Bunnies – Of Bears and Boating

I learned this week…

…that two months of twice weekly physical therapy sessions for a yoga-induced hip injury will result in thinner, more defined thighs. I still have hip pain, but my thighs look much better in a pair of shorts.

…that while I was able to eke out 30,000 words during JuNoWriMo, I am now questioning the relevancy of about half of them. I suppose the point of the exercise isn’t to create a work of literary genius, just to get the juices flowing. I succeeded in that, though I think I may need a big roll of Bounty to sop up all of that flowing juice.

…that the agony of defeat is a bitter pill to swallow (whoa – cliché much). For weeks, I have engaged in a battle of wills with the bunny who lives in my front bushes and has made my ornamental sweet potato vines a dinner staple. I tried everything short of the BB gun the scary man down at the local home and garden store suggested to deter his incessant munching, but nothing works. He continues to dine freely, and my garden looks like it was hit by a swarm of locust. I have come to realize that I am waging an unwinnable war against a rodent whose addiction far outweighs my need for the coveted “yard of the month” honor. I am going to bow out now before I end up sitting on a bar stool next to Elmer Fudd and Carl Spackler slamming whiskey shooters.

..that I have become numb to Texas summers. This week my mother asked me if it was hot outside. I said, “No. It’s only 95.”

…that Katie Holmes has left Tom Cruise. I really wish I had something witty to say about this, but in all reality, who didn’t see this coming? Tom Cruise, that’s who.

…that Roger Federer has ~~pulled his head out of his ass~~ overcome injury and secured a place in the Wimbledon final. I have threatened for years to pull my allegiance and endorse a younger, up and coming player. Federer, after all, is long in the tooth and his days in the sport are numbered. So far, though, I haven’t been able to bring myself to actually do it. Of course, if he loses to Nadal one more time, I’m outta here. I swear it.

…that nothing sucks the fun out of doing something nice for someone than the expectation that it be repeated for everyone. Feeling obligated to do or to give something, especially when it involves someone I don’t particularly care for, tends to bring out some of my least attractive personality traits. I become spiteful and petty, almost competitive in my passive/aggressive rebellion. I’m not proud of myself, but that won’t stop me from finding a new more creative way to avoid doing what everyone expects me to do without uttering a single word of protest.

…that I didn’t learn all that much this week.

…that this week’s awww moment is really more of an ahhh moment. This week we went to our local lake to partake in the Fourth of July festivities and fireworks show. I snapped this picture from the bank while kicking back, watching the half-baked drunken crowd, and crunching on a sno-cone. It was a fabulous night.

I tend to get a tad behind on my outdoor chores – well, most of my chores – during the Spring. I intend to plant as soon as the threat of frost has past, but it never works out that way. Invariably, it is May before my beds are planted. Last year, Texas suffered through a summer of record heat with little to no rain. Watering restrictions were imposed and subsequently, quite a bit of my landscape perished. The only thing to survive and flourish were the sweet potato vines I planted in one small space. Being the ~~lazy~~ proactive gardener that I am, I decided that the sweet potato vine would dominate my landscape this year. If they survived last summer, they could survive anything. A couple of weeks ago, I marched myself down to the local nursery, bought several flats in three varieties, and proceeded to plant.

Yesterday, I came out of my front door and found this: