It happens every year.

Out bedroom heats up when springs turns to summer. Sleeping under our winter comforter becomes too hot. RO and I will have a few sleepless nights.

I'll get out the cooler summer bedspread. RO will take one look at it and remark how ugly it is-- he couldn't possibly sleep well under something that doesn't look good. Besides, it's not the temperature that's causing the sleepless nights. It's stress, or back pain, or something.

I'll ask him to try it. Just for one night. I'll even change the bedspread myself, without his help. He'll relent and I'll put the summer bedspread on. I don't think it looks that bad, but I'm not an interior designer.

The next moring RO will tell me that he slept well and I'll feel smug about it.

For the first time in a long time, RO and I took two days off. Both days we worked around the house-- not hard but steady. We painted part of the back deck, weeded and worked in the gardens.

The front yard is starting to look great. RO has put a lot of time into it. I help, but mostly I stay out of his hair. It has to be done a certain way or else it's all wrong.

RO and I often argue about that theme. RO will want something pretty or nice. I'll want something more simple. Not that I don't appreciate pretty and nice things. It's just that something pretty takes more time, more money will need more maintenance. I'd rather have the time and money.

My ex, Brian, called out of the blue. He lives in Arizona now. He invited me down to spend time with him.


I haven't talked to Brian since 2004.


He sounds like he hasn't changed. He told me that he has to stay in AZ for 20 more days. It's part of the punishment for his most recent DUI.


Brian was trouble. But, I remember him fondly. He would move mountains for me. He was also constantly up to no good; fights, drinking and driving, shady businesses. Never a dull moment.

I rememeber him fondly and I will stay away.

I am 39 now. Clem commented that I was taking it very well. Apparently Clem was depressed for two years before he turned 40. The first year Clem had a brain fart, and didn't realize that he was only 38.

We had dinner at a local cafe. Then cake and drinks at home.

Satuday was L's 50th birthday. He looks good for 50, though he admitted he was given a face lift for his 45th birthday.

This was one of those events where I got to see many guys that I only see once or twice a year. I noticed that the guys I used to think of as young are now mature and the guys I used to think of as mature are now starting to look elderly-- gray hair on the face chest, sharp wrinkles on the face.

Saturday evening, Matt and Sandy came over for dinner. Sandy's monther has cancer and is very sick.

Earlier in the day RO noticed that the people we talk to are talking of death and disease more often than they used to. He wanted to forbid conversation about that. I told him that if you need to your friends from talking about death and disease, then you have the wrong friends.

Otherwise, it's been warm and sunny here Seattle. A very beautiful day. The front garden is starting to look great. I plugged in my lap top and worked in the shade.

Last night our neighbors, Clem & Bates, had the gays of Renton over for potluck. It's been too long since we've got together.

Everyone seems to be doing well. Most of us have been affected by the recession in some way, but everyone still has their jobs.

Beef in Briefs was over for dinner. He said that last time he had dinner out at a friends was two years ago at our house for my birthday.

He wasn't a complete shut in-- he visited his family regularly and has traveled a few times with old friends. But, mostly he enjoyed his time alone.

Now he wants to be more socialable again. Tommy, I'll introduce you to him then next time you are in town!

RO unintentionally killed the koi fish in the our pond. He feels very bad about it.

The pond has algae problems. RO bought a gallon of algae killer and poured it into the pond. Then he read the instructions. The pond only needed one cup of the algae killer.

Withing a few hours the fish were moving slowly and hanging out at the surface. By the end of the day some of the smaller fish died. Over night, racoons came and ate the rest.

RO has been beating himself up over this all morning.

Last night RO and I had an argument over cookies. This time the argument was different-- we weren't serious. Instead we were both shouting at top of our lungs with big grins on our faces over who was the most greedy with the cookies. Neither of us giving an inch. Both over acting.


I made a batch of cookies last night. Ten of them.

When it came time to serve them, I ate one off the cookie sheet and put another five on a plate. Then I got distracted by something, I'm not sure what. In the mean time RO saw six grease spots on the cookie sheet but only five cookies on the plate. So he concluded, rightly, that I ate a cookie without telling him.


So, he ate a cookie. Though I didn't know it at that time.


I brought the plate of five cookies to RO. We ate two each. He split the last cookie in two and ate the half. I offered him the last half, but he said "No thanks" So, I ate the last half.

