Diary melancholia

When I first moved out here I posted this picture with a lot of cheerleader-like enthusiasm:

This was going to be my big project, turning a junked house into a sweet state of the art bachelor pad with plumbing.

And since then, just about nothing has happened to it.

A couple of weekends ago, the family took junk we're cleaning out from another house for the wedding and put it what was to be my sweet bachelor pad. A picture of this house today looks basically the same, only the landscape is more brown from the heat. It's kind of a bookend to my time here in Hico.

And it's depressing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to matrimony and stuff and it's still pretty unbelievable who I ended up with. Since my mind went into "Go" mode on marriage, there haven't been any second guesses as to where the time and money have to be spent.

But I hate seeing this project going to the end of a to-do list that now stretches way over the horizon, behind "get more dress shirts" and "put kids through college." I suppose I'll get back around to it sometime in my 60s. It'll still be sweet though.

Notes:

Camera: My buddy Todd has sent me a digital camera in the hopes that I'll use it to record the goings-on around here and make the blog a more vibrant, easy-to-read kind of place. He has done this by hacking into one of those "disposable" digital cameras you can buy at a store for $15. I'll have to add a cable or something. The hacking is the kind of project Todd enjoys. I recall this conversation when we were roommates in college:

Todd: I think I'm going to install hooks in the ceiling to hang my bike up.

Me: The ceiling is solid concrete.

Todd: So?

I'll add that Todd was not happy when I told him my first picture-taking goal would be to get a lot of photos of "all the bunnies." But they are so damned cute.

Mint?: I spent much of my awake time today going through the Cabela's catalog, looking for something that'd make a good gift for my wedding party dudes (I prefer "dudes" to "groomsmen and ushers", and it's damn sure going in the program as such). And I found nada. Sure, I could buy everyone the cheapest pocketknife they make, but I think I got a cheap pocketknife at a previous wedding, and I don't wanna do repeats.

I did however, find this:

This is a dish that keeps your dog's food warm. I was instantly reminded of the Will Farrell skit, "Teaching your dog obedience through the use of irony and angry sarcasm."

Farrell: Oh, is the food not warm enough for you? I'll be sure to tell the head waiter and lodge a complaint to the chef. Or maybe you can just eat it BECAUSE YOU'RE A F***ING DOG!

Oddly enough, they didn't have a dog water fountain that cools water. That's a freakin' necessity in Texas.