Unexpectedly sunny

I thought the whole week was going to be clouds and rain, but nearly all clouds disappeared today and the day ended up quite sunny and warm. Unfortunately, as it frequently seems to be the case, I didn't actually get to enjoy much of it other than from the inside.

The city is looking at some capital improvements in the area where our church is located. And it would like to charge the property owners for that through special assessments. Anyway, in the morning the neighbors got together to discuss the matter and how the city was proceeding with trying to get funding for it. I bicycled over and back, so I was outside for a bit.

After returning home, I mowed the lawn. I was indeed outside, but not necessarily enjoying it. As I know I've mentioned before, no matter how warm it might be, in order to keep bugs from eating me alive, I have to be covered head to toe while mowing. It was quite warm today, and especially so with a manual reel mower.

While I was mowing, Shelley was outside on a blanket, covered with Off!, working on a math assignment.

In the afternoon I went to run my usual daily errand of Post Office and grocery shopping. I would have preferred to bicycle to do these, but there is only so much (and not much) that I can fit into a backpack. I will have this problem resolved, hopefully by the end of the week, when I take delivery of a new bicycle trailer. With the cost of fuel at $4.30+/gallon now, each trip costs $1 to $2. The cost of the bike trailer will be made up in less than a year. And the bike trailer is a lot cheaper than an electric vehicle, however nice that may be. The point of all this is that I was driving around when I would have rather been out walking or on the bike.

In the evening, it was off to the City Council meeting. It turns out this next year's city budget included funds for the capital improvements mentioned earlier. The key was to make sure that it there was no reference to "Local Improvement District" in the line item. One of the councilors tried to remove it altogether, but there was no support for that. In any case, at least the initial planning and engineering work will come directly out of the city's regular tax collections rather than through a special assessment. I rode the bicycle to and from the meeting.

What I had really wanted to do today was go out to the beach area and re-photograph some of the wildflowers with a good camera and tripod. That will have to wait for another day, but not too long because some of the flowers may fade if I wait too long.