Two Saturday's ago I went to class (Nia), came home and got cleaned up, and then spent the rest of the day snoozing on the couch. This is what happens when I don't have any caffeine in my system -- I spent the day struggling to stay awake. That particular day I doubt I was awake for more than thirty minutes at a stretch.

The following Sunday I brewed myself a strong pot of tea and managed to do a little cleaning. This was after helpinging jebra get to the high school as he had a concert that day and needed to get the truck over to the venue.

The next few days were work at the day job followed by trying to stay cool in the evening. I know Michigan doesn't have it bad compared to some other places but high outdoor temperatures and me are not best buddies. It just saps my will to tackle anything more difficult than putting clothes into the washing machine or moving them from the washer to the dryer.

This past Saturday jebra and I drove to Saline for their Celtic Festival. Frankly, I thought it was fairly lame but perhaps I've been spoiled by Alma's. Far more bands, far more Scottish goods for sale, and more picturesque. Oh well, I had fun anyway and I truly enjoyed discovering that one of my friends was working in the fiber arts tent. And I was introduced to waulking, which I found fascinating due to my love of felted and/or fulled fabric. I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing the various birds of prey on exhibit under another tent. These were live birds, not stuffed, and simply beautiful. The only thing I'd have liked better would have been being allowed to handle them but I can understand why that wasn't permitted. Being handled by hundreds of strangers would be bad for the health of the birds (and potentially dangerous to the humans as some of these
birds were known for showing their displeasure by biting their handlers).

Yesterday we went to Greenfield Village for the Ragtime Street Fair. We heard some excellent music and did our best to stay cool and hydrated. mbumby joined us after we'd wandered around for an hour, meeting us near the Model T loading dock. This was the first time I ridden in a Model T and it reminded me of my experience with the Kriewall 1890 Swing Bike, in that moving at 18-20 MPH feels really fast when you're in the open air. Besides riding in a Model T, we also took a train ride around the property and, earlier in the day, taken a ride on the carousel.

Today I'm back at work where I'm downloading photos from my camera (or I would be, had my battery not crapped out half-way through) and trying out my new-to-me (i.e., refurbished) Dyson D35 cordless vacuum cleaner. The UPS guy delivered it this morning and I thought I'd get it out of the box and start charging the battery. I accidentally hit the trigger (this model has a trigger rather than a flippable on/off switch) and was surprised when the unit powered up. The directions say I'm supposed to have to charge it but it ran for the entire 15 minute cycle before the battery ran out. I was more than a little surprised at just how much crap it pulled from the carpet around the front door and my desk even though everyone I know with a Dyson has raved at just how good they are. I'm going to keep my vacuum here overnight under the theory that I may need it tomorrow as tomorrow, the window cleaner is coming and with furniture & things being moved around there may be more to vacuum up. So far I'm very impressed with the Dyson and think I'll like using it more than the Electrolux Ergorapido Ultra+ Cordless 2-in-1 Stick and Hand Vac it's replacing. The Electrolux has, in my opinion, two flaws. First, the front of the unit is too tall to fit under our bedroom furniture, and secondly, I have no idea where to buy replacement filters for it. Not that I've actually tried to buy any, but I bought the machine at Costco and they don't carry filters.

This entry was originally posted at http://mrs-sweetpeach.dreamwidth.org/364803.html.