Holidays 2010

I figured that I ought to post on my blog before I'm charged with neglect and stripped of my guardianship status....

The last month has been one thing after the other. Always something to do, from the everyday maintenance tasks required in the household, to setting up all the trappings of the holiday, to dealing with the unexpected.

In the second year of our artificial tree, we got some new ornaments to fill out the increase in coverage area --- and replace ones that dated from the 70s and 80s and were in sad condition. I also had to string in some new lights to cover for half a string that wouldn't light. That's really disappointing, but it's not unexpected in these days where all the 'Made in China' products are designed to break in short order so we have to buy more 'Made in China' stuff. I try to 'Buy American' when it's possible and worthwhile, but that's often a fruitless and frustrating search.

We got our Christmas shopping done in spurts. Lincoln Log sets for my nieces along with some educational books and a snow tube. I'm not someone who believes in buying baubles for people, so my gifting is almost always things that are of everyday use. Mom & Dad got a set of 10" and 12" Calphalon nonstick frying pans. My brother got an apple peeler/slicer and a stainless steel food mill (the type for making tomato/apple/pear sauce and, come to find out, can be used for mashed potatoes). Also, we gave some maple cream ordered online from Sugarbush Hollow farm in upstate New York. Otherwise, we're filling in with some gift certificates that are earmarked for books or home wares.

I've been preparing quite a bit of comfort food and trying to maintain some sense of order in the refrigerator as things have been coming in. As one example, I've become something of a pusher for the bottles of beer that have accumulated and encroached on my leftover storage space.

The woodpile needed some replenishing, as we burn about 4-1/2 to 5 cords of wood per winter. We have plenty of unsplit supply at our woodlot, but the seasoned stacks are getting pretty low. I hope the two trailer loads we got will hold out. "Gettin' in the wood" and doing some splitting for next year's supply would seem to be the next project. That's going to be a little challenging, what with the near blizzard that is currently dumping a projected 12"-24" of snow by tomorrow morning. This isn't the best time of year to be outside splitting wood in terms of the weather, but I suppose it is the best time in an effort to avoid ticks and Lyme disease, which has a high incidence in this area.

So, onward and upward as we close out this year. I suppose I will be back shortly to post some New Years' resolutions. That's not something I've ever done with any seriousness, but it might not be a bad idea to list out some goals for 2011.

Christmas Trees

By Robert Frost (A Christmas circular letter - 1920)

The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods — the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine, I said,
"There aren’t enough to be worth while."
"I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over."

“You could look.
But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north. He said, “A thousand.”

“A thousand Christmas trees! — at what apiece?”

He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.

(image (c) Four Winds Ranch)

Fits and Starts

In a scene in the movie "Swing Time," Fred Astaire had to toss an umbrella across a room, into an umbrella stand. On the day of filming, it just didn't go his way. He later said,

"I did it 45 times, and it always hit the edge. So I said, 'That's it! Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'm coming back, and I'm going to get [it] … I came back next morning fresh as a daisy, and that umbrella went into the stand on the first take."

I can't begin to tell how many times things have gone like this at times for me --- where the feel of something isn't right and you know you should quit or do something else for a while, and come back to the problem later. There is a great amount of wisdom in knowing the moment when you have to take a step back, rather than pressing on and making a problem worse by building up frustration. Working while angry is not generally conducive to productivity --- things get thrown, work gets sloppy and the anger consumes energy and tires its host. Admitting that something isn't working, rethinking and regrouping is not a sign of failure. A break often lets us see the problem in a different way --- either through analysis, remembering something forgotten, visualizing something going right and the steps necessary, and in physical challenges like in Mr. Astaire's case, getting a fresh spatial read on the situation and what the solution is going to take. I'm a big fan of productive breaks when there's something else that can be worked on.

And then there are some days when it's like the universe is telling you to go back to bed and wait for tomorrow. I had one of those days several years ago. It started with running out of battery charge in the middle of shaving, and the day went downhill from there. I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember that quite literally, nothing --- not one thing --- went right. In the evening I decided to wash a load of clothes and "try to get something productive done today." About a minute after the water started running into the washing machine, the plastic casing on the whole-house filter, located directly above the washer, cracked and stared spewing water, water everywhere. There are days like that. But, fortunately I've found, these days are often closely followed by ones where it seems like nothing can go wrong. It all evens out in the end.

10 November 2010

It's been awhile since my last post and I'm entering a blog post to inform all of my readers (that is, myself) that I am still alive and kicking. Since I last wrote, me and my cousin installed a tile floor in the same basement as in the post immediately below. In flooring you are given certain givens that are hard (and sometimes nigh impossible) to overcome satisfactorily. In many other applications, like the wall veneering, things can be mitigated and jury-rigged.... but a floor has to be level. Or, as level as one can get it. It would've helped in this particular house if the guys who poured the foundation / basement floor back in the '60s had actually been sober or gave a sh-- what they were doing. We managed to produce something workable out of the nightmare scenario that was present. I have done a 4' x 5' tiling job before using adhesive and pre-mixed grout, but it would have been nice to learn the from-scratch mastic and sanded grout tiling on a level floor. It was nice to be able to work with my cousin on this one; besides good-natured ribbing about him being a Democrat, we see things eye-to-eye and get along very well.

Foremost, I think, is our appreciation for using quality materials and doing a job correctly one time, as opposed to times when a homeowner buys straw and expects the installer to turn it into gold. Doing a job right the first time is always less expensive than paying to put in shoddy materials, then paying to deconstruct and reinstall when they fail. I ran into a family friend at Lowe's a while ago who was finally buying a good-quality kitchen faucet after having gone through four cheap models in the previous 5 years. This person has a buddy who'll install the faucet for a case of beer, so that is something of a saving grace rather than paying a plumber. Now, the savings on the so-called "cheap" models is about $40 give or take. But, rather than put in a reliable Kohler or Moen brand for a one-off $200, this guy probably spent $580 to $600 on faucets in the last five years. Whereas, picking the right faucet at the outset would have saved him about $400 and four cases of beer (plus, as he said it, the "Wife Inconvenience Factor" of not having water during each of those removal and installs).

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Got Ruff a so-called "Gentle Leader" collar yesterday and after some fits and starts, he was doing pretty well with it today on a walk on the dirt roads up the hill where I like to walk with him. This collar's function is to provide some tension on the muzzle so there is no lunging or pulling while walking. Apparently, this muzzle hold is what the wolf pack alpha uses to keep the others in line; nature and 10,000 years of domestication hasn't changed this methodology. Even for the first use (and I found out after the walk that I had missed a doohickey that eliminates slack in one of the straps), it seemed to calm him down a lot. I expect to be putting it to the test more in the coming days and weeks, and I'm certain it'll get my unvarnished opinion right here on TMT.

The Stove Wall

Started a fieldstone veneering project about three weeks ago and finished it up last night. The space is located close behind a wood stove, so wallboard or wood was never possible there for the homeowner because it would be a fire hazard according to the local code. All heated elements of the stove need to be 18 inches away from wood (the upper beam's length from the stovepipe is just over 18 inches (whew!). But stone is a fine material to use in an application like this, and really fits with the rest of the house (there is a stone-lined wall directly above this on the first floor), and accentuates the post-and-beam feel in this walk-out basement. The measurements of the wall to be veneered are 7 1/2 feet tall by 9 feet wide.

