Mowing Monkees

Mowing the lawn is much easier when the mower agrees to run. I was about halfway through with the front yard yesterday when the engine faded to silence. It's got oil, it's got gas. The spark plug is coated in oil, and that's the obvious problem. I'll stop by the hardware store for a new plug today, and I'll pick up garden mulch and fertilizer as well. The potato plants have launched themselves higher, and now it's time to smother the shoots to trap moisture.

As I left the house today, the next-door neighbor stopped me to offer the use of his mower. He also casually mentioned my lawnmower never sounded right to him. I'm a relatively new homeowner and the two of us rarely chat, so maybe we're still establishing our camaraderie and all, but that's a lousy thing to say to someone. That's my mower -- my oldest piece of hardware -- and I've kept it going for ten years now with diligent care. It's not supposed to be whisper quiet. It's a lawnmower and, despite occasionally bathing my plugs in oil, it still works. I would have taken him up on his offer, but now I'm not so inclined. If the mower is shot, I'll have to buy a new one anyway.

Your Sis is much better and managed to eat yesterday. We've got about four days to finish up two classes' worth of research papers, and I think that will take up all our time this weekend. Graduation is Sunday, and so are the Tonys. It's also our two-year jailhouse-iversary.

Moving Monkees of the Day
The audition footage for the Monkees. You know, I still haven't seen an entire episode of this since I was maybe five years old. I was in nursery school/kindergarten until first grade, and the babysitter let us watch afternoon TV, including syndicated reruns of "F-Troop," "Brady Bunch," "Monkees," "Batman," and "Ghostbusters" (the show the predates the Bill Murray movie). She used to feed us butter cookies, the little ones shaped like flowers, and we would eat them by sticking our pinky fingers through the center hole and nibbling from the edges inward. She pavloved us; whenever I see the Brady Bunch or Batman TV shows, I get that taste in my mouth thirty years later.