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©2012, Charlotte A. Smith, All rights reserved. Comments may be sent here.
27 February 2006 at 10:51 pm
Maureen says:
Sammy,
Wasting more time…it’s quince, I think. We had it in Ashland, loads of it, a great harbinger of spring. Always brightened my late Feb/early March, gave me hope that warmer weather was a’coming. My friend Angela, a landscaper, called it quince, which I think, if not native, was brought over in late 18th c., popular in mid-19th c. Its fruit is edible, though I never tried it. Birds like it, though. Forsythia can’t be far behind…
Like the blog.
Maureen
8 March 2006 at 7:23 pm
James says:
Heh…
That was Baton Bob, who performed for Rebecca at her staff meeting, uh… yesterday? Her staff invited him to celebrate her birthday…
9 March 2006 at 7:08 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, James. Isn’t John’s birthday coming up?????????
10 March 2006 at 11:58 am
MaryB says:
We love Baton Bob at my midtown office – haven’t seen him in a few weeks, and now I learn he’s hangin’ out on Ponce. Boo! Come back to Peachtree, Bob! We luvs ya’!
10 March 2006 at 1:10 pm
Sammy says:
Clearly I’m missing out on Atlanta’s best and brightest by working from home. Now, though, I have SEEN the infamous Baton Bob!
12 March 2006 at 1:21 pm
kayak woman says:
Is this your first comment?
I was wondering why you were bouncing around between Excel and Filemaker. Now I know. Of course, the whole thing goes straight over my head with a big whooshing noise.
12 March 2006 at 6:27 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks, KW, and it’s almost my first comment. I received my first about an unknown shrub bloom, then a spate about Baton Bob—I now know his name thanks to comments—the guy in pink on the street corner!
13 March 2006 at 6:41 am
kayak woman says:
haha. Obviously I am behind the times. So, that pink guy has a name
14 March 2006 at 9:01 pm
James says:
Ooh! Ooh!
Can I borrow “The March” from you when you’re done (or is it from the library)?
15 March 2006 at 7:16 am
Sammy says:
Alas, James, sorry, I’m reading it courtesy of Atlanta Fulton Public Libraries, although it’s not due until the 23rd, if you want to read fast!
1 April 2006 at 8:54 am
Kelley says:
Reading your notes on the first transcontinental telephone call reminded me, oddly enough, of my experiences teaching at a beloved little state college in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom: Lyndon State College. A large amount of capital funding for the college, the fruits of which students and faculty enjoy today, was given to the institution by this Mr. Theodore N. Vail. Thanks for the info, no less for the sparks of memory!
1 April 2006 at 9:02 am
Kelley says:
As you might guess, I’m browsing through everything you have to offer on this sunny April 1st. Bet you thought you’d just slip in that colorful chart –showing something like the distribution of elfs in and around the regions of Oaxaca — on to the bottom of your page that opens with a Dogwood that Ate Atlanta, and nobody would be the wiser. FOOLED YOU!
1 April 2006 at 6:04 pm
Sammy says:
K—I am often amazed and startled at the fact that seemingly unrelated world-trivia actually overlaps.
1 April 2006 at 6:05 pm
Sammy says:
K—ELFs are definitely difficult to chart, especially highland Mexican ones! No FOOLing!
16 May 2006 at 7:54 am
jcburns says:
Well, I called up the topo for where you walked with K…and the candidates include Crow Hill, Pumpkin Hill, White Hill, Shepard Hill, and Lyon Mountain…
18 May 2006 at 6:46 pm
kayak woman says:
Wow, we are in synch today. I wrote about wind in pine trees too. Except I called it a swoooooshing noise, not susurration. Wouldn’t even have thunk of that word
18 May 2006 at 11:13 pm
Sammy says:
A, aka kayak woman, you are a gem. Mega-thanks
21 May 2006 at 7:20 am
kayak woman says:
Yikes! Straight over my poor little brain. Whooooosh!
21 May 2006 at 9:08 am
Sammy says:
Not even pengös??????
25 May 2006 at 6:44 am
kayak woman says:
I wonder if that mushroom is related to my grandmother, Bolette.
25 May 2006 at 7:30 am
Sammy says:
those frenchies…
25 May 2006 at 9:34 am
kayak woman says:
Danish, actually. And not a blood relation, since she married my grandfather the year before I was born or thereabouts.
25 May 2006 at 11:15 am
Sammy says:
See how complicated genetics are? On another topic, just what are Froggy’s genetics? Product of a short-lived relationship between a nightmare and the moon? Wheee-oooo.
25 May 2006 at 9:11 pm
Momster says:
um, I thought that those of us who came from “below the bridge” were actually Trolls….
26 May 2006 at 4:23 am
Sammy says:
So Fudgies are merely tourists? See how quickly they forget! Old age and all that!
26 May 2006 at 1:23 pm
kayak woman says:
Just beware. If you encounter any feisty, old, octogenarian women who happen to live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, do not even think about calling them “Yoopers.” Or making sappy statements about how bridges connect people.
31 May 2006 at 7:00 am
kayak woman says:
I guess I never knew the true definition of fledge either. Have you and jcb grown some feathers?
31 May 2006 at 7:08 am
Sammy says:
Nah, we just left the nest to return to points south, in the land of the salamander!
3 June 2006 at 8:24 am
Kel says:
Hey, NO cupola at all, much less anything like this!! I DID spend a single school day in Phillips School, visiting Kindergarten with sister Shannon. Her teacher did end up teaching at the consolidated elementary (Mrs. Honeywell) as my 3rd grade teacher… More than remembering the class day, which I do somewhat, I recall accompanying my sister walking home on the roadside, jumping in and climbing out of ditches. As we did so, Shannon fell in one ditch, caught herself with her forearms, but landed on a nasty pile of broken glass. The walk home, then, resulted in great drama as we looked down at her bloody arm swinging along beside her… ah memories!!
3 June 2006 at 8:41 am
Kel says:
OK, here’s my favorite version of my favorite pie — Key Lime! This one, by the way, is from Julee Rosso & Shiela Lukins’ The New Basics Cookbook but is a bit more complex than basic to be sure…
Three components are Syrup, Crust, and Filling as follows:
Syrup
1 C water
1/2 C sugar
2 T finely julienned lime zest (1/2 inch long)
Crust:
22 grahm cracker squares
1/4 C packed light brown sugar
1 T grated lime zest
5 T unsalted butter, cut in pieces
Filling:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 C fresh lime juice
1/2 C sugar
2 separated eggs
1 C heavy or whipping cream
1 t vanilla extract
1. Prepare syrup by combining water, sugar in small sauce pan, heat to simmer. Stir in julienned lime zest, simmer 30 min. Strain, reserve zest and syrup separately. (I sprinkle granulated sugar over the cooled zest; this seems to keep it separated and makes it easier to sprinkle later onto the top of the finished pie…)
2. Preheat oven to 375.
3. Prep crust by combining grahm crackers, brown sugar, grated zest, butter in food processor, proces until mix holds together. Press into bottom and sides of 9-in pie plate, back 8 min. Set to cool.
4. Prep filling by heating 1/3 C reserved syrup in small saucepan. Remove pan from heat and sprinkle gelatin over syrup, let it soften 1 minute. Stir in lime juice, 1/4 C sugar, 2 egg yolks. Stir over low heat until mix is thick, frothy (5 min.) Set aside and cool to room temp.
5. Beat egg whites and 2 T sugar with electric mixer until stiff. Transfer the whites to large bowl. Wash and dry mixer blades.
6. In another bowl, whip cream, vanilla, and remaining 2 T sugar with electric mixer until thick. Fold whipped cream into egg whites, drizzling in reserved lime mixture at same time. When mix is smooth, spoon it into the prepared crust. Sprinkle lime julienne on top, chill uncovered until firm, 2 – 3 hours.
VOILA!!
3 June 2006 at 8:50 am
Sammy says:
Sounds like your version would have a more delicate and interesting texture. Thanks for taking the time to type it up!
3 June 2006 at 8:57 am
Sammy says:
Hey, I remember Mrs. Honeywell! And her confederate (because they both wore those same “old lady” shoes!) Mrs. Emerson!
6 June 2006 at 6:50 am
kayak woman says:
yep. Mouse is in freshman finals. Liz is *done*, last thing she had to do was some sort of student loan “exit” interview. Graduation is Saturday, Moom is actually kinda, well, I do not know how to describe the feeling. Wishing it were a *little* more ecstatic… Life goes on, a little older, not particularly any wiser…
9 June 2006 at 7:23 am
Kimberly Botterbusch (Hygienist Extraordinaire) says:
I thought you were pondering inverters and underwear stomping?! Your secret is out.
Sammi, one fine site. Mighty fine.
9 June 2006 at 9:14 am
Sammy says:
We must keep our little secrets, we chair-sitters! Do have a great trip & use lots of sunscreen!
13 June 2006 at 7:56 pm
kayak woman says:
I LOVE that hat. And I think I remember that you sewed the side flaps onto it!
13 June 2006 at 10:33 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, yes, the wierd leetle flaps to keep the sun out of the sides of my eyes. A different kind of lumpiness!
14 June 2006 at 11:10 pm
kayak woman says:
this sign has got to be in sault ste. siberia (too tired to do capital letters, sorry).
15 June 2006 at 5:43 am
Sammy says:
A thousand points to Kayak Woman! Yes, you are right! (I wuz thinking of U! And the UP!)
18 June 2006 at 10:15 pm
jcburns says:
For those playing at home, the chicken salad works great with turkey, too!
18 June 2006 at 10:58 pm
kayak woman says:
Can you post the recipe? Or are the ingredients basically the recipe. Sounds like something Whole Foods sells.
19 June 2006 at 6:47 am
Sammy says:
Hmmm. I started from a recipe, but I can’t find it any more, so it’s the ingredients & your own sense of proportion.
I baked/roasted some de-fatted turkey thigh pieces that had been salted & peppered, then put them in the fridge to chill. More flavor than breast meat, but your choice. I don’t like celery much, so I didn’t include that, although some would have been okay. Seedless grapes (maybe a scant half-pound). Red pepper (1 good-sized pepper). Green onion. Cubed poultry (bought about 3 lbs). Apple chunks, Granny Smith this time (2 apples). Could add a bit of fresh herbs, basil, thyme, parsley, your choice (I didn’t). Mix about 1/3 plain yoghurt & 2/3 mayonnaise (to cut the mayo), added salt and pepper (perhaps a total of 2/3 cup this time). Stir together and compose a portion on a plate over a bed of lettuce torn into bite-sized chunks—or skip the lettuce and dig in! Keep the dressing amount light and it’s like eating a fruit salad with protein, not gummy or heavy, and lovely when chilled. Could add nuts, I suppose, toasted would be best, but I didn’t.
Lemme know if you try it!
19 June 2006 at 2:24 pm
frooogy says:
grok grok grok. even sounds good to me ‘n’ Green Guy. Speakin’ o’ which, I better go wake ‘im up! grok grok. Goin’ off-line now. Seeya later.
24 June 2006 at 8:28 am
kayak woman says:
There’s that word “terraform” again. A hot topic in my family of late.
24 June 2006 at 8:41 am
Sammy says:
Dictionary says \”(esp. in science fiction) transform (a planet) so as to resemble the earth, esp. so that it can support human life\” although I hear it used to mean large-scale earth-moving….
And, click here for more on the etymology of terraforming.
24 June 2006 at 7:08 pm
gg says:
I remember the old Michigan Agricultural College (turned Michigan State University) bumper sticker that poked fun and the University of Michigan (Maize and Blue). It said, “Some call it Maize. We call it corn.”
What a dilemma. Farm larger amounts of land to produce “organic” pesticide-free and fertilizer-free crops .vs. farming smaller amounts of land with higher yields by using pesticides and fertilizers. Which option results is less environmental damage?
Farming is a major source of pollution and/or environmental damage any way you go.
Bonnaroo-o-o-o-o-o
28 June 2006 at 8:05 pm
kayak woman says:
no apologies needed. Always cool stuff. Keep blahggin’ whenever you can in the UP and I’ll seeya next week, I hope
Yes, I am obnoxious! 
29 June 2006 at 10:22 pm
kayak woman says:
Wow, what a handsome guy!
2 July 2006 at 9:33 am
kayak woman says:
Mom looks great!
And here on the shores of Gitchee Gumee, we have mostly eradicated the spiders but it is fish fly city around here. After the Commander spent *hours* yesterday sweeping up the deck
4 July 2006 at 7:26 am
kayak woman says:
Love the creative/inventive spelling! In our archives (Lizard, then age 6) we have:
‘One day wen i came to school i was The first one thar but war was my techr’s hed it pop’d of like pop corne “hay” “chelse” “war’s” “the” “techr’s” “hed” “i” “don’t” “now” chelse sed “oh” “thar” “it” “is” “up” “thar” hung up thar ut oh i sed it came of.’
Yes, all of those double-quotes were hers. Inventive quoting?
4 July 2006 at 3:45 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, I’m sure my own early writings were nearly as creative, but none survive, as far as I know….
10 July 2006 at 4:24 pm
Anne Regenstreif says:
Sam,
Sorry we missed you at the cabin! My beach read was “1421: When China Discovered the New World”, by Gavin somebody. (Not sure where the book is post-trip, and too lazy to google it right now, but you probably know his name already.) Have you read it? If so, what are your opinions about his thesis? Seems reasonable to me, even if he does supercede the explanation of my personal childhood archeaologist/explorer/hero, Thor Heyerdahl. Indiana Jones was only fiction, but T.H. rode a raft to Easter Island!
–Pooh,
!)
(The other Anne, from the udder university.
14 July 2006 at 11:04 am
kayak woman says:
Well, once again, you’ve sent me off to the on-line dictionaries (palimpsest, as you’ve probably guessed
) and glad to hear the Botanist didn’t give in to the hay guy!
