Subject: Weekend Update: June 23-26
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 16:14:58 -0400
From: Mark Metcalfe <metcalfe>
To: "metcalfe@cadence.com" <metcalfe>

I bought a new hedge trimmer a few weeks ago and it is a good thing,
too because I found that I have "nothing" to do this past weekend.  So
while Joy went off to a Tenderheart party on Friday night, and the
kids went to gym night and camping, I decided to start trimming the
bushes that needed it.  Dusk brought welcome, if temporary, relief
only to pick up the chore the next morning.  I bought the electric
kind because it is a third the price of the gas-powered ones and I
have this 100-foot electrical cord that has to be put to use; coupled
with my 25-foot cord, I was still about 8-inches shy of cutting the
farthest hedge which I did in the old fashioned, knuckle-bruising way.

Mandy, Jessica, And Kara White decided that Saturday would be a good
time to head for the beach and then to a free concert at the Hatch
Shell on the Boston Esplanade.  Andrew went to the church to help out
at "work day" thinking that it was the time he and his camp buddies
would put in some time to earn camp scholarships.  However, apparently
it was a "regular" work day.  I assume he put his time in with some
real help because he said the Pastor would see to it that he got
credit.

Joy and I worked around the yard all day, preparing for a picnic on
Sunday.  We conscripted the younguns to help pick up the loads of
trimmings I left behind in my wake.  On Sunday, we held our second
"Sunday School by the Pool" made possible largely due to the year-old
double service format our church has now.  This time, the college and
career folk came along and sat on the lawn while our class sat near
the pool.  (Good thing Joy didn't get that poison down on the lawn
like she wanted.)  A good time was had by all except for one poor frog
who found his way down into a snake's belly; an educational and
entertaining part of our weekend, especially for the kids who came
along to the picnic.  Another (sifferent and smaller) snake found its
way into our family room.  Rich Gonzalez and his nephew Chris ferreted
it out and did a little snake handling (but no, we are not that kind
of church), putting it outside where it belongs.

I think I want a new thermometer for the pool and instead of numbers,
I want to put labels on the mercury scale that say, "Kids", "Young
Adults", "Middle-Aged Adults", "People from Florida".  We reached the
"Middle-Aged Adults" temperature yesterday.

Next week, I'm on vacation to a place we spent many a childhood
summers in; a place where my brother Russell got a fishhook embedded
in my eyebrow and other things I don't think I'll mention here.
Honestly, we have good memories, too; that's why we're going back.

Mark
--
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager