigator looked in the wall plug, the two prongs left from the plug-in were still in there.

Her sister-in-law had one of the plug-ins that had a small nightlight built in it. She said she had noticed that the light would dim and then finally go out. She would walk in to the bathroom a few hours later, and the light would be back on again. The investigator said that the unit was getting too hot,
and would dim and go out rather than just blow the light bulb. Once it cooled down it would come
back on. That is a warning sign.

The investigator said he personally wouldn't have any type of plug-in fragrance device anywhere in his house. He has seen too many places that have been burned down due to them."

*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,

If you're wondering why you don't receive notifies like you used to, it's because -- well, don't make me explain, just sign up again:

*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,