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09.09.2003 - 6:51 p.m.
Tuesday
The weather has changed over
the past few days, ending our record-breaking spell of sunny
summery wonderfulness. Sunday it became cloudy and grouchy looking,
and around 4 AM Monday we were jolted awake by the most violent
rainstorm I think I've ever seen in the Northwest. Our bedroom
window was open and the whole room was filled with the crashiness
of the rain outside. Our gutters flooded and water was running
down the streets in driving ripples. It was almost a little scary,
this outpouring from above, but at the same time I was thinking
Sweet, I totally won't have to water the plants tonight.
The last couple of mornings
it's been grey outside and a little chilly in the house, and
as I sit at the kitchen table drinking coffee, I'm filled with
this strange sense-memory of fall and winter. Something somehow
nostalgic and familiar and oddly emotional, like hearing a song
you used to know really well, months after not listening to it
at all. A feeling of aging, maybe. More than anything it seems
a brutally sudden goodbye to summer.
Soon it will be colder, and
there will be more rain. The leaves that are already sifting
down onto our lawn will pile alarmingly, and JB will get out
his beloved Stihl leaf blower and herd them into great wet drifts.
And there will be that smell in the air, that beautiful heartbreaking
smell of fall, crisp and smoky and not anything like the
melting yellow smell of summer.
Let us not forget the most
important part of the season change: candy corn everyfuckingwhere.
Saturday, though, was just
a beautiful hot Seattle day, and JB and I needed to take advantage
of our waning summer opportunities to get outside and do something
outdoorsy. Clearly, we had to Do The Puyallup.
Okay, if you live around here,
I apologize for putting that stupid song in your head. See, there's
this big state fair that is held in Puyallup (Pyoo-wah-lup),
which is...let's see, google google google, about 30 miles from
Seattle, and when it comes time to advertise it, there's a local
jingle that's been playing for years that goes:
"Do the Puyallup."
I'm not sure how to describe
the irritating tone of it. "Do the..." are sort of
monotone-then-rising, then "Puyallup" is this descending
three-bar note. Grah! So annoying!
ANWAY, so we went to the fair.
Where I fell deeply in love with several draft horses, a Shetland
pony, hundreds of fluffy baby chicks, some suckling pigs, a pygmy
goat, lots of lop-eared bunnies, and a ridiculous-looking rooster
with what appeared to be a large feather wig.
After I dragged JB through
all of the animal areas, we checked out the rides. There was
a horrifying attraction called the Scream Machine (or something)
where you sit on this hydraulic-powered thing that rockets you
at light speed up this giant tower, then plunges you back downward
until your organs fly out of your nose.
Me: "Oh my fucking god
you couldn't get me on that thing if you held a gun to my head."
JB: "What's it cost? Ten bucks. Hell, I'll do it."
Stupid husbands that make their
wives look like pussies. Hate them.
So JB did the Scream Machine,
with me looking on and waving like a loon. Afterwards, I asked
him how it was. "I can't lie," he said, "it's
a little scary." Which means I would have barfed all over
myself in terror then had a heart attack and died, so I'm glad
he went and not me.
Then I made JB go on the Gravitron
with me. (It's actually called the Starship 2000 now, but to
me it will always be the Gravitron, and they will always play
bad 80's hair metal while you're on the ride. Except they played
Matchbox 20, but whatever.) I fucking love the Gravitron! With
its wacky centrifugal force-ness! As it turned out, though, JB
doesn't like spinning rides.
"Bleah," he said
when we got out. "Let's find something more low-key".
"Like the...SCREAM MACHINE?" I asked incredulously.
We did one more ride, played
a carny game where JB won an ugly glass candle holder thingie,
ate some questionable food, and headed home. It was fun.
Actually, now that I think
of it, going to the fair was a perfect end-of-summer activity.
Do the Puyallup!
:::
Now, for your moment of zen:
It's Dog!
Wearing a t-shirt!
Isn't it hilarious?
?
...
I'm sorry, Dog. I promise
I will never do that again.
go
back :::
forward
15
comments so far.
I have moved. - 1.03.2005
Obviously, a work in progress. - 12.27.2004
Happy holidays! - 12.24.2004
Listen, I am not a complete dick, it's not like I want Joe to die alone surrounded by cats or something. - 12.23.2004
Plus I am convinced my butt is extra big when it's upside down. - 12.22.2004
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