Weather - Today the temperatures skirted around 95° but to quote the southwest cliche, it was 'a dry heat' with humidity levels between 40% and 50% during the afternoon. Claire, Abby, and I got our hair cut this morning. In the early afternoon Claire went to a friend's house for a pool party, while Michelle took the twins and Abby to a different neighbor's pool. I stayed home and napped while Timothy took his. Once we both had our naps Michelle came home with the twins and we hung out in the kiddie pool on the back deck for an hour or so. The house has pretty decent insulation so although the central air was on, it didn't kick in too much.
Weather cont'd - As long as we're talking about weather, Friday the detainees at G'itmo saw partly cloudy conditions at 87° with some rain while our soldiers in Baghdad endured sunny conditions at 115°. I'm just sayin' …
Lawn - In the late afternoon I was weighing my options. It was about 90°, but it didn't feel too bad. Tomorrow was expected to be a little bit cooler but more humid. I opted to cut the lawn today — starting around 4:30PM and finishing up around 6:30PM. I did the usual sunblock and mosquito repellant beforehand, but I also dunked my hair in the pool to keep a cool head and rinsed my shirt out in cool water. (Wet T-shirt, who-hoo!) Overall, it wasn't bad. It certainly helped to cut late in the day as the grass had plenty of time to dry thoroughly, causing it to clump much, much less.
Hmmmm - While tooling around on the tractor, I got to thinking: why isn't the ACLU, that notorious watchdog of 'separation of Church and State' having a conniption fit that tax dollars have purchased each terrorist at G'itmo a copy of the Koran and a prayer rug? They certainly have a cow over school vouchers because that money might be used towards *gasp* parochial schools. Oh, the humanity!
Discipline - Actually before I went to mow, Michelle fixed me a small bite to eat so I wouldn't be starving while making my rounds about the yard. While eating, I read an article where the topic was reader suggestions for improving schools. One reader had a novel idea for improving discipline in high school. She asserted that the older means, calling parents, suspension, etc., didn't really have as much traction these days as they used to decades ago. She wanted to find something that kids would care about. She proposed that all state issued drivers licenses require signoff from the principal or dean of students. Wow! That's hitting the troublemakers where it hurts, eh? If the principal or dean doesn't think you're mature and responsible enough, you don't get a drivers license. Hmm... interesting idea. And what would that mean for that small segment of the population that home schools into the high school years?? (Not that they usually have discipline problems...)
Dinner - In the evening I picked up a chicken portabella pizza from Brick House pizza for Michelle and I to share. Yes, I had them hold the mushrooms on my half. Michelle loved it and recommended next time that they put my portion of portabellas on her half of the pizza.
Movie - I'm hoping that since I did the lawn today, I can take Claire and the twins to see the new Herbie movie tomorrow. Claire likes VW Beetles. She hopes that when she's older, she can have either a red Beetle with black polka dots or a yellow Beetle with black stripes. A favorite I saw 'round these parts was an off white Beetle with fake baseball stitches along the car's curvaceous seams. Very creative! The twins are just car buffs in general, maintaining an enormous Matchbox collection. It's their favorite thing about visiting Target or Walmart! There's a new theater in Merrimack with larger screens and stadium seating I'd like to try. I'm getting a bit tired of the cheesy little screens of the theaters in PC Connection plaza. Sometimes I think that the screens at the humble Wilton Town Hall are bigger!