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A Photo Essay of an At-Home Adventure

Yes, this blog is about my adventures in the wilderness, but not all wild adventures involve leaving the house.

I went to make coffee this morning but I had trouble getting to the coffee pot. Someone (my son? his weirdo friend who has been visiting so long that I'm beginning to suspect he's moved in with us?) left some weirdo Asian instant coffee out on the counter, and my other son's electric kettle is there too.


Next, it was time to make lunch. I went to try and get my lunch bag from the hall closet but the door was blocked by many pairs of shoes - my sons', along with the weirdo friend from Detroit who may have moved in with us.


Then, it was back to the kitchen to make lunch. I already mentioned the mess around the coffee pot. The rest of our counter space was covered with other clutter including a gigantic Slurpee mug, our blender, and some ice packs which have been sitting there since last weekend. For the record, I bought those ice packs earlier this year. My sons are welcome to use them, but they need to learn to put things away.


I went to get a container for my salad and discovered that, as usual, whoever emptied the dishwasher just threw the plastic containers into the cupboard and slammed the door shut before the containers could all tumble back out. I had to spend some time straightening things out (this is the "after" picture).


with container in hand I set to making myself a salad. I went to throw out some vegetable trimmings and discovered that the trash is full as always. Someday I must get my family to watch a YouTube video on "how to take out the trash."


The good news is that they cook for themselves. The bad news is that they leave the kitchen splattered with all kinds of goop. Yesterday the floor was covered in home-made marinara sauce. Today it was some unidentified goop on the counter. I went to wipe off the counter, but the sponge was missing in action. I took some consolation in the fact that there were fewer dirty dishes than usual.


Somehow I managed to finish making my lunch. Before I left for work I wanted to check one more thing - whether I had the picture hooks I needed to rehang some pictures. Oops, my workbench is blocked by a large collection of pallets. I could swear that last week my son said they'd only be there a day or so until he dismantled them to reuse the wood for a reclaimed wood desk he's building.


Finally, time to leave for work. I take a quick look around my living room, which is polluted with large Pelican cases. There's also customized Segway parked there. I happily leave this place to go to the office.


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Location: Arlington, VA, USA

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