15 July 2006 at 2:49 pm
Sammy says:
Always try to keep my closest friends from getting stodgy—in multiple ways!
Today the Botanist transformed my husband into a temporary Logger—quite the transformation!
15 July 2006 at 3:59 pm
kayak woman says:
What did jcb think of that? Thinking of that brute force removal episode of the tree in the path.
15 July 2006 at 4:00 pm
kayak woman says:
Gitchee Gumee looks so docile
I remember when we did a trip along the coast of L. Superior visiting Hurricane Creek and other spots about a million years ago.
16 July 2006 at 12:17 pm
kayak woman says:
Mouse and I read this in the Okemos Panera Bread — we are on a yarn shopping trip. We discussed whether the pic was asparagus or pine needles. I guess I had not *read* the entry carefully. She caught it. Took Holt Rd. from M52 over here instead of the freeway. Beautiful drive.
16 July 2006 at 10:20 pm
Mary Jo says:
What, no picture of JCB the Logger? Robert has been playing the part this past week. He’s been trimming limbs and had to cut down an infected lodgepole today.
16 July 2006 at 10:30 pm
Ruthette Mills says:
OK, so where has the time gone? This little girl used to be muddy-faced and annoying; now she is a lovely woman. We are grateful to have friends like you who have been and are a part of her life.
17 July 2006 at 9:08 pm
Sammy says:
Well, even though pixels cost nothing, we don’t manage to get pictures of everything—please please please, use your imagination!
17 July 2006 at 9:10 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, and the memory of how she was flavors how she is & we are all honored and amazed by her wonderfullness. We await the next chapter of L. life! And many hugs!
18 July 2006 at 7:22 am
Sammy says:
This is a tricky species, and does attempt to masquerade as other species, perhaps in some ways resembling the plant version of a cowbird. Anyway, a nameless very helpful and supportive someone, when sent to the great out of doors for some chives, came back with a few carefully harvested frond-tips like this, lacking spiderwebs.
Oh, and we haven’t hit the Okemos Panera yet, but have the one at Frandor. Yea, Panera! Free wireless! Yummy sandwiches!
18 July 2006 at 7:23 am
Sammy says:
That might have been a million and five years ago!
18 July 2006 at 7:54 am
kayak woman says:
Sounds like you and I have similar feelings about sailing
I actually do better with wave action in my kayak. Go figure.
18 July 2006 at 8:51 am
Sammy says:
NEXT TIME, take me kayaking! I still haven’t tried it!
18 July 2006 at 10:25 am
kayak woman says:
Definitely!!! We had such a short time in the midst of a crazy summer! I am looking back at the time I spent at the Green Cabin with great fondness.
18 July 2006 at 11:18 am
K (who else!!??) says:
… apple tart recipe to come, although it already came this far from a B&B in Northfield, MA called Centennial House. My one addition to the descriptions above: Parting tart from pan was entirely thanks to Sam\’s fabulous engineering idea: slide it off using a plastic bag lassoed around 1/2 of the fragile tart crust and the strong finger of a helper holding on to the underneath pan bottom. Make no sense? Didn\’t think so, but trust us, it enabled everyone to gorge on far too much rich dessert than was good for us. A very creative UP experience at or near the MOST famous (certainly most exclusive) UP B&B fondly known as The Green Cottage. It is now red, points out my husband, so HE fondly calls it the Red Green Cottage — a midwestern joke from our neighbors way up north.
18 July 2006 at 4:26 pm
K (who else!!??) says:
So here we go — that tart recipe so well discussed above follows below.
Apple Cream Cheese Tart – courtesy of Joan and Steve at the Centennial House B&B in Northfield, Massachusetts*, a wonderful place to stay north of Northampton, in the 5 Sisters Colleges area.
1) Make crust first:
Cream together 6 oz butter
3 oz sugar
Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla
9 oz all purpose flour
2) Press crust into a 9 1/2 inch tart pan.
3) Make filling and pour into tart crust:
Combine 4 oz cream cheese
2 oz sugar
1 large egg
2 finely chopped apples
4) Slice 3-4 apples thinly (1/16 inch if possible) and dredge into the following mixture, withholding about 1/2 cup for the top:
2 oz sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 oz finely ground almonds
5) Neatly arrange sliced and dredged apples on to filling in the tart pan.
6) Sprinkle withheld topping mixture over apple slices.
7) Bake 450 degrees for 10 minutes; reduce temperature to 400 degrees and bake 25 minutes longer, or until top apples are golden and they begin to juice slightly.
* K.’s tweaks include substituting ground cloves for the nutmeg; adding 1/4 tsp. almond extract to crust; using 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar rather than using all white sugar. Just remember, too, that you can hardly go wrong with this recipe… if it can be made successfully in the Red Green Cottage with next to no modern tools and without even a food scale, it can be made successfully anywhere. All you have to do is trust your ability to judge weight by hand.
19 July 2006 at 8:15 pm
Mouse says:
First the peaches and cream pie, and now the lemongrass thai? Stop making me hungry! =D
19 July 2006 at 9:34 pm
Sammy says:
Most of my/our best friends make some fine food—including your Mooom!
20 July 2006 at 7:06 pm
kayak woman says:
Wow! Lots to think about and, as usual, some of it goes straight over my poor little pointy head with a big whooshing noise. But:
1) Edward Tufte: interesting stuff and he often crops up via the web design/development posse at WCC, where I am about to embark on another 9-credit, 3 class “semester from hell”. And I will have a *great* time!!!
2) Oil in MI? Yeah, man! We have done a lot of two-tracking all over Michigan and, particularly in the mid-lower peninsula, it is very common to be bouncing along in the middle of nowhere and suddenly come upon a working oil well.
3) Authoritarian conservatives: I agree but beyond that, I have no words.
4) Shambling mounds: the term originated within the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, according to The Marquis, who has sent me a definition of it before. Mouse made up her own definition (to lazy to find the blahg entry at the moment). And, to me, yes, it is just a big pile of junk, often clothing. Pooh and Mark used to refer to their clothing pile as a shambling mound back in the old N. Seventh Street apt. A blahg entry is percolating for me on the definition(s) of a shambling mound.
Keep on stretching my pointy little brain
21 July 2006 at 9:41 pm
Sammy says:
You know more than you think! Pointy leetle brain indeed!
22 July 2006 at 12:45 pm
kayak woman says:
got me again! (chary
27 July 2006 at 12:03 pm
kayak woman says:
Since I am only an occasional fan of ice cream, almost all ice cream that winds up in my freezer gets that dry, sticky and hard consistency. My solution is to buy small quantities or not buy it at all.
I’m not sure I can make a coherent point here, but the idea of shipping things like ice cream all over the world makes me think about what it must have been like before modern refrigeration, when *ice* was shipped to places like India (I *think* I read that somewhere) so people could put it in their gin and tonics, etc.
About the conservatives without conscience and the cat killer, I just have no words :-/
27 July 2006 at 1:15 pm
kayak woman says:
Thought I’d commented but must’ve gotten lost…
I’m only an occasional ice cream fan, so ice cream definitely turns into that dry, sticky and hard consistency in my freezer. I solve that problem (when the kids aren’t around) by buying small quantities or not buying it at all.
But shipping ice cream all over the world? Not sure if I have a coherent point to make but back in the days before refrigeration, wasn’t it big business to ship *ice* all over? Like to India so the British could put it in their gin? ‘course, we expect all kinds of fancy produce year-round in our big American grocery stores. So.
As to the conservative crew, all I can do is silently shake my head.
Turning into a beach day after a morning of fog, etc. Gotta go get reacquainted with my kayak.
28 July 2006 at 10:03 pm
Mary Jo says:
I’ve heard of anthropomorphising animals, but never plants! Who did it kill? And did they deserve it?
29 July 2006 at 7:03 am
Sammy says:
Sometimes there are legends, and one never knows all the details.
29 July 2006 at 8:33 am
kayak woman says:
And who put the “killer tree” tape on there and where did they get it?
29 July 2006 at 1:52 pm
jcburns says:
really beautiful, sammy…
29 July 2006 at 6:22 pm
froogy says:
grok grok. It doesn’ have nearly enough green ‘r purple in it. grok grok. ‘n’ it needs an egg. grok grfotk
29 July 2006 at 6:24 pm
kayak woman says:
Shut up, Froggy!!! I agree with jcb, it’s beautiful, Sam!
30 July 2006 at 9:23 am
froogy says:
grok grok. I’m gettin’ high too. Me ‘n’ Green Guy ‘r’ up ‘ere on Gitchee Gumee. grok grok. ‘n’ hee hee hee. I c’n leave comments on yer blahg but that ol’ witch Kayak Woman can’t. Yeeeee hee hee. grok grok frgok grook grokGROK!
30 July 2006 at 10:44 am
Sammy says:
Aha. Froggy, Kayakwoman is vindicated & I have learned a bit more about WordPress. Now, WordPress has been informed to post Kayakwoman comments, and NOT categorize them as spam! Apologies to Kayakwoman.
30 July 2006 at 10:52 am
Sammy says:
Apologies. WordPress was holding your comments hostage, calling them spam. I disagreed, and since I have The Ultimate Power, zap!, Kayakwoman, your words are here!
31 July 2006 at 7:49 am
kayak woman says:
And Spam Woman is here to say Froogy, shut up for once!
31 July 2006 at 10:29 pm
Mary Jo says:
Where are you off to now? And for how long?
3 August 2006 at 8:17 am
kayak woman says:
Soooo glad you are back! It was a little spooky out here without archaeofacts.
3 August 2006 at 6:56 pm
kayak woman says:
testing testing
3 August 2006 at 6:59 pm
froogy says:
grok grok. Kayak Woman, aka Mouse’s Moom, aka th’ ol’ witch, seems t’ be unable t’ post comments again. grok grok. Not that she has anythin’ importan’ t’ say. grok grok.
P. S. I am NOT workin’ w’ those nefarious Turkish guys, no matter what some people might think. grok grok.
Your Favorite Frog
4 August 2006 at 12:46 pm
froogy says:
grok grok testing
4 August 2006 at 2:30 pm
Sammy says:
Apologies. The spam filter is excessively slow to learn that you both are legitimate contributors. I slapped it silly; we’ll see if that makes it filter more appropriately! Kayak woman as spam; NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Froggy, well, yes, of course we welcome your comments!
4 August 2006 at 2:35 pm
froogy says:
grok grok grok. thanks! grok grok
6 August 2006 at 8:43 am
James says:
Ah…
But is it the water, or more likely… the color of the sky reflected in it?
6 August 2006 at 10:34 am
Sammy says:
Yes, undoubtedly a combo….
7 August 2006 at 12:00 pm
kayak woman says:
Testing that I can post. And commenting that I have had one of those spray hoses forever and it has never worked. But then, a *real* plomero did not install it.
Spam Woman No More?
7 August 2006 at 12:10 pm
Sammy says:
Well, I guess since Mail won’t listen to me in the learning phase, I shouldn’t expect this spam-detector to listen to me, either. Bahhhhhhhhhggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh.
7 August 2006 at 12:16 pm
kayak woman says:
Yaaaayyyyy! I’m on Archaeofacts!!!
7 August 2006 at 9:12 pm
kayak woman says:
testing again.
8 August 2006 at 7:04 am
James says:
Wow!
Farley Mowat!! I remember reading “Never Cry Wolf” back in high school…
8 August 2006 at 9:36 am
jcburns says:
It’s just amazing how much of this house’s infrastructure gets creaky after 15 years.
8 August 2006 at 4:11 pm
Mouse says:
I’ll have to look into The Farfarers, especially if it is a “masterful weaving”! ;D
8 August 2006 at 4:16 pm
anne courtois says:
testing using just my name
8 August 2006 at 4:56 pm
Sammy says:
M—lemme know if you agree (it’s in paperback & commonly on library shelves). KW/AC—another bit of (unhappy) data for the Guru of the webworld.
10 August 2006 at 8:47 am
mouse's moom says:
testing comments and laughing about Al Gore rhythms.
10 August 2006 at 8:52 am
mouse's moom says:
Oh, haven’t seen the movie either. Wonder if I should stock up on rotten tomatoes.
10 August 2006 at 11:18 am
Sammy says:
I hear it’s worth the time/money, as is “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, and haven’t seen that either….
11 August 2006 at 12:29 am
Mouse says:
i like how moom posts as “mouse’s moom” =D lovely flower, and Al Gore rhythms is definitely worth a giggle or three.
11 August 2006 at 9:27 am
James says:
Yeah… Y’know that’s that display that’s been in town lately. “Bodies.”
The real icky part: the bodies are political prisoners. I can’t believe people pay for this atrocity…
12 August 2006 at 2:26 pm
mouse's moom says:
Sometimes, there just aren’t any words.
13 August 2006 at 8:47 am
Sammy says:
And, do not mistake the Shrub as glitterati!
13 August 2006 at 12:45 pm
mouse's moom says:
lemme see if this one gets thru!
13 August 2006 at 5:09 pm
Sammy says:
Victory! (well, partially)—it’s not being called spam!
14 August 2006 at 8:52 am
Pooh says:
I heard an article about the plastinization and displays on NPR on Thursday 8/10 – probably around 5-ish in St. Louis. I don’t remember hearing about where the bodies came from – controversial or not. Either they didn’t discuss it, or it was after I got out of the car.
14 August 2006 at 12:37 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, I found the NPR piece both interesting & enlightening; know that there are two touring shows, Body Worlds and BODIES… the Exhibition, with different claims as to the origins of their specimens. They both give us new vocabulary: plastination….
14 August 2006 at 6:04 pm
Liz-Bananne's-daughter says:
Chihuly got an honorary degree from K college this year! and had an exhibition at the Kalamazoo arts insitute (don’t know the exact name). pretty cool….
