Thank you, HBO, for making boxing entertaining
“The sand ran out of his hour glass, Jim. But that was some hour glass, for a long time. I happen to collect glass art and hour glasses are not among them. But if there was one that had Gatti’s signature on it, I would want it.

You don’t make many like Gatti. If you could, other fighters would try to do what he did. But they couldn’t. He left us with some sand in that hour glass. That we’ll never forget.”
- Larry Merchant, HBO boxing commentator, on Gatti’s defeat by Alfonzo Gomez

posted by paula 10:26 PM

Hey Neighbor lady, that’s a 20-year old evergreen, not a bonsai
Ever since she moved in more than a year ago, we’ve realized the neighbor lady was not your typical neighbor. For starters, she’s terrified of the dogs. Two basset hounds.

Her first encounter with them was when Amos was no more than six months old. She noticed the two on the other side of the fence, grabbed the two children in the yard and ran as if wild wolves would bust through the fence and tear them limb from limb.

We haven’t seen much of her since then, aside from the grown son that lives with her and some scattered friends that occasionally appear in the yard. In fact, until last week, we thought she had grown ill; too ill to maintain her yard, as she hadn’t mowed the lawn in more than six weeks. Then one day this week, a neighbor boy appeared and mowed down the field.

Since then, she’s taken to daily naps in the yard, which take place on a large woven rug and may include the eating of seeds and spitting of shells, which continues for hours until the carpet looks like it’s been repeatedly splattered with tan paint. I suspect they’re sunflower seeds.

Today Ryan worked from home and said her nap went on from approximately 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The entire time she slept completely under the blanket, causing me to think that my theory on her illness may not be so far off.

We left for dinner after that and returned around 8:30 p.m. to find that she not only rose from her slumber, but decided to do a little pruning of the shrubs, too. The three evergreens that are in prime view of our house, were hacked at, in a circular fashion from ground to almost six feet above the ground. And now we have this:



Arborists are crying everywhere.

posted by paula 9:20 PM