The grass is growing steadily, though not evenly. No worries there, I'm in no rush, but I'm happy with the color and consistency of the Bermuda.

The painting is done. I'm quite satisfied - no more circusy color scheme. I like the look of the painted tile, it provides a subtle break from the wall texture without clawing for attention.


Of course, it was pretty ugly from weathering, so any paint was going to be an improvement.



The terraces are not so gaudy, and will work even better when something starts growing. Speaking of...




I finally had my two rolls of pinhole developed, I shot them at the draft.

R, Dan and Dave came down this past weekend. Besides the requisite Halo, Winner, surfing, and tasty food/drink, we were on a mission to clear the rocks out of the second terrace. It's difficult to describe the size of the task. But I should add that Dan cleared out the three juniper stumps that confounded the other two a year ago. Also the pier for the late satellite dish was hammerdrilled down to size.

The surf session at Fletcher's was pretty exciting. Cleanout sets in September, E says he had an overhead. Warm water, too.



Now that the lower portion of the wall is exposed, I'm inclined to give it a fresh layer of paint since that light blue and tile is ugly. I'm inclined to go very dark green to match the house/deck trim and work well with the red brick.

We planted some grass seeds and I'm keeping it very damp. Out front I've set up the drippers - keeping them pretty close together. They do a good job of wetting down the whole area. I just need to partially bury them, though the grass will do a good job of that.

I've finally made the jump to two fantasy leagues, but will maintain my own rule that
Thou shalt not speak of thine 'other fantasy league' whilst conversing about a league.
Unless it's really interesting.



Medieval Gridiron went with a paper draft this year, drawing managers from as far as San Francisco and New York just to participate in this archaic player selection method. Except Bret phoned it in.



The spiritual successor to the 071109 party, there was excellent food and enough drink to prevent dehydration in the sweltering September sun. Distractions included a closer-than-expected USC-SJ game, as well as some outdoor activities.



Like any good draft there was no lack of intense thought, debate, criticism, and spirited finger pointing.




Cheryl worked very hard to provide the decor and Big Board, for that I promised her plenty of imagery to document her efforts.



Sunday was the first full game of Axis, it took a mere nine hours to find a winner. Long story short:

• Germany (black) struggled with the eastern front, and finished the game at their original boundary. Its huge success was sinking the British invasion fleet twice, leaving the UK unable to move troops late in the game and producing less than twenty per turn.
• Japan (orange) kept America very busy (see Italy) in the Pacific. There were two large air/navy battles leaving each side with virtually nothing, however Japan managed to simultaneously shuttle troops to Asia. The game decision is half owed to the mechanized front approaching the Kremlin from Russia, China, and the newly-factoried India.
• Italy (maroon, around the Med) had a bit of a struggle in the Middle East. But since this area cannot easily be reinforced (especially with the British fleet at the bottom of the Channel) the Italians took Africa. The Axis stroke of luck came when the Italians landed a single artillery unit on an undefended Eastern US. The money did Italy little good, but draining the American treasury was a coup de grace.
• Russia (maroon, in Asia) managed eastern Europe very well. It retook both Karelia and Caucusus after losing them, and wasn't losing steam on their western front even as the end came. Unfortunately Japan made slow, deliberate progress across their eastern buffer.
• Great Britain (tan) landed in Europe a few times. Feinting into France won them some temporary production and would have also helped the US (via national objectives) had the Italians not been able to reclaim the country both times. Taking Norway sapped the German industry and put the pince on German Karelia, which was soon retaken by Russia. The Brits' fatal flaw, other than taking on the dice-rolling ice man, was to leave its fleet consolidated and open to air strikes.
• The United States (green) spent most of its resources trying to get back on level terms in the Pacific. While it did achieve parity in warships and clear air superiority, its long arm never managed to reach the south Pacific's prosperous islands. The Yanks fell victim to the Italian covert ops and lost its war money, preventing a push for Tokyo.