2000-11-01 - 9:38am

On the internal soundtrack: "Science Fiction, Double Feature" from "Rocky Horror", thanks to Catreese.

So, I carved myself a badass jack o' lantern last night, despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. I made an alien face, with the big teardrop-shaped eyes and a tiny nose and mouth. It looks cool. I put it in the window last night and will put it at the bottom of the stairs tonight to attract trick-or-treaters. I hope.

This morning I decided to drop by CVS on the way to work to see what was left, costume-wise. Not much. But they did have a bunch of Scream masks lying around, without the accompanying black robes. I asked an employee about it and he said I could have just the mask for 99 CENTS! Whoohoo! I ran home and got my black swing coat with the hood (my "Jawa" coat), and it works perfectly with the mask.

I got to work and started jumping into people's offices in my costume. Renee told me I was evil. The movie scared her, for starters. And apparently back in college her roommate's boyfriend hid in a tiny closet in their apartment. The roommate asked Renee to get her some Advil out of this closet and the boyfriend jumped out, in Scream costume with a knife, and scared the living daylights out of Renee.

So of course I want to do something similar to Poindexter. He doesn't scare easily. I was thinking I could hide my car so he thinks I'm not there, but that might scare him too much. Maybe I'll jump down the stairs at him when he comes in the door.

On Friday we went over to Rob & Rianna's place for pizza and Pictionary. We played Taboo too. We had a lot of fun, but I waited too long to write this entry and can't remember anything but Rob saying, "I'm all about action" every time he drew the action category.

Their dog, a yellow lab, has gotten HUGE. But he still acts like a puppy, jumping around and slobbering a lot. I've never had a dog so I'm a little wigged out by big dogs jumping at me (in my head I know it's harmless, but the rest of me struggles a little). I remember being scared of Alicia's family's Weimeraners when I was little. They were bigger than me and they ran around like crazy things and tried to jump on me.

Saturday we drove out to Edinburg, VA to the trailhead at Tasker's Gap so Poindexter could ride his new motorcycle. It was a nice ride -- once you get past Manassas it's real pretty out there. The trails were extremely rocky (big rocks) so Poindexter wasn't too thrilled. He likes his bike a lot, though.

I was planning to sit in the sun and read, but there were gnats EVERYWHERE, attacking me. I had to run and get in the car, and the gnats would buzz angrily just outside the window. I felt like I was in "Cujo", except instead of a Saint Bernard it was evil gnats. And of course it was too hot in the car, just like in the movie, and there was no real shade for me to drive to because the leaves had fallen off the trees.

Despite all this, I had a very good time. Funny how that happens.

On Sunday, we awoke to find Renee's husband Alan digging in our "yard". We were expecting him later in the day, but he had a surprise family visit and decided to come over and get started early while his family was out shopping.

The ground next to the house is nearly solid clay. He tried tilling it, then had to take a pickaxe to it to loosen it, till it again, add some good soil, and till it again. Ugh. Thank god it was only the small strip there. Would have been a nightmare if it was much bigger.

I discovered that bulbs are not good for someone who likes instant gratification. I planted them, and now there's nothing to look at but dirt. We needed mulch anyway, so we went to Home Depot and I picked up a bunch of white and blue/purple pansies. So now I have some pretty flowers to look at while I wait anxiously for my bulbs to come up. It'll be a while.

In other plant news, I put my basil and parsley pots in the sunny guest bathroom. Hopefully they'll keep going through the winter there.

So after all that physical activity in the garden, I was sore all over yesterday. It's a little better today. Yesterday I could hardly move if I got up after sitting for a while -- I'd be so stiff and sore I couldn't walk right. I'm such an old lady.

So now Poindexter wants to move to West Virginia. There's a new place that just opened that has hundreds of miles of trails for off-road vehicles. They got land-use agreements with owners of corporate land all through southern West Virginia. What an incredible, wonderful idea. The land's just sitting there, and here's a use that's beneficial for both the owners and the trail users. The place is 7 hours from here, so we're going to just have to move, I guess. Charleston, WV looks like a nice place.

Seriously, if we're going to be making 7-hour trips to go on hundreds of miles of trails, I'm probably going to have to get a motorcycle. It's more fun for Poindexter if he has company, and I feel like I'm missing out on the whole experience. I like riding on the back of motorcyles so I might enjoy driving one myself. We'll find out.

Meanwhile, I have to listen to Poindexter singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" all day long. "West Virginia mountain mama" and all. He's even sending me the lyrics over AIM. He's a lunatic.

To get back at him/join in the fun, I sent him a real estate listing in our price range for a house that sits in a grid-street area across the river from downtown Charleston. Heck, I figure Charleston, WV is about as convenient as Charleston, SC, so we can always put it on our list of places to explore for our future move.

previous index next