Some Things 5/5

1)  A family friend posted a devotional on the Facebook page (she does daily).  It started with how sometimes you have friends you have to kick out of your life.  I can relate to that.  I’ve had to kick  friends out of my life.  Mostly people who I thought were true friends. Then circumstances revealed it was really a one way friendship with nothing coming back.  So yeah, fuck those people.  They’re users.  They only contact you when they need something or it’s convenient for them.  Or maybe they somehow think they are really your friend and somehow justify that you’re too fat to be in their wedding but you’re still their best friend!  Yeah fuck you. 

Then the further in the devotional it turned out the friends were worry, doubt, and fear – not actual people.  My bad.  Sometimes people gotta go too though. 

2) There’s this guy at work who has a weird accent “problem.”  He’s from England but I think both of his parents were American.  So he sounds normal American English, but every once in a while he throws in proper British English accented word.  Sometimes he’ll say the exact same word a way an American would, but sometimes it falls out in more of a British pronunciation.  Accents are usually nice – but not this.  This is jarring.  He sounds like he’s faking being fancy.  Especially when he’s talking to you.  Because it’s only a few random words it sounds like he’s trying to correct you on their pronunciation.  It’s just really weird.  He’s married too and I bet his wife loves it.  But every time I hear him slip in a weirdly accented word, I cringe.    I know in my brain that he’s not doing it on purpose but in my heart I feel like he’s faking and being pretentious. 

I can only compare it to bilingual people.  When they’re running along in perfect English but encounter a word in their native language and pronounce it correctly.  Like Giatta (Food Network) talking about food and then really going hard on words like “mozzarella.”  Or my Puerto Rican friend who has a dad from Wisconsin – so he sounds American but pronounces Puerto Rican or Latina dishes in their authentic way.  These cases do not bother me.  I find them nice, actually.  Like I could learn from them. 

But this guy flipping between two different English accents is really annoying.  I want to CORRECT him.  Like dude, no one says “task” like that.  You’re killing me.  It’s usually his “A” sounds.  He’ll say it hard when it should be soft or soft when it should be hard.  SAY IT RIGHT, THOMAS. 

3) The pool is OPEN!  It’s freezing cold though.  Like below 70 degrees.  So I haven’t been in yet.  Just stood on the tanning ledge and let my feet go numb. 

Plus $20 for the tetanus shot.

I mentioned in my last post that we upgraded the privacy fence around the pool. Well, it’s the same fence but new paint, details, and hardware. I’m especially excited about the new gate latches. Our old ones were so confusing and weird. Plus why were the hung so high? So kids couldn’t reach them? We don’t even have kids. And the pull handles were at a 45 degree angle — it was just a mess. So having some nice hardware I chose is *muah* very nice.

The only problem was, one of the gates didn’t quite have enough clearance for the new hardware. You had to slam that baby closed and it still scratched the metal. Easy fix, just countersink the hardware. I watched a youtube video, I can do this. So I borrowed some chisels from K‘s boyfriend and went to work.

Look at that beautifully sunk piece of metal. It’s perfect. Well, a little paint touch ups and it’ll be perfect. It was not, however, as easy as that fucker on youtube made it look. But the hardware works perfectly now. Go me! And it was only a $20 copay to get a tetanus shot after I stabbed my finger with the chisel. Score!

POOL!!!

Our pool fence just got a major glow up. It’s just a plain six-foot privacy fence. Natural wood, five years old. We had someone come stain it this weekend. Not just that, but we added post caps and all new hardware too. It looks so good! The old hardware was confusing and ugly. And the post caps give it a nice finished detail that makes it look all expensive and fancy.

I am pumped. Specifically, pumped for the pool to open up! I’m so excited that I ordered a new pool float for the occassion. The pool is usually pretty cool in May, so I ordered a lounge float that you don’t get wet on (clicky). With this, I can float in the pool without freezing. We have the mesh eggplant (clicky) for mid-summer pool temps.

I’m not sure when it will be open, but I contacted my pool guy and he knows I want it open by Memorial Day. He’s super busy, so I have to work with when he is available. I sure as fuck can’t get that heavy ass pool cover off by myself! It’s expensive and extremely heavy. Plus pool guy cleans the pool and balances the chemicals for me to get it going. Then I take over from there until time to close and put the cover back on.

The only thing is, I’m insanely excited because I’m a pool girl all the way. (Obviously, or I wouldn’t have installed one). But this year I’m afraid to be excited. You see, the pools pretty boring by yourself. I can spend all day out there with a friend having a ball. But when it’s just you, it gets boring fast. Well, mom knew this so she’d come up as much as possible in the summer to spend pool days with me. Don’t worry, it wasn’t just for me. Mom was a water spirit herself. I’d wake up to find her out by the pool listening to the bubblers. She’d happily stay out there by herself. Mom loved to be outside.

So I guess I’m just afraid that without mom… the pool will just be really… sad. Empty. Lonely. So I didn’t want to let myself get excited but I can’t help it. I’m excited now. I just hope it doesn’t lead to heart break. Not NEW heartbreak, but just a reminder of that huge hole mom left behind.

Froggies.

Our house attracts a lot of frogs. We live in a swamp that has been heavily developed. A lot of my idiot neighbors like to forget it’s a swamp and bitch about the natural inhabitants on Nextdoor. However, the fact remains that we live in a swamp. We also live next to some apartments with a nice pond with fountains next door. And lets not forget my own pool with a pair of lovely babbling (I love the sound) bubblers.

I even enjoy having frogs on the windows at night. They park it on the windows and eat the bugs that fly up towards the light. My cat enjoys pawing at the intruders to his kingdom. I enjoy watching them stalk bugs and taking photos of them. Note that they are bright green tree frogs, so good to look at. Not gross brown icky frogs.

The problem is this. During the day, these tree frogs favor my pool umbrellas over the trees. Perhaps they’re closer to the house so more convenient. Maybe the frogs don’t like a long commute. Or maybe they’re fancy frogs and dig the urban setting. Whatever the reason, they park it in my umbrellas. This is a problem.

Why, you ask, is this a problem? Well, because I use those umbrellas. So when I open them, there’s frogs. I have to stick my head under the fabric and basically close myself in with these slimy bastards. Then slowly crank the umbrella open. Why slowly? Because I need the frogs to inch up the pole to allow the mechanism to rise — but not so much as to cause the frogs to jump. Dear GOD don’t let those frogs jump on me especially my entrapped head and face!. Ick! It’s terrifying! Then when you close them, it’s the same thing just in reverse.

I wonder if I could put petroleum jelly on the poles to keep them away? Any suggestions?