This was a pretty interesting film about a linguistics professor who has to figure out how to communicate with some aliens that landed on earth. There was also this crazy non-linear time thing going on (but I couldn’t completely figure that out until I Googled the movie after watching–I hate when I’m not smarter than my entertainment).
My rating: 3.5/5
Last weekend, we discovered that Jake’s BMX bike had been stolen from our side porch. Then Sunday night his car got egged. Then it happened again Tuesday night. At this point, Brian went to the police station to file a report (about the car, not the bike). And, he installed security cameras last night. Further, we’re going to buy and install security lights this weekend.
We have one potential suspect, but nothing concrete to back it up besides the threat of eggs to the car that they made. There’s a little damage, so it would be nice to catch the person in the act so we can get some restitution and have the problem fixed. But I also wouldn’t mind if this didn’t happen again.
Guess who won? Ultimately, the veterinarian’s office, but it’s safe to say the porcupine beat out the dog in that contest.
Brian took Buster on a hike yesterday. Buster found a new friend in the woods and got a face full of porcupine quills for his trouble. Brian was able to remove the worst of them while they were still in the woods (probably a dozen or so). I got out a couple more when they returned home, but Buster had enough of that nonsense and we were not able to remove any more. They were pretty small so it must’ve been a baby porcupine. I called the on-call vet last night, but he felt it could wait until morning as Buster wasn’t showing any discomfort.
So, I took him to the vet’s today. He had to be lightly sedated so that they could remove the rest–around 20. There were a few that had become fully lodged under the skin (and which weren’t removed), so those ones might make an appearance in the future.
The expectation is high that this will happen again.
I really hoped this movie was going to be funny. But, alas, it was not. While there were a few amusing scenes, I don’t think I laughed out loud once.
My rating: 2/5 (one for Jennifer Aniston and one for Jason Bateman, 2 of my favorites, who could not save this movie even a little bit)
We’ve been making some good progress around the house. I finally was able to power wash the patio last week (it was all filthy from the sewer project). I also power washed all of the furniture and painted the adirondak chair. The metal table and chairs are currently in progress, and will be done this week if I can catch a dry evening.
We had to get rid of our old compost bin last year. When the neighbor took the hedges out, it needed to be moved, but was in no shape for that, so it’s gone (though Brian did repurpose the wood into bird houses). I tried putting the compost into a pile on the ground, but that looked horrible, so I bought a 3-bin wire composter, which was installed last weekend. It looks so much better.
Up next, we’ll be fixing the basement floors that were messed up during the sewer project. I’m currently doing the plastic sheeting method of testing for moisture. So far, so good. If we get a favorable result from that, we’re going to put down laminate flooring in the bathroom (once we fill in all of the missing tiles with leveling compound). The flooring in the music room needs painted, too. We’re not going to do the whole floor, though–just the parts that they replaced. Brian’s shop doesn’t need any work as it’s just a concrete floor in there, so we’ll almost be back to normal soon.
Brian also put some trim in the laundry room. There’s more trim to do in there and the bathroom. And, the good news is, that the wood for that purpose has been purchased.
Now, if it would only stop raining, so I could weed everything in the yard once again.