As you may have noticed by the lack of activity around here, I was at my computer for about 5 minutes in total this weekend, which is kind of how I like it. The three of us spent two very hot days running around trying to get the house shaped up for the upcoming parade party, but for all of the effort expended I don’t feel like we’re any closer to being done.

Finn and I enjoyed our normal morning breakfast hike despite the heat, and Saturday morning we found a set of old-school ratcheting box-head wrenches, a vacuum gauge, a pair of metal shears, and a dwell tester for the sum of $6 at a yard sale. After a quick trip to the Lowe’s (one of many this weekend), she and I had all the components to build a new gutter over the back deck purchased, but then it was time for swim lessons.

After the pool and lunch I test-drove a local Scout to gauge its worthiness as a donor vehicle (verdict: it’s a go) and then got to work in the yard on the gutters and hedges before it started raining.

Sunday the heat rolled in, and we attempted to stay cool while continuing work on the house. Finn and I returned to the Lowe’s while Mama was at yoga, and after a short nap she was up again, thwarting our attempts to split up and get things accomplished while she was asleep. Note to Daddy: even if she’s tired, feed her before naptime.

Somewhere during this time period I pulled the leaky cartridges out of our kitchen sink to replace them, and found out the hard way that Price Pfister is using cheap plastic/brass assemblies instead of solid brass. The brittle replacements are made in China, and I destroyed one just trying to get it to seat correctly. I also broke the brass three-way connector on the hot water line attempting to follow a slow leak back to the source, which mandated another trip to the Home Depot for parts.

We rolled that in with a ferry ride to Crownsville in the Scout, which is getting a rebuilt carburetor this week—fortuitous timing, as it turns out, because the idle speed is now so slow that she was stalling out on me as I came to stop signs. Let’s just say that bringing a 4,100 lb. brick to a halt with no steering or brakes is an interesting challenge.

Returning to the house via the H-D, I replaced the three-way connector, blew the spout off the top of the faucet in a shower of cold water (I hadn’t screwed it back in place), and found that the second hot-water cartridge I’d bought was missing two tiny internal valve assemblies. So back to the store I went. Again. Poor Jen; I was so irritated I could hardly talk. Thankfully, the fourth time was the charm, and I got everything back together, but I’ll never buy Price Pfister again, and I’m going to specify solid brass assemblies in any faucet we purchase from now on.

Then, I ran back outside to finish the front hedges and get the sidewalks edged. After dinner and getting Finn to bed, we were cleaning up the debris of the weekend until 10, at which time beer and pound cake were necessary, along with some mindless TV. I fell asleep on the couch by 10:30, wondering how the weekend got past us so quickly.