[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyw-TDLF6yQ]

Because I was becoming completely OCD about the floors and any dust that would settle on them. Which is a lot. They are dark floors, after all. One can’t sustainably sweep 6 times a day. Clearly I didn’t think that one through.

But my little Roomba keeps everything neat and tidy. And it’s not nearly as loud as it sounds in the video. You can schedule it to run on its own at a preset time. But only once a day. WTF? I run it 3-4 times a day right now (Kris and Brock think that will decrease as the newness wears off. I think they underestimate me).

So far it’s been just perfect ~ always finds it’s docking station, makes happy little noises, and keeps me company when I’m cleaning. I know that probably sounds strange, but it’s always more fun to have someone working alongside you. Roomba does the trick for me. I’m thinking about dressing it up for Halloween and maybe decorating it with ornaments at Christmas.

What an amazing night! The salmon were jumping like crazy at the Locks ~ I’ve never seen that before. They filled the canal and were leaping out of the water in droves. All I needed was a net…

Then the bio luminescence on the water as we crossed the shipping lanes was intense. Schools of bait fish were lit up and KJ’s wake looked like a jet drive behind us. The water is perfectly calm and flat ~ it’s one of the most gorgeous nights I’ve ever seen out here. Off to enjoy with my man!

So KJ has acquired near-celebrity status now (in my own mind at least!).

Discovery Channel has been filming onboard all week for Shark Week 2009 with the Team Hydrus guys! They were successful in their sightings of six gill sharks and got quite a bit of good footage. It takes about a year to produce a program, but in the meantime you can catch views of our girl at WetPixel’s website ~ they were also onboard in the past week and were uploading footage during their time on the water.

WOOOoooT!

The Perseids meteor shower peak has become a Mama holiday as far as the kids are concerned (which is fine with me, as I could skip the Christmas thing entirely) and we headed out into the woods for the best viewing. While we were there, we continued another long-standing tradition ~ the Lang Olympics. Contests such as rock throwing, river crossing, jewelry creation (with stuff you find in the woods), and so on were held with much fanfare and torch-lighting (plus some Olympic theme singing).

We had some of the best camping ever (Brock’s camp pancakes are simply marvelous) with all the classics: microbears, s’mores, shooting stars, cylume stick catch. We made it to the highest road in Washington (Slate Peak, 7488 ft, 19 miles out of Mazama) and were seriously wowed by the 360 views. I’ve never seen anything like it without having to climb quite a bit (almost seemed like cheating!).

I forgot to tell you, T, when Industrial Strength Dean went diving, he also found the whatchamacallit pole and thought it was interesting enough to bring to the surface as well. There’s a reason I like him! Anyway, he has a friend who’s into old weird things and will now have this to add to his collection.

And I must also mention that I have a killer flip-flop tan. That definitely means I’m having a great summer!