Thursday 14 August 2008

A great deal of crap

sunny, beautiful day, temps 25

A perfect summer day. hardly a cloud, no humidity, warm without being too hot. Wonderful.

Woke up and decided to go into Knowlton for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, melted brie, croissants and bowls of cafe au lait, on the verandah of the Cafe Floral, overlooking the village green and mill pond.

Dropped by the electronics store to talk about why two perfectly good, brand new Aquos TV's haven't worked in our new TV room. They're stumped. Though my theory of ghosts got a boost from Gary when he told us yesterday his nail gun, battery operated and in use for years, suddenly started smoking while working in the new TV room.

I can feel a Catholic priest in our future. Will let you know if there's any green vomit or head spinning.

Speaking of disgusting things, Lise pointed out yesterday that far from a ghostly visit our garden had been visited by a family of ravenous deer. They'd eaten the heads off the phlox and the hostas right down to the ground. It was either the deer or Wayne went nuts with the whipper-snipper. Wayne seemed sane, so the deer get the blame. Something slightly poetic about that sentence. Lise's solution to the deer? Spread a concoction of dried human waste product.

You know what that means.

She wrote today to say she'd done it.

Can you believe it? Ghosts in the TV room and crap in the garden.

Do you think Lise has finally found her revenge for the Welcome-to-the-job urinal? Or our gas plant that burned her? Or the snakes?

We probably deserve it.

Michael went swimming today and tried out the butterfly kicks we've been watching at the Water Cube at the Olympics. He stayed stationary. He tried it again. Still nothing. Not even a personal best. On getting out he said he'd heard that the best temperature for an Olympic swim was 78 degrees, and since we keep our pool closer to 85 he thought that was probably the problem. Too hot. It sapped his strength. That's the only thing standing between him and an Olympic swim.

Seems some of what Lise spread landed on my husband too.

Edited more today...but hit a small snag. A necessary section, but one that feels as though it's slowing this part down, just when it should be storming along. Not sure what to do about it, but I stopped, had a bath, and will spend the evening thinking about it. Get back to it tomorrow. I know a solution will present itself. Always does.

Take care and talk tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

About deer...we had a desperate time with them in Washington,D.C., where they would emerge from Rock Creek Park every night to eat EVERYTHING (especially hostas--turns out hostas are like salad greens to deer.)We tried your method, but it didn't work, so as a last resort I used a list from our local nursery and replanted a huge perenniel bed with plants deer are supposed to shun. This drastic measure actually worked and, eventually, I got used to the new look. Hope you don't have to go that route.

Hilary MacLeod said...

Lise sounds like an irreplaceable treasure....above and beyond and all that. But this begs the question: where does she get her supply?

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Elizabeth,

Love your story - and I think that's the way to go. Between us, I don't really love hostas myself so the deer are doing me a favour. But they've also eaten the monarda which a generally considered deer-resistant I believe. Will google other plants.

Louise Penny Author said...

Dear Hilary,

Love it! I agree, that question does beg to be asked...but one thing I learned first day at jounalism school - Never ask a question unless you're prepared for the answer. Could have remembered that a few times with my mother, but never did.