At Long Last…

After a two week hiatus from blogging, I’ve finally made it back to my keyboard, driven by a combination of guilt and the need for self expression. It is an incredibly hot afternoon. Sweat is pouring down my face. Comic is doing dishes in a somewhat foul mood. Intrepid is in his crib, enjoying the only ceiling fan in our home and intermittently playing with his favourite toy and napping. For now, it is enough that he is content, and most importantly, he is quiet. Mooch, the only member of our family both covered in hot black fur and completely unconcerned by the drastic temperature rise, has taken up her usual spot by my feet and is relaxing, only lifting her head occasionally to check on the whereabouts of Comic.

We knew this day would come and yet we made no effort to prepare for it. After the heat wave a couple of weeks ago, we decided that the need had arisen to install our air conditioner, which involves quite a lot of effort. We have to go to a store downtown to fetch some waterproof board to cover the area of window that will remain open after wedging the air conditioner into it and affixing it with a bracket. Then, when everything is sealed airtight, and approved of by Comic (who has the mostly endearing and occasionally frustrating quality of being obsessive compulsive), before we can even turn the thing on, we have to rearrange our already perfectly arranged furniture. You see, the air conditioner will blast directly into the back of our TV, so we have to drag our entertainment unit and Mooch’s crate to the far side of the living room and swap them with our shelving unit to get the full benefit of our heavily complicated new installation. And the icing on the cake will be my having to hook up all of the stereo equipment in exactly the same way, bearing in mind that a slight mistake will lead to the entire thing not working. This being quite an undertaking, we have been understandably procrastinating and enjoying a delightfully cool spell in the weather. We knew however, that the day would come when the heat would hit us again, and we would be without anything but our small oscillating fan which merely displaces the hot air around us. So we will now have to grit our teeth, and carry out the whole procedure in 35 degree weather. Oh joy. Oh happy day.

Aside from all of this, things have been going fairly well recently. We have started Intrepid on solid foods and he has developed quite the demanding temperament; I can hardly get the spoonful to his mouth fast enough. He has also started rocking back and forth a lot whenever we have him on our laps, giving one the impression that he is riding a mechanical bull. And, as so often happens around the six month mark, he has begun to make strange with everyone but us, only doling out a few shy smiles before a large pout crosses his face, signaling the terrified screaming that is soon to come. This last development should be a joy when we make our trip to visit my in-laws this coming weekend, a trip which has been getting closer and closer, corresponding with the tightening knot that resides in my gut. I will not describe my relationship with my in-laws here. There is simply not enough time or room. Suffice it to say, that while most of them are OK, the few that despise me for simply being married to Comic ruin it for all of them. My only comfort, however petty, is imagining the look on my dear mother-in-law’s face when her precious grandson takes one look at her and screams to high heaven. I would never go as far as to be vengeful in any way, but when an opportunity arises such as this, I can’t say that I won’t show the slightest bit of enjoyment.

And now I’m hearing the calls of my family. I believe a trip in the car is in order to get us all cooled down. So I’ll sign off until later…