Wind

It's been sunny here in Portland, which is unusual. It has also been really windy, with wind gusts up to 40 mph. On Saturday morning, I heard a loud noise and went to investigate.

I found that this piece of fence had been blown over and was less than an inch from breaking a window. Luckily, its fall was broken by a table. The table did not survive, but I am glad we didn't end up with a broken window. Oh, the piece of fence was not posted into the ground; it was just left over from when we fenced off part of our yard.

Quite the compliment

A funny thing happened at Mick's new fish and chip shop today. Apparently, a city bus driver stopped the bus in the middle of the street (not at a stop and blocking traffic!) and ran in and grabbed a take-out menu. He later called from his route to place an order that he said he would pick up at exactly 1:45. At 1:45, he again stopped the bus in the middle of the street to run out and grab his dinner. Boy, I hope he doesn't get fired.

I tried, I really did

Mentaljr came over and spent the night with us Christmas Eve, and stayed for Christmas dinner. While I didn't necessarily expect him to dress up, I didn't expect him to dress down quite so much. He wore black sweatpants (which, by the way, are the only pants I've seen him wear since he left home), a ratty thermal shirt with several large holes in it, the hooded sweatshirt that he pumps gas in (his job), and a very dirty hat that was covering hair that didn't look like it had been washed in quite some time. He also did not bring a toothbrush. I gave him a little bit of a hard time about not bringing a toothbrush, but let the outfit go by, since it was Christmas and all.

So, the other day mentaljr stopped by Mick's new fish and chip restaurant to get some food. When he walked in, I cringed because he really looked homeless. He was very dirty and was pretty much wearing the same outfit he had on at Christmas. I noticed the ratty thermal shirt underneath his T-shirt, noticed how dirty it looked, and asked him, "Have you been wearing that shirt since Christmas?" His sheepish look told me he had. Sigh. Then, while waiting for his food, he loudly proclaimed that he was saving money by not bathing very often. As he did, I noted that he hadn't been brushing his teeth. Let's just say that if it's obvious from a distance, it's been a while. Sigh. I swear, I really tried to teach him basic grooming.

Cringing

Maybe don't let your children watch this. I have no idea why she would do that and how she isn't crying.