14 August 2006 at 9:56 pm
Mouse says:
oh, my gosh!! when i first saw the chihuly glass installation, the bulbs (i’m not sure what else to call them) looked like planets! and then i assumed that they were mushrooms lounging amongst the other loverly plants. and then, THEN i scrolled down to where they meet the water and simultaneously saw the caption. =D
oh well. the planets were pretty interesting while they lasted!
15 August 2006 at 7:48 am
mouse's moom says:
Ajax? The graphics, that is.
15 August 2006 at 8:52 am
mouse's moom says:
Geez, you really hit the jackpot!
15 August 2006 at 8:57 am
Sammy says:
The spheres do look planetoid; they were spectacular, especially at night!
Ajax?
15 August 2006 at 10:58 am
mouse's moom says:
Asynchronous Javascript with XML
I did a research paper on it last fall. Don’t know how to *do* it though.
18 August 2006 at 11:13 am
mouse's moom says:
Tutorial?
18 August 2006 at 12:36 pm
Sammy says:
As to the “boxlet”? It’s a receiver, one that receives digital signals, as a digital TV would have, but our old analog cable-ready TV doesn’t. At least as I understand it. It hooks up to a computer & through the magic of software, we can watch local digital broadcasts on the computer screen. It also can do Tivo-like things: recording shows, letting you go back and check what someone just said then resume at the “live” spot in the broadcast, watch two channels simultaneously, things that make TV geeks very happy…. Is that what you were inquiring about?
19 August 2006 at 8:18 am
mouse's moom says:
Oh, Rss. That boxlet stuff makes my head spin!
But then I got distracted by cousins and 1st-cousins-once-removed and kayaking and knitting and beach-sitting and finishing a book and hiking and cooking and you name it! 
20 August 2006 at 2:22 pm
Pooh says:
I just read an article the other day about a plan to add viral bacteriophages to food. The idea being that it would be effective against food-bourne bacterial diseases such as listeria. Do you think they’ve taken into consideration what it might do to the native intestinal bacteria?
20 August 2006 at 7:31 pm
Sammy says:
Probably, you have to eat yogurt for your next meal to bring back the balance! Just like with antibiotics!
22 August 2006 at 1:17 pm
mouse's moom says:
I like what one guy said (can’t remember if it was in the article you linked to or if I followed a further link), something like, “really, most kids are not interested in having sex with adults.” Sheesh, most 50-something women are probably not interested in having sex with *these* adults.
22 August 2006 at 10:20 pm
Mouse says:
*shiver*
25 August 2006 at 7:59 am
mouse's moom says:
“I wonder if the recipes are the little grey bunch at the bottom…?”
Actually, the little grey bunch represents the tags in the of your document. The black dot is the tag.
What’s interesting about yours is that you seem to have a lot of somewhere (the red dots). Oh wait! [Takes a quick look at the source file.] It’s your calendar!
25 August 2006 at 10:50 am
mouse's moom says:
This is a tag cloud.
25 August 2006 at 11:28 am
Sammy says:
Pretty (esp. sorted by size), but hand-knit socks seem more useful!
25 August 2006 at 12:48 pm
mouse's moom says:
Some words got deleted out of my first comment because I included tag delimiters in them — < > — and wordpress ate them, so:
Actually, the little grey bunch represents the tags in the *head* of your document. The black dot is the *html* tag.
What’s interesting about yours is that you seem to have a lot of *tables* somewhere (the red dots).
25 August 2006 at 12:54 pm
Sammy says:
I thought there was something strange going on, but then I thought: this is WAY over my head!
Red dots—calendar?
25 August 2006 at 6:06 pm
mouse's moom says:
Ha ha! For once *I* am over *your* head! >:->>
The calendar is made from table-related html tags.
25 August 2006 at 6:12 pm
Sammy says:
C’mon. Start talking about Mozart & you’ll leave me essentially counting toe bones within a bar or two (either kind!)….
25 August 2006 at 6:47 pm
mouse's moom says:
haaaaa ha ha ha ha ha!!!! How many times did that toe-bone/air-column stuff get rid of undesirables? Or (yikes) lure them on? Ooops, new topic, I guess
26 August 2006 at 8:32 am
mouse's moom says:
I thought you were drinking coffee at your cabin this summer??? Wasn’t there that discussion about that extra good coffee?
26 August 2006 at 9:53 am
Sammy says:
Sorry, it was an illusion; or, jcb’s enough of a fanatic that it seemed like everyone was drinking coffee!
26 August 2006 at 10:38 am
mouse's moom says:
I’m pretty sure I was drinking it! I am *usually* a once-a-week coffee drinker, Monday coffee with Marci at Barry’s. By the time I’ve gotten up, taken a shower and a 3-mile walk, I don’t need it much. But I’ll drink it just about any time somebody else is having some. Sometimes it almost seems to have a sort of cumulative effect, like if I drink a couple of cups every day for a while, it take *much* less for me to start jittering and bouncing around.
26 August 2006 at 10:52 am
Sammy says:
Oh, yes, there was coffee! Just not ME drinking it (it made me so jittery, really jumpy jittery, that I had to take it off my personal menu)…. I was waiting for the bacon, maybe?
26 August 2006 at 11:05 am
mouse's moom says:
I’m not sure you ever got any of that bacon
.
27 August 2006 at 6:10 pm
mouse's moom says:
I went to Kitch-iti-kipi once when I was a kid. I was absolutely fascinated! It seemed so beautiful. Tried to repeat the experience with my kids. Unfortunately, it rained cats and dogs that day and we really couldn’t see *anything* because the water surface was so bumpy.
I dunno where the roots of that ticket thing came from but I had to laugh when Dyson said he wasn’t sure if it was a real memory or not because I do that same kind of thing all the time. Did it happen? Was I there when it happened or have I just heard it so many times I think I was there? Or did I dream it?
1 September 2006 at 9:31 pm
mouse's moom says:
dracula chicken? sounds interesting. post it quick!
2 September 2006 at 12:38 pm
Sammy says:
Okay, it’s posted here. I usually make it without the sour cream, ’cause I like the paprika flavor.
3 September 2006 at 10:20 am
mouse's moom says:
Boy, I could really get going on this one!!! Two years ago, I attended my first college class in thirty years — in the web development program at the local community college. Our first assignment was to write a 1-1/2 to 3 page paper. The teacher gave *explicit* instructions for how to turn it in, including that it was due at the *beginning* of the next class (the class was held once a week). In other words, have it in your hand — printed — when you come in the door.
And then I was absolutely amazed at the number of people who came in with one excuse or another for why their homework wasn’t ready to turn in. “I changed my idea in the middle of the night last night.” “The printer in the library wasn’t working.” “I couldn’t get my word processor to work.” Probably a full third of the class, a wide variety of ages and levels of previous education.
Me? I was so terrified that I was actually taking a college class that you better believe that I had the assignment printed and in my hand when I walked in the door of that class.
Rant, rant, rant.
7 September 2006 at 2:09 pm
dave says:
I just saw the tape for sale in a Gempler’s catalog. My web search brought me to this page.
12 September 2006 at 10:41 am
Pooh (natch) says:
And does eating thistles make you sad and gloomy, or do you eat thistles because you’re sad and gloomy?
“Knock if an answer is required, ring if an answer is not required.”
12 September 2006 at 10:52 am
Sammy says:
Heavy thoughts emanate from the Hundred Acre Wood….
12 September 2006 at 1:30 pm
mouse's moom says:
I thought that the Hundred Acre Wood sounded a bit familiar. Trespassers W?
13 September 2006 at 7:50 am
mouse's moom says:
Funny, I don’t usually mind construction vee-hickles in my neighborhood. And they’ve been doing major construction at Haisley for the last year.
But when I hear those f***ers in the woods? Well, better to just not think.
13 September 2006 at 11:35 am
Sammy says:
Yes. Out in the woods is a whole ’nother thang.
13 September 2006 at 6:51 pm
mouse's moom says:
Kee-reist! I think I used to drive one of those for a while!!! I think it was a bit later model and it was my grandparents’. Grandaddy died at 80 and somewhere between 80 and 85, Grandma got into a fender-bender with it and they took her license away. Eventually we ended up with it and I got into my one and only (knock on wood, bigtime) accident with it, at age 17, involving glare ice and another person driving left of center. His fault. Judge said.
Well, and then there was the time that I backed it into the fence down by the pond at the turn of the cabin road. The parents were totally flummoxed about the scrapes on the back tail-light and even called the police. Who knew NOTHING, of course
Years later, I blahgged about that and my brother immediately emailed me and said, “they always blamed *me* about that!” I dunno why since he was a few years away from a driver’s license when it happened. Somebody’s memory was not quite up to snuff 
13 September 2006 at 7:05 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, the joys of exploiting brother blame when you’re the older sister!
13 September 2006 at 9:42 pm
mouse's moom says:
hee hee hee you might actually know about that kind of stuff, wouldn’t you?
14 September 2006 at 6:26 pm
mouse's moom says:
First: so it *was* Dr. Finlayson!! I heard that story on NPR as I was battling traffic and construction on Stadium and I *thought* they were saying Finlayson but couldn’t quite tell.
And I am *almost* jealous about that new computer. Except that I *love* the 12″ size!
14 September 2006 at 6:27 pm
James says:
That’s truly divine. Congrats!
14 September 2006 at 7:12 pm
Sammy says:
Fate, I guess, well, plus jcb’s magic!
15 September 2006 at 10:58 pm
mouse's moom says:
As you well know, my favorite air conditioner on earth is the Big Lake They Call Gitchee Gumee!
But we do have central air here at the Carbeck Landfill as of last fall and I think we may have used it about 4-5 days/nights this summer.
Good night from the Planet Ann Arbor. Empty nest again tomorrow night.
16 September 2006 at 7:55 am
gg says:
We sent Mouse’s computer to Apple for repair of a broken ethernet port and broken eject key, on Wednesday. It came back on Friday all fixed. That is customer service!
17 September 2006 at 12:00 pm
mouse's moom says:
Yeah, Mouse and I were out having coffee with Jane R. when they tried to deliver it, so we had to drive over to Fedex to pick it up. Nobody here had ordered *anything* and we had absolutely no idea what the package was. We were standing there saying, “hmm, looks like a laptop box…”
18 September 2006 at 11:22 am
Mouse says:
i am sooo jealous. that is gorgeous, and i want to be there RIGHT NOW.
18 September 2006 at 11:23 am
Mouse says:
oh…there too! now i’m really really jealous. i guess i’ll have to go out to the yarn store to make myself feel better…
18 September 2006 at 12:17 pm
Sammy says:
The Southern Appalachians are my “local�?substitute for the UP.
25 September 2006 at 10:51 am
Nance says:
AKA the “pie-plate hibiscus,” for the size of its blooms. Mangled as “hot biscuits” by one of my very young neighbors on a certain Indiana summer afternoon.
27 September 2006 at 8:06 am
mouse's moom says:
Baking soda? check
Liquid detergent? check (that is, unless Froggy has been into it)
Peroxide? Hmmm, better put that on the list.
It is skunk season again. Not that it ever *isn’t* skunk season. But at this time of year, I walk in the dark in the morning. I better pick up some of that peroxide soon. Wouldn’t wanta have to go into the Westgate Kroger *smelling* like skunk!
27 September 2006 at 11:44 am
Sammy says:
Might make some new “friends” that way! But, keep Froggy safe; skunks like frogs (in the terminal way)….
27 September 2006 at 4:47 pm
mouse's moom says:
Is that right? I guess I thought they were vegetarian. Based on absolutely no factual evidence whatsoever, of course.
27 September 2006 at 5:47 pm
Sammy says:
—from seemingly well-informed website
28 September 2006 at 8:15 am
mouse's moom says:
Fascinating! I especially liked this line:
“When threatened they can spray a foul-smelling musk from their anal glands.”
Duh! Also liked the bit about how they meander along, not having to move very fast. I am well aware of that!
Thanks for the link!
30 September 2006 at 2:33 pm
froogy says:
Grok grok. Tha’s a cute ducky! grok grok
2 October 2006 at 8:35 am
kayak woman says:
A few years back, Liz and I went on a trip with some of her friends and their parents to visit colleges in Ohio — small, private, expensive liberal arts colleges, natch
My only previous experiences with Ohio were shooting down through it as fast as possible on the I75 SUV Speedway and I was pretty amazed at how pretty it was where we were traveling. Rolling hills with lots of *good* two-lane highways.
3 October 2006 at 8:05 pm
mouse's moom says:
I am such an idiot that I originally and inadvertently tried to post this under the dreaded (dun dun dun) Kayak Woman moniker. Don’t bother dreding that up outta akismet. I’ll just redo it…
A bunch of years ago, I went off on a college trip boondoggle with Liz and a couple of her friends and various parental units. We were checking into colleges in Ohio, the private, liberal arts, EXPENSIVE kind of colleges. My main previous experiences with O-haaaa-o (sorry) had involved shooting through it AFAP in order to get somewhere else. Florida (in-laws) usually. On that college trip, I was amazed at how beautiful the 2-lane highways were. Rolling hills and *beautiful* paved roads.
As you know, Liz ended up at Kalamazoo and so did Mouse, the younger kid. And someday we’ll be outta debt again. But that was great trip and I loved Ohio.
Love you.
4 October 2006 at 8:01 am
mouse's moom says:
Really makes you wonder, doesn’t it? For one, I sure would’ve like to have wireless internet down at the HF Hoosegow last winter. Apparently they have it at Beaumont.
Take care.
4 October 2006 at 11:01 am
Sammy says:
That’s next on the list, checking for wifi….
4 October 2006 at 7:38 pm
mouse's moom says:
Those look like Michigan trees in the fall.
Love you, friend.
6 October 2006 at 10:08 am
Sammy says:
They are; across the road from the Octo’s house.
8 October 2006 at 3:01 pm
mouse's moom says:
happy birthday!!!! I think I know which one it is! It was my best birthday ever. Went up to Houghton Lake with the Twinz of Terror, skied and threw buckets of water down the toilet to flush it.