I hung up the wire lath material last winter in anticipation of getting to it this season when the wood stove was idle (the cement would harden too fast if applied while the stove was in use). With it being against a cinder block wall, the easiest way to secure it was with a Duo-Fast ram-fire gun that used .22 cartridges that propel a 1" cement nail. I placed a #10 washer over the ram gun nail before I fired it so it would be sure to catch the mesh, rather than just go straight through a mesh hole. It took 4 pieces of lath, which had to be cut both for fit and stovepipe and ash door openings. The lath is very sharp, but my usual heavy-duty rubber-lined gardening gloves stood up to it nicely. These types of glove provide a great balance of protection without losing so much tactile grip.The lath is the best material and method to use because it adds a great amount of strength to the project. A bond between previously hardened cement and new cement is prone to failure if materials or specialized liquid additives aren't applied or used. With the lath, the cement hardens around the meshing and gives a strong bond.

Getting to it three weeks ago, the first step was amassing the stone that I'd be using, which I tried to keep at about 2 inches of thickness, give or take, so it wouldn't jut out too far from the 2x8s that frame it in. Some masons like to lay out a pattern on the floor and apply it piece by piece rather than determining fit on the fly. I didn't really have that luxury, but it went all right regardless. That process would be something to try to see if it quickens the pace, but as it went I don't think it would save all that much time. There would also bound to be problems in the translation between the theory of the layout and the reality of when stones go up on the wall. And I think it would kill some of the improvisation and artistry that goes into a wall like this. For example, using a photo from an old magazine as inspiration, I put in some metal tabs for support and laid in a small shelf on the left side.

I took some pictures showing the process that it takes to place a stone. This isn't intended to be a step-by-step of tools and instructions --- that is available in how-to books --- but I'll share my process here quickly, with accompanying pictures in an order that I hope this Blogger software doesn't totally boggle.

First, the stones have to be clean of dirt and debris to ensure good bonding with the cement. The cement should be mixed to a consistency that is often described as peanut butter. Those unaccustomed to mixing cement should be careful and add just a small amount of water at a time. Before applying to a stone, I take a trowel of cement and do several drops of it against the bottom of the mixing tub. This brings out some of the water to the outside of the ball of cement, congeals it a bit into a shiny surface, and makes it a little cleaner to work with.

I wet down the back of the stone because a dry stone will tend to suck out moisture from the cement too fast. I applied cement to the back of the stone, then tapped it down with the side of the trowel, making a score mark pattern, which helps the cement get into the tiny cracks and crags of the stone. I applied the stone against the lath in the position that I wanted it in, and did an initial press-in. Most stones required some wood shims (the wood lets go fairly easily once the cement is dried) to keep a consistent thickness for the finish grouting between stones. The exact time of when to add the shims is dependent on each individual stone's fit and steadiness against the wall. If shimming can be held off briefly, it will reduce the amount of clutter in the way of tapping and troweling.

I used a rubber mallet to tap the stones into place and to force the cement to work into and behind the lath. This is also accomplished with a trowel for smoothing the cement and, in tight spaces and odd corners, fingers must be used (I recommend wearing latex gloves when touching cement for any length of time, as it takes a toll on skin).

Some stones didn't require bracing, but most did. Obviously, as the stone courses got higher, the bracing boards needed to be longer. I leaned them against the stone, kept pressure toward the wall, and butted a stone on the floor behind the brace to hold it in place, and did a few gentle taps on the floor stone with the rubber mallet toward the brace to secure it.


After each course of stone was laid, I brushed them off with a brass-bristle wire brush to remove cement spots. This can get pretty dusty, and wears away at the brushes pretty fast.

The last step, once most of the stones were up on the wall, was filling in between them with cement. This was the most labor-filled part of the project. Tried using a grout bag, but the consistency of cement needed for it to flow out was a deal-breaker on this axial plane, as it would have run down the face of the stones. So, it took a while of shaping small balls of cement and pushing them into the joints (which when placing the stones, I tried to keep at about a finger-width). I usually tried to split the difference and meet at the perimeters or edges of the stones that are in a particular spot. This is also the point where I would fill in smaller gaps by pushing in small stones into the already-packed joints and then smoothing the cement around these space-fillers. I generally tried to keep a slightly concave U shape to the joints, similar to the grouting on traditional brickwork. Then wire-brushing should be done when it was almost dried. This final brushing is one of the critical points in how each stone is going to be showcased. As I just wrote, I generally tried to stick to the tradition slightly concave U shape, but there are some special considerations, such as where a few stones stick out farther than the rest. This is the opportunity to show off a bit of their profile rather than grout all the way to their edges. As much as stonework is about brute heft with a fixed, matter-of-fact purpose, there is a lot of room for artistry.

Following the final wire brushing, which leaves a lot of cement filings, I did clean-up with a Shop-Vac that has an insert bag, so as to keep the cement dust from simply recycling back into the air and redepositing on everything. This vacuum is also powerful enough to get all of the dust so it won't be tracked all through the home. I used the brush attachment to go all over the dried stones, to vacuum off whatever dust and bits of cement that were left, and then the 1/2 inch of the previously mentioned cement filings on the floor. Then again, clean-up is something that happens every day as I try to keep the area organized. Bits of cement fall to the floor --- it's a fact of any veneering like this. In all, six 80-pound bags of  S-type cement (the recommended type for veneering projects like this) were used. And proudly, I can say that the cement wastage I collected over the three weeks would fill about a gallon milk jug to about three-quarters. Not too bad.

It was a process of finding fits and trying to fill gaps (there were a lot of V-shaped gaps while setting stones that I was a little worried about, but which really melt into the picture once finished). There were small trials of having to support stones over the ash doors so they had nothing to rest on at the bottom. There were a few spots where the cinder blocks jutted out a half-inch or more than surrounding parts. You innovate and work around it, you save this thin stone for that spot. No big deal. I was able to use mostly medium-sized stones in this wall, several large stones (one up high on the right side that I particularly like) and some small stones and it all came together in a consistent pattern.

I'm very pleased with how the wall came out. A feature like this is a real eye-catcher and really turned around the look of this area for the homeowner. The time on it was about 120 hours.

The Rose Wall, Part II

I completed building the rose wall last week, with the finished pictures below.

The roses I put in the bed were a little worse for wear, but they've bounced back somewhat even in this short amount of time --- the one that looked almost dead is now sprouting three small leaves. It should have adequate growing time left to establish some roots and be able to overwinter. This bed design also makes it pretty easy to fill in around the roses with some fallen leaves for insulation. Filled the plant bed up with some nice topsoil and (according to the rose planting instructions) 50/50 mix of topsoil and potting soil around the roots. Scratched in some rose fertilizer the next day, then put on about 3 inches of brown landscaping mulch to help keep the soil from drying out.

Very pleased with this project. Altogether, it took about 50-55 hours of labor. Well, that's not including the time spent picking and loading two trailer-loads of stone from property across town. Hard going, that, prying each stone up from the soil that is reluctant to loosen its grasp. But it was a little easier using a large garden cart that was outfitted with old bicycle tires. So at least I didn't have to walk every stone down to the road. I've taken a lot of stone out of that place, and just when you think that there can't be much more usable stone left --- stone that has the flat, slightly angular faces needed for a nice-looking wall, you find an untapped section that's loaded with them.

Have an interior wall lining coming up that I've already done some prep work on and need to get finished before the season ends and wood stove heating season begins.

The Rose Wall, or 'It's Turtles All the Way Down!'

Started this a few weeks ago and it's been an off-and-on project when I've had some time between others.

