Yesterday I also spent quite a while working in the den.

In contrast, today we had far too much to do. First, Rich wanted to put the parachute up for the festival. I wanted to help because I would need the car, and to speed things up, and besides, it's fun to ride the high-rise. We left the house at 9 and started work. Now, the last time I helped with this, 1998, the wind was pretty strong and I think it's what tore my rotator cuff and led to a year or more of shoulder pain. I was determined to be really really careful today.

Rich has developed a system over the years and I had the camera along to document it this time. There will come a time when someone else has to do it, and this should mean they won't have to reinvent the wheel. He ties up one side of the chute and then takes it up and puts it over the pole... then he ties it down so the wind won't suddenly turn it into a sail. After that, he uses big ropes to tie down the "corners" to the five poles around. Then he ties ropes from pole to pole and ties the rest of the chute to the ropes.

It took us together a little more than four hours. About all I did was pass the hammer or the ropes or whatever, but at least I kept him company. He took some time to get used to driving the high rise and I got some bumps and bruises. Also, ripped my jeans. I was about to dump them anyway, though, since the knee was gone, which is why I wore them today in the first place.

We actually finished in plenty of time to get home for a shower before I had to take Casey to the library. They get out of school at 3:35 and the programs start at 3:30, so we were already late, but then the kid wanted to have a snack too. We finally got to the library about 20 minutes after the bubble lady started her program. However, Casey got right into it. The bubble lady had a rapt audience. This is a great program... such fun for everyone. I was hoping there'd be bubble stuff for everyone at the end, but no, so I'd brought along some bubble pens for Casey and foster-sib.

I still had about one hour forty-five minutes to kill with the kid. We read four more chapters of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, and a couple of other books, and then went to the park to brave the weather. It was so hot.

Finally, done with that, I dropped the kid off and came home for a quick change into a dress so we could go to the Loretto President's dinner. This was an extremely pleasant evening, with great food and wine and company. The party favor was a nifty Loretto keyring that I won't be using because I don't want to scratch it.

So, after yesterday's quiet day, today was a never-ending run.

Florida voting. Heh.