Paul & Mary's Daily Diary

Fact: The FICUS countries (France, Italy, China, the USA, and Spain) get the most visitors repeatedly.  They are like irresistible travel magnets.  France is the most visited country by travelers in the world, with 89 million arrivals, according to the latest UNWTO data related to 2018 travel flows.  Spain, the United States, China, and Italy are the most visited countries.  Together with France, they comprise the top 5 most visited countries globally.

We crashed today; it was a bust weekend.  We planned a vacation, so we did not even leave the house.

Fact: Pigs come in all shapes and sizes: from miniature teacup pigs to big ol’ hairy warthogs.  But have you ever seen a Mangalica pig?  These animals – which hail from Hungary – look like the lovechild of a classic potbellied pig and a sheep.  Their hair resembles wool – people dub them “wooly hammoth,” “porcine parka,” or, festively, “pigs in blankets.”

The world is indeed amazing!

We hit the deck running this morning because we had to clean the house before the house cleaners arrived, no, seriously.  Scout still likes his new rugs.  This morning, he had a unique request; he wanted us to get him a Mangalica pig.  Oh my,  that would be something!

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that she served the family nothing but leftovers for thirty years, and the original meal has never been found.

Our front patio had David’s mother’s old bench seat, which Mary had had for years.  I decided it needed a facelift, so I got out the black-enamel spray paint and some red stain and went to work.

Before!

After an hour of back-breaking work, the task was finished.  Laying on the cold hard concrete was challenging work, and my little hands tired all the way to the bone from wielding that colossal paintbrush.  When Mary came out to see my handiwork, all she said was, “you missed a spot.”  Not really; she loved having the old bench brought back to life.

I told my wife she’s been painting her eyebrows on a little too high.  She looked surprised.

Later on, I painted rabbits on my head.  I was hoping they might look like hares from a distance.

It came back to life!!

Mary worked inside, and I continued my mission to make the east side of the house easy to access.  I now have room for all the trash cans without walking around them to get to the backyard.

Tom Heaton came over, he is our handyman, and we gave him a T-shirt which we thought very appropriate.

We know about handypersons!  A businessman went into the office and found an inexperienced handyman painting the walls.  The handyman was wearing two heavy parkas on a hot summer day.  Thinking this was a little strange, the businessman asked the handyman why he was wearing the parkas on such a hot day.  The handyman showed him the instructions on the can of paint.  They read: For best results, put on two coats.

That’s what handymen do!

Mary fixed us a delightful brunch, and we sat on the patio talking about our plans for the rest of the day.  That’s what old people do!

Brunch is served!

We talked for a good half hour!

Mary went to the She-Shed and found two more boxes of goodies to bring in the house and go through; we’re making a lot of progress.  I now believe our son Joe is right, Mary will find Jimmy Hoffa in the She-She eventually.

I moved the lava rock out of the fire pit because we expect Dakota, our Plumber, to show up this afternoon.

We are connecting gas to the firepit.

Well, Dakota leveled the fire ring and connected the gas.  I began putting the lava rock back into the fire pit properly.

As we worked, I asked Dakota, “What do plumbers have when they fall asleep?” He waited, and then I laid it on him!  “Pipe dreams.”

I did the lava rock!

I had to rinse the old lava rock and learned I should always wear gloves.   We needed some additional rock, so I went to Amazon, and it will be delivered tomorrow.  We will see how 120 pounds does before we order more.

I ordered 120 pounds from Amazon to fill up the pit!

We cleaned up and went to Bob and Donna’s home for the bi-monthly Starlighter’s Board meeting.  We are the club’s secretaries, so Mary took notes, and I will type them up tomorrow.

Starlighter’s Board meeting is underway!

Great fun with good friends.

Yeah Yeah, the gang’s all here.

As soon as we got home, we decided to go into the swim spa.  I went outside and fired up the fire pit so that when we got out of the swim spa, we could walk over, sit down and stay nice and warm.

The fire gets started!

As you can see, we did not have enough lava rock to come up to the fire ring, so I ordered 120 pounds from Amazon.  I will have to see how that works.  According to Amazon, it will be at our house on the third, giving me plenty of time to put it in before the weekend.

After the swim spa, this was so nice and warm!

After sitting by the fire, I was officially shot.  I think Mary read for a while, but I rolled over and visited the Sandman.