Margy thinks I should take some time off from writing.

A fireworks bangs.  Buddy pops out to the back porch, Murray is probably heading for the tub.

Buddy comes back in and lays down on the couch on a pillow, his head hanging over the arm of the couch.

An orange moth, a whirling dervish dances incredibly around the chandelier and the kitchen table where I write.

If it lands I will attemp to catch it in my hand and take it back outside.  I'm getting dizzy trying to follow it.

Today was a typical Monday.  I walk in the door at the store and I'm told the oven is leaking gas and everyone is dying of headaches and dizziness and oh my god.  Supposedly this has been going on all weekend, but no one called me and no one at the softball game on Sunday said anything about it.  So I call the propane company and have them come in and check for leaks. He comes later in the day, and we test the oven together and we agree there is nothing wrong with it, it just needs to be cleaned.  

And like any Monday I have trouble getting my work done.  Lauren and I have a job interview to conduct, I have phone calls to make, a desk to clean up, special orders to deal with, plus the usual bill paying and accounting.    At 1 pm Margy calls me and we just make up that Howie will come over at 2.  She talks to me about Jackie coming back and how she saw me driving by with my dad chatting away the other day and how this time together is so special. I can only agree. At 1:45 I call my Dad to see if  he wants me to pick him and Micah up for lunch anytime soon - he says to give him an half an hour.  I go home around 2:30 and he's still not ready to go anywhere, so I do a couple of things around the house and then we go back to the store for a very late lunch. I then finish up my work and we head out around 5pm. Micah wants to go to the skatepark so first we go to pharmacy so I can pick up some allergy prescriptions and Dad can get his happy pill prescription filled.   We take Micah to the skatepark and I take Dad home. On the way we stop and pick up Howie from Margy who has a surprise for Mommy and me for tomorrow.  Howie stays home and puts on the Mets game for Grandpa and himself to watch.  The Mets are already winning 4 - 0.  Then Murray and I go back to the skatepark and pick up Micah and we head out fishing to the same hole I went with Dan the other day, the fish were biting, but I was off, I couldn't catch a fish, Micah caught a few, but the stream was not near as hot as it was the other day. I was getting frustrated watching Micah, it was the first time I've set up 2 rods one for him and one for me, and every time I looked at Micah he seemed to be having trouble, but that's the only way he's going to learn.  And he actually did very well. I was off, a bit tense from my busy non stop day, and just not able to set the hook when I got bites. Then m y rod got stuck turned the wrong way and stuck together - I can't turn it or take it apart.  It's a bummer, but I will have to deal with it tomorrow as if I tried too hard to get it apart I would probably break it.  

After fishing, home around 8 pm I grilled a big sirloin and made a big salad.  Howie made himself some mac and cheese and we all sat down for a nice meal together, one of the few that the 4 of us had at home together.  After dinner Howie took Buddy for a walk, and I took a shower.  I made Micah take a shower as soon as we got home from fishing. He sat next to me in the car and he stunk.  He hadn't showered or changed his underwear since Friday. 

After my shower I checked on the boys watching t.v. and got Howie to take his first shower in a couple of days.   I put in a load of laundry.   Then I headed upstairs and remembered, the ingredients sitting on the kitchen counter, I wanted to make a strawberry rhubarb pie with the rhubarb from the farm.  So it's in the oven sizzling away.  We shall see how it turns out.  

So now I should go check on the boys again,  I want them to go to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.  I checked over the internet and it appears Jackie and Andrew's first flight had arrived in London.  I don't think their flight from London to Newark leaves until 3:30 am Montana time, so they have a long layover in London.  I wonder if they were going to try to do something there?

My pie is sizzling in the oven, overflowing and burning on the bottom of the oven, I think I must have put the crust on wrong, I didn't seal it well enough, the pie is sizzling outside the rim of the pie plate,  but we shall see, it still has 20 more minutes to bake...

the boys are already in bed, they actually listened to me tonight, excited for tomorrow, another long day to be, Micah is working tomorrow, Howie has gymnastics camp, it's the Big Sky Food Festival in the evening and if everything goes right we will be heading to the airport around 10 pm to pick up Mommy and Andrew.

A couple of more moths, one sitting on the chandelier another whirling around.  I can probably save the one at rest. Mission accomplished after  one failed attempt I successfully caught it and release it outside.  I guess moth catching is just like fishing...

Gail called this morning, they're going to come up on Saturday for the Symphony. Sunday Jackie's Boston College roommates arrive for a week of Big Sky fun, so the craziness of summer continues...

I saw Amber today and asked for Devon, I'm going through withdrawal...

there goes the timer...time to take my pie out of the oven... let it cool overnight...