Puttering around

A very wise man once recommended that puttering is good for the soul. I know today isn't actually our "Sabbath" (although it is for some people), Keith and I are both quite fond of twiddling away a day with this and that task around the home. Today has been a decent day for puttering, both inside and out:

Jake got a new "shedding rake", and has since been relieved of a good deal of his lovely grey undercoat. Why, you ask, would a dog shed just before the winter? You know... I really don't know. I think it has something to do with shedding the summer coat to make way for the winter coat, but quite honestly, his coats all look the same to me. He's a furry furry dog, and right now it is a battleground between his fur (hair?) living all over the carpet and the couch and our clothes, and it staying on him.

Keith grabbed a piece of cardboard and some insulation and donned these:

in order to do this:

and when he was done he looked like this:

We have never (gasp!) actually used our fireplace in all the many (okay two) winters that we have lived in this house, and so to combat the annoying draft that inevitably sucks away all our heat, replacing it with chilly sub-zero (Fahrenheit) air, we decided to (ahem) stuff our fireplace. Is that normal? Is that safe? As you may recall, the only thing ever to come out of our fireplace, once upon a time (ah... the memories), was a fluttering, squawking, possibly rabid, very likely upset, rather misplaced squirrel (shudder).

enough talk about that.

Moving on:

For the last um.... eon? no... not quite. Maybe 2 months or so, one of our neighbours has been remaking the wooden box that covers our sprinkler system gizmo.

Gizmo is the technical word, you see.

So the entire time that Mr. Rogers is out there working on the gizmo, clearing dirt away from the gizmo, digging around the gizmo, and just plain staring blankly at the gizmo, Kai wants to be there right beside him "helping". It's a rather noble inclination, I guess. It fits right along with the intense pleasure that Kai seems to glean from helping us vacuum the carpet, or empty the dishwasher, or set the table, or water the plants, or bring in the trash bins, or clean up his toys... (Ha! I threw that last one in there because it's so completely false that I thought it might get past you. But I guess I couldn't keep a straight face.) Anyhow, yeah - if we do it, he wants to help. And so he helps our neighbour with the gizmo thingy:

Although, naturally when I went outside a few minutes ago to take some photos of him "helping", he was completely preoccupied with these guys:

But nevertheless, he has been helping.

Oh oh! My favourite statement of the day:

"Dad, dad! I need my sunglasses so I can be Batman!"

What four year old doesn't want to turn into Batman while he's watching the WB in his alien pajamas by simply donning a pair of sunglasses?

Of course, after I took this picture, he wanted to take some photos himself - and check it out - can you see who's on TV?