Glen Brammell Journal

As the weather has been getting nicer, I have been doing a lot of work around the house. The winter was pretty hard and it has taken awhile to get things straightened out. I have made a lot of progress though and am hoping to start some new projects this year. One thing I noticed was that some of the items in the yard would have done better in the winter weather if I had put them under a tarp. This would have kept out the rain and snow.

I hope to take care of that problem this year. I have plans to purchase some canvas tarps to protect the items. I want to put a tarp over my firewood. This way, I won’t have to spend so much time out in the cold trying to get pieces of wood that are frozen together. I also hope to keep the wood drier so it is easier to light.

I also have some painting projects going on. One thing about me is that I am a terrible painter. I am always making a mess and getting paint everywhere. I plan to have a drop cloth or two handy when I get started. This year is looking pretty good so far and I hope to eliminate some of the problems I had last year. I guess we’ll find out.

Today is Saturday and I have a problem. I have been promising to clean up the garage and it looks like the day has finally come. I can put it off no longer. I am not looking forward to this as I know there will be some debate with my wife over what items to keep and which ones to throw away. She doesn’t seem to understand the importance of keeping items that we may need in the future.

Anyway, I guess I’ll get started and do what I can to get the garage clean while limiting the damage done to our inventory. Maybe I can distract her later with a shopping trip!!

I sure am glad that the weather is getting hotter. I have been having a great time working around the house and am finally getting some of things I wanted to do done. The yard still has a way to go but its looking better all the time. It sure is great to get out of the house. The only bad thing is that I keep thinking up new projects I want to start. I guess I’ll be busy for awhile!

The neighbor came by this morning to warn me about this weekend. They are having a kids birthday party and the place will be noisy and busy with a couple dozen kids running and screaming across the yards. I remember how it as last year, and can’t believe its already been year since that birthday party.

There is just something about 20 eight and nine year olds running around that gives me a headache just thinking about it. That is way too much energy and noise for me. But for a lot of people, throwing kids birthday parties is like a competitive sport. They hire Party and Event Rentals companies to handle all the details for their kid and the friends, and then the parents don’t have to do much but run the video recorder and chit chat with the other parents who come to the party.

The smart ones hire out the Food Catering, the entertainment and the clean up. The parties in my neighborhood have come a long way since the days when I was a kid and thought that a couple hours in the mall arcade with unlimited tokens was the ultimate party. Nowadays they have
Bounce House Rentals, clowns, face painters, carnival games and all kinds of entertainment options. Its good to be a kid.

This morning I kicked myself for being so stupid. I totally missed the Kentucky Derby yesterday. I got busy outside and forgot about the time. I was cutting the grass and started hacking away at the shrubbery and I pulled up some morning glory vines that were taking over the whole side of the garage. The next thing I knew, it was time for dinner, so I washed up and drove down to KFC and picked up some chicken.

Never even turned on the TV yesterday until the 11:00 news came on and I fell asleep before the sports report. It didn’t even come to mind until I picked up the Sunday paper and read about it in the paper. Duh!