Mayhem in Twin

The following rant probably isn't pertinent to your life. Feel free to skip to the pictures.

I'd be surprised if the gentlemen and/or ladies who originally laid out Twin Falls died of natural causes. It's more likely that they ended swinging in tall trees from the ends of ropes. You see, the entire county is laid out in a convenient grid: north, south, east, west. Boring, but efficient. Great. Except downtown Twin is rotated 45 degrees. This means that when you're traveling SE on 2nd Ave N, once you cross the dividing road you're traveling SE on 2nd Ave E. There is, of course, a Main St that divides the numbered streets into N, S, E, & W. Therefore, 2nd Ave N/2nd Ave E has a fraternal twin on the other side of Main, 2nd Ave S/2nd Ave W. Like all good towns, there is only one Main St. In this case it's divided into Main St N and Main St E. Today, my wife sent me on an errand to an establishment whose address is 222 Main St SOUTH. I entered downtown from the normal part of town on the main drag and was a touch confused to see the sign that said Main St E/Main St N. I circled around and approached it from a different angle. Main St N. I made a larger circle and tried a different approach. Main St E. I pulled over and tried to look it up on my phone. 222 Main St S. Since I couldn't get the map to come up on my little screen, I made an even bigger circle. This time I found an intersection that was labeled Main St E to my left and Main St S to my right. Cheering my good fortune I turned right, only to find I was in the 300 block and the numbers were getting larger. No dice. At the next intersection, Main St S had ceased to exist. The sign read Main St E. Now I was just mad. I called Shauna and she said she'd never bothered with the address. Smart woman. Not sure why I thought an address would be helpful. She guided me in with 'rights' and 'lefts'. And yes, I had driven by the building once already. In my defense, it's shielded by a row of thick trees and situated in such a way so as to suggest that they'd rather you didn't find them even if you know where they are! I completed my errand and decided to get to the bottom of this whole mess. I circled around once again and started from the beginning. I followed Main St E in a southeasterly direction, past 222 Main St ?, taking note that it was clearly labeled Main St E at the corners either direction from the building. A block later I discovered the error of my ways. Suddenly Main St SOUTH signs began springing up on my right while Main St EAST signs continued to be on my left. Ah yes. Of course. Main St is not one. It is two. One sidewalk is Main St E, the opposite sidewalk is Main St S.

Hang 'em high in a tree and let 'em swing.

On to the pictures...

 Goon.

Camping!!

 Emma enjoyed getting filthy, Scout enjoyed running wild.

She's super pleased with her ability to stand on her own.

We enjoyed the great weather last week. Now it's blowing and hailing off and on. I hope the bad weather continues for another week and a half. I've got tests and finals to study for and I can't seem to keep myself inside when the weather's nice!

Here's a link to some pictures of a little girl that looks like a little girl we know, only more angelic.

You can't plumb the house through a frost-free bib

any more than you can roller skate in a buffalo herd. 

No, we're not watering our yard with the laundry room sink. That's way too redneck. We're actually watering the house through the laundry room sink. If you think that sounds backwards, you're ok. It is. We were going to plumb things through the hose spigot but it's a frost free kind and water just shoots out everywhere when you try to put water through the wrong way.
Maybe a few steps in reverse would be helpful... I came home Thursday and headed to the sink to cool my parched palette only to find that our trusty water source had dried up. Not even a drop. Here's the Reader's Digest version: pressure switch has been replaced, pressure tank is fine, there are no leaks under the house, and the pump is fine. I know the pump is fine because I pulled it out and took it down to our neighbors (the one whose house we envy) and had him test it. Quite convenient that his career was fixing pumps! But, I make this sound easier than it is! The pump is, thank goodness, not down inside the well. It's in a cozy little covered hole in the ground. Just pop the top and climb in. Not so easy again. Someone thought it a good idea to build a stout dog house on top of the pump house- framed, insulated, sheetrocked and with about two feet of clearance. Into the dog house, stand on your head, lower yourself into the hole. Then, get said pump with pipes protruding at odd angles out of said maze. If the pressure tank ever has to be replaced ye old dog house will have to be removed. Brilliant. Until I can get back down there and check on the back-flow valve, we're using the yard pump to push water through the laundry room sink and into the rest of the house. (The yard pump is on its own well. We happen to have four wells on our half acre- someone was OCD about wells)

Did I mention Bonnie was spending the night again when this all fell apart? And Shauna's been having shows so I've been enjoying some parenting opportunities. But that means that I can't be down a well hole. So, we'll be enjoying lawn water for a wee bit longer.

Ok, enough rattling on.

Here's Emma.

Checking out her reflection in the window.

 Trying on a new vest.

 Trying to stand up.

Typical. The left sock is off. It's probably in her mouth. She likes it that way.