8 October 2006 at 3:41 pm
Sammy says:
Many thanks, Kayak Woman, Mouse’s Moom, Bananne, and all your other noms de whatever!
9 October 2006 at 1:25 pm
froggy says:
Y’ fergot Garbage Woman. grok grok grok!
15 October 2006 at 3:11 pm
Pooh says:
Sam,
Glad to hear the Botanist is on the road to recovery! I was a little concerned when you weren’t posting. No news IS good news, at least in this case.
18 October 2006 at 8:06 am
Evelyn Bochenek says:
Sam,
Thank you for calling with the update on how the healing process is progressing. I’ve thought of you all every day and hope for the very best. I love the picture of the family looking out at the garden. It is a scene I see from a slightly different angle out the kitchen window!
I installed a wireless router for our internet connection. I would be happy to unlock the password so you all can use it (hopefully it would be accessible next door) if I knew how. I am investigating that option this week.
Best Wishes,
Evie
18 October 2006 at 4:24 pm
kayak woman says:
Pretty darn remarkable!
Oh, and Froog’s gonna leave a comment on another post, it might get dumped in the spam bucket.
18 October 2006 at 4:24 pm
froogy says:
Grok grok. Ain’t Red Green th’ name o’ some ol’ tellyvision show? grok grok.
31 October 2006 at 7:46 pm
kayak woman says:
I’m envious. But you deserve this trip after the last weeks (month?). Send a toast my way!
31 October 2006 at 11:49 pm
Sammy says:
We’re almost too tired to toast! Except by the fire! The hot tub helps, though….
2 November 2006 at 8:38 am
kayak woman says:
I saw that same moon!
And how did sockless sandals thwart seed distribution? Being dense, as usual.
2 November 2006 at 7:45 pm
kayak woman says:
:Idea: If there’s a map of the area that shows trails, take a pic of it and post it. And tell us where you’ve hiked.
I know, like you needed an actual *assignment*!
Don’t listen to me, just have fun!
2 November 2006 at 7:46 pm
kayak woman says:
Duh, a re-read answered my sock/seed question…
2 November 2006 at 8:15 pm
Sammy says:
Yup, socks are a preferred medium by the seeds, and not skin.
2 November 2006 at 10:17 pm
Jay says:
Well I didn’t get to see the same moon. The northwest has started to look and feel very northwestish. Going sockless wouldn’t even enter my head, even inside.
5 November 2006 at 1:30 pm
Pooh says:
IMHO, I don’t really know.
Here are some possible explanations for blue, blue skies. Pick the one you like best. Maybe Val the meteorologist can weigh in also.
1. Less humidity in the air than in the Midwest or Hotlanta.
2. Less particulate matter or pollution in the air.
3. Altitude — atmosphere is less dense at higher altitude, so sky is bluer. Remember that the sunrise/sunset colors we see are due to refraction through the thicker part of the atmosphere edge on to the sun.
4. All of the above.
(Test makers love to throw that one in — so do people who don’t really know.)
6 November 2006 at 9:29 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, Pooh; I knew you’d be the go-to person on this….
6 November 2006 at 10:02 am
jcburns says:
baah!
6 November 2006 at 10:08 am
Sammy says:
Sorry, no audio. Even if I had the means to capture it….
8 November 2006 at 4:05 pm
kayak woman says:
Strangely enough, the older I get, the less I mind the gray and that’s a beauiful picture in its own way. Yesterday was not only gray here on the Planet Ann Arbor, it was *wet*. And pretty muddy in my neighborhood, where there has been a major school construction project going on for the last year or so. I just grab my broken old umbrella and go outside anyway.
15 November 2006 at 6:07 pm
Pooh says:
Wow! A great set of pictures – I especially liked the spider in tree sap. Live by the stickiness, die by the stickiness.
16 November 2006 at 8:38 am
kayak woman says:
And don’t let the Michigan-style RSS (rain, sleet snow) getchya down! It’s beautiful in its own way. Glad you are getting outside. It helps, no matter what the weather.
20 November 2006 at 12:18 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, getting outside makes a HUGE difference…. But, still….
21 November 2006 at 12:23 pm
Pooh says:
And reflections in one of the rain drops! Way Cool! (as some of my students say – one of the occupational hazards of being a teacher is picking up slang.)
There is an artist who displays his photographs at some of the art fairs here. His specialty is water-drop reflections.
26 November 2006 at 11:29 am
Mouse says:
hey, that looks like something i could felt!
26 November 2006 at 2:22 pm
kayak woman says:
Yay! Favorite hat ever!
28 November 2006 at 3:40 pm
Pooh says:
Mullein we presume, not jcb, as the object of Mouse’s felting? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
8 December 2006 at 9:39 am
Pooh says:
Perhaps they are like stretch marks in the ice. As the ice expands as it freezes*, maybe it pushes or pulls on the weaker spots. Or if the green plants below it or still doing a small amount of photosynthesis, that would release some CO2 which might interact w/ the ice?
Blathering out loud here – I really don’t know.
*Water becomes denser w/ decreasing temperatures down to 4 degrees C, then it expands and becomes lighter as it turns to ice. Then as the temperature continues to drop, the solid water (ice) will again follow the normal density – temperature relation. The expansion is what makes ice float, thereby allowing life to continue below the ice.
17 December 2006 at 10:25 pm
jcburns says:
What a great walk today! Thanks, Sam.
19 December 2006 at 12:07 am
mouse's moom says:
This ol’ outhouse mama is highly impressed!
19 December 2006 at 1:16 pm
Pooh says:
Is that supposed to be a brick outhouse!? I’ve heard of people who look like a “brick outhouse”, but never seen one. It would be a lot harder to move over a new hole than a wooden one, and it seems to me our well-built (from 1920′s goverment plans) wooden one required quite a bit of gazinta to move as it was. Course maybe w/ brick, you just build a new one. Oh wait, I just remembered, I have seen brick outhouses – they were at Williamsburg, in the Governor’s gardens. Four-seaters, if memory serves. Williamsburg, where history comes to life!
20 December 2006 at 7:10 pm
mouse's moom says:
I have no words, except that I have now experienced First Pond up close in person.
21 December 2006 at 8:47 am
Sammy says:
Delightful to give you a tour!
22 December 2006 at 10:51 am
mouse's moom says:
Glad you all got to Atlanta safely. Have a great holiday!
23 December 2006 at 1:11 pm
mouse's moom says:
Woolworth’s. Christmas ornaments, 45 rpm records, walking downtown from the junior high/high school to get french fries and coke for lunch in the cafeteria.
23 December 2006 at 7:12 pm
Jay Regenstreif says:
Woolworth’s – I had forgotten about the lunch counters. I suppose all the bookstores with cafes are really just a flashback of sorts (without the fries).
We finally put lights on the tree this morning. Ashlan thinks it would be good without ornaments, but I think Rey will want to hang the picture ornaments when he gets back (Carl’s mother makes cloth ornaments with photographs in them – it is just about all we put up anymore. I love seeing all the pictures from over the years.)
Merry Christmas
27 December 2006 at 9:54 pm
mouse's moom says:
you go girl!!!
27 December 2006 at 10:12 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks! We old folks, or older than the new folks, have to remind the new folks of the, tada!, progression of toys (aka artifacts). Luv.
1 January 2007 at 4:45 pm
Mouse says:
gorgeous.
3 January 2007 at 7:47 pm
mouse's moom says:
2002. Yeah, I was gonna say…
And yay for the liq-wire store!
8 January 2007 at 4:59 pm
manette says:
Sammy,
This photo breaks my heart. I spoke to your dad yesterday, he sounds well. We will try to make a trip up soon to visit Min and take dinner to Nick.
Take care,
Manette
11 January 2007 at 5:39 pm
mouse's moom says:
It’s odd that I actually read the “vehicles bicycle riding dogs” part of the sign and didn’t even *see* the huge NO at the top. And I came to more or less the same conclusion as you did. Perhaps they should change it to:
No vehicles
No bicycles
No dogs
Or just use the words “vehicles,” “bicycles,” and “dogs” with one of those big red “NO” symbols (like old Nosmo King) over the words.
I don’t mind dogs being in my park at all. Except for the ones that the owners clearly have no control over or aren’t paying attention to because they’re so busy gossiping. One time, I was talking to some neighbors and two huge golden retrievers came flying up behind me at top speed and bashed right into my legs. I fell on top of them. I was not hurt, there was about a foot of soft snow on the ground. But, sheesh!
12 January 2007 at 9:09 am
Pooh says:
Just the thing for Mole Day celebrations! Dave’s HS Chemistry teacher has a big celebration on October 23rd, starting at 6:02 am. Two years ago, she invited the students to come to school early, and said they’d be able to “blow stuff up”. She did demonstrate some exothermic reactions. (Unfortunately, I can’t remember what she combined) What the kids got to blow up, though, was balloons – to a volume of 22.4 liters – the volume of a mole of gas under STP conditions.
12 January 2007 at 10:13 am
Sammy says:
I could use some STP conditions—can’t seem to get warm today! Thought I might be coming down with something last night, yet felt pretty good this AM, but maybe I’m wrong! Actually, the winter’s been too warm, so that some hyacinths and iris are blooming.
12 January 2007 at 5:53 pm
mouse's moom says:
Cold and rainy here at Houghton Lake. No snow and *very* foggy on the way up. Val, my personal weather station had some interesting things to say about the weather last on my blahg, I think it was when I posted the summer-like pics of the beach.
I’ll have to test out that Trader Joe guac since jcb gives it the a-okay. The $1.50 a piece avocados are too unpredictable around here at this time of year and my personal guac maker is out on the left coast anyway. She brought avocados from the Berkeley Bowl (if I spelled Bowl right) in her backpack at xmas.
Stay warm, Sam, and if you are coming down with something, I hope it’s one of those mild little viruses that don’t make you too sick but just sick enough to excuse yourself from life as usual for a few days.
13 January 2007 at 7:28 pm
mouse's moom says:
I bet I’ve told you this umpteen million times before but I once got motion sickness on that tourist-type structure at Clingman’s Dome. It was crazy. All kinds of “old folks” (I was maybe 28 then) were having no problem with it and I just about had to “cling” to the rail to get down. But it is a beautiful area though and I envy you the hiking opportunities and have fun!
15 January 2007 at 9:12 am
Sammy says:
Meet us there sometime maybe?
18 January 2007 at 8:37 pm
mouse's moom says:
I could probably write a book about how I feel about current “trends” of real estate development. The main theme being something like, “no, you don’t need to build a [shopping center/housing development/other large building] to fulfill the promise of your manhood.” But I won’t. Sigh… That’s what procreating children is all about.
Yeah, it is one o’ *those* nights.
20 January 2007 at 8:08 pm
Mouse says:
agreed. who’s been letting philosophers contribute to the dictionary?
24 January 2007 at 12:14 pm
mouse's moom says:
Sticking my head up for a few minutes:
1) Congratulations on one year of blahgging. I can never think of anything “deep” to write on those occasions either. It’ll be four years this summer.
2) Stopping at TJs this very afternoon either on the way to or from meeting.
3) Looooove the Starbucks! I hardly ever go to Starbucks. The one on State and Liberty has been known to smell like, well, dirty diapers. The one in the Westgate Kroger is just plain grimy.
4) Politics? Uhg, I have no words.
5) Yay for jcb and wp. I’m glad you kept the mini-Sam though. One o’ these days, I’ll actually sit down and revamp *my* barely designed site. Hmmm… Gothic-organic or paper bag…
Back to Flash.
24 January 2007 at 12:15 pm
mouse's moom says:
Oh, and, as you’ve prob’ly already googled, there is a gosus.com game site. Can’t figger out what the word means though.
27 January 2007 at 7:44 pm
mouse's moom says:
Every time I look at this dern lasagne, I think, “I should go take a refrigerator inventory and make a list and go buy the ingredients for one of my variations on vegetarian lasagne.” And since there’s almost nothing in the refrigerator, that means I have a long list. I’m gonna do it with pesto and if I forget to put the pesto inside, I’m gonna do it just like you did.
29 January 2007 at 8:47 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks; hope it was tasty!
30 January 2007 at 8:50 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
wow… this is so cool… my inner archaeologist is jumping up and down.
1 February 2007 at 9:05 pm
mouse's moom says:
Cleanup is my middle name. Or at least it used to be. Maybe it will be again. As long as I don’t get obsessive about it.
Yay for accomplices that encourage replacement of dead drudge toys and other domestic items.
1 February 2007 at 9:06 pm
mouse's moom says:
What the you-know-what happened???
1 February 2007 at 9:07 pm
mouse's moom says:
P.S. er, except for the broken glass, your oven looks cleaner than mine!
1 February 2007 at 9:19 pm
gg says:
(1) Your oven IS cleaner than mouse’s moom’s oven.
(2) Thermal shock sounds like global warming.
1 February 2007 at 10:29 pm
Sammy says:
Things did get exciting there for a moment, but I don’t think the moment has the lasting impact of global warming….
So, for the record, don’t pour tap water into a hot “oven-proof” baking pan (to make sure the grease doesn’t burn). Trouble ensues….
1 February 2007 at 10:30 pm
Sammy says:
Or even non-domestic items, stored in cupboards, garages, and basements….
2 February 2007 at 1:08 pm
mouse's moom says:
Oooh, actually, been there, done that! Many, many moons ago. Except it was one of those oven-proof glass covers. Corning or whatever.
[Hands the GG a can of oven cleaner.]
3 February 2007 at 5:24 pm
Mouse says:
dracula chicken?? sounds exciting!!!
7 February 2007 at 11:19 am
Sammy says:
Maybe sometime together we can tour the area—or some other closer to home, like this continent?!!!!!