As usual, I've used what was there from deconstruction (the old wall was haphazardly thrown together quite a long time ago out of available rocks and was starting to falling apart) along with bringing in a supplement of nicer-faced stone. The first decision was to step it out from being just a flat retaining wall, because of several monstrous "turtles" at ground level that are nearly impossible to build on sturdily. These are so termed because of their turtle-shelled shapes. Nothing can lay flat on top of them, without some serious back, front, and side wedging that is subject to failure when going up against frost heaves and force majeure. Better to come up with a design that avoids those turtles altogether. With consideration to how much stone/time it would take, and the fact that there were some unplanted roses in the yard --- white and red... how very Hundred Years War --- an idea to create some steps up to the higher bank merged into a raised flowerbed design, and a stone seating area. Just to note that I also offered the idea of creating a small water feature, which actually wouldn't cost too much, but with a lake about 20 feet away, this wasn't favored. It's all about choice, and giving options.

I have broken the rules of dry stone wall construction on this one, I will admit. On any given site, there are things one just has to work around, notably here are the two rocks on the left side. On top of the largest stone whose top is turtle-ish (but which couldn't very well be mitigated), I used some Liquid Nails exterior adhesive the other day. So, this is not a completely "dry" wall. The stone was solid as set and will be tied down by large stone on top of it, but I felt much more comfortable with a little extra insurance, that will last, per the copy on the adhesive tube "for the life of your project."

It's coming along pretty well, and I've had a few days of having "the hot hand," which is always a good feeling.

14 August 2010

We were in the Christmas Tree Shops the other day stocking up on some Voortman cookies (this seems to be the only place that carries the brand for our favorite windmill cookies) and not 10 feet into the store, the rear cart wheel bumped into something. I looked down to see a small black pouch that looked like a change purse. Didn't look in it, but it turned out to be a minimalist purse. At check-out a few minutes later, the cashier next to us said he was waiting for a lady who forgot her wallet in her car. Well, what 're the odds? As she walked back in the store I directed her over to the service desk where we'd left it. The woman started thanking us profusely and said that her heart was still beating out of control.

I've been in the same boat. A pair of green khakis I wore back at the U had a back pocket that things slipped out of easily enough.... One day after leaving the campus library, come to find out that the usual bump in the seat wasn't there. Panic. Looked around me on the bus. Tried to backtrack, which included a long walk between buildings. Finally got back to the library to one of my usual seats and there it was, untouched. (I did change my PIN number on bank cards, etc. that day just to be safe.)

Still remember that wallet --- very worn brown leather bi-fold featuring a faint hunting dog stamp pattern, with black stitch lacing along the perimeters. It finally fell apart about a year after I graduated. It was old when I started using it after finding it in a drawer as a teen and I got about ten years out of it. Its replacement still doesn't have 1 percent the character that old wallet had.

28 July 2010

Reported for jury duty this morning, which was a new experience in the thrilling brand of the American court system. It consisted of 6 hours sitting on my bum on a hard oak pew, watching other business-casual-clad citizens answer questions like where they and their spouses work, whether they can be impartial, etc. And in the end, I never had to say a word and literally have nothing to show for those 6 hours, not even the proverbial "I spent 6 hours waiting in jury duty and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt. We got some loose parameters of the civil case being tried, none of which I will be going into here or elsewhere, per instructions. Will see whether I get re-called for another case at a later date.

This episode put a bit of a crunch on an upcoming project, as I didn't know whether I would be available on such-and-such dates. But that's how it goes in the functioning of the 6th and 7th amendments. In a world where some governments don't hesitate to presume guilt, lop off body parts or simply let injustice reign free... if a loss of 6 hours (with meager compensation) is my worst problem I have no cause for complaint.

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Canned and processed some of our garden cucumbers a couple of weeks ago, and today tried some of the non-water bath fridge batch for the first time. Not too bad. A slightly strong garlic taste, but they are undoubtedly dill pickles. Tried several different slicing methods in the batch --- chips, spears and so-called "sandwich stacker" cuts. We have more pickles now than we'll likely use in the next year (which is the shelf life for these). Really getting a handle on preserving. Might try some of the green beans next. Then again, I might not... we might just eat them all fresh.

"My Repair"

I was really pleased when I first heard this song, a duet of The Noises and Brandi Carlile, last year. It might be better than any of the collaborations from her most recent album. Brandi's oft-dominating voice combines with Jason Scavone's in a great harmony. It is a little muted here --- played in a live venue --- compared to the studio recording and there are a couple of misplaced pauses or too-drawn-out notes, but it is nonetheless a nice performance. It also helps that it's a great little tune in a lyrical sense, with a catchy, short rhyming scheme.

Hot and Bothered

The thermometer has been in the high-80 / low-90 degree range for the past few days here, with accompanying dew points in the 70s (read: oppressive humidity). Too much of this type of weather has a tendency to wear on my nerves, and doubtless this is true for many people.

But, last night giving the ol' middle finger to the weather, I took Ruff on about a half-mile walk-run-walk and then put some rib eyes and squash on the grill. 'Course, the grilling was full of caveats --- Step C needed to be done before Step B, and Step A couldn't be done until after Step C, and Step D.... This kind of situation is tolerable to me, regularly, but the closeness of the air has a way of bringing down the boiling point, so to speak. But here we are, I got through it. Ruff got some water, panted for a while, and had a nap on the cold basement floor. I took a cool shower, we have the air conditioner on, and all is well, until I go outside again.

Ruff is 6 months old today. Still being debated whether he'll get the big snip at the vet. I really it would be best, but the other point is whether we could use him for breeding. Having helped raise three litters of GSPs during my late teen years, I can honestly say that I am not in any hurry to do that again. With a male, though, that isn't the consideration. My argument is that breeders typically don't go outside of their own circle in selecting pairings and they use dogs that are well tested, so it's probably a moot point anyway. To be sure, one doesn't go into breeding to make money --- it's nearly even-steven money-wise, and then factor in the opportunity cost of the many hours of effort. But to avoid any potential accidents in this area of puppy-making, I think it best to have Ruff neutered. The running wisdom also adds that neutering helps to calm dogs a bit, which, given the last few weeks' behavior (chewing things that aren't his to chew, including two electrical cords (they were unplugged)), is desirable.

Cutting Hair in the Kitchen

By James Dufresne

The buzzing of the electric clippers
makes me think of my first-generation Dutch
grandmother (we called her Beppa)
cutting the hair of my cousins in the kitchen
at the farm in Western New York.

Far removed from those days. Cousins
now estranged through family feuds,
busy with jobs or school, and
now tending what remains through the ether.
I take out heavy mirrors and try to get my bearings;

In the reflection, left is right, up is down.  I can hear
the thick accent say, "Yimmy! Your turn, Yimmy!"
and the saving graces of my father, who stubbornly
explained to this equally stubborn, weighty queen bee
that our hair was cut back in Connecticut.

The times of the home haircut have returned ---
no need to spend $20 for a man's crew. A few up-swipes
with a No. 2, topped with a No. 6. A touch of the
infamous Dutch thrift carries on in me. And
don't cut hair over carpet. That is what I learned there.

USA 1 - 0 ALGERIA

From out of the World Cup tournament... to clinching the round-robin Group C, with a single kick.

New York Times story link.

On a perfect set-up from goalie Tim Howard who created a 4-on-2 rush, Landon Donovan scored in the first minute of stoppage time to lift the U.S. side to victory and a spot in the Round of 16.

I can understand those people who hate on soccer. I, too, dislike watching players trying to draw fouls by flopping to the turf and acting like they've been shot when there is the least amount of contact. I can't quite understand all the nuances and Calvinball nature of off-sides penalties --- sometimes, it's OK to be past the last defender, and sometimes it's not). And soccer is a sport that badly needs replay, at least at the World Cup level where the technology is definitely available. But we'll put all that aside for the moment and let these players do a little basking.

