18 APR 2008 : SATURDAY
Carrie and Jane came over to knit with Amanda. Jane showed Amanda how to knit something or other. I did a little gardening; currently that means I thinned out plants and did a little weeding and plot maintenance.

We had a playdate with our parenting group at Julia’s house in the afternoon.

19 APR 2008 : SUNDAY
I made pancakes from scratch for bfast. We probably had some fake sausage links, too. After a Lonan Kai nap we went to City People’s to get these water-filled thingies that let one plant tomatoes and the like earlier in the season. They basically act as an insulator and heat reservoir. We also picked up more seeds: carrots and leeks.

We did a bit more gardening, although we basically just talked to other people there. Amanda and I were briefly shocked that someone whom I did not know brazenly came over to our plot and took a bamboo stake stored in the back. I did not think they were going to actually use it for staking something, so I did not think it worth a confrontation (I retrieved the stake today). I also had to get back home to meet up with Larry who was coming by for a visit.
Once Larry arrived and visited the garden we relaxed at home and talked while Lonan Kai took a short nap. Once he awoke we decided to head off to Kubota Garden. Larry took a lot of pictures since he finally read the manual to his camera that he probably had for years.

We had green beans, olives, bread, brie, and wine for dinner. Lonan Kai also had coffee cake (and did not have wine).

I got a jury duty summons the other day. I guess I will have to go in a few weeks. I was summoned a few times in New York, but I never actually had to go personally… there you called a number before your first day for further information and in my case the trial or whatever was cancelled, and I was free from jury duty for another x years. I also vaguely remember asking to be excused for work reasons in another case, probably when we were doing the 16+ hour days at 3D/EYE, and apparently that was alright.
I was reading my earlier weblog entries from years ago, and it seems that I was a lot funnier then and life was slightly more exciting. Or perhaps I am getting less exciting as I age, just like I became less dangerous when crossing the Canadian border: in my twenties I was always hassled and searched and asked about drugs and guns, but in my thirties the Canadian border people are like “where are you from? where are you going? come in and spend money!”

Technically, the 1000th entry in this particular weblog has not happened yet, but it will shortly. The previous entry’s claim includes posts written in other weblogs like Lonan Kai’s.
I tried to mail out the taxes this morning (which I had been working on over the weekend), but even early in the morning the line was huge at the post office. I had wanted to get more stamps, but I will simply return later and drop our taxes in the mailbox inside. One would think that they would have a machine to dispense stamps, but for some reason they got rid of it.
Amanda was on call last night, but she did not have to go in to the hospital. She did have various calls and pages that she had to answer. She is sleeping in right now.

I should have been paying more attention and celebrated the 1000th entry.

Addendum to previous weekend report: we went to the arboretum to look at the waterfowl last Saturday as well after leaving the garden store. We did not feed the waterfowl because that is bad for everyone involved. Although we did see a poor male mallard with only one leg. He looked very sad while paddling, and hard a hard time hopping on land. Fortunately for him he could still fly well enough. The other mallard were not nice to him, though. We did feed him a few of Lonan Kai’s graham crackers.

Lonan Kai was very fearful of the ducks at first. One female mallard who has clearly been fed a lot waddled right up to us and eyed the crackers in LK’s hands very greedily. He did not appreciate the attention, but later watched them curiously.

The weekend was cold and rainy. Amanda had been sick with some mysterious flu-thing, but she started feeling better. Unfortunately, I started feeling worse, but aside from lethargy (which could just be bad attitude) and congestion I never felt too bad. Lonan Kai has been unaffected.
The weather was slightly clear on Saturday morning, and we going to do some gardening. First we went to City Peoples to get some garden stuff, but I forgot to bring our X% off coupon so we decided to hold off on purchasing anything. Plants are coming up in the plot already. Amanda really sowed the seeds too close so much thinning needs to be done. She was fearful that the seeds were too old, and since last year we had weird germination problems she sowed the seeds very thickly. Of course, this year it seems everything is coming up.
Amanda and Lonan Kai went to Chloe’s first birthday party later in the day. I did not go because I felt ill and ended up sleeping. They had fun, and I am sad I missed it.
It rained pretty much all day Sunday. Amanda went on a grocery run with Mandy in the morning. Eve and Karl came by with hot cross buns for a visit. It was great to see them. Eve was on call, but she fortunately did not get any pages.
The sun came out at 6:30pm or thereabouts, so we took Lonan Kai for an extremely short walk outside before his bedtime.