I spent a good seven hours today painting the upstairs stairwell. It was more painful than it needed to be because a. it was the stairwell b. I had to use a too big ladder at 45 degrees to reach the highest points and c. since the rug is actually is pretty good condition (unlike the lower stairwell), I was absurdly careful in masking everything.
On the other hand, it is now done except for some minor touch-ups. And I have to reattach the handrail (which is so long that I had to poke most of it outside the sliding glass doors to remove it from the stairwell and into the living room temporarily). I would do it now, but I would probably be noisy and Amanda and the neighbors are asleep.
The color… Yolo “Grain 5″… is darker than the neutral share the house came with… good because it will show less dirt and discoloration. Hopefully.
Amanda wanted Mexican food, and since we made it ourselves the other day and the house was still not cleaned up from my painting, we went to El Sombrero in Columbia City. I have decided I like El Sombrero, even though I am not big on Mexican food. Their service is consistently stellar which is quite the rarity here in Seattle.
After dinner we went over to Mandy’s house for banana bread and general yakkiness (not really a word). Kelly B. also came over, and Bryan eventually came home as well. They (Mandy and Bryan) were going to kitten sit for a few days, so someone dropped off the as-of-yet-unnamed kitty. He was quite energetic and had a practically nonexistent attention span. Amanda was angry that I again proved to be Friend-Of-All-Felines as the kitty preferred me to everyone there.
Amanda is asleep as she has a half day clinic tomorrow. I still have things to clean up before bed.

I found a five dollar bill on the ground today. Maybe that’s enough for Amanda to get a latte. OK, I admit I have no idea how much a latte costs.

It was 98F yesterday; the old record was apparently handily broken. It actually did not seem all that bad to me. I presume that was because there was not a whole lot of humidity. It was definitely hot, and I was eventually chased out of my office. Little piglet became a poor puddle of fur on the staircase. She did not even want to go outside.
I had a nice bicycle ride down to the gym. I acquired another cyclometer recently, and it is apparent that I am slower than I was pre-Amanda days when I had the T-Rex body type.
Amanda came back from Wednesday didactics eventually. She now has didactics all day Wednesday for the R3 year, so it is like going to class. After I made her some emergency toasted French bread and butter, we went to the farmer’s market. We picked up a few things, but it was not the normal leisurely market evening as Amanda was noticeably wilting in the heat and bright sun (she had been in air conditioning all day).
To avoid heating the house up any more than necessary, we walked about Columbia City to find a place for dinner. The Mexican place was full, so we went to Geraldine’s Counter instead. The food was good, but the service was pretty sucky. I might really like them, but the service is more likely than not to be suboptimal.
I did more gardening when we got back home at the P-Patch and the yard. Amanda, pigletpiglet, and I stayed out front for the rest of the evening as it was cooler outside.

The news said that is was 89F today… a mere one degree off the record. I am still bemused by all the hand wringing in the media here about the heat in the summer and cold in the winter as in both Virginia and New York it was both much hotter and humid, and New York was also much colder, snowy, and rainy, so I don’t know what the fuss is about. They say that most people don’t have air conditioning here blah blah blah, but that was true of Ithaca and Buffalo as well. The Pacific Northwest is almost paradise weather wise. If you like the winter drizzle and darkness that is.
It does get freaky hot in my office though, especially in the afternoon when the sun is pouring through the sliding glass doors and light curtains. All the electronics spewing out heat don’t help either. I recall it being hotter last year, but July has just started.
It’s supposed to be hotter tomorrow.

We had a cookout in the back between all of the townhouses last night. Originally, Mandy had come over and it would just have been the three of us, but eventually most of our other neighbors came out as well. Mike had to go back to the library to do law stuff. Kiera and Lily (Lillie?) from the other set of townhouses also came over. Some of the other residents on the “newer” side were also out, but they were watching their kids run about and whatnot, so they did not join the party. Perhaps kids and wine and beer don’t mix. I should introduce myself at some point; I have only met our closest neighbors (Kiera and Lily) of all the people in the newer set of townhouses.
Anyways, it was fun hanging out with the neighbors.