The way the USA has fought back against the odds, from one or two goals behind late into their matches, against the other 11 men, against the refs who are either physically blind / hallucinogenic, on the take with odds-makers or who harbor personal hate of America, against FIFA for the attitude that soccer is for the 'rest of the world' and want to protect their sport from American dominance. We're still in it and the USA never gives up!

Truth be told, I also have a rooting interest for the Netherlands, a team that has a good chance to win the whole tournament, according to some experts.

Putting the 'Cracy' in Representative Democracy

Having access to Netflix's online selections recently, I've discovered the BBC's "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" series from the '80s. I had caught several episodes on the Rhode Island PBS station (WSBE) over the years, but that station hasn't been reliable since the digital broadcast switch last year, coupled with the fact that these shows are out of their so-called 'Brit-com' line-up.

Wikipedia has a nicely done entry on the series, which follows the rise of Jim Hacker MP (played by Paul Eddington) as Minister of the Administrative Affairs department --- and eventually to 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister of the U.K. At his side --- or many times, behind Hacker's back --- is Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne), the permanent secretary who makes the all-too-polite backstabbing, doublespeak and thirst for civil service bureaucratic control look so charming, is ready to wrap everything in red tape at a moment's notice. These two made for such a great acting team, and the script-writing of petty, absurd and Sgt. Shultz-like bureaucracy still has bite nearly 30 years later.

I was an avid watcher of "The West Wing" and I imagine that somewhere in between the style of these shows is how government really functions.

"There's no earthly way of knowing / Which direction we are going / There's no knowing where we're rowing / Or which way the river's flowing / Is it raining? / Is it snowing? / Is a hurricane a-blowing? / Not a speck of light is showing / So the danger must be growing / Are the fires of hell a-glowing? / Is the grisly reaper mowing? / Yes! The danger must be growing / For the rowers keep on rowing / And they're certainly not showing / Any signs that they are slowing!"

--- Willy Wonka in "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" (1971)

9 June 2010

Yesterday, I processed two batches of strawberry-rhubarb jam, using a slightly different recipe than from my last post. We opened a jar of one of those and it was a little too thin and sugary for my taste; the rhubarb was like candied fruit. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly edible and delicious on a bit of buttered toast or English muffin. Still, I think those four that are left are going to be the give-away jars.... Well, let me fine-tune that sentence a bit. I want the jars themselves back. It gets expensive having to replace those, don't you know. Really is a shame that the glass-top jars aren't recommended for canning anymore, as there's probably 100 of them under the workbench downstairs. I guess they'll just be nuts-and-bolts jars now.

Anyway, yesterday I used an envelope of pectin and reduced the Jell-o to one small box. The pectin really helped to firm the mixture up to a proper jam consistency. In the interest of preserving some of the rhubarb's tartness, I also cut down the sugar from 8 cups to 5 cups. In all, it produced 12 half-pint jelly jars and two pint-sized jars, and there was about 1/2 cup left over that I gave to our neighbor.

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Made an appointment for today at the veterinarian for Ruff to get current on his vaccinations and such. The little boy was 5 months old yesterday. Growing like a weed.

Training is a constant process, and he's doing well in house-breaking. Only a few accidents when he gets really excited --- if someone new comes over or when his favorite human, Papa, comes home from being away for an extended time. Otherwise, he's been very good with telling us he needs to go outside. He's gradually getting better with staying on this bed while everyone's eating. Ruff is also doing well on walks, but he still has work to do with not pulling on the leash. Word is that he was the Alpha / lead dog in his puppy litter, and he needs to learn that here, he's the Beta. And on that note, I think it's time for a morning walk.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

The first rule when making strawberry-rhubarb jam is that you must not tell anyone you're making strawberry-rhubarb jam. You will get hit up for a jar by so many people there soon won't be any jars left for your own pantry.

Started the day yesterday by reading a 40-page PDF file by the USDA about the principles of home canning. Don't you just love the Internet? The night before, I had dumped 8 cups of sugar on top of 8 cups of diced rhubarb and by morning it was a syrupy, watery concoction as the recipe had promised. As a humectant, sugar draws water out of foodstuffs. Looked in the attic to see what we had for canning supplies and found a yellow 12-quart Presto brand cooker-canner, that I am told was either a wedding present my parents received or was bought at a tag sale. Certainly made my expectation of the process feel a little easier, as I was expecting I'd have to sterilize and do the hot water bath in an old lobster pot. After discovering that we only have the Ball-Mason jars with wire enclosures and glass lids that the USDA recommends not to use anymore, a short drive to Big Y supplied me with 12 pint-size canning jars with thin metal lids and screw-top bands. Also picked up a nearby set of new hot-jar-handling tools.

Once I had all the items marshaled, the process seemed to go smoothly, even though it was my first attempt at canning. All you need to do is read about it and follow directions. I'm pretty good at that. So, I started boiling some water in the cooker-canner to sterilize the new jars and lids. It fit five, and with an eyeball estimate, I figured that would be about enough to can what I had and put whatever was left over in the fridge. Cooked down the rhubarb, sliced strawberries and other ingredients, including two large packets of strawberry Jell-O. Now, if this seems to you like a lot of sugar is used here, get behind me in line. But, as Garrison Keillor says, when cooking with rhubarb, you have to (paraphrasing here) 'add sugar to the point where you think it must be really, really sweet. Teeth coming out of your gums sweet. Then add six cups more sugar than that.' He's not far off.

Anyway, I then ladled the rhubarb mixture into the canning jars to 1/4" from the top, as directed, wiped the rims to make sure of a good seal, put on the thin lids and screwed down the bands to a firm tightness. It filled the five jars, almost exactly --- there was enough left to cover one half of an English muffin. Not a bad estimation! Then, they went back into the cooker-canner water bath. I probably left them in longer than necessary, but that's not a bad thing. The strawberry-rhubarb just needs 5 minutes in this stage. The point of the water bath --- killing harmful bacterias --- has a shorter time requirement for this mixture because it is so acidic it keeps most any bacteria from establishing. Once I took the jars out of the pan, they quickly made small popping sounds --- the lids being pulled down as air escaped from the jars over the waxy ring on the metal lids. Success! Don't ask me how air gets out of the jars but can't get in. Smarter people than I invented and perfected this process.

All told, my first canning experience went very well. I may be making another batch of 5 this week. We'll use 'em up and make it an annual event now that I know how to do it.

I'm a PC, But Windows 7 Was Not My Idea

After looking and waiting for quite awhile, this week I got a new computer at Sam's Club --- the HP dv7-3188cl. This is my first laptop after being a desktop person for all my computing life. This is a little new for me, especially the track-pad that is kind of like playing a guitar, moving between frets. My musical instrument coordination being what it is --- precisely zero --- the purchase of a wireless mouse was a fortunate choice.

But let's start off by explaining what a jump this is. I would liken it to going from an Edsel to a souped-up Lamborghini. Our old computer was bought in 2001, ran XP on 256MB of memory (I think that barely met the minimum requirements for that OS), and though I managed to maintain it for almost 10 years(!), and I got through UConn with it, it was showing its age. It would have to run old versions of software like Java, Flash Player, etc. because the rig couldn't handle system requirements for new updates. It was barely a Web 1.0 machine in an era that is fast approaching Web 4.0. Let's be clear: I have used new computers and stayed current with operating systems, software and such... I just didn't have one of my very own.

While transferring files via the USB port, what took the old computer 45 minutes to load onto the 4GB jump drive took the laptop about 20 seconds to unload. I can play video now without start-and-stop (and in many cases, video just wouldn't load). I'm discovering Hulu and all that. This can move easily from room to room --- something that is nice in this house even more than others. In the semi-finished basement where the computer is, in early fall and late spring it can get chilly, and in winter with the wood stove cranking, it can get sweltering. Yet in summer, cool and dry, the basement is the place to be. Also, with the puppy, portability is great. From many standpoints, this should have happened years ago.

