a new link...
in the sidebar, under "Rainy Day Distractions", to Cat and Girl, my new favorite on-line comic. Check it out.
In other news...
Life seems to be evening out a bit. Roller Derby is almost under control with training sessions finally scheduled and underway, some fund raising events coming up this month and next month, which is actually leaving me the odd moment to do some much needed maintenance work around Stately Sad Old Goth Manor and eat on a semi-regular basis. The flower borders are really going nuts this year, I don't know what it is, but everything has come back twice the size of last year and everywhere is a riot of blooms and dense foliage. The only casualty of the winter was our crape myrtle, which is stone dead. It has sent up a dozen or so suckers from the roots, though, which seem to be doing just fine so I will cut the dead trunks down in the fall and see what happens. I was going to cut them down now, but the look pretty nice with the landscaping light on them at night, so I will leave it standing as a contrast to the amount of life that surrounds it around the grounds.
I'm planning on finally opening up the pool this week and try to get it warmed up for the July fourth holiday weekend. I'm hoping it will be the last year for the pool, I really want to put up a nice carriage house style garage and tear down my little barn. I'm having our current driveway and parking area regraded soon and new stone put down and we're almost ready to have the new range installed in the kitchen, so I can finish up the counter tops and be done with it. After that, it's time to tackle the rotting integral gutters on the front of the house and try to recreate the giant corbels and decorative trim that will be coming down with them.
Then, maybe in the fall, a new patio and pergola off the kitchen, with a little area just for Grillzilla, the new grill that showed up on our doorstep one day needing a new home. (Actually, the Mrs., who is the grill-mistress of Stately Sad Old Goth Manor got tired of always battling our ancient grill and went out and caught a sale at Lowe's on a grill that could easily fit a small pig with all the trimmings... it is huge).
Well, I'm going to go out and putter about the grounds for a while until the race at Pocono comes on, then it's beer, sandwiches and "go fast, turn left!".
Have a wonderful afternoon.

pearls before swine...