My holiday weekend

I hope everybody had a nice holiday. I needed the break from politics and current affairs to recharge and just not think about how awful things are right now. Manual labor is good for that sort of thing and I spent most of the long weekend outside doing yard work, watching the Tour de France, and munching BBQ ribs.

Weekend excitement:

Item 1: Best laid plans: went to cut a 50foot tree down in the back yard after tying a rope to guide its fall away from the power lines. Made the wedge cut with the chain saw then got half way through the back cut when the tree started tilting TOWARD the power lines. My 16 year old was pulling the rope for all he was worth but the tree kept leaning the wrong direction. I dropped the saw and helped him pull but we couldn't pull it down. The branches were tangled in those of an adjacent tree. Neither of us could let go or it would have fallen on the lines. Finally we spotted my 80 year old neighbor, who is very spry for his age, and my other neighbor who came running to help. After about 45 minutes of pulling and cutting, we dropped the tree without incident exactly where we wanted but, for a while, we had ourselves in a pickle.

Item 2: I went to Publix to get a few groceries and spotted this fat guy with bleached, spiked hair, Crocs, tight dolphin shorts like the Hooters girls wear, and a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. When he got closer, I could read the shirt. It was an advertisement for Trojan brand X-Large condoms. I have no idea how acute my gaydar is but I was getting the definite vibe. Now, I couldn't care less about any body's orientation or preferences, but you don't wear that attire into a neighborhood grocery store on Sunday morning. In fact, I'm not sure if there is an appropriate place to wear it. Gross!

So that about sums up the holiday: hard work, good food, sports, the sounds of fireworks in the distance, and grocery-store character spotting. I'll take it.