16 February 2007 at 11:53 pm
Jay says:
I don’t know how all of the stuff got into our house – I think it seeps through the cracks and comes in the night. There is no way we could possibly have purchased all of this stuff.
17 February 2007 at 9:08 am
Sammy says:
Are the culprits kids and dogs?
17 February 2007 at 10:59 pm
Jay says:
No dogs, but a few cats here and there. Rats tried to move in, but they did get evicted. I’d say kids are probably the biggest reason, and since Carl keeps taking care of them it is hard to get rid of it all. And then there is Carl – the biggest kid.
18 February 2007 at 8:53 am
mouse's moom says:
Amazingly enough, it seems like it’s worse after the kids are gone. How that can be, I do not know.
Making little slivers of progress though. Finally.
18 February 2007 at 10:58 am
Sammy says:
I always mentally think “kids and dogs” when I encounter weird features in archaeologcial excavations; hard to predict what disruptions they might make across a village or in a household compound, that we then see in the soil centuries (or less) later….
19 February 2007 at 7:00 am
mouse's moom says:
I would guess adults put that face on the tree.
The only time I have ever seen that dog show was last February at the Henry Ford Hoosegow when it was one of the few things that caught my dad’s interest for even a few minutes.
And, yeah, you can get over stage fright. Somehow I’m managing it in a rather cold turkey kind of way.
20 February 2007 at 7:00 am
mouse's moom says:
Never had a tin awning on any dwelling but the rain on the cabin roof is one of my favorite sounds ever. And waking up on the front porch of the old cabin hearing the crows caw.
20 February 2007 at 8:28 am
Pooh says:
Or the foghorn at the cabin, which I swear plays the first few notes of “Summer in the City”. (Maybe in the key of B-flat?)
20 February 2007 at 10:48 am
Sammy says:
Ah, the audio-memory link—right up there with the smell-memory link….
24 February 2007 at 10:24 am
Pooh says:
Wonderful picture – is it a brassica variant? Also loved the words – very poetic.
Did you hear the one about the topologist at the diner?
He couldn’t decide whether to have a cup of coffee or a donut….
P.S. I’d have written sooner, but on workdays, I only have time to read, not respond.
24 February 2007 at 12:24 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, it’s a decorative cabbage used in these parts along with pansys in seasonal beds over the colder months. Love the lacy leaves.
Yes, topologists do have dilemmas…that are rarely topophilic….
25 February 2007 at 12:10 pm
mouse's moom says:
Well, I am a member of the Bacon Brigade!
Still remembering that fantastic breakfast last summer.
28 February 2007 at 11:50 am
Mouse says:
to me it sort of looks like a long-haired person doing yoga. just an opinion…
28 February 2007 at 1:35 pm
Sammy says:
I like that interpretation!
1 March 2007 at 8:47 am
mouse's moom says:
Well, *this* is probably totally *not* what was being referred to in the quote, but it immediately made me think of the Fin Family Moomintroll philosophy on scattering ashes. Rather than dumping a whole container into a body of water or whatever, my dead folk are all over the country. One of the most fun to sprinkle my anti-development brother was on the seat of a bulldozers in the woods at the end of the beach.
Of course, neither Jim nor Jack specified anything about where their ashes should go and I knew them well enough to know they didn’t really give a damn.
But I’ll put that book on my summer reading list.
1 March 2007 at 8:50 am
mouse's moom says:
Uh, that would be: One of the most fun *places* to sprinkle my anti-development brother was on the seat of a bulldozer
sin the woods at the end of the beach.Editing (or not) on the web…
2 March 2007 at 9:15 am
mouse's moom says:
Not to diminish the effects of truly large earthquakes, but I keep reminding the rather jittery Michigan girls out here that cyclonic storms can be just as deadly and in my humble experiences with them, MUCH more scary than a mild earthquake. And only somewhat more predictable.
Now, knock on wood that I just wrote that.
2 March 2007 at 9:49 am
Sammy says:
Maybe it’s just that YOUR travel out of the Midwest to the Left Coast has imbalanced sensitive eco-processes….
6 March 2007 at 10:06 am
Pooh says:
WOW! Are they red or RED! The ones we have here are green or tan. Those look like the kind that you can stick on your nose. Great for embarassing husbands, children, sisters, anyone around you w/o enough self-esteem to do it themselves.(Split the seed end open, and there’s usually enough sticky residue to attach the halves to your proboscis.)
6 March 2007 at 10:14 am
Sammy says:
Ah, sticky plant part fun…working in rural Mexico, a young woman taught me that the lozenge-shaped tiny fruit of a type of barrel cactus, also bright red, can be carefully extracted from between the spines, and the base will be sticky enough to adhere to your earlobe, making an earring of sorts—perfect for little girls with wild imaginations!
And, BTW, I found the red a surprise also!
8 March 2007 at 8:47 am
mouse's moom says:
I’ve known some kids with Asperger’s from the theatre guild. They are highly intelligent but they have a lot of struggles. I identify with them. I don’t have autism but on a few of the billions of continuums of traits that constitute a personality, I always feel like I have some tendencies in that direction. Synesthesia to some extent too.
Sounds like a good book though.
10 March 2007 at 6:32 pm
The Master Of THE Universe says:
I picked up Born on a Blue Day last week but I had to finish other books before I could get to it. I started it on Friday. When I was a freshman at MSU I remember two friends who argued about the colors of the letters of the alphabet and other similar confounding concepts. They had been reluctant to admit their condition since some folks considered it to be a problem.
synesthesia
13 March 2007 at 8:10 am
mouse's moom says:
If the Trillium Bandit is reading, maybe she can tell us.
26 March 2007 at 7:55 am
mouse's moom says:
my neighborhood growing up was a big grid of streets and alleys. It used to be an adventure of sorts to walk the alleys and see things from the back end. Our alleys were not as pretty as that, more often than not big muddy messes.
26 March 2007 at 9:57 am
Sammy says:
We’re a bit dry right now (not a good sign since March is statistically our rainiest month), but this very alley has quite muddy phases.
26 March 2007 at 12:03 pm
Pooh says:
Sam,
I love the alley (with wisteria) and all of the winter-to-spring pictures. However the best picture is “the botanist” turning over the garden. Glad to see that the bypass is behind him. Spring truly is the season of renewal.
26 March 2007 at 1:41 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, we’re enjoying the renewal in its broadest sense…
27 March 2007 at 9:45 am
mouse's moom says:
Actually, I agree about The Botanist!
28 March 2007 at 5:34 pm
Pooh says:
Every time I come to this picture, as I’m scrolling down, it looks like hot pink bunny ears!
28 March 2007 at 6:35 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, they were amazing—almost 2 inches long! But not hare-y.
29 March 2007 at 7:36 am
mouse's moom says:
YIKES! Gettin’ t’ be that season again!
29 March 2007 at 10:26 am
Maureen says:
Thanks so very much–they are so pretty and apropos (I think and hope). Thanks for all the wonderful support which was a great aid in getting me through the process–which I NEVER want to do again!
29 March 2007 at 10:29 am
Sammy says:
Kudos, gal, and I agree—NEVER again!
29 March 2007 at 10:30 am
Sammy says:
Sooner here than there, or in SSSiberia…
31 March 2007 at 9:57 am
Pooh says:
“fugacity” What a wonderful word! I bet I could use it in conversation w/ high school students and get a whole raft of new meanings.
“You have the FUGACITY to tell me you’ve finished doing your Ideal Gas Law worksheet when you been gossiping (loudly) to your friend the whole time!”
The Ideal Gas Law: my friends and I called it the Pervert Law when we learned it in high school. (PV = nRT) P=pressure V=volume n=number of moles of the gas R=a constant (this may be where the fugacity comes in) and T=temperature.
I told Dan that when he was struggling w/ Chemistry in high school, and he told his teacher. She said if it’s silly or off-color, you’ll be more likely to remember it. Works for me – it was probably 30 years btw my HS chem class and Dan’s. But I never learned about the word “fugacity” – I think I’d have remembered it.
31 March 2007 at 11:54 am
Sammy says:
The potential for new meanings was certainly why “fugacity” caught my eye; I have no use for it with its real meaning, now that I’ve included here in the “blahg.”
2 April 2007 at 6:20 pm
mouse's moom says:
How long did you stand there watching them? With my luck, somebody would’ve asked, “may I help you ma’am?”
It reminds me of the stupid signs at the entrances to the schoolyard. Something on the order of, “all visitors to the grounds MUST report to the office.” Like that’s gonna stop the AK47 bad-guy-shoot-em-up folk. Like I keep saying, “When it comes to the Haisley neighborhood, I *yam* Homeland Security.”
2 April 2007 at 6:46 pm
Sammy says:
I just kept moving, said hi to the emptier when I passed him on the sidewalk, then turned around when I got past and took the photo, of which I suspect they were totally unaware. That’s alertness in the security realm!
9 April 2007 at 1:26 pm
Margo Schwadron says:
Hey – thanks for the great feedback! And you bring up an interesting point….the bugs. I can persoanlly attest to the swarms and hoards of mosquitos attacking us daily as we conducted this survey. We had to armor the crew in full-length bug-suits with face masks and hoods just to survive. Makes one wonder, how did prehistoric peoples survive? Were the bugs as bad, and what did they do to adapt? Perhaps even the climate was different, or this was pre-mosquito. Anyone know of researchers doing mid to late Holocene palaeoentomology???
Cheers-
Margo
9 April 2007 at 3:39 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, palaeoentomology, that’s a tricky field, and mosquitos don’t have life-cycles that are likely to allow their remains to survive site formation processes, in other than amber (that I can think of offhand). Hmmm….
11 April 2007 at 10:09 am
Pooh says:
Is that a tulip tree? I’ve often thought that it would be a challenging knitting project to do cables that looked like tree bark.
11 April 2007 at 10:15 am
Sammy says:
I suspect so; I’ll look and report back! And, I agree, these do resemble knitted cables….
12 April 2007 at 3:11 pm
jcburns says:
Sammy, your brownies were wonderful. But beyond that, your spirit that permeated all that went into making it a special 50th (there, I said it) birthday was amazing and truly appreciated.
Thanks, my dear.
13 April 2007 at 4:34 pm
mouse's moom says:
Sheesh, I have been in over my head. Bouncing back and forth from photoshop to illustrator to flash. In honor of the guru’s birthday maybe?
In Siberia for the weekend. Gonna get my nose outta this electronical beast and go brave the strong winds for a walk.
50 was my best year ever! I’ll go over and post a comment on positivelyatlanta too!
16 April 2007 at 7:38 am
mouse's moom says:
I remember when you made socks! Who knew how popular knitting socks would get to be in the 21st century.
16 April 2007 at 12:57 pm
Maureen says:
Perhaps signifying that we’ve all taken pills to accept the stuff laid upon us by the Bushie? That’s likely too literal, though, and if I say more I’ll end up at Guantanomo. Egads.
16 April 2007 at 1:00 pm
Sammy says:
No, I will protect you, I promise: in the face of any legal action against me by Homeland Security (in the style of McCarthyism), I will not reveal who my commenters are!
24 April 2007 at 9:27 am
mouse's moom says:
Hmmm, that looks right up my alley. I’m envious of the hiking too! I am sitting here *chained* to my macbook, just getting in the usual urban hiking. Six miles a day but getting tired of the route.
25 April 2007 at 4:55 pm
Sammy says:
Add loops and reverse course, sometimes those are the only options to making the “same route” more interesting….
26 April 2007 at 6:33 am
mouse's moom says:
Ooh, these look good. Maybe I’ll get some today. How do you tell if they’re dredge-harvested or not?
26 April 2007 at 8:18 am
Sammy says:
I assume that all “dry” scallops are “divers” scallops, even if they don’t say so. But that may be an erroneous assumption. All the “big” scallops I see around here are labeled dry, and often referred to as divers by the vendors. But it could all be a crock.
26 April 2007 at 6:58 pm
mouse's moom says:
Wow! I didn’t realize your dad was also an April 26th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!
1 May 2007 at 7:31 am
mouse's moom says:
Ooooh, reminds me of my little purple gosling.
Geese always lay their eggs near Old 27 between the freeway and Houghton Lake. In the spring (seems like it’s usually in about mid-May?) you have to really watch when driving because they hang out on the sides of the road.
1 May 2007 at 7:33 am
mouse's moom says:
We went through a period of time after we were married when it seemed like everybody and his mother gave us their old television sets. One of them smoked when we turned it on. Not joining the 21st century here.
2 May 2007 at 10:22 pm
Mouse says:
oh, my gosh!! this is embarrassing. i have read almost no blogs through all of april. it looks beautiful!! after this week, i might be able to breathe and catch up a bit. ;D
also, on the subject of africa, i got my shots this morning. all six of them. needless to say, i’m feeling pretty woozy and can’t even count how many typos i’ve made in this little comment!!
6 May 2007 at 8:54 am
Pooh says:
Maybe “Lakespeare” would be better?
7 May 2007 at 9:40 am
Sammy says:
Definitely cleverer! Kudos to Pooh!
9 May 2007 at 3:02 pm
Mouse says:
it’s adorable, and impressively fuzzy.
12 May 2007 at 7:13 am
mouse's moom says:
Whaddya mean, you don’t need any more cobbles?
14 May 2007 at 9:12 am
Maureen says:
Hey Sammy,
avoiding things I don’t want to do, just to tell you that in our quest to unearth the treasures in our overgrown yard, I found a blueberry bush with berries. Of course, I had chopped off a sizable limb by the time I pulled away enough honeysuckle to figure that out, but I prefer to call that ‘judicious pruning’. The yard is shaping up, and we now have a new, fancy digital camera, so I’ll send pics along soon.
17 May 2007 at 7:02 am
mouse's moom says:
Great pic!!!
20 May 2007 at 7:15 am
mouse's moom says:
Pretty good. Except, in my humble experience, I wouldn’t attach “mouse-like” to anything related to insecurity.