That miffed RO. Apparently it was a test of my openness. Because I had a cookie before hand, I was supposed to tell him that the whole extra cookie was for RO only. I kind of rolled my eyes at that.

When I put the rest of the cookies away, I counted them again and I counted an extra missing cookie.

That's when the fun argument broke out.

RO spends so much time gazing out into the yard that I joked that we are a threesome now-- RO, the garden and I.

At work, I think we have settled the move debate. Facilities sounds like they are going to quiet the noisy offices. Also, we found an arragment were the bulk of the team gets to have offices close to the people they work with every day.

There was one panicy moment. Early in the afternoon the office move coordinator ran to my office and asked "I really need you right now!" She explained that she had lost one of my offices and desperatly needed me to double check my head count.

After some double checking we found the lost office. It was assigned directly to the other lead, as opposed to me. So no harm, no foul.

An old friend, RB, stayed over last night.

RB has had one of those great lives. We met in University. After we graduated, he volunteered to build schools and start sanitation programs in South America. And that changed everything. he is now the directory for a charity in Central America that builds wells and latrines for small villages. He says that in his area within the past 10 years, 85% of the people now have access to pottable water as a result of thier work.

In the U.S. we take water and sewage for granted. Many goverment officials in Central America are corrput. The money and supplies needed for large public works projects are stolen or diverted. The way around it, the way to get clean water to the people, is to build one well or one latrine at a time, out of view of the governent, controlled and maintianed by the families that use them.

Last night we had dinner at J&J's. They are a local couple. Nice guys. One is an independant contractor in the Tech industry, the other sells kitchen at a hardware store.

Beef-in-Breefs lives with them. He's very quiet now. We used to have dinner with B-I-B at least once a month but then he went through a tumultuous relationship. After that he seams to be much more withdrawn. Almost a hermit. Maybe he has new friends. Maybe not. J&J say he spends most evenings in his room.

At my day job we are moving offices. The move map is constantly changing and the subject of much debate. While we are getting more space, the new space isn't as nice as the old. A dozen of the new offices are loud. Each of the leads is working hard to keep his or people away from the noise.

I see no fair way to solve this debate. If we share the loud offices then all teams will be spread thin and far apart. Everyone loses.

It was a quiet weekend.

Saturday evening, RO Boone and I went to a nice new restaurant that opened up near by.

Sunday RO and I worked on the yard. We pressure washed the deck and most of the side walks. However when RO was using the washer, he coiled the hose around till touched the hot engine. The hose melted there and sprung a leak.

The main problem cooking with stinging nettles is that they, duh, sting.

Last night after RO finished sauteing some nettles, I saw a piece of green sitting on the stove. I picked it up to through it in the garbage and felt a big jolt of pain in my thumb

The sharp pain quickly subsided, but even today there is still a low level prickling in my thumb.

Oh yeah... we ate stinging nettles yesterday. They pop up all over the place in the back yard. RO heard that you could use them as food so we gave them a try.

Stinging nettle tea is nice. It tastes like green tea with a little bit of a sweet after taste.

When you cook a nettle, it gets rid of the sting. When cooked it tastes much like spinach but a little thicker, a little more firm and little more texture.

So RO and I had a fight on Saturday night. We had been drinking, probably a bit too much. He stormed out of the house. We made up by next morning.

Sunday we went to Flower World. After that we worked in the yard, weeding, planting, watering, transplanting. Last winter was more cold then normal. It killed off or damaged a few of our bushes.

The yard is starting to look decent though.

Netflix is getting to know me. It thinks I like...

• Critically Acclaimed Dark Gay & Lesbian movies.
• Feel Good Independent Comedies
• Visually Striking Cerebral Sci-Fi & Fantasy
• Inspiring Dramas Based On Real Life.

At first it bugged me. I thought Netflix was pigeon holing me. Then after I thought about, I realized that it's right. I really do like those kind of movies.

Sniffle.

For weeks a cold has been going around the office. I've managed to avoid it until now. But, last night I came down with it.

Bleah. I have so much to do a work that I can't afford to be sick.

Busy weekend.

Friday night was Andrea's birthday. We went out to a little wine room to celebrate. We had a great time.

Saturday was spent at the store.

RO's sister invited us over for Easter dinner on Sunday. It was good to see every one.