For the past three days Seattle has been cool and rainy. This morning I put on a sweat shirt. When RO saw it he said in a very acusing tone "Those are falls clothes. Are you giving up on on summer?"

I had a day off yesterday. RO went to a Gift Show to buy for the store. I stayed home to clean, cook, watch TV and run errands.

It was relaxing.

I made a nice dinner for RO and I. But, when he got home, he had already eaten dinner. Oh well.

Today RO and I went to the warehouse to let a cutsomer was pick up a sofa and love seat. The customer turned out to be an old highschool buddy of RO's

ROs old buddies can be a bit odd. They (and RO) did a lot of drugs and alcohol back then. Over time some of them did overdose or burn out. The rest, individually, decided to leave gang, clean up and have a normal lifes.

We've bought a new dishwasher. It won't be installed for a couple of weeks. So we have been cooking more one-dish meals.

We are getting a KitchenAid Architect II diswasher. We almost got a Bosch. The Bosch had better exterior styling and the engineering was simplified-- less to go wrong. But the KitchenAid felt better-- less wiggle in the racks and or more firm, solid and precise feeling to the door. The KitchenAid also has a built in food desposer so it is more forgiving if we don't pre-rinse the dishes.

KitchenAid says the the dishwasher eliminates the need for pre-rinsing. We'll see about that.

Our dishwasher has died. It's seven years old, so it's had a good life. But still, we really didn't need to have another expense right now.

The dishwasher had been leaking for a while. RO and I replaced the seals on Sunday. But, it kept leaking. Then, it conked out completly. We debated fixing, but then we found out that the average dishwasher lasts five to seven years. So, now we are dishwasher shopping.

Yesterday RO and I went to Matt's birthday. It was the first time in months that we've seen Matt and Sandy. Things went well.

The've redone their yard. It looks excellent.

One of the guys at Matt's party was a former rock star. He never made it big. But, hedid play with the Marshall Tucker Band and co-wrote songs with Kris Kristofferson.

He had a good summary of why so many rockers drink and do drugs. For months on end, every day you travel for eight hours and then play the same twelve songs. It slowly drives you crazy. At times he felt he would explode if he had to perform "Can't You See" one more time. Then he would thing about the alternative-- flipping burgers for $2.00 and hour-- and he would carry on.

To pass the time while traveling, he would doodle and draw. Eventually this lead to a job as an illustrator. He's drawn a few "Archie Comics" and much commercial stuff.

My work is starting to get under control. Last night was the first nigt in weeks that I didn't work till late.

The warehouse has moved, but RO has hurt his back. He's not a good patient. I can't get him to stretch regularly or go to the doctor. He is getting better though.

We watched Babel last night. Babel is a good movie, but I didn't enjoy it. Early on I determined that Babel is one of those movies where good people are bady hurt by stupidity and carelessness. I don't enjoy watching that.

It does have a sort-of-happy ending-- no one dies. Instead they characters are left badly injured, in deep emotional pain, or deported.

I just reread my "Harvey Birdman" post. It made me laugh, not because it's funny, but because it slightly pathetic.

What wonderful memories, what deep thoughts, do want to preserve in my blog? How about the cancellation of an obscure, late night, cartoon!

My real life is very stressful right now. The store is switching warehouses and RO has been working dawn to dusk to move the inventory. I have big deadlines at my day job. Deadlines that I can't make. And, the store is just about broke. We are earning enough to pay bills, but that it. We have to pay for Christmas is September. Coming up with the money will be challenge.

Harvey Birdman is Dead. Sigh.

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is a show that I watched, mostly because we share the first name. It's a spoof of those 60's and 70's Hanna Barbera Super Hero cartoons. Harvey Birdman is a B Grade superhero who becomes a B Grade lawyer.

It was on for six years. The last episode was Saturday night. The episodes were 15 minutes long, so even if they were bad, you didn't feel like you waisted much time.

But, usually they were good. They made fun of interesting issues like gay marriage, corrupt courts, sexual harassment, evolution, the law, and of course, the absurdity of cartoons.

One episode spoofed Jonny Quest. Dr. Quest and Race Bannon are 'partners' fighting over the custody of Jonny Quest and Hadji. It was all played very straight as if the Quests really did appear in a serious lawyer drama. But there was soo much gay subtext and innuendo that you had to laugh the whole time.

Anyways. I have one less way to waist my time now. Maybe I will blog more.

In 2005 I made an error on my tax returns. About a week ago I received a letter from the IRS stating that I owed tax on over one hundred thousand dollars of income.

I've had a knawing feeling in my stomach since then.

But, today, I found the paper work I needed. I don't owe the owe tax. The hundred thousand dollars was an option exercise that netted me a few thousand dollars and I have already and correctly paid the tax on that.

Whew.

We just signed a new lease for a warehouse. The new warehouse is less expensive and has more space than the old warehouse. This is good.