P.S. This has me wondering if I have regained enough attention span to actually read a 900 page book. hmmm.
22 May 2007 at 9:14 am
Sammy says:
Maybe India’s mouseys have different characters than our modern, New World mouseys.
22 May 2007 at 3:13 pm
mouse's moom says:
I like that birdie. I don’t think it should be hidden away.
We have a metal birdie that I bought for the GG years ago. I’ll try to remember to post a pic sometime soon. It spent its first few nights next to Mouse’s bed covered by a towel for a blanket.
22 May 2007 at 3:20 pm
Sammy says:
No, this colorful fellah was right next to the sidewalk!
23 May 2007 at 7:07 am
mouse's moom says:
ooops. didn’t read carefully!
23 May 2007 at 7:08 am
mouse's moom says:
Anyway, you may have trouble getting the winsomeness into the garden. *I* have trouble getting the *garden* into the garden!
23 May 2007 at 11:14 am
Sammy says:
Well, I didn’t want to come out and say it, but that may be my problem, too!
25 May 2007 at 5:12 am
mouse's moom says:
Kee-reist!!! Sorta makes me think twice of all the times here in the *frozen* Great White North that I go out and start one or the other of my Hondas and let it sit there and defrost until I’m ready to venture out into the world. Guess I should *not* put stuff like that on the Internet…
29 May 2007 at 7:12 am
Pooh says:
Sam,
I’m so sorry to hear that your Honda was stolen, especially since w/ 220k miles, it will be hard to replace.
However, when your blog opens, all I see is the headline, “Bummer day”, and the beautiful photo of the orange flower. What kind of flower is it?
30 May 2007 at 3:54 pm
Sammy says:
Pooh—yes, impossible to replace. And full of gas to boot. Two new front tires. Fresh oil change. Recent washing. Someone BETTER be happy.
As to the flower, it’s a mystery to me. Kindof an eyeful, no?
30 May 2007 at 5:54 pm
mouse's moom says:
Beautiful picture and yay for 88! What kind of fleurs?
Sincerely yours,
Black Thumb Banana
30 May 2007 at 6:02 pm
froooggy says:
Grok grok! Can I have th’ turtle? grok grok.
30 May 2007 at 6:21 pm
Sammy says:
Hydrangea. It’s probably most famous ’cause if you change the pH of the soil—that is how acid or alkaline it is—the flower color will drift from blue to pink. Right, Pooh?
30 May 2007 at 6:30 pm
mouse's moom says:
Um, Frooog, I think that cute turtle might be big enough to sit on top of you and suffocate you!
30 May 2007 at 11:51 pm
jay says:
I will keep Kevyn in my thoughts (positive ones). I have just started training for the 3-day Walk to find a cure for breast cancer. 60 mile walk September 7-9. Goal is to not have to get e-mails bearing this sort of bad news.
31 May 2007 at 8:07 am
Pooh says:
Yes, it is pH reactive. That said, I’ve seen bushes that have both blue and pink flowers on the same plant. ??? I’ve also seen pale green hydrangea blooms and the oak leaf hydrangea has sort of off-white/beige flowers.
31 May 2007 at 10:22 am
Sammy says:
My guess that the hydrangeas with bicolor flowering were 1) large, and 2) with differing pH on different sides of the plant. Perhaps non-blue/pink flowers indicates the radical element in the plant world—roughly speaking, the kind who would have voted for John Anderson.
31 May 2007 at 10:25 am
Sammy says:
Many many thanks. I’m hoping for good weather for your walk. Drink lots of water. Consider a stash of moleskin to apply to pre-blister irritation….
And I hope the money raised goes to research and not fund-raising (apologies for being such a cynic).
1 June 2007 at 8:32 am
Kelley Hersey says:
WONDERFUL picture of Manette just BEFORE the big 88th! As I recall, Fred and she share the same Big Day… glad to hear that it was a good one. We miss all of the Smiths and Smith/Burns folks, being so isolated in upstate NY. Looking forward to seeing you and JCB soon. (And P.S., we LOVED the backyard garden image, plus the “family of four near the back door” shot…)–K
1 June 2007 at 9:47 am
dan elliott says:
Perhaps you and John should rent a car, drive to Rincon and drown your sorrows in our freshly spruced up backyard pool?
1 June 2007 at 9:52 am
Sammy says:
I sure like the drowning sorrows part…and thanks for the invite. BTW, howze the smoke from the GA/FL fires?
1 June 2007 at 8:14 pm
Jay says:
Thanks for the memory blast
2 June 2007 at 8:27 am
Sammy says:
Ah, yes, you remember that building! Looks pretty much the same in summer break abandonment.
3 June 2007 at 7:38 am
mouse's moom says:
Surprising it hasn’t *already* been incorporated into predictive models. Although I also felt that the story was a bit over-hyped.
3 June 2007 at 9:09 am
Sammy says:
We sure heard about it here in ATL….
3 June 2007 at 10:31 am
mouse's moom says:
I bet you did!
One of the things that irritated me was the lack of actual *facts* reported. Like, was he indeed contagious while on those flights? And maybe some information about TB and that *strain* of TB, when and when not contagious, etc., etc.
‘course, I pay attention to news haphazardly even on the best days.
3 June 2007 at 10:33 am
mouse's moom says:
Had to read it twice but it does make sense.
-An occasional user of “uncountable” for hyperbolic purposes.
5 June 2007 at 3:16 pm
James says:
As I told John… Go for it. It sounds like a perfect car for y’all.
Pick up a Saturday or Sunday paper, find an ad, parse the small print, and then insist they give it to you for that price.
6 June 2007 at 6:33 am
mouse's moom says:
I wouldn’t worry about being a sheep. Having experienced both “American” and “Japanese” vee-hickles, I’d go with “Japanese” any day.
Some of the folks involved in testing vee-hickles to certify them for various things have interesting opinions about the hybrids as they currently stand though. I won’t even try to quote for fear of inaccuracy.
Too bad about the slimy sales-dude. We’ve got Kevin (first language Chinese) here at Honda. *Much* better than the folks at Chrysler.
6 June 2007 at 6:34 am
mouse's moom says:
Love those old pictures. And while googling for “agrestal,” I found garden whimsy (hope the link works):
http://www.gardeners.com/Funky-Chickens/default/StandardCatalog.NewLandscapeAccents_Cat.37-370RS.cpd
6 June 2007 at 8:05 am
Sammy says:
Ah, agrestal. I discovered that word because the name of the housing development where the characters lived in Weeds was Agrestic, which I just had to look up….
Your garden whimsy is far more interesting….
6 June 2007 at 8:05 am
Pooh says:
Jay has a hybrid, I believe a Prius, check with her.
6 June 2007 at 8:10 am
Sammy says:
We’re hearing rumors of huge mileage jumps with a new lithium ion battery (if I have that right); the question is whether it’ll be in this fall’s model, or the following year’s….
6 June 2007 at 10:23 am
mouse's moom says:
I think the issue the geeks have is that for the *owner*, the cost of the vee-hickle is high enough so as to significantly diminish the savings from fuel economy — for the consumer, that is. Not that it isn’t a green vee-hickle.
blahgging from kzoo. Shore hope we can fit all o’ this stuff into my cute little blue civic!
6 June 2007 at 10:25 am
mouse's moom says:
“blahgging from kzoo.” (and other inconsistencies in what I just wrote…)
er, commenting from kzoo.
6 June 2007 at 3:03 pm
Sammy says:
You seem a bit distracted, oh Great Wanderer, perhaps because you’re not traveling via kayak?
6 June 2007 at 6:11 pm
mouse's moom says:
hahaha! I need a kayak ride! It was a long day moving the Mouse out of her dorm. She won’t return until next March because Senegal happens in between. Many trips up and down stairs today. I’m not sure if I’ll miss driving to kzoo next year or not. I have plenty of other places to drive, thought. And yes, I was sure distracted. I still am. Love you and buy whatever damn vee-hickle you want and don’t listen to slackers like me!
6 June 2007 at 6:12 pm
mouse's moom says:
That would be “plenty of places to drive, though”, not “thought”. Sheesh. Distracted? Naaawwwww.
7 June 2007 at 9:48 am
Jay says:
From a 2004 Prius owner – It was definately a price jump from us. It cost more than the last two cars we had purchased combined.
That said, I am really glad we got it. It drives wonderfully, kind of glides. It also has a lot of room (if you have passengers in the back seat) and can carry a fair amount of stuff – fold down back seat.
Things that make a difference on your gas mileage.
Starting fast, stopping fast, air conditioning and heater use, type of driving.
In the winter here I set the “indoor” temp at 68 and managed to get 45-47 mpg.
In the non-winter I tend not to use the air conditioner and get 48-52 mpg most of the time.
My car-poolers always want me to drive, especially with the price of gas.
A friend who has one calls it the bio-feedback car because you can use the screen that shows where the power is being drawn from and you try to maximize use of the battery.
What I have heard from a co-worker who just ordered one (2007) is 2009 for the all-electric version (not sure on the details here). They now have a rear-camera for backing up that ours does not have.
I would go for it.
Jay
7 June 2007 at 10:14 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, all, we like the car. And it does glide. The backup camera is cool. The “bio-feedback” screen is way cool. So, now we’re trying to deal with the haggling part. It seems that Toyota dealers have added another level that want its cut. It’s no longer just (hah!) the sales-weasel, dealer, and manufacturer that want some of your CASH, but they’ve added in there a regional coalition of dealers. So, at up to about $1K per “level” (all from Hades), we’re not happy. JCB’s working the web….
7 June 2007 at 11:28 am
anne-bananne's eldest says:
i know someone in the bay with a green prius… it does look elegant…
7 June 2007 at 2:40 pm
Sammy says:
Anybody tried Cars Direct? Seems like it might let us skip all the middle men—see above….
7 June 2007 at 5:39 pm
mouse's moom says:
I feel a little guilty here. Mouse was talking about a school friend from Atlanta yesterday and I said, “Atlanta is *hot*, and she asked something like, “wait, isn’t it a dry heat?” You know how they always say that about the southwest. “It’s 110 but it’s a *dry* heat!” Yeah, I would die anyway.
Anyway, I answered something like, “nooooooo!” But I guess it *is* very dry down your way this year.
And I was wondering if you could catch the graywater from the washer in a bucket or something? I think I could actually do that here if I needed to. I *think*. There’s a hose that empties into one of those old fashioned laundry tubs, a grimy old thing that I never actively use except occasionally to dump a bucket of water into.
Prayin’ for rain for the southeast! In my own godless way, that is.
7 June 2007 at 5:53 pm
Sammy says:
We have humid times and drier times. By the coast, for instance in Savannah, they really feel the humidity. I once lived in a rental in good ol’ Athens that had oil-treated real wood doors on the kitchen cabinets (not sealed with poly or something else modern) and I didn’t use the AC through the summer (which is also a dehumidifying process), and the wood turned pale blue with mold every six days or so. I used bleach water, but it came back. Ick. Fun weekends.
Yeah, you’re right, I could siphon the water out of the washer after the wash cycle is complete (washer/drier are upstairs), but I can imagine the mess if there was even one false move with that hose…. Remember, we had a tree fall through our roof into our house in a rainstorm, so I can imagine it all too well!
7 June 2007 at 7:29 pm
mouse's moom says:
Agreed about the siphoning. I can’t even count how many times I’ve gone down to the dungeon and found water all over the floor because of some random false move. You’d have to just about sit there and watch the whole dern process. And *that* would be a *total* waste of your time!
Glad I am in the great lakes. Although it can certainly be dry here too…
20 June 2007 at 3:29 pm
mouse's moom says:
I lived in YAG tshirts for years. Oversized ones. Extra large, anyone? I don’t know what made me decide it but suddenly I felt like an old frump. So I switched to Chicos tank tops that actually fit, more or less. I probably still look like an old frump
I still have one from Taming of the Shrew. Black with neon pink and green poster graphic. Holes under the arms. Extra large or maybe XXL. I wear it when I know no one will come to the door.
21 June 2007 at 7:51 am
Pooh says:
Hmm, I thought as the picture scrolled up slowly… That doesn’t look like how I remember Hotlanta. Oaxaca, standing in for Hotlanta, as a rain double. What’s the matter, Hotlanta afraid that it will get its hair wet?
21 June 2007 at 8:00 am
Sammy says:
Just checking to see if you’re awake! Plus, too many trees to get good sky shots from the shelter of either the front or back porch. I have puddles, raindrops on this & that, could take rain-streaming-window-glass pictures, but don’t have good threatening-skies-over-Atlanta photos. So, I thought I’d hit the archives. Look for a local image today!
21 June 2007 at 2:55 pm
mouse's moom says:
Yeah, I wondered about the palm trees. I mean, I think Atlanta *has* them, just looked a little more tropical.
21 June 2007 at 6:39 pm
Sammy says:
Can’t fool you Eagle Eyes! (Palm trees here only in very protected settings, like conservatories. Different story in South Georgia.)
21 June 2007 at 7:39 pm
mouse's moom says:
I was amazed when I walked around Berkeley at how much vegetation there was on the tiny little lots. Not that it was all vegetable gardens. Even if I hadn’t been in a total daze the whole time I was there, I probably wouldn’t have known what the plants were. — Black Thumb Banana
23 June 2007 at 7:30 pm
Maureen says:
Well, this MM, lovely or not, very much appreciates the camera, as I work on my dissertation. I still get a kick out of the machinations that were involved and the many people in making sure you got your bouquet. A yay day.
26 June 2007 at 10:58 am
mouse's moom says:
Boy, you are right about people having trouble with that test. We can renew licenses online every other time, so I only have to take that test once every eight years or so. Once, when the kids were little and it had been quite some time since I’d taken the test, I was actually kind of nervous about it. When I got there, there was a kid who was struggling with taking the test. I had to wait in line a bit and by the time I was done with the test, he was *still* struggling.
