The One In Which Poking The Bear Bites Me In The Butt and Harriet Tries To Kill Me

I brought a bottle of water in to work yesterday. It's one of those square Fiji bottles. I bought it because:

1. We were filling up the car so I was at the station.
2. I'm trying to cut down on soda.
3. It was on sale.
4. I was thirsty

That was it. No big ulterior motives. Just a bottle of water. It seemed like such a simple thing.

One of my kids notices it and apparently has never heard of or seen Fiji water bottles before so he asks me what it is. I tell him. He asks why I got that kind. Thinking that it was an especially inane conversation... [Even within the parameters of our usual conversations around here. Just last week our debates included a 20 minute discussion on where that baby powder smell was coming from and an even longer discourse regarding which exact Star Wars film Anakin/Darth Vader lost his hand in. I thought I was going to have to get out the hose on that one! But I digress...] Anyway, I replied, "Because square water tastes better than round water." Yeah. I know. But sometimes I just have to poke the bear. It worked. Never make a statement like that to a scientist. First he paled noticeably and started to shake.Then I got a 15 minute lecture on the molecular properties of H2O. I figure I got off lucky since I suspect he had approximately six and a half more weeks of information on this subject in his big-giant-head, but I managed to divert his attention with something shiny before he really got going. Yeah. Sometimes poking the bear backfires a little.

I did some deck sitting last night, finishing up an awesome book, People of The Book by Geraldine Brooks. We have a magnificent library system here in South Central Wisconsin. I can go online and request any book from any of the surrounding libraries. The selection is huge! I think I can count the books I couldn't get through the system on one hand. Usually I want to read the most recent, popular books, so I go on a waiting list behind dozens of other people. When the book is finally available, I get an automated phone message telling me that the book is at my local library for pick up. The automated message is from (read this in a robotic tone) "Harriet, The Automated Library Voice". Usually I get a call every week or two as one book or another becomes available. I usually have 10-15 at a time on my waiting list in the system. But sometimes, like this last week, everything becomes available at once in a huge avalanche. I think Harriet is really trying to kill me this time. Last evening's phone message ended with a maniacally evil, HAL2000-type chuckle. I swear it's true. I've got so many books that I have put down the spinning wheel and knitting and have been reading until my eyes bleed. If I don't, I'm afraid that the stack of books on my bed side table will topple and crush me in the night. I made it though half of Ice Trap by Kitty Sewell last night. Another amazing read! Harriet may be trying to off me, but what a way to go!