Plaster is thicker than drywall

well, this is embarrassing. It has been one hell of a long time since I've posted anything here. All winter long I stuck to my rule of doing only one thing a day. If i took out the trash, or did the dishes.....that was it. But now it's summer, and I hosted a party with my son and wife to celebrate birthdays and graduations and plain old swimming in 95 degree heat. I devoted prep time to that, and prep time to getting my airman medical exam renewed. The party got done July 10. The medical exam got completed July 21. There were a couple of rogue parties on the western shore. I'm too old for those. One of them I didn't make it back home from until the following night. I've barely flown the airplane. I've been hiding out from the heat, and hiding out from the world. Lately I've been kind of cleaning up the place for a party I'm having this coming Saturday. Our house and grounds are kind of run down, and all the mowing may not be done in time for Saturday. Our house. Well, it's never been very presentable. We had six dogs, and two have passed away. So we have four dogs. They live in the house with us. They stay cool in summer and warm in winter. They are spoiled. My dog "Jaker" is lying here at my feet as I type. The dogs just make the house dirty. If you want a nice presentable house, leave the dogs outside. But wife and I are not real picky about the housekeeping. The house is never neat and clean. But let me say something. Dogs are better roomates than people. Way, way better. Not even close better. Even when a dog acts badly, they don't mean to. They always love us. I get sick of people after a couple of get togethers and then I need a break. I don't really get sick of the dogs.So it's hard to "slick up" the house for a party. But as far as the dogs, I think it's a fair trade. Besides, I have no choice. My wife is the animal lover. I just follow her lead on that, and almost everything else. I've been married 23 years. My advice to married men is this: think what you want, but do everything your wife's way. It's just easier. My wife makes all the small decisions, like what kind of car we will have. Where we will go to dinner. What chores we need to accomplish. How will we spend our paycheck. I, the "Man" make the big decisions, like whether the US should be in Afghanistan, Red China should be in the United Nations, Obama should run for re-election. I'm very lucky in my marriage, because I chose late and I chose well. My wife has her own identity. She has never used me to define herself. She has never used me to "complete" her life. She has never expected me to "entertain" her. She has enough self esteem that I can go off and do things on my own without her feeling "left out" or "left behind". I think we leave each other alone enough that we don't get on each others nerves. Oh yes, and we have separate bedrooms, and separate bathrooms. That is really important. Don't get me wrong....we don't live in a big fancy house. Remember the four dogs. We live in a one hundred year old farm house, that is sturdy and plain. The walls, windows and siding leak air. The plaster is aging and falling down, and I patch it with dry wall. The exterior always needs painting. It is about 1500 square feet depending on what you call living space. We have 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. One bedroom is tiny. Two baths are tiny. One bath is in need of renovation. All three baths work. But wife and I do have separate living space. When I see my wife in the house in her grubbies, or when I see her in the barn in her chaps, or when I see her in her jeans in the garden, or when I see her cleaned up to go to DC.... I look as long as I can and I can't take my eyes off her. And she's going about her business don't you see. She's not saying, "Lloyd, why don't we ever do anything?" Ah, except tonight: she wanted us to go to "Jimmy's Grill" in Bridgeville. And I was a lazy curmudgeon and wanted to chill and I had already done at least "one" thing today. LLITTY ..... ::::+::::