Not much good for anything else. Wet and windy; I made the right choice by telling Brad and Chad not to plan on working. I sat in a lawn chair in the garage for a few minutes, looking out toward the woods, but it's too cool for even that to be pleasant. I called Brad a few minutes ago and I guess he and Chad will be here tomorrow morning at an as yet to be determined time.

I'd thought yesterday today might be a good day to go to Wal-Mart after some "skinnier me" jeans -- I've managed to lose enough weight (deliberately) to need some -- but that's going to have to wait till I get the bank to unlock my debit card. I tried to order some air conditioners off walmart.com yesterday and the charge wouldn't go through, then today I tried to get cash out of an ATM and couldn't. I'm sure it's just a matter of using the card enough recently to make something in the bank's computer suspicious but I won't be able to discuss it with a human being until tomorrow. There must be some corollary to Murphy's Law that says things like that always happen on a weekend to maximize the hassle.

Just checked the radar on weather.com and it looks like it might actually quit raining sometime before sundown. I think I may grab a nap and hope for some back yard time when I wake up.

***

Grabbed a nice nap but woke up to find it's either still raining or raindrops are blowing off the trees fast enough to do a good imitation. Still not back yard weather.

My sister was able to make a small purchase on her debit card (on my account) with no trouble. I've charged more to my card in the last week than any previous year and I guess it's reasonable for the bank to wonder if something fishy's going on. Probably nothing I can't fix with a phone call. Just inconvenient that I can't go ahead and get those air conditioner's on order.

***

10:00P and the moon's finally peaking through holes in the clouds now and then.

I should have taken a closer look earlier at the paper the ATM spat out when I tried to get money this morning. It says right on it the bank thinks my card's been lost or stolen. I'll call tomorrow and find out what it's going to take to straighten the matter out. If it's going to take very long I'll have my sister order those air conditioners I tried to order yesterday using her card.

We're thinking (just thinking, Daniel!) hard about offering Daniel, Bobbi's 13-year-old, a summer in Illinois as an 8th Grade graduation present. I know from things he said while they were here he'd enjoy it and I think it would also be a good thing for Cordell, my sister's 10-year-old who'll otherwise spend way to much of his summer in front of the TV and PC. If Daniel does come up it has to be understood it's a reward for graduating and doesn't mean we owe his siblings their "turns." It's one thing to talk about driving down and back early in the summer to bring Daniel here and later to take him back, quite another to talk about doing it often enough for everyone to get a turn. We'll talk about their turns when they're his age if I'm still healthy enough to consider making the drive.

***

11:30P and the moon and stars are out steady, 'cept the moon's behind the woods west of the house.

Been sitting outside trying to get my thoughts together about what to have the guys do in what order tomorrow. I've been trying to avoid having them do any shopping for me except mornings before they head this way but I may make an exception tomorrow. My top priority at this point is getting the house rewired before it gets hot. When they get here tomorrow I'm going to have them do some measuring, put together a shopping list and tell me how much money they need to have with them to go to Lowe's and buy wire, outlets, a breaker box, etc. After they come up with a number it probably makes sense to have them go after what they need instead of trying to find other less important things to keep them occupied for the rest of the day and have them go shopping Tuesday morning.

Does anyone know whether it's possible/legal/stupid to run electrical wire underground? I'm thinking I'd like to have them run wire in the same trench as the water pipe for the freeze-proof hydrant so I can have an outlet to plug a trough heater into. I know the conventional way to do things is to run wire up in the air but there are tree limbs involved.