I find “process” chores very tedious and avoid them when I can. I won’t tie my shoelaces until I’m going out the door (I prefer slip-ons for this reason).

Our garbage disposal has burned out (or something) and I have a thingy in the drain to catch table scraps (crossword definition: “ort”) but some still end up going into the disposal basket and it will stay there and smell if I don’t get it out. So I dip my hand into it and try to get the pieces up. Guh. Ed says we will replace the dispose-all and that means “eventually” and would I stop talking about it.

We have a loft ladder that normally is permanently leaning into the attic crawl space but Steve (A.H.) and Ed moved it so Steve could get on the roof and clean the gutters that were blocking water drainage. Ed was planning to get on the roof and I said something unprintable and told him no way. He doesn’t have that kind of balance and as a balance expert from my dance days, I am qualified to judge. So Steve did it. But now the ladder is on the floor in the garage. It is easily 12-15 feet long and blocks easy access to most things I want to do in the garage

On the “wrong” side of the ladder is a cheap treadmill near the door that I got at a garage sale for $10 (but using it makes me dizzy, so I don’t). Brunswick will lie on the treadmill after his hunting gecko chores and wait for me to get him. He won’t move, adhering to the kitty rule that “if she loves me, she will come get me.” Stepping over it is simple, getting back with a 12-lb. cat is harder but I have so far managed. Waiting for the magic day when the ladder is put back to its stand-up position leading into the crawl space.

I have three glass kitty water bowls and if I don’t totally wash and refresh them on a timely basis a gritty residue forms on the sides and it is very hard to remove. Usually baking soda/vinegar paste will do it, but this morning I spent at least a half an hour scrubbing the bowls and when I dried and refilled them, they still weren’t gleaming. I believe in gleaming. Anyone have a better solution?

Ed has sealed the pool pavers but I see white flecks here and there and he says “tough” so I am thinking, when he isn’t looking, I’ll stain the flecks with something from my art supplies.

The clear plastic base for my magnifying mirror is all grunged up. It can’t be cleaned to look good so I am thinking I will paint some flowers on it, or just a geometric pattern. I have done no artwork since Stan, the teacher, went back north. At Nadine’s cookout a week ago I was talking to a couple of her friends who also took the class and they said the same thing. I don’t feel so slothful now.

I have heard from Marty (Island Girl from Blogster who no longer blogs). She and Vic are now Texas residents but are still traveling around doing pipeline inspections. They are doing very well indeed. Their adult kids have also reformed their lives with new “others” and doing okay.

I went to the pier yesterday and it was crowded with fisher people, their coolers, their equipment, their toddlers doing toddler things, their food, their conversation. Also they were dominating all the corners -- I need a corner for my lifting exercise. I left.

This being Sunday and me not getting away before 8, meant I’d run into more of the same, so I didn’t go. Now I’ll have to find some other way to exercise today.

There is a new library in Cape Coral and Nadine was telling me how wonderful it is. Ed and I went by it yesterday to check it out and also because Ed, who is teaching English as a second language to immigrants, uses library study rooms for the sessions and he needed to see what they had. It is very elaborate – easily as big as two airplane hangars – has a sorting system you can see behind glass windows where a computer reads a code on a book just before it is placed on the conveyor belt. It then routes itself to the very specific bin it’s supposed to drop into. It’s magic, I tell you. If I brought lunch, I could watch this all day. There goes another one!

Even the parking lot is organized – signs “Disabled only”, “Visitor Drop Off”, “General parking” – I wonder what happens if you do the wrong thing? Sirens and a voice talking through a loudspeaker telling me to "step away from the area please."

Yes, it is wonderful and beautifully organized, but, for me, institutionally daunting compared to the library on Pine Island, 15 minutes away. "Our" library is practically in the woods and has a living room feel to it, and I just love it. You can sit in the reading area with the large picture windows out of which you see a gazillion trees. My kind of place. And, yes, I have to wait if they don’t have a book. They will put it on order and notify me when they have it. So?

Also, my first cousin, Tom, just called from Illinois to tell me he saw a letter from me that was printed in USA Weekend that comes with the Sunday paper. I was fulminating against their use of Sarah Palin on their Mother's Day cover. Ah, fame.

xx, Teal