Computer purchasing is quite the labyrinth to enter, though. Full of crags and turns, false floors and lights at the end of the tunnel that are unreachable. First, by all accounts except Microsoft's, Vista was like so much bloatware, a legacy push-through / money-grab before MS had to do a full-on redo. Windows 7 was released late last year. And then the waiting game turned into the matter of the processor. HP, the maker I'd narrowed down to (based on reputation, reviews, etc.) was in the throes of releasing their Core i3/i5/i7 processors. Nothing like getting a new computer and right away being stuck with old hardware at perhaps the most important part of the computer. Newer, better and faster hardware is bound to happen, and yes, at some point in a computer purchase you need to dive in the pool, but it's nice to have a semi-current machine for at least a couple of months.

Sam's Club has been pretty good for us with regard to electronics. Can't complain a bit. Price this laptop's specs on the HP build website and it'll come to over $1,000. Price at Best Buy, etc. and you get fewer features and less memory, for more money. The bulk clubs can get a good price point because they can move so many of them.

And so, I've been setting this up, customizing a few things, changing some icons, getting new wallpapers for the widescreen and bidding fare-thee-well to some of our old 4:3 mainstays, updating programs, deleting some HP bloatware (not much, surprisingly), installed Avast! anti-virus, transferred files, and all that good stuff. Quite happy with it, so far.

HD Latecomers

Noticed this morning that the CBS Early Morning Show is now being broadcast in HD, it being the last of the network morning shows to do so (I don't watch them regularly, so I'm not really sure when this happened, just that it's relatively recent).

Also, came the news that NBC's "Meet the Press" will be aired in HD for the first time tomorrow morning. Seems a little strange that MTP, one of the longest-running shows in all of television, is so late in the day in this regard. Almost every major-network (and PBS) show I can think of is in wide-screen HD besides a couple of low-rent ones like the one on ABC with the British nanny. It has been almost two years since Tim Russert's death, and MTP's new host David Gregory had stuck with the old set until now. From what I saw of the new digs from the preview, it's not anything to write home about --- heavy on bookshelves (Books as props, likely. Wonder how many of them Mr. Gregory has read.... My guess: seven) and opaque blue-glow glass. Too many colors, which is something most people get wrong in design/decoration. If they had worked off of the historic MTP colors of medium blue, gold and white (which are used in the new info/identification bars) a very nice set could have materialized. As it is, the set is very empty and divided down the middle by a large black table (a very 'This Side vs. That Side' feel for a show about politics), and too busy around the perimeter. Not something to write home about, but I guess it is something to write a blog entry about.

With the leaves coming out once again, we've effectively lost WSBK-38 (real-channel 39) from the Boston line-up and WLVI-56 (real-channel 41) was pixelating a bit this evening. It's for just this purpose I went to such heroic measures with our antenna system. It's good to have a back-up for when things go wrong.

1 May 2010

After a day of putting down some grass seed, getting some seeds sown in the garden and strawberry planter pots, and being led into three 1/4-mile walks on the back roads by Ruff, I got inside near 6 p.m. I was taking a shower to get the day's dirt off when I remembered the Kentucky Derby, which would be run shortly. I remember thinking, "I don't know the horses this year, but whichever one Calvin Borel is riding has to be the pick." The dude seems a little simple-minded and has a one-track mind for racing, but hey, when you're really good at one thing, what does it matter? I wouldn't want to bet against him. When I dried off and turned on the television, they were loading the final stall and the race started a few seconds later. And wouldn't you know it.... Super Saver, ridden by Mr. Borel, hugged the rail most of the way and snuck through the field to win by a length or two.

Otherwise, puppy training has been going at its own paces. Ruff is doing better in the box, he's waiting for an 'OK' for certain things (food/water, in/out the door), but he's still got a thing for pilfering shoes from the mat and absconding with them to his bed. Full of vim and vigor, especially so right after feedings, but he's also calmed down appreciably as he's gotten used to the new surroundings and goings-on. Quite the talker and grunter, don't you know.

"Whoever said money doesn't buy friendship obviously never bought a puppy." --- Unknown

My post-count over the past couple of months is positively shameful, I know.

I wrote a while back that we were looking to get a puppy in the spring. This past Saturday, this little guy entered our lives:

We have not officially decided on a name, but for all intents and purposes, I'm going to be calling him "Ruff Ruffman" here. I think it's fitting. And, in the "There are no warnings, only signs" meme, the L.L. Bean adjustable collar we got for him yesterday prominently reads, "RUFFWEAR." I've had designs on the name for quite a while, courtesy of the PBS kids show, "Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman" where a cartoon dog sends human kids on challenges in order to earn points toward a great ... or not-so-great ... prize. There are others here who want to come up with something stuffy like Otto von Brustenfield or something. After having named many of our dogs Sammy Whoopka over the years, venturing something different seems a challenge to some in this house. I like "Ruff." It's playful, fun, short. And it gives an instant intro-conversation piece. One can pitch right in with, "Life was missing its mystique / my squeaky toys had lost their squeak. / When BAM! outta the blue... / I pitched my vision for a show, they loved it --- thought I was a pro! / They got the contract back to find, to their alarm a dog had signed! / Fetch! (It's very catchy!) with Ruff Ruffman! ..." I could go on, but I'll just stop there to avoid completely embarrassing myself.

After so many years of having German shorthaired pointers --- including raising three litters ourselves --- I suppose there is a certain comfort level with the breed. We basically know what we're getting. But even still, for any breed, a slightly chubby male has always seemed to have the best temperament, and following from that, take best to training.

But puppies arrive in this world like a rough-hewn board. Training often only puts a fine sanding to them. Ruff arrived white with black ticking. I've read that GSPs can have black coating, but I'd never seen it. We always had some combination of the chocolate/liver color. The genes make the difference, tho, and I must say with some relief that Ruff sheds exponentially less than our previous GSPs. As someone who is a little compulsive about keeping the house clean, it would be hard to make me happier. It doesn't look like his tail was docked much, and for some reason, still has his dew claws, which are usually removed in the first few days. He's exhibiting the classic separation anxiety of this breed and its close cousins (Weimaraners, Dalmatians), barking and carrying on when they're left in a crate. I'm trying my best to break him of it. After he's firmly house-broken and out of the chewing stage (there have been a few mishaps in the former category) I don't imagine we'll need the crate very often. Ruff also seems to have a medium-sized frame, so he may be close to the breed average of 55-60 pounds when fully grown. Not like our large-pawed, thick-legged Mack and Sammy, who tipped the scaled at about 90 pounds (and not much of it fat). I hate to think so much in terms of comparing Ruff to his predecessors, but there it is.

So, here we are, about to do this again....

14 April 2010

After the stump chipper did its violence to an old pine stump yesterday, I am to dig out the chippings and deliver them to someone who will use them as mulch. Then, filling in the stump-less hole with dirt, then topsoil. Will then be cutting out a chunk of the yard to make the garden bigger, and re-sodding as much as I can from that to the freshly-turned soil where the stump once sat. There's my general orders for the day.

27 March 2010

After a couple of weeks of temperatures in the 60s and a few days in the 70s, this weekend finds us pushed back into the 30s and 40s, and the wood stove is lit again.

