Any Similar Revival

I have VERMIN in my house! VERMIN! I am so deeply disturbed by this that I can hardly bear to think of it. I know that some would consider the two cats and the dog as very likely candidates for the vermin, but the vermin does not take such snuggleable forms, alas. Nope. It’s mice. Eeeewwwww! I don’t know if I’m missing some kind of Beatrix Potter gene or what, but rodents make me crazy, and not in a good way. I turn into the lady from Tom & Jerry who jumps on the chair and starts shrieking whenever Jerry appears. In fact, this is exactly the same thing that I do!

Here is the story. After my Stampin’ Up Hostess Appreciation Party and open house on Saturday afternoon, I was shuffling around, putting stuff away, scheming about my next events, etc. I noticed the the girls were very interested in the back corner of the dining room, where we keep all the extra leaves and pads for the table. Silly me, I walked over there, all curious, asking, “Whatcha got, kitties?” I moved the leaves around, thinking it would be an ant or spider or a Q-Tip (don’t ask). And then. And then, oh GULP. And then it scurried.  A dark grey thing with a long tail. I did what any educated and mature person would do: I started screaming at the top of my lungs and jumped on the nearest chair, holding my skirt up around my waist, because I’m sure that helps somehow. The cats, much upset by my piercing screams, scampered off, and Chad came bounding through the door, “Why are you screaming like that!?” (He thinks I over-react sometimes, isn’t that weird?) I very calmly and coherently explained: “THERE IS A MOUSE (EEEWWWW) BEHIND THE TABLE LEAVES AND YOU HAVE TO KILL IT!!!!”

“Ok, but I don’t think you should be screaming like that. Get me my flashlight and the little vacuum from upstairs,” he answered, army crawling on the floor peering, under furniture.

“Huh uh!” I answered. “I don’t want mice in my vacuum!” But I got it for him anyways. Then I went into the craft room and tried to not listen in to all the battling in the dining room. He chased it all along the wall, through all the table leaves, along the outside wall, and into the piano. Awesome. There is now a mouse living in my piano. To top it off, Chad says, after pulling out the piano, “Gross! This is the grossest floor I’ve ever seen in my life! There is so much hair back here!” Thus insulting my cleaning abilities, which I must admit, are pretty darn good. It’s just, who pulls out the piano on a regular basis? My granny probably does, but I don’t. That thing is heavy.

Meanwhile, Kristen, Erica, and the kids have pulled into the driveway–we’re all going to the fair tonight. I rush out, distraught, white-faced, breathless: “There is a mouse! I can’t! You must! HELP!” Kristen the Very Brave comes in to help. But unfortunately, even her courageous prowess is not enough to catch that dumb mouse. We tell the girls to CATCH AND KILL THAT MOUSE! and then we go to the fair.

Fast forward to last night, and I am sitting in my dark craft room, surfing the internet, oblivious to the sounds of cat-shuffling in the background. They are always scuffling with each other, so I’m not thinking it’s anything special. But it keeps coming closer and closer. I turn around as they come scampering into my room, and in front of them, a Dark Shadow scurries. I pull my feet up, turn my back, close my eyes, and start screaming (again), “Chad! The mouseisinhereandthecatsarechasingit and YOU HAVE TO COME IN HERE AND SAVE ME! CHAD! CHAD!” And he comes rushing in, yelling, “You have to stop screaming like that! The neighbors are going to think something is going on and they’ll call the cops!”  (you know, they didn’t call the cops, which makes me worry about the time that we really are being murdered in our beds and no one thinks to call the police, but anyways).

Long story short, the mouse ran under the crack in the closet door in my craft room. Chad loaded some traps with cheese and peanut butter, and we’re just waiting for it, that lovely SNAP sound. The cats are hanging out in here with me now, noses under the closet door.

So I’m a rodent coward. But I’m not afraid of snakes. In fact, I kind of like them. So I’m not all shrill and girly about things.

We went to the fair again last night. Pigs.

But Kristen and Erica were going and taking the kids, so of COURSE we had to go too! It was really fun to see it through the kids’ eyes, especially the animals. I take so much for granted as an adult. But the kids were like !sheep! !Cows! Rabbits! EEWWW POOP!! It was awesome.

They had these giant inflatable things there this year, and the kids had fun playing in them. Check out Emma’s face on those slides. And then the big girls had fun. Drat my skirt! I could have had fun with them! Alas, being the photographer had to suffice!

Too much fair?

Maybe.

Every year, at the end of July and all through August, I suffer from what Chad has named “summer sad.” It’s like a reverse seasonal affective disorder: instead of getting depressed in the winter, I get sad, anxious, lethargic, and crabby every summer. It’s unaccountable–there is absolutely NO REASON for me to feel like this every year, but I do. I long for autumn with a fierceness and desperation starting in mid-July, I think back to cozy fires and blizzards, driving home from work in darkness, being COLD. I wish I could be happy no matter what the season is, and I fight this. I fight this HARD. Some days, though, there is no beating it. Today, Chad took me to the fair and fed me fair food. And it helped. It did. It really did. I won’t mention that I brought up the Yankee Peddler (which is in September), because that makes it look like I couldn’t enjoy a summer thing without thinking about a fall thing. I’m going to shut up now. Look at some pictures, why dontcha?

We went to Blossom again last night, this time for a Baroque evening. Vivaldi, Haydn, Mouret, Handel. Lovely. It’s my most favorite music of all–for some reason, it makes me feel grounded, centered, easy in my skin. I don’t really know why, but I do know that hearing it is like sighing with relief.

Also, I am never bored when there is a camera at hand. Give me a camera, and I can amuse myself for hours!

This next pose had sound effects. Chad said the people in front of us turned around to see what was making the noise.

Hee! We EXCELL at making noises!

We had a rain shower yesterday evening, torrents of rain, with low, golden sunlight pouring through, It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, everything was covered in golden drops.

And so here is a random list, all about today.

Today, we are cleaning out the garage. Again. So I can park my car in it. Again.

And we are going to work on the porch, till the side bed, and put a new cycling computer on my bike.

We have already been to the Farmer’s Market in the square, and we bought peaches, beans, green onions, potatoes, plums, and baguettes.

And if I am very, very good and we get lots of work done, we’re going to see the new X-Files movie!

You need to go to Heidi’s journal to see the photo of my brother’s stupid little dog that peed on me last night. It’s ok for me to call him stupid, because Jonathan never visits my blog ANYWAY, so he’ll never know. And because he IS a stupid little dog.

As Olivia would say (and DID say, yesterday), “I just don’t really like little dogs.”

Amen sister, amen. I hope I haven’t offended any little dog lovers. I’m not offended if you don’t like big dogs or cats.

Today I was a Worker. I worked, and I worked, and I worked. And now I am a Hurter. I hurt, and I hurt, and I hurt. Not as in someone who hurts, but someone who IS hurting. The weather being perfect, I decided to FINALLY work in my gardens, cleaning up edging, pulling out weeds, cutting back my monstrous herbs that think they own the place, mowing the lawn. Our neighbor’s across the street just got a little yellow kitten a few weeks ago. They are besotted with him, but I don’t think they understand cats that well. They think he will just stay in his own yard.

Yeah. Ok.

 Anyways, today, as I was wondering aloud if I should cut back my cilantro or just leave it, I saw him bouncing around my front yard, all small and golden and adorable. He led me a merry chase around the driveway, and I finally convinced him to let me pick him up. We went back across the street to a very grateful old man.

Then I came inside, drank a gallon of iced-tea, and realized that those people who tell you to wear closed-toe shoes to mow the lawn are pretty smart. When you wear flip-flops, your toes turn all green and nasty. I took a shower, but the toes are still green and nasty.

I sat down and tried to figure out what to do next. Reading was out, because the book I am reading, Ahab’s Wife, is worrying me. (The main character just did something SO stupid and foolish and dangerous, and I am TOO INVOLVED here. I’m just not ready to face the chaos that is about to ensue. So I’m taking a break.) And Sudoku was out, because I haven’t been able to solve anything lately, and I Don’t Like Feeling Stupid.

“I will clean and scrape that wall!” I declared in my most confident voice. We have a very old house with very crumbly plaster walls, and our kitchen is ugly. I peeled off the wallpaper the day we got the keys, and underneath was this awful, peeling, cracked, terrible surface. We couldn’t paint that, and so, in typical Voller fashion, it has remained. Some first-time guests think it’s some kind of daring faux finish, which is nice of them, I think. We have learned that if we get all the old wallpaper paste, latex skim coat, and other grossness off the wall, a friend of ours will fix the plaster work. YAY! So, today, I worked on it. Came off with a razor blade like a dream! And I scraped that thing for three hours. That is why my title is “My Poor Old Shoulder,” and that is what I did on my summer vacation.

Oh, and if you want a hilarious old movie to watch, check out The Awful Truth, with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

A few months ago, while browsing WKSU’s website, I saw that Over the Rhine would be performing at Cain Park in July. For TWO DOLLARS. I bought our tickets then and there, and last night, WOW! I don’t know what I was expecting, just a pleasant evening listening to music we liked and hadn’t really kept up with, but I was blown away. Had I forgotten what Karin’s voice was like? Their musical prowess and integrity? It was amazing. And, small world, we ran into an old friend we haven’t seen in twelve years. Chad had just said, “I wonder if we’ll run into any old Grove City friends,” and then, not five minutes later, he points to a tall, dark-haired girl walking in the front and says, “Hey! That’s Katie!” And so it was! She spent her freshman year at GCC, then left to pursue her musical career in Nashville. We talked to her for a while and found out that she is married to Kenny Hutson, who is playing with Over the Rhine on this tour! He is fantastic! I found Katy’s website, which has some of her music available. You can listen to Over the Rhine’s latest album at their site.

We were just so happy at the concert–you know how when you experience really good art or music and you feel inspired to go create something? That is what happened. They did my favorite song as their final encore, and it just made my summer. I think it shocked me out of my summer-funk.

linda invited me to go kayaking with her yesterday. Of course, I said yes. We went to Lake Medina, where we had to carry the kayaks up a very steep flight of steps to get to the lake. To pay Linda back for this climb, I rubbed it in a little bit (but only a little bit) by reminding her that the last time I went kayaking, I was in New Zealand and saw penguins. We had a very good time, even though I got a bit caught in the vegetation at one point.

I have a thing for fields.

We had a little gathering/picnic thing yesterday at my aunt & uncle’s house. Cousins from Canada and Paraguay and Mansfield. Bubbles, yard sale stuff, jokes that weren’t all that funny that still made certain people hysterical. I love my family–we’re all so weird.

Guitar Hero:

Rock on, Uncle Ralph, rock on!