Subject: Weekend Update: July 15-22, 2002
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 16:09:56 -0400

We took David and Paula Bickom out to dinner to celebrate
their wedding anniversary last Monday.  I'm always up for
a good feed but it is especially nice to share it with
friends.

I hosted a cookout last Wednesday for the publications
professionals from the Chelmsford Cadence Office.  That meant
a call for "all hands on deck" on Tuesday to get the place
spic and span, top to bottom, inside and out.  I remember
a time when "all hands on deck" meant that all the children
pitched into a common effort, making quick work of a house that
is out of order.  That's gone now because of work and personal
schedules that each of my children have.  I called home at 3
on Tuesday to see if they were almost done, but a frazzled Joy
said she'd only gotten to the dusting and the kids were hither
and yon.  (Now, dusting is the last thing I'd be thinking of
but I don't tell Joy how to clean a house and she doesn't tell
me how to write.)  Thankfully, daylight sticks around for a
while on a summer evening.  I shaved some time off my work
schedule and headed home before 5 and busied myself immediately
on the yard work.  Joy was off to shop for the groceries, and
we finally got a little help from the kids.

The place was ready by the time my guests arrived at noon the
next day.  The fountains in the pool were an added serenity to
an idyllic scene.  The weather cooperated with warm and dry
sunshine.  The flowers showed off. We took several people on
a tour of the grounds and house, playing the part of the
stewards that we believe we are of our sanctuary. After my
co-workers returned to work (or found other activities),
I floated the rest of the afternoon away in a purple donut.

On Thursday evening, Joy and I went furniture shopping.
The couch in the barn was defective and we got a 100%
refund (three years ago!) and never got around to replacing
it. Off and on over the past year, due to shifting financial
priorities and uncertainty of what exactly we wanted, we'd
wandered aimlessly about the showrooms, trying to narrow
the choices down and select the right piece for the barn.
After narrowing it down to a leather sectional possibility
in two or three stores, we finally went with none of the
finalists because a salesman showed us a few more sets that
we hadn't considered.  It is odd to take so long in settling
on furniture, but we are slow to make big purchases.  It was
even odder to reject the finalists and go with a different
piece at what seemed like the last moment.  Anyway, sometime
in September we'll be a bit more cozy under the loft as we
settle in for a DVD or some Dr. Mario.

Brandon and Kayla Bickom had come to spend the weekend
with us on Friday evening.  (David was bicycling in Vermont
to benefit victims of Alzheimers and Paula rode in a car behind
him for support.)  Joy took the kids to the church that evening,
attending a baby shower for Nathan Long (Steve and Akiko's boy).
The others went to the church for gym night.  I was left to my
own devices and decided to catch up on my web site, posting about
two month's worth of open journal entries.

When I got up from my computer labors, a black shadow
swooped into room, circuited the room once and back out
again.  A bat!  I closed the french doors, shutting out
further possible incursions and peered into the darkened
dining room to try to see where it went.  I turned on all
the lights on the main floor and found the bat clinging
to the curtains in the living room with our cat staring
intently at the intruder.  I got a clear plastic container
with an attached top (for small fruit from the store).
The bat remained motionless (a failed tactic, I think)
so I was able to basically scoop it into the container
by closing it around it.  Unfortunately, I had caught
its leg between the lid and the container and it started
to shriek pitifully.  I was as gentle as I could be but
maintained enough pressure to ensure its continued confinement
until I got it outside.  It seemed none the worse for wear
as it fluttered away, off to eat its fill of mosquitoes,
(I hope).

You'd think that would have been the end of it, but
the next day, a sparrow had dropped down the stove pipe
into the wood stove in the barn.  I had the same capture
idea but the bird was not as interested in the technique
of motionlessness.  It flew up, up, and before it got
to away, it went thud against the glass of the upper
window.  Seeing another opening across the way, it
headed to the other upper window in the barn to another
abrupt knock on the head.  It did this a number of times
until I was able to scare it downward to the big opening
in the wall we call a door.

You'd think that would be the end of it, but either the
same bird or another like it reappeared in the barn within
a few hours.  After a couple more knocks on the noggin,
I was able to approach the bird with my plastic bat-catcher
and gingerly bag a very nervous little bird.  Moments later,
it was outside and away from its ordeal.

Mom and Dad showed up on Saturday afternoon.  I was working
busily on a shelf in the spa room; one of Joy's projects that
I get to do the work on.  The shelf will bring her plants up
to window height and complete the room, so she declares.
I think we still have a little stenciling to go before the
room is really done, but we can call it an end to the construction.
After some floating, my parents took us to dinner at the Stagecoach
Inn in Groton.  The Inn has been operating since 1687.  Inside
the ceilings had to be 6-1/2 feet tall because I could touch the
ceiling with the span of my hand on top of my head.  It was a
good and quiet meal because we got there earlier than most of
their patrons.  We were told that we missed the live bluegrass
music that was scheduled for later that evening.  For mom and
dad, that was a bonus.

The pool was well-attended Sunday afternoon with the Pape,
Gonzalez, and Walker families.  Miranda, Emily, and Andrew
were packing to go to Sr. High camp that afternoon along
with three others headed up there that day.  By the time
Sunday evening church rolled around, Jessica was an only
child and we looked forward to a quiet week at home.  We
headed over to the Pape's house after church.  Rob Walker
showed up with his guitar and several of us warbled out
some country bluegrass tunes.  I found out later that
he took part in a bluegrass band on Saturday night, at
the Stagecoach Inn in Groton!  We'd missed each other
by an hour or so.

Before heading off to work Monday morning, there was a
bird in the stove again.  This time the bird slammed itself
into the windows twice and came to rest on top of one of
my pinball machines.  Perhaps it was learning that we had
hard invisible non-openings (glass) up there because it
just stood there panting and looking exhausted. I was able
to catch it by hand (plastic box) and set it free this morning,
although I admit to calling for the cat to see the plaything
I had put in the plastic box for her.  Fortunately for the
third bird, Belle was nowhere to be found.

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