Just nattering

I spent the afternoon yesterday running in and out of the house while smoking a monster pork roast. The thing weighed about 10 pounds and if I hadn't known it was pork would have sworn it was prime rib. Turned out beautifully, even though Himself kept predicting disaster. (men!) Found some really tasty sweet corn and made a simple cole slaw. Was in my jammies by 7:30 and in bed, watching Dr. Who at 8, totally knackered. I love sweet corn and cole slaw but, as usual, was up in the middle of the night eating yogurt. (they do weird things to the GI tract and I always regret chowing down.) Think I got dehydrated and am feeling a bit bilious and achy today. Mayhap will just fritter around until I feel better.

It's been "sort-of" raining all morning. Sun comes out for a while, then it starts to rain. It's just showers, though, so not worried about too much rain. The 2/3 ofthe state south of highway 20 are still having problems with too much rain. Sections of Des Moines flooded again this week although the family is fine, high and dry.

Haven't managed to finish brushing my teeth yet. Got the bottom ones done, at least. Have a nasty case of heartburn and really feeling quite ill. I hate that but not much to be done about it but took some Tums and it eased a bit.

Goofy weather! Now it IS raining hard. Sheesh.

There was a black bear shot outside a town 30 miles SW of us this week. It's getting a lot of negative attention. People are saying the guy that shot it is claiming it charged to cover his arse for killing it. (He plans on making the pelt into a rug. hmmmm) Bears aren't a protected species here so there is nothing to be done about the situation. It isn't clear if the farmer on whose land the incident occurred knew that the other guy was there with a .300 Winchester. Supposedly, besides the charging story, the shooter was worried about the "bear attacking cattle." Now that would be unusual with so much grain and vegetation around. I have mixed feeling on this but do wish the guy had waited for the DNR to get there before taking drastic measures. Very odd, to say the least.

Hour later and feeling somewhat better. That corn is just kicking my GI tract up one side and down the other. It's as bad as some antibiotics, honestly. Once the tummy settles down I will move on to the mineral supplements. Potassium and magnesium don't bother me but that zinc? Oh, yuck. Stomach's reaction to that is similar to what a case of food poisoning must be like. Nausea... Ick.

Am wandering around, waiting for the Herd to get out of bed. SS will likely try to sneak off before I can catch him but he has to clean the engine compartment of "his" car, jack up the front, put jackstands under it and take off the front tires. He has to work at 1 and, if this goes according to pattern, he will be up here soon and will be as quiet as possible, hoping not to be heard. *sigh* Kids....

Himself says that SS really has absolutely no idea how expensive it will be for him to maintain that car. He hasn't figured in gas, insurance, maintenance, licensing, etc etc etc. As has been said before, there are lessons to be learned and it ain't gonna be pretty. He insists that he makes enough at his part-time job to cover everything but his Dad doesn't think he does. We'll see whether he values that car over the damnable cell phone or not.

Speaking of that phone, his Dad absolutely reamed him a new one this week. They were out splitting wood and SS wandered off to text Little Miss Ubiquitous. When he finally auntered back, talking on the phone instead of texting, his father went off on him. Made him bring it in the house and leave it here. Told him that he doesn't ever want to see that phone on the kid's person while he is supposed to be working. Wonder how they handle that addiction of his at his job? I still think the whole idea of his "needing" a phone is just stupid.

The other kid has been doing better at attending to chores. He has actually been doing things without being told and doing them right. It's about time! He has an unfortunate tendency to woolgather when he is supposed to be doing something and it makes us just nuts. I will be so glad to not be a full-time Mom in a year or two.

It's hard to say which one of the Herd catches more flak... The last few days it's been pretty evenly spread around. I surmise, though, that if SS doesn't get that car jacked up and do the other stuff his Dad told him to and get it done before the man gets home... the shit's gonna hit the fan. SS also has to be to work at 1 pm. It's now 11:45 am and he is frittering around cleaning the outside of the car. It isn't clear to me what he thinks he's doing but I'm just keeping my mouth shut. He is fully confident that he makes perfectly rational, adult decisions. Ok. Whateeeeeever.

We're supposed to go to a cookout today but I don't feel much like it. Tummy still not right. If we don't go, it will be the first time in a coon's age that we have missed Rod's Giganto Food and Booze-fest. Honest, don't think my stomach can handle jerk chicken and brats. Ugh.