Our BBQ was fun. About 15 people showed up.

The threesome was there. The third fits very well. He is like a clone of the original two.

The rain helt out for long enough that we could eat and drink outside. I enjoy our back deck. It overlooks a forest and raveen so even though you are in the suburbs of a big city, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.

Our new lawn is growing. The grass is very pretty. Part of thinks the lawn will never be more perfect than it is now-- there are no weeds, no bald patches, no moss.

Other than that, it was hot, humid and rainy this weekend. I like that weather. RO likes it cooler. But I like being out side in the warm rain.

C2 is back in town for a week. It's good to see him, though he is not really happy to be here. His family always tires him out. And also, oddly enough, Iraq is now his home.

I think he likes the structure and services that he has in Iraq. He loves the money. The end result is that his day is fulled with an easy job. He doesn't have to cook or do laundry. And since he's very cut off from the world he doesn't have to dwell on dating or finding a boy friend.

RO and I are have having some friends over for a BBQ-- a few of the couples in the area. One of the couples are actually a threesome. S&D are usually a twosome, but they would rather be a threesome. Every now and then they will add a third to their relationship. After a few months, it stops working and they will dump the third.

This makes for weird conversation. "S&D are single again. Well, no, they are a couple again. Well, I mean the third guy moved out." Should you feel sad for a threesome that has become a twosome? Should you tell them to grow up?

There are threesomes where there is a core couple that adopts a third. Then, there are threesomes that end when the original couple splits up, one staying on with the third, the other getting the boot.

This raises the possibility of a "perpetual relationship" that lasts longer than any of its husbands. For example-- Alan, Bob and Colin are a threesome. Eventually Alan cheats on Bob and Colin and leaves the relationship. Distraught, Bob and Colin go out drinking. They meet Dave, shack up and get married. Bob eventually gets bored and dumps Colin and Dave. To comfort them selves for their loss, they shopping. At the mall Colin and Dave meet Ernie, fall in love and become a threesome. Colin dies a tragic death. At his funeral Dave and Ernie meet Frank. Frank is so caring and loving but also has no common sense. Within a month, Dave, Ernie and Frank are husbands.

At this point Dave, Ernie and Frank are in a relationship that was started by Alan, Bob and Colin. It's very strange. Could it happen?

This could also happen with a harem-style relationship that guys marry into or divorce out of over the years.

This makes marriage sound like a club with secret initiation rituals.

The whole concept of a romantic/emotional relationship with more than one guy is very difficult for me to grasp. When you start balancing someone's emotional needs against another's, when you put yourself in situation where your partner may put the emotional needs of a third ahead of yours, then it stops being a real romantic relationship-- at least in my eyes. A relationship between two people is a lot of work. Adding thirds and fourths just sounds like a recipe for disaster-- unless you take your heart out of the equation. At that point the relationship is really just a convenience. The sex may be nice, but you are really just hanging out with friends with benefits. You may think that your heart is open and loving of all. But really you are being selfish. You are being polite and friendly. But your heart isn't really in the relationship-- it's staying with you. You are neglecting every one equally and you aren't allow your heart to fully attach to any one person.

It is Kent Cornucopia Days. Cornucopia Days are basically the local fair. The store is very busy.

My problem with local fairs is that they are becomming very corporate-- many booths are for cellphone, cable, car or other such vendors. I'd like to see more of the little guy. There are a few, but the are the exception.

RO may have a milk alergy.

RO has had bad back pain for a long time. About a weeke ago, he had a day with very little pain. That night for dessert we had a creamy home made pudding. Within 30 minutes his back pain flaired up. The same thing happened the next day.

So, RO stopped drinking milk until this morning when he had a latte and a bowl of cereal. Again, within 30 minutes he was cramping up.

So, we are going to try soy milk and see if that makes a difference.

Sunday after 2pm, RO decided that since we can't slate the front lawn-- too expensive-- he wanted to grow grass again. We quickly got edging and a couple yards of soil. By 7pm, we had shoveled and leveled 6 bails of peat moss and 2 yards of topsoil. Monday night we added another yard of top soil.

Tonight we will double check that the grass is level. Then we will seed it.

There is enough of a border around the new, smaller, lawn that we can affordably add some slate.

I've been cleaning up the yard-- weed pulling and wacking. The house is starting to look good. I still have to clean off the roof.

RO and I need to figure out what to do with the front yard. We originally wanted to slate it, however the price goes up every time we call and get a quote. We may brick areas of it, put a bench in, and a bunch of smaller gardens.

RO and I are back from camping. It was a great break. The weather was sunny and warm every day.

We camped at Camp TRC in the Robe Valley. We hiked. We lay by the river. We ate and we drank.

It's amazing how much doing nothing tires you out.

The river was glacier fed-- very very cold. We did swim in it, but no one lasted more than two seconds.