One of the “trick” questions on the MI test is about drunk driving. It asks what percentage of accidents are alcohol-related. Oddly enough, one of the smaller percentages is the correct answer. There is so much publicity about drunk driving (not without good reason) that I wonder how many people miss that one by picking the highest percentage.
27 June 2007 at 9:28 am
mouse's moom says:
This is a fun enough topic that I should probably blahg about it from my own humble point of view. I’m one of those people who assigns colors to abstract things and concepts. Can’t remember the name for that right now, it’s been in the media a lot in the last couple years. I always tell people I can’t see the color of their aura if they start looking at me funny when I say I do that kind of thing.
There are a couple things (out of many) that I remember doing with the *real* crayola colors, from the *old* box. One was arrange the “rainbow” colors (red, orange-red, red-orange, orange, etc. etc.) and make designs out of them, can’t describe it any better than that. Then there was something I did with pairing sky blue and silver, carnation pink or mint (?) green with gold. But I can’t exactly remember any more than that.
28 June 2007 at 9:43 am
mouse's moom says:
The iPhone is seeming more and more like smoke and mirrors. I hope the GG doesn’t get serious about buying them. He lost his phone in February (using an *old* one of Mouse’s) and mine works like crap. Karen had to *text* message me last night to get thru.
I am really disappointed that service is through AT&T.
28 June 2007 at 9:47 am
Pooh says:
3 Hours per day! Who could possibly use all those minutes?
A teenage boy at the cabin, who’s girlfriend is at home. Plus, add the fact that although we had asked Sprint to add roaming to all the phones, it was only on the original phone, not said lovestruck’s phone. Plus, half the calls at the cabin go through Michigan towers, the other half go through Ontario towers, so add international roaming. Plus, the first bill came while we were up at the cabin, so didn’t realize it in time to keep it from hitting a second month!
Yes, I realize all the “plus”es are repetitive, but “plus” is what kept happening to our bill!
However, since you don’t have teenagers, lovestruck or otherwise, this doesn’t apply to you.
28 June 2007 at 2:40 pm
mouse's moom says:
Yeah, actually, as I think I told Sam in an email message sometime recently, the only times we have been hit hard by extra minute or roaming charges have been *my* fault. Like when my brother died and I was driving all over the state and calling everywhere. The kids have rarely gone over and when they have, it was because of some strange roaming situation.
But my kids are weird.
28 June 2007 at 3:26 pm
Sammy says:
So, it sounds like total minutes are touted because that isn’t a big cost to the provider. Instead, they make the big bucks by 1) locking customers into a longish contract; and 2) getting fat-fat-fat roaming charges. Makes me happy to use skype & a payphone (with onesuite) & the like. Still.
29 June 2007 at 7:50 am
mouse's moom says:
Except that the last time I had a need for a payphone, I couldn’t find one. My cell phone (old one) had totally died and my old van’s brake light kept coming on. Turned out the car just needed fluid though and I made it home just fine.
29 June 2007 at 8:42 am
Pooh says:
Um, that should be “whose girlfriend” not “who’s” in my previous comment. What would the grammar police think!
29 June 2007 at 9:06 am
Sammy says:
Good thing the grammar police are so busy, well, I guess reading newspaper copy….
29 June 2007 at 11:29 am
mouse's moom says:
Is that a new vee-hickle?
29 June 2007 at 11:39 am
Sammy says:
’Tis. And a happy guy driving it! Delivered to us about 6:30 pm. Has disabling system (or some such thing), making it virtually impossible to hotwire & drive away.
7 July 2007 at 6:25 am
mouse's moom says:
I gotta get up off the beach and go do laundry so I didn’t take the time to read about double-click. What I hate is when I go to people’s blogs (and other pages) and there’s so much blasted extra crap on the page (google analytics, etc.) that they take *forever* to load. Especially when I’m on dial-up (which I am not at the moment).
Well, grump grump grump. Maybe I should research this topic just a bit and make my own blahg…
Beach day. Maybe. Too early to tell. Laundry first.
12 July 2007 at 6:25 pm
mouse's moom says:
Duh, that does not look like an Apple product.
12 July 2007 at 6:31 pm
mouse's moom says:
Lizard Breath had a similar infestation when I visited her in Berkeley. They definitely put out poison. The ants were all over the counters and sink when I got there and five days later they were almost all gone.
When we moved into this place 23 years ago, we had *big* ants inside. One time my dad bought some diazinon and very deliberately sprinkled it around the perimeter of the house. They have never come back.
13 July 2007 at 5:20 am
Sammy says:
Rogue PC. Made me shiver!
13 July 2007 at 5:22 am
Sammy says:
Particularly wise to get rid of big ants—I think they’re wood eaters!
21 July 2007 at 9:17 am
mouse's moom says:
Any Soo Line?
22 July 2007 at 7:15 pm
Sammy says:
Negative.
26 July 2007 at 9:28 pm
Kelley Hersey says:
No doubt about it, she’s the happiest and most contented killer of any house-cat I know! But I must say, she looks a bit demented in this shot…
27 July 2007 at 1:13 pm
Mary Jo says:
So, how does this relate to ‘freemason’? The male equivalent?
29 July 2007 at 6:53 pm
mouse's moom says:
a stretch of the I75 SUV Speedway that I haven’t seen in quite a while.
29 July 2007 at 9:03 pm
mouse says:
it’s a beautiful tree, crown or no.
1 August 2007 at 10:53 am
Pooh says:
Sam,
I think this is called Japanese Lantern. No idea what the scientific name might be.
Does the plant have large yellow flower bursts? To me they look like fireworks. In the fall the seed pods turn orange. (Or brown, if it’s a dry year.)
I’m back from 3 great weeks at the cabin, so haven’t been checking the blogs. Did you arrange the ants in the semi-circle, or did you put something out to make them cluster? We had an ant invasion in early May – they came in after a big rainstorm, and just before my folks came down for Dan’s Senior Art Show. They were even in the sugar canister. Gross and double gross, b/c my mom was in the kitchen with me then.
1 August 2007 at 11:49 am
Sammy says:
Ah, thanks for ID, Pooh. Will look further when I have more time while on broadband. As to ants, they were enjoying a pool of poison. Bad for my karma footprint, I’m sure, but sometimes we consciously choose bad karma.
4 August 2007 at 7:45 am
mouse's moom says:
We had a bat in our house once, which traveled in on some firewood. *love* the pic of the fawn!
7 August 2007 at 5:38 am
Pooh says:
Mark and I went to Munising Area for a bicycling/camping/waterfall/Pictured Rocks weekend. On our return when we passed the Seney Wildlife Refuge, there was a deer standing in the road leading into the park, right in front of the sign. Woould have made a great PR shot, had we had the camera out!
7 August 2007 at 12:20 pm
Sammy says:
We always enjoy many photo opportunities at the Refuge! Biking across the Shingleton stretch must have been rather dull, though….
8 August 2007 at 7:51 am
mouse's moom says:
We usually get the woodsmoke smell when there’s a nor’wester but, oddly enough, not this morning.
13 August 2007 at 7:39 am
mouse's moom says:
It’s odd that it seems to be difficult to find up-to-date news on the fire. I was googling yesterday morning and had to go to about the second page to find any stories more recent than about August 7th. We were never really worried that the fire would get as far as our beach but when smoke is wafting into your bedroom window as you wake up in the morning, you kind of want to know what’s going on.
What was it that jcb was saying about reporting the other day?
15 August 2007 at 6:39 pm
mouse's moom says:
good times! I miss the Yoop but I’ll be back up there Monday night, flight schedules permitting.
18 August 2007 at 2:34 pm
Kelley Hersey says:
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL image, Sam. I can almost feel the sand on my feet and the cool water beneath it. I MISS this tranquil spot more than you can imagine, and look forward to seeing the finished product shots of the newly stained siding on the Green Cottage. I know your photo caption details changes that are not as wonderful as my memories, but still, all I have to do is look at this very particular image of the lake and angle from which you’ve shot it, and my knees get weak, I miss it so! Not good about the fires and smoke, though. THAT I have no context for, and I’m glad of it.
20 August 2007 at 2:28 pm
mouse's moom says:
nothing enlightening to say. Just killing some time at the airport
21 August 2007 at 9:11 am
Pooh says:
Better shower with a friend to save water! Love the contrast between the new and shiny and the old reliable Canada Dry box. Sounds like a great convenience too.
21 August 2007 at 2:28 pm
Sammy says:
Shower’s awfully teeny for collective showering. Yes, the Green Cottage operates with a mix of technologies….
21 August 2007 at 7:33 pm
Robert says:
Hey Sammy, at least it’s not golden phitzer in cans! And no supervisor over your shoulder keeping you going. But then again, no beer on the porch afterwards (or maybe there was). Anyway, we’ll have a beer for you and reminisce.
22 August 2007 at 11:43 am
manette says:
So do tell, how was the hot water?
“A mix of technologies” is quite the understatement!
22 August 2007 at 2:55 pm
mouse's moom says:
I liked that old box too. Reminded me of an old Dewar’s box (scotch?) that kicked around here throughout my childhood. Actually, it could still be around somewhere.
23 August 2007 at 7:43 am
mouse's moom says:
I think I’ve been stung on the foot once or twice. Not fun!
1 September 2007 at 10:50 am
mouse's moom says:
That boat was always deemed too expensive in my family too. As were things like amethyst mines (Ontario). But I did get to kayak last year, up close and personal:
http://www.ababsurdo.com/?page_id=744
7 September 2007 at 11:32 am
James says:
Oh…. enjoy it.
Who better than you two to use this cool technology?
8 September 2007 at 8:24 am
mouse's moom says:
haha. Just revisited this pic and caught the Antioch magazine (or whatever it is) in the corner there.
8 September 2007 at 8:25 am
mouse's moom says:
Congratulations!
8 September 2007 at 8:58 am
Sammy says:
Good eyes! The Botanist did his undergrad work there….
8 September 2007 at 8:59 am
Sammy says:
And now, MM, we can call you on your iPhone for “free” (what a joke, at $2/day)!
8 September 2007 at 6:24 pm
mouse's moom says:
I remembered that.
Actually, I thought both your parents were there.
8 September 2007 at 6:25 pm
froooggy says:
Grok grok! Tha’s my ol’ fren’ Spotty! Grok grok.
8 September 2007 at 6:33 pm
mouse's moom says:
It is a *good* thing to not give out your phone number. But I am doing it more and more and some time I’ll tell you all about my *very* interesting week. But not on the Internet.
I think charging you a blasted penny for tutoring is absolutely ridiculous! It’s probably some stupid law, rule, or “company policy” that has to be followed. I can’t figger what Apple thinks it’s doing with all this scary MS-like corporate-speak stuff. Anyway, I didn’t get no stinkin’ tutorial and I prob’ly dunno everything about my iPhone but it ain’t all that hard to figger out.
And I think I wrote you this before (can’t remember because of total chaos around here) but my recommendation about vacation piles of mail is to open it over the recycle bin (or wastebasket or fireplace or bonfire or whatever you use to get rid of trash
One of those letter openers helps too. Rrrrrrippp. ka-foosh. Rrrrrippp. Ka-foosh. I’ll bet you need about 2% of the paper that has accumulated on your table. (I do know that you have to scrutinize a certain percentage of it.)
8 September 2007 at 6:34 pm
mouse's moom says:
I read the comments and I was thinking, “who the heck is ‘MM’?” Is it Doc Burns’s brother? Or Mickey Mouse? No. It is me. So used to being KW!
8 September 2007 at 6:43 pm
mouse's moom says:
Have to also say that I think it’s easier to transition cell phone to cell phone than landline to cell phone. I think I remember reading that if you were transitioning a landline it would take longer. I *think* that’s what y’all are doing. Not trying to be a know-it-all!!! Kee-reist, far be it from me!
I went *years* without giving out my cell number. At first, because it wasn’t a viable phone for picking up calls (or maybe it was just that I didn’t know how to do it). With later phones, I gave it out sparingly. There’s nothing like having your phone ring when you are trying to merge onto the freeway or something. I can ignore phones but it’s hard with the conditioning I have of growing up in the 50s when phones were still *relatively* new for the middle class type person.
9 September 2007 at 6:35 am
Sammy says:
Yar, that’s where they met.
11 September 2007 at 9:32 am
Maureen says:
So ideal–the coffee pot within reach.
Good to take a picture b/c if it’s like my house, you’ll never see it clean again.
11 September 2007 at 9:41 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, it’s already getting cluttered twelve hours later. That’s evolution, I guess!
17 September 2007 at 11:31 am
mouse's moom says:
Scanner on the curb. Hmmm, wonder if that’s what I should do with the SIX (count ‘em) dead scanners here? At the moment, the only one that [purportedly] works is the one that came in Mouse’s printer. I wonder if I have the fortitude to try and get it hooked up…
23 September 2007 at 8:16 am
mouse's moom says:
Is that pic from *your* trip to Africa?
23 September 2007 at 9:11 am
Sammy says:
Yes, the Serengeti.
23 September 2007 at 11:27 pm
Maureen says:
Well, while I mourn the great mime as well (honestly, I thought he was long dead) the title of your day made me wonder if I was RIP. As I’m giving back not very good exams tomorrow, it may be just as well if I were…
24 September 2007 at 6:14 am
Sammy says:
Sorry, yes, MM could be lots of living folks. Like you, Lovely MM. (Oops.)
24 September 2007 at 7:45 am
mouse's moom says:
I thought he was already dead too.
I see he was 84. I’ll have to tell The Commander she’s (at 86) beaten another one!
26 September 2007 at 8:01 am
mouse's moom says:
This made me think of a few years ago when one of our middle schools outfitted all of its students (or maybe it was just the 6th grade) with laptops. Great idea in theory, I suppose, but I guess it was bedlam for a friend of mine who worked as the technology goddess at the school (not sure of her actual title). I have this vision in my head of laptops sailing around the cafetorium.
