Today was another lovely day.  The weather was spectacular.  We took advantage of that and packed a picnic lunch and went on a 1 hour hike where we saw chipmunks, deer, and a VERY COOL red headed woodpecker.  He was BIG!  I couldn’t get close enough to get a good picture.  We startled him on the trail (he was eating something out of a decaying tree on the side of the trail) and he flew off, really shocking us.  He stopped nearby though because we heard him pecking - loud!  We waited about 30 feet past his tree and sure enough, he came back.  Couldn’t get the pic though.  Anyway, then we went to Target for haircolor and paper goods and spent $100 on who knows what!  I did buy a $20 set of clippers.  Lol … okay, don’t laugh, I figured that I can cut my boys hair instead of spending $12-15 each every few weeks.  Well, the first try went okay but not great.  I have to ‘learn’ on DS6 because DS12 won’t let me near him - smart kid!  This might have been a stupid idea.

Anyway, went and got my battery for my cell replaced, went food shopping, then back home.  This is where my great-day-turned-bad.  I go to start up my new grill for the burgers and it wasn’t igniting.  Then I noticed I didn’t even hear the gas hissing.  I got annoyed thinking they sold me a near-empty propane tank.  I went to make sure that I opened it properly and noticed that the valve where you connect the propane tank CRACKED and literally broke off!  Now, this is part of the grill - connected to a hose that is a permanent fixutre of the grill (this wasn’t something *I* attached, it already came attached).  A grill I used THREE TIMES.  Furious doesn’t cover it.  Customer Service isn’t open on weekends - isn’t that pretty stupid for a GRILL company?  But I am already thinking the worst.  If this isn’t a part I can replace myself, am I supposed to find a truck to get this back up to the store to return it, and then build a whole new one?  No way.  I AM SO SO SO MAD.

So, I cooked the burgers inside and we had that and the broccoli salad (yum!) out on the patio anyway.  I’m still seething.

After dinner, I cut DS’s hair (cringeing) and then cleaned up, mopped all the floors, and went for a one hour (well, 50-55 min actually) fast paced walk on the rail trail.

And it was there that I spotted the rarest species I have seen from all my hikes:  Rollerblading Human Male in a Leotard.  I kid you not.  I still have to purse my lips to not laugh out loud.  And can I just say … the leotard did nothing for him.  He had NOTHING to show off.  ;-)

Tomorrow morning I have to go get fingerprinted.  No, I am not getting in trouble nor am I getting a pistol permit, lol.  It is for a new gov’t customer we will have for work, and if I am going to work on the transition I need clearance.

Well, I was going to post a pic of my broken grill but decided to share some cuter images … my  real babies and my fur baby (one of them)