Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Bug Guy's Here!

Once a month the bug guy sprays around the exterior of the house. I've NEVER lived anywhere where that was done, I always did it myself if I felt it necessary. Buy the spray, mix the solution, put it in the sprayer, then get to work. Steve pays a guy to do that. It's just another thing I am trying to get used to. I actually got him to fire the pool guy, though. That saved $80 per month. Now I'm the pool guy.

It's not that he's lazy, he's just making his life easier, since his accident. He still does an amazing amount of stuff for someone who's technically a paraplegic. (did I even spell that right?) It always astounds me to hear of people who don't do shit, yet they have full function of their entire body. "I hurt my wrist so I went on disability." Huh?

But, back to the bug thing.....
I'm glad there's someone else taking on that job, because here in the desert we have ickies like scorpions and centipedes. Either one can sneak into the house at night and sting you in your sleep. Last summer when Steve noticed a huge bug bite on his leg, he thought it would just go away. (he didn't feel the initial "sting" because his legs are numb) After a few days the bite grew into a huge problem--and when he went to the doctor he was put on antibiotics and skin medicines. Centipede and scorpion stings turn into staph infections--which can kill you.
He had to blame the bug guy for that one--because we eventually found a dead centipede under the bed. Here's one that'll creep you out, though. Centipedes are known for sneaking into the house thru the air conditioning vents. I've actually seen it myself--our air vents are in the ceiling, and they drop down from the vent onto the floor, bed, whatever is below. EWWWWWW!!! Now, it's not like there's a parade of icky bugs around here--but I've seen it happen.
That's enough to make ya pay the bug guy to come back a couple of extra times!

This last weekend I drove to Vegas for an American Cancer Society training meeting. It was informative, really, and that's not what I was expecting. Sometimes I get the attitude that I know it all. Turns out I don't. They surprised me with an award presentation for fundraising achievements, I was quite shocked! And, since Starbucks is officially an American Cancer Society corporate partner, they provided huge amounts of free coffee and espresso for us all to enjoy throughout the day. Yay!

Sunday, we went out on the lake for a three hour tour. Steve was recently given a boat that belonged to his aunt and uncle. It's not new, by any means, but it's in great shape. Really, it looks like the SS Minnow to me. It's big, white, and it has windshield wipers. It's ironic that Steve's aunt and uncle gave him this boat, because it's exactly what he's been wishing for, for a couple of years. On cold, windy days, he would say, "This would be a perfect day to take a cabin-boat out on the lake. We could anchor in a nice quiet cove, bring lunch, read a book, take a nap...." This boat is exactly what he wanted. You can either steer it from up on the roof, or down in the cabin that's completely closed in with big windows. It has a dining area, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and a helm with a thousand buttons that light up. No idea what any of them are for. The only work I need to do is update the colors inside. It needs more lighter color, like on the walls and curtains. Too much blue right now.
Since we enjoy the same friggin' 50 mph winds that southern california gets (except we're too smart to build where there's high risk of fire) we had the perfect windy cool day on Sunday. It was 60 degrees, and there wasn't a soul on the lake. Took the Minnow out for its maiden voyage and actually had a very nice time. Sandwiches, chips, beer, some magazines, and a very nice cove all to ourselves.
At 5pm, we took it back to the marina so we could teach ourselves how to get the boat back on the trailer in very high winds. Not too shabby!

This week we're doing last minute stuff so we can leave for Indiana on Sunday. I have a Republican Women's conference in Phoenix for three days starting on Thursday, so I have just today and tomorrow to finish what's on my list. It's going to be a very cold trip to Indiana, and I'm not sure if I even have clothing that's appropriate for it!
We're driving Steve's boss's semi truck back there, because they're putting a custom made sleeper on it. I guess the only place that could do it right is the one in Indiana. Originally, the trip was supposed to be in August but the comapany doing the paint job on the truck couldn't get it done in time. So here we go; driving to the midwest when it's friggin cold. It's 80 degrees here, and we're going away from it?