Dunno if I would participate. Knock on wood, we don’t need any more laptops around here. I suppose I could donate the “free” one…
26 September 2007 at 9:17 am
Pooh says:
There was an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which said that although the original price point was $100, it had gone up to $199, due to …um… either manufacturing difficulties or not enough initial orders… (I’m having brain freeze here).
I’ve thought about ordering one — mostly for the “give one” aspect, not the “get one”, although the ratio of laptops/computers to people is lower here than at certain “Tower of Power” sites I could name.
That’s a good idea about donating to needy kids here in U.S! Regarding MS laptops, MRH has a very strict policy on laptop behavior, and locks them up each night and releases them each morning. Don’t know if the kids can occasionally take them home or not for project work, and I never go down to the cafeteria if I can help it, but in the class they are “generally” treated with respect. Which is not to say that the kids don’t misuse the technology w/in the laptops! Spending more time getting your music set up than on the assignment, playing games, downloading pictures of hot cars, etc…
26 September 2007 at 3:19 pm
Jay says:
Well at least it means they have the ability to maintain their system (unlike many that use undersink variety, don’t maintain them, and can be responsible for grease plugs down the line). We require them for all restaurants, although they are usually accessed in the parking lot, not under a table.
26 September 2007 at 7:55 pm
James says:
The best part about the NYtimes news; free access to the crossword puzzles. I’ve actually paid their ridiculous prices for the last couple of years…
27 September 2007 at 5:36 pm
Sammy says:
Not so sure about that…the free access part not the ridiculous part.
1 October 2007 at 8:54 pm
Robert says:
This must be the outdoor plant you put your graywater on! You must use biodegradable, ‘good for the environment’ soap!
1 October 2007 at 10:46 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, yes, that could be, but 90-some-percent of the graywater goes on the azaleas that, well, have only bloomed the typical Mother-Nature-count of once this year.
2 October 2007 at 7:06 pm
mouse's moom says:
Prob’ly just the usual chainsaw massacre. Sigh.
2 October 2007 at 7:08 pm
Sammy says:
No vegetation trimming today, just fussing with cables/wires/those long things!
2 October 2007 at 11:39 pm
Maureen says:
Ok, so I got a new book on Watergate this weekend (Deep Throat) so my conspiracy antennae are up, but don’t you think with that lovely comment you made about Dubba fixing the water laws that the man was just waiting to sneak into your house and bug it while you were gone? The truck et al. is an elaborate cover for the video feed they were setting up on your house.
Wow, for someone who was 3 when Watergate went down, I sure learned some lessons. Maybe too well…
But really–an unmarked truck!??!
3 October 2007 at 7:39 am
Sammy says:
Ahhhhhhhh, I’m just not suspicious enough! Our one-block street, hmmm. Our modest leetle house, hmmmmmmm. Unmarked truck with no movie cameras in sight. Yup, I see what you’re saying. Homeland security, right?—and it has nothing to do with stealing watches and jewelry. Hmmmmmmm. So, are these guys working with the ones who stole our car?
3 October 2007 at 12:39 pm
Pooh says:
I’d have asked them. You get all sorts of interesting info that way. For example, the city marked one of our parking strip trees for removal. I wasn’t working the day they came to take it down, so I went out to watch. I mentioned that there was probably a squirrel’s nest in the hollow trunk, as I’d seen a squirrel carrying leaves into the tree the previous winter. They took the side and main branches off, then dropped the tree trunk across the street. They were cutting the trunk into sections w/ a chain saw when a squirrel came shooting out of the trunk, did a screeching U-turn and ran off at full speed into the back yard. Don’t know why it waited so long!
The guy who’d been up in the cherry picker said he’d had a squirrel run out of a tree and right up and over his helmet and down his back once.
4 October 2007 at 8:34 am
mouse's moom says:
I was ready to *kill* the Lexus driver (*large* Lexus) that cut me off yesterday in my Honda (I think I had the Accord, not the slowest beast on the earth). Yes, the stereotypical soccer mom. Carefully cut helmet of bottle-blonde hair with a cell phone plastered to her ear. Kill ‘em all and let god sort ‘em out.
(Sorry about that. I’ll move on now too
6 October 2007 at 4:37 pm
mouse's moom says:
You are definitely the expert when it comes to anthropology and your point makes sense.
However, I have to say that as an individual member of the population, I am *living* with the reality of heavy load-carrying! It’s not a bad thing. Now I am able to *focus* on tasks (of any sort) long enough to more or less finish them, at least once in a while. When my kids were at the height of teendom, I was lucky if I could focus for the length of time it took to get the garbage out to the curb at the appointed time.
Well, as usual, I don’t have exactly the right words, except that maybe there are multiple factors at work here, both individual and community-wide.
7 October 2007 at 10:12 pm
Pooh says:
I read something many years ago about why humans are the only species that goes through menopause. Apparently, even among the chimpanzees, bonobos and other apes, females continue to be capable of bearing children right on up until near death, unlike humans. What I read was very similar to this article, except longer. It might have been a book, or maybe an article in Scientific American.
Apparently, this is NOT one of those times when an “elder” can pass on the wisdom!
Oh well.
8 October 2007 at 7:36 am
mouse's moom says:
I thought I was hallucinating until I deciphered the last line! Low 90s here in SEMI today.
12 October 2007 at 12:38 pm
Mary Jo says:
Pretty, and it isn’t raining! Years ago I was asked by a young woman in L.A. what the fashion style was in Portland where we lived at the time. I looked at my well used jeans, my old tee shirt and comfortable flannel shirt and saw the fashion future. Too bad it was labeled ‘Grunge’.
15 October 2007 at 7:55 am
Pooh says:
1. Hungry!
OOPS, I got it wrong.
15 October 2007 at 8:28 pm
mouse's moom says:
LOVE that humor and very cute kiddos!
16 October 2007 at 7:49 am
mouse's moom says:
Um, did you replace the picture or have you been hacked?
16 October 2007 at 8:00 am
Pooh says:
Cause and Effect? And which caused what?
You left, so Seattle started weeping; or it started raining, and scared you off? LOL
16 October 2007 at 8:46 am
Sammy says:
Changed picture to disguise kids. Don’t know much about Photoshop, so it’s pretty ugly. Safety in the modern world….
16 October 2007 at 8:47 am
Sammy says:
Ah, coincidence, nothing more….
17 October 2007 at 7:43 am
Pooh says:
The article is just staggering!
17 October 2007 at 7:26 pm
mouse's moom says:
“It’s really alarming,” said Janice Terry, co-owner of the Best Foods cafeteria in Siler City. To curtail water use, Best Foods has swapped its dishes for paper plates and foam cups.”
To me, this (from the article) illustrated that if we all don’t make changes *yesterday* we are going to face some hard decisions.
Kayak Woman, who needs to *drive* a lot and doesn’t exactly look forward to the future…
18 October 2007 at 7:12 am
mouse's moom says:
I am no birder but I think that’s a cormorant. We have the loon vs. cormorant conversation around here all the time.
18 October 2007 at 8:42 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, but pretending it’s a loon makes it a counterpoint to the text….
18 October 2007 at 2:06 pm
mouse's moom says:
Oh, duh!
It’s just that, if I had a dime for every time the GG (an amateur birder) misidentifies cormorants as loons, well, you know… And I, who am interested in nature in a more *overall* sense, actually *can* tell the difference between the two.
18 October 2007 at 2:23 pm
Sammy says:
We saw many cormorants here, but no loons (for sure), although they wouldn’t be unexpected, although I took the picture in Seattle proper….
24 October 2007 at 5:02 pm
Pooh says:
Hey, I’ve been there!
We (Mark and I) were also in the Atlanta airport 2X this weekend. Didn’t see you there, LOL. Our flight to Rochester, NY went though ATL on Friday and again on Sunday. We were flying AirTran, which seemed pretty good. They still have that new company hustle.
27 October 2007 at 9:16 am
mouse's moom says:
I like to at least *think* that I try to have reasoned, balanced opinions about things but, in my book, real estate developers/speculators are just yay-hoos. Greedy ones.
27 October 2007 at 9:31 am
Sammy says:
Generally, this culture prioritizes wealth, hence people “sacrifice” other priorities (like stewardship of the environment) to achieve some semblance of wealth. Consider the difference if we prioritized humanitarianism, or other values.
28 October 2007 at 8:05 am
mouse's moom says:
It’ll never happen
29 October 2007 at 7:14 pm
mouse's moom says:
I love ID books but I usually don’t look things up either. I tend to look at nature as if it were painted by a broad brush. I see the colors and the textures. I don’t often know or necessarily care exactly what it was that I saw. Now ask me about Varese’s Density 21.5 flute solo or how to build a fused, overstitched piece of my own personal fabric or the details about why a web site is not user-friendly. You won’t be able to shut me up.
But things I see in nature inspire me in art and music et al, every day.
We need people who are able to ID things in a particular area of study with precision. We also need those who don’t very much care. I agree that digital photography is a great tool for post-hike/drive/picnic/whatever identification. Great post!
31 October 2007 at 9:46 am
mouse's moom says:
I think it is important to keep up with current events but I like to keep from being overwhelmed by news. During the first gulf war (1991), I was mesmerized by the television. Mouse was three and when “Mom, turn off the war” didn’t get the result she wanted, she taught herself that “O-F-F” was the button that did the job and turned it off herself. She was right. I was spending too much time on it.
NPR rumbles through the background of my life. Sometimes I listen to it, sometimes I’m a million miles away.
31 October 2007 at 6:35 pm
mouse's moom says:
You’ve had your *heat* on in Hotlanta? I admit, it’s been on occasionally here, not constantly. I’ve been setting it at 62 (the GG of course keeps ratcheting it up to 68 or 70 just to bug me but we won’t go there). But really, we have needed just a touch of heat here on the Planet Ann Arbor, of the Great Lake Constellation. It has barely gone below 40 overnight and heck, up there on Fin Family Moominbeach, it can get down into the 30′s in the *summer*. As you well know, fellow Yooper cabin owner
Happy Halloween!
2 November 2007 at 6:14 pm
Alexander Soldatov says:
Thank You for very interesting and important bookmark!!
I am discovered for myself Nixtamalization recently and very impressed.
My recipe is waffles with lime treated corn flour +water+oil+chopped onion+solt
Try it!!
All The Best!!
Alexander
14 November 2007 at 7:41 pm
mouse's moom says:
Gorgeous picture!
btw: I’m gonna try to leave an identical comment under kayak woman just to test if akismet still bounces that or not. Don’t bother trying to release me if it does. Just an experiment!
14 November 2007 at 7:41 pm
kayak woman says:
testing the kayak woman handle here. Will akismet bounce me or not?
Okay, I guess it wasn’t an identical comment after all…
14 November 2007 at 7:44 pm
kayak woman says:
Bwa ha ha! It worked! Yay! But this one won’t post because WordPress says I am posting comments to quickly and has commanded me to slow down. So I’ll let it sit for a while and *then* post it.
14 November 2007 at 8:16 pm
Sammy says:
Yeah, I guess they got the “kayak” bug eliminated! (Thankfully!)
16 November 2007 at 9:36 pm
kayak woman says:
glarg. I think the kid in the photo is all of the above (disingenuous, arrogant, reflective and thoughtful). He’s young. His parents have been directing his life and giving him all the advantages they think he should have. What will the next few years/decades will do to him and his facial expressions. Could go either way. The image is definitely compelling.
glarg-squared. I love the laptop program but I won’t be ordering any kind of laptop soon. Er, unless one of ours craps out
Fingers crossed on that. Five more quarters at K College to go. A *second* $500 on The Indefatigable in two weeks (brakes this time). And the 100K Honda Accord is due for maintenance. Hope it’s not $1500 like the last time. Platinum plugs? Who knew? But I’m holding out on that because of The Indefatigable. And other stuff ad infinitum… Maxed out. Sigh.
Agreed about rice vs. water usage. No there are not too many links. Some blahg entries are just like that.
16 November 2007 at 9:51 pm
kayak woman says:
Er, we *are* working on sending some headlamps to Senegal. Not laptops, I know, but, since power outages occur frequently in Dakar, battery-operated headlamps allow children to read when the lights go out. I had no idea how difficult and expensive it would be to mail stuff to Africa. That reflects more on my WASP middle class USA upbringing more than anything else. Even though I grew up with outhouses in the summer etc.
17 November 2007 at 7:01 am
Sammy says:
One of the things I learned when I was traveling to Mexico more often is that someone was likely to ask me to bring them something they couldn’t get there: automotive parts, a model of printer cartridges not even available in Mexico City, and, yes, laptops (long story there!)—nothing frivolous. Now, Mouse is in a similar loop!
17 November 2007 at 7:22 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
hmm i just think he looks like a hungover electro-indie kid…
19 November 2007 at 6:39 pm
kayak woman says:
“although I’m a bit squeamish that the identifiable individuals in the first three/four rows are all male” Not only are they all male, they are all *young* males. In the interest of full disclosure, I only watched a bit of the video. Y’all already know about my current financial woes.
19 November 2007 at 7:35 pm
kayak woman says:
I agree about the procrastination! Easier said than done but making progress here on The Planet Ann Arbor!
24 November 2007 at 6:22 pm
kayak woman says:
8 whopping degrees (F) yesterday morning, here at Houghton Lake! Ice ‘Em Up on many of the roads kept the emergency crews busy.
25 November 2007 at 3:54 pm
Pooh says:
We ordered ours on Wednesday.
25 November 2007 at 4:08 pm
Sammy says:
Way cool! Glad to hear that, Pooh!
28 November 2007 at 8:14 pm
Pooh says:
Our house on Crest in Ann Arbor supposedly had a cistern under the concrete slab at the bottom of the back porch steps. I don’t remember how we found out it was there, probably word of mouth from the previous owners or neighbors. I don’t know how