Weekend Checklist

• Replaced the stolen pooper-scooper at Western Feed. The theft happened several months ago - the crowd at the store was incredulous that the scooper was stolen in the first place;
• Found one young, dead possum in yard, and sighted another live one in the driveway: Ugly! Last week, Sparky had alerted me to a young possum hiding under the lawn mower (probably the one that turned up dead - Sparky probably knows more about how that happened than he's comfortable talking about);
• Washed Sparky, and combed him, in an effort to control a flea infestation;
• Took risks, but succeeded in using an inadequate step ladder placed on top of the shed attached to the house in order to mount my roof. Unlike Christian Bale in "Batman Begins," who swung from rooftop to fire escape to train top, I was very careful getting on top and getting off the roof. I didn't want to end up like my first ballet instructor, George Zoritch. One day, around 1987 or so, he showed up to dance class with his arm in a sling, limping, with black eyes and bruises. He had fallen off his roof during the weekend. I bet an active guy like himself had been overconfident - like Christian Bale in the movie! My roof is tall, though, and a fall would really, really hurt!;
• Replaced the duct tape holding together the crumbling brick chimney on top of the house, for the first time in two years;
• Trimmed the overhanging tree limbs immediately above house and reset the rotating duct fan;
• Fixed a gutter; and,
• Tried to see the IMAX version of "Batman Begins," in order to revel in the dangers I had just slipped past on my own roof, but walked out after an hour, feeling tired and queasy after having been in the sun all afternoon.