Daylight saving time took effect a couple of weeks ago --- I have not posted here in a while. For shame! --- and that has always been a welcome event, by my reckoning. Sure, it means the loss of an hour of sleep that Sunday, but it means gaining an hour of useful sun toward evening. For the last several years, we fall back later, and spring ahead earlier. Shortening the clock change period by a few weeks was one of the few good ideas implemented by the Bush (II) Administration. Anyway, I am glad to be escaping the winter doldrums.

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We installed a new water softener/conditioner system on the 15th. A little behind my original schedule, but all well and good. Sweated copper tubing right up to the system rather than using C-PVC, which I just don't like. God bless the person who invented Teflon tape! Also installed a whole-house filter to the line before the system, so it is now filtering out a good deal of the iron deposits before it reaches the tank's resin bed. That should help increase the life of the system. Water tastes better, there is a marked decrease in water-marks on dried dishes and we don't need to use as much soap to get a good lather.

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We are also discussing more and more about getting a puppy. Set a time to see a liver & white German shorthaired pointer on Monday. But my thoughts are on a cream-color standard poodle (note: not the toy breed) that is due in May. There's just too many ghosts with the GSP. And I'm keen on the hypo-allergenic qualities of the poodles --- they are non-shedding. I think we're due for a bit of a change.

"Is there a sharper commentary on American culture and the world than 'The Simpsons'?" --- Anthony Bourdain

Olympic Wrap-up, Water Softener & Divorce

The Olympics came and went. Lots of great moments for sport. I had never seen the biathlon televised before (I have my own opinion on why that is... rifle marksmanship on television had forever seemed a faux pas) on the mother network, at least. We're strictly OTA, so these events may well have seen obscure airtime on CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, and other NBC holdings. But, in this go-round, they had excellent, varied day-time content that showed the whole events rather than highlights. There was some American-only/centric creep-in during some skiing events with Lindsey Vonn, but otherwise, this practice was really dialed down from NBC's historic offerings of all Bode Miller / Apolo Ohno / Picabo Street / Bonnie Blair / Michael Phelps / etc. all the time.

The rest of the world gets to watch the Olympics without tape delay, without cutting out lesser competitors' runs, without so many commercials, without so many fluff pieces telling us what a wonderful person Heinrich H. Hingledorff is. Once every four years we get to watch these sports events that get virtually no attention between Games. We want to see the best compete, even if it's not America. The all-HDTV coverage was simply spectacular. This new philosophy coincided with very high Neilsen ratings for NBC. I hope they got the message and hope they keep this up for future Olympics coverage.

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A service call for our water softener system confirmed my worst suspicions. This system was installed about 20 years ago, which is a long life as these resin tanks typically go --- they build up deposits of the dissolved solids (in our case, iron) and the resin bed, which consists of plastic bead material and small gravel bits, needs to be emptied and re-filled. In the case of our system, the electronics on it are out of date. The salt container was filling up with water after each re-charge, which the instruction manual said was a malfunction. That, combined with 300 p.s.i. in the tank made me decide that it wasn't something we should be screwing around with. I'm pretty handy, but I know my limitations. The technician said that he could try to get the system going, but it would cost about $1,200-$1,600 in labor and parts and wouldn't have any guarantee. A new system with their company would cost upwards of $3,000. This had been the suspicion before the service call, in which case, we'd go to Lowe's and get a $400 30,000-grain Whirlpool model and install it ourselves (we installed the same at my brother's house a short time ago). The technician said that's exactly what he would do if it were his house. It was $100 for the service call that resulted in nothing, but we got a definitive answer and decided that it's best not to throw good money after bad. Went to Lowe's on Friday and we'll hook it up the next free day we get (probably Thursday).

This unit is purported to have higher efficiency, lower salt usage because it recharges based on water usage rather than every X days, if needed or not, and has a much smaller footprint of about a foot-and-a-half square. The latter feature of which, in our utility room/washroom/ chest freezer & pantry, is welcome news. We can use all the space we can get.

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Oh, almost forgot.... My brother's wife filed for divorce last Friday. That's been fairly expected for a while now, but it's still a deal to digest. We've done nothing but try to help them out wherever we can. Watching the kids during drill weekends, bringing over meals, help with household chores, etc. And still, she's "not happy." Well, we'll see how happy she'll be when she has to log off of Facebook or the cell phone and actually do things herself wherever she goes next. She derides her mother as being "stupid" and bouncing from marriage to marriage... and I guess she can't see that, like sailboats in a regatta, she's tacking on the very similar pattern. I hope for the settlement to be equitable according to what each has put into the finances (she has never paid for the house, the Jeep, and rarely pays for gas and food. Her entire check goes into her savings. I can't say that I would be following a similar course of financials were I ever to be married). It was pretty poor taste, though, that she filed on my father's birthday, and that she's leaving my brother at a time when he is so ill. I guess it's just the way of the world these days that vows mean next to nothing.

But besides that, I'm going to remain civil, and wish her the very best and very happy. And I actually mean it, because what's best for her is best for my niece and nephew (her son from her a previous marriage). Cue the Brandi Carlile lyric, "You might not miss this, but I will. I will. I will."

If You Ain't Dutch, You Ain't Much

I have tried to watch as many Olympic speed-skating events as I can manage.

To this point, 5 of the 24 medals presented in long-track have gone to the Netherlands --- including 3 golds. For the men's events, Sven Kramer won the 5000m, Mark Tuitert the 1500m. Ireen Wust, whom I mentioned in the previous post, won the women's 1500m --- something of a comeback for her, personally and professionally.

Gelukwensen!

Winter Olympics

The Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is tonight.

This will be the first Olympics since we got the HDTV, and I'm eager to see how it will look. If it's anything like how every other sport has been, we're in for a show. The ceremonies are going to be less spectacular than the 2008 China games, but that's a given, and I'm not at all disappointed by that.

Long track speed skating is by far my favorite event in the Winter Games. I suppose you might tack this up to my Dutch heritage, with a nod to the story of "Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates." Going back, I remember our family watching and rooting for the Netherlands, which have been dominant in the sport. The province of Friesland --- where my mother's family derives from --- particularly has historically produced some of the world's best speed skaters. The geography of the Frisian region lends itself to this level of interest and dominance. In winters when the freshwater canals freeze --- which is pretty rare (the last was in 1997) --- skating competitions called the Elfstedentocht are held.

One of the more inspiring stories of previous Olympics was Gerard van Velde, who was highly touted but didn't medal in a couple of Games. He then had difficulty adjusting to a new skate design and retired in the late '90s and became a used car salesman. He re-entered the sport, mastered the clap skate and won gold in the 1000m in 2002. In the last Games, Ireen Wust was a surprise gold medalist in the 3000m. She's fallen out of the limelight a bit in competition, and revealed that she is a lesbian in the Dutch press last fall. We'll see if she can recapture her performance like many others who bring their career best at the biggest events. Of course, I don't just cheer for the Dutch. I am American through and through. Shonie Davis looks to continue strong performances in the mid-distance, and break down some of the perceived racial barriers of the Games. The tearjerker story of U.S. speed-skater Dan Jansen was recently the subject of a short Visa ad voiced by Morgan Freeman. These are the kind of stories that make the Olympics so great --- of ordinary people persevering.

It is a bizarre circumstance, though, that medalists are so lauded for what's often such marginal victories. But that is the nature of sport. Tonight is the biggest highlight most of the athletes will experience, but it's a huge personal accomplishment just to make it that far.

(Photo (c) Genevelyn Burke, 2007, of Ilanaaq, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics emblem.)

As a stone guy, I've gotta say that picture is close to my own heart. .... Not in the sense that I have a "heart of stone" or something.... Oh well. You know what I mean.

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

--- Leslie Poles Hartley, English writer, 1895-1972

Walk Right In, Sit Right Down...

On Saturday afternoon, I was in the basement doing laundry, when a shadow came over the double-glass sliding door that leads outside to the lake.

The figure stomped his feet and opened the door. At first take, I thought it was my brother. And then, I saw very plainly that it was not. I didn't know this guy from Adam. I yelled out a quick, "Hey!" and he said, "It's OK" and kept stumbling in through the doorway toward the washer-dryer/pantry/utility room. I followed him in, and he braced against the chest freezer, then sat down on a high-chair and started taking off his boots. This was a true WTF moment. It seemed apparent that this man was five sheets to the wind, and had been out on the lake, ice-fishing. Even so, I kept a close eye on him and any movements toward his pockets. "What the h--- are you doing in here? You need to leave, NOW!" I said. He kept replying in a slurred voice, "It's OK."

"It's very not OK. I don't know you and you just walked into my house. What's going on here? Have you been drinking? Are you ice-fishing with those guys out on the lake?"

"It's OK. Ben said he'll be here in a few hours." He took off his right boot.

"Ben? Ben who? Do you live on the lake? Are you from around here? I'm offering to give you a ride home, but you can't stay here. You need to put your boot back on and get out of here."

"It's OK," he repeats. "Call whoever you need to. Call Ben."

"The only Ben I know is Ben Linus on 'LOST,' Who are you? What's your name?" I asked. He gave a garbled answer into his hoodie sweatshirt. I wasn't leaning toward calling the police, as this guy just appeared to be drunk and mistaken in whose house he was in. That said, I was pretty close to calling the police. "You need to leave my house now, go out and sit in your truck, whatever." He started putting on his boot.

I was standing in the doorway to the utility room, readying to dive or make a grab at anything I could if something did happen in the sudden movement milieu. And then, I saw someone walking up into the boat launch and asked if this was someone he was fishing with.

"Do you know this guy? With a red hat?"

"It's OK," he said again. He opened the door, and walked outside. He and the man in the red hat talked, then the latter got in a black late-model Ford 250 and drove out. Situation diffused.

We have, for the longest time, not locked the doors very often, even when away. I guess it was just a general openness. We didn't even have curtains until a couple of years ago, like many people in Holland who claim it's because they "have nothing to hide." Add in that a barking 100-pound dog, and local knowledge that this is where the constable lives is enough to keep most anybody away, who has no business here. But with Sammy gone over a year ago, we don't have a dog anymore. With what happened in Bristol last year in the Petit home invasion, this is a wake-up call. Time to start locking the doors.

And I think we may get a puppy in the spring. A big breed.

4 February 2010

Up until about two weeks ago, I had never changed a diaper. Never really wanted to change a diaper.

I have now changed roughly ten. They were pretty uneventful, outside of one missed-target situation. Either potty successes (that got a thumbs-up and a "Good job!") where the clean diaper went back on... or too-late situations where the little Snuggle-up-agus kept sitting down on the potty, getting up and checking the container, seemingly puzzled by the lack of pee inside. A diaper change isn't a very difficult thing to figure out. Snuggle-up-agus survived. Uncle James survived... and picked up some future embarrassing-story material.

At times doing some baby-sitting, those "Where is your mother!??" J.C. Penney commercials popped into my head. This is the terrible twos, and for all parties concerned, just surviving it is the primary objective. It's not really worth the effort to try to clean up, because beyond a certain point, you're just shoveling sh-- against the tide. There were a few tantrums, which I did not cave in to and try to purchase a temporary smile. The sooner any child learns that she is not going to get her way just because he/she is crying, angry, and throwing a fit, the better (that goes for the "he"s too). We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" about a dozen times, and the "Muppet Show" worked to both get her dancing to the introduction song and getting her to calm down for a nap. Snuggle-up-agus's schedule was shot to smithereens during these couple of weeks, and it really showed up in her naptime. Last Friday, she didn't drift off until almost 3:30 in the afternoon --- her usual time was 1 p.m. S he said, "Eyes huwwt!" "Because you need to take a nap, honey," I said. Such a fighter this one! And she's definitely got the stubborn streak from our side of the tree.

Her mum got home tonight, so that should help insofar as getting back on schedule and injecting a little normalcy.

"The news cycle is getting shorter --- to the point that there is no pause, only the constancy of the Web and the endless argument of cable. 
This creates pressure to entertain or perish, which has fed the press’s dominant bias: not pro-liberal or pro-conservative but pro-conflict." 
--- Ken Auletta in The New Yorker

Late Night, Part the Second

Leno appeared on Oprah's show yesterday and did himself no favors. Just when you thought he reached rock bottom in terms of ethics, Jay decided to break out the blasting caps to get a little deeper.

25 January 2010

Drove my middle brother (not the one who is deploying... FYI, I am the youngest) into the capital region today for an appointment. Have been doing this semi-regularly since this past summer when he came down with a serious variant of Lyme disease. Have no desire to talk about it in detail here, as the particulars are his private concern that I will not discuss on a publicly-accessible forum. He often advocates for Lyme Awareness among family and a wide circle of friends, so this is not a public "outing" by any means.

Today, as a change, we took his Jeep Commander and my 2-year-old niece. His wife, who usually drives said vehicle to work and drops said niece at day care, is at a training activity down South. Woke up at 6:30 to get over there and get my nephew on the bus and basically act as another pair of hands. Watched "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" on DVD, which was surprisingly entertaining on this, my first viewing; evidently, this movie gets much airtime at the house, as many of the lines can be recited by heart. That's the way kids are. Then again, who am I to say anything? --- I've watched "LOST" about eight times over, myself.

Anyway, it was an experience driving today. I'm no stranger to Jeeps, but the Commander model is quite a beast to handle, both in terms of the weight, power and its bulkiness. Kind of like steering a tugboat. And at time today, that simile probably wasn't far off from the truth. It was horrible weather, with 1"-2" of driving rain and 50+ m.p.h. wind gusts. But we made it there and back again, without incident. My niece slept in her car-seat most of the way.

Got home and made a batch of soup that couldn't be beat, and took it over, along with some garlic bread, for the whole family's dinner. And, now, dear reader, I am fairly beat. Honestly, I have done stone wall work for 12 hours a day and not felt this tired. I seriously don't know how so many parents do this day in and day out. ... If I ever talk about having kids, please shoot me with a big gun. The largest you can find.

The Gailey Administration

This week, the Buffalo Bills hired Chan Gailey as their head coach after a protracted search.

I am officially overwhelmingly ambivalent about this. Gailey has had some success in the NFL, reaching the playoffs frequently with teams he has coached in various capacities.

After a decade of missing the playoffs, the Bills have a lot of things to improve on. Frankly, my interest has waned to the point that I didn't watch many of the games this year, because the outcomes were inevitable. More productive to go outside and actually do something on a Sunday.

We'll see what kind of changes this brings and if there's a real sense of improvement rather than the pure ticket-sale marketing hype that's surrounded the team for 10 years of failure.

Late Night

It's been in the offing for a couple-few weeks now that Conan O'Brien would be canceled after 7 months at the "Tonight Show" and that slot will be given back to Jay Leno.

Admittedly, I watched about 10 minutes of late night television in the past year, but I've caught parts of Conan's show since the mess started. It helps comedy when there's an edge to it, and it especially helps the absurdity factor when the person can spout against his own bosses and the network ('What're they gonna do, fire me!?!'), and it'll still be aired.

In the time he's been there, Conan struggled to find his audience. Then again, Leno's 10 p.m. show was a complete flop, and had NBC affiliates steamed at the low lead-in numbers for their 11 p.m. newscasts. Now, as it turns out, Conan has gotten big viewership ratings on "Tonight" during this period of limbo. NBC has handled their late night programming badly since Johnny Carson retired. No need to go into the Leno-Letterman fiasco here. The switch from Leno to Conan worked out on paper in 2005 was equally as ill-conceived. Come the time of the transition, NBC refused to accept that it would be losing one of the two to a rival network. They delayed it as long as they could.

Who's the bad guy here? Certainly NBC's executives play a big part. By the numbers, Conan couldn't keep or attract the audience, but to yank him off-stage so soon wasn't right. Especially when his predecessor usurped the late night milieu and put it on over an hour earlier on the same network. Not cool, NBC! Wherever Conan lands next --- likely FOX or even ABC in September when the terms of his settlement with NBC allow him --- he will bring a significant amount of viewer goodwill.

Leno isn't going to come out of all this as rosy as he'd like. He and NBC are surmising that his previous "Tonight Show" numbers will jump right back up to where they were prior to his so-called retirement. I highly doubt this happens. Leno has lost a lot of the goodwill he had; many celebrities on whom he relies to appear with him aren't taking a favorable tack to his scheming. "Tonight" to an extent, will be blackballed. Leno should have done the honorable thing and declined NBC's offers --- both to create the 10 p.m. show and to take back "Tonight." He should not have been the third wheel when his contract expired. As it was, Leno was the guy who got his gold watch and retirement party, then hung around in the lobby shaking hands and filling orders like nothing had changed. Leno is the common denominator in the late night feuds. Vouchsafe there's a lot of scheming going on behind the stale laughs.

(Photo illustration (c) Mike Mitchell)

"The only reason that anything ever gets done 
is because there are pockets of competence in every command. 
The key is to find them ... and then exploit the hell out of 'em." 

--- Unidentified U.S. CENTCOM Commander

Whalers Retro

When the Hartford Whalers left town in 1997, it was the end of an era in hockey. The NHL had become a league of "dump and trap" that wouldn't abate until after a season-long work stoppage and badly needed rules changes. In 2004, those changes finally came, opening up the playing surface by removing the center-ice red line (thus reducing two-line pass penalties), giving a competitive advantage to teams and players with speed and skating ability. They have also gotten games out of the 1-0 or 2-1 rut, and the most important occurence of a game is no longer, "Who got in a fight?" We can now look back on those days with a certain sentimentality. But for Whalers fans, those days are all that's left. Still, though, there are many Whalers fans left in Connecticut.

Recently, I ran into the drawing at left, which provides a glimpse at the Whalers' logo design process. The artist who was commissioned for the design was Peter Good, now of Cummings & Good, a graphic design partnership. It's always fascinating (for me at least) to see this idea flow from one concept to the next. Here, the initial stages show an intent to include a negative-space H (for Hartford) to pair with the Whalers W. The design progresses from Poseidon-like hook shapes to a whale fluke. It is still lauded in the logo design community as one of the best designs out there.

Delay of Game

There was an interesting article in the WSJ today by David Biderman that provided a breakdown of the content of an average NFL game.

Now, I had suspected that out of the 60 minutes of game clock, that there would be a lot of dead time e.g. how the clock keeps ticking after running plays are stopped in-bounds. Still, just less than 11 minutes of actual game-play was a little surprising to me at first blush.

"According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there's barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps. In the four broadcasts The Journal studied, injured players got six more seconds of camera time than celebrating players. While the network announcers showed up on screen for just 30 seconds, shots of the head coaches and referees took up about 7% of the average show."

Looking at these numbers has to be pretty disheartening to regular viewers who whittle away whole Sundays. When I am watching football, I'm often doing something else at the same time, usually cooking, which cuts down on my NFL-coach-potato guilt level. But to those fans who go to the games, that's quite a price to be paying for 11 minutes of action.

It begs the question, though: How does football dead time compare to other major sports? In basketball with a 24-second shot clock, a lot of time is spent passing the ball and setting up plays before a shot is attempted. Same thing with hockey. Both of those sports have a 60-minute clock in the professional game. Soccer is another serial time-waster, even with longer matches --- 90 minutes, plus so-called "stoppage time" which is a referee-determined add-on of how much time has been spent on injuries, substitutions, etc. --- that often come down to about 5 serious shots on goal. This is an American viewer's oft-bemoaned example of why soccer doesn't have much of a following in this country.

Tens of millions of fans, however, go to Major League Baseball games every year to sit through an indeterminate-timed 9 innings. Indeed, sitting for 3 hours, watching practice swings, bullpen sessions, warm-up pitches, bubble gum chewing and arguments between managers and umpires, while waiting for 27 players to be called "out" is deemed the American past-time. Then again, at our house, it gives a heck of a reason for a nice spring/summer/fall weekend nap when a game is on.

"The air you breathe, the food you eat, the water you drink.... This is what you are." --- Wangari Maathai

"We grew a hundred years older in a single hour."

--- Anna Akhmatova, in her poem "In Memoriam July 19, 1914" about the start of World War I

My oldest brother left last night for Louisiana, a two-week stop-over before his unit is deployed. We have been through this four times previously, three in the current theater and its environs and once in Bosnia. Hence, we are somewhat accustomed to deployment from the "home front" side of things, but the worry is still there, especially now. In the last deployment, things came a bit unraveled; where he was stationed was fairly inaccessible to communication, a strange sickness with a high fever for several days, the loss of two other soldiers in his unit, marital problems which I make a point of not sharing, out of respect for all parties... all of which combined to throw him for a loop.

An uncle who is a Vietnam veteran says, "Everyone who participates in war gets [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder]. It just varies to the degree." True, that. While my brother was staying with us for a while after his divorce (it was on amicable terms, thankfully), a large halogen lamp next to his bed bit the dust when he woke up punching. There were several life choices in that time when it was like watching a car accident, that from your vantage point, seems to be going in slow motion. He tried reclaiming his old life; for instance, getting a puppy of the same breed he and his wife had. Generally speaking, as even he acknowledges now, he "jumped too quickly" and made some less-than-ideal decisions that will impact the rest of his life. (Writer's Note: I've made my own less-than-ideal decisions, so it is not my intent to be casting stones here). That's what it's like, and he's not alone in any of these things. Science still knows very little about the human brain, but a small irony of the wars is a new attention to brain disorders, physical and emotional.

We attended the deployment ceremony at the Convention Center back in November before they were sent for training in the mid-West. There, we watched and listened to the state's political contingent (mostly Democrats in tony, blue-state Connecticut) make their speeches, of which I clapped for none. My brother is now a First Sergeant, which one hopes would put him in a slightly safer position. But these wars have been rather unforgiving according to rank. There is no real safe ground. And so, when our blue star flag goes in the window, we will still worry. When the news reports are read, we will still hold our breaths a little. And when he comes home again, we'll be there to help however we can.

Looking Backward and Forward

In the past (almost) year, I suppose that I'm dissatisfied with my own performance in blogging --- infrequency, jumbled sections pieced together like Frankenstein's monster, stodgy writing directed at a generic audience or at the other end of the spectrum colloquial writing with many sentences beginning with a verb, and a reliance on some filler material such as quotes are chief among the self-criticism --- but I suppose, also, that it comes from not having more time to devote to it. In the end, it's composed in fits and starts, has incomplete thoughts and lacks a theme. I need to find some peace in that.

Today, as the snowfall here in the Quiet Corner is nearing 6 inches, I have added Judith H. Dobrzynski's "Real Clear Arts" blog to my reading roll. One needs to be rather picky in choosing what to read these days --- try to sort out and highlight good prose from dreck.

Moving into the new year, I aim to make my writing more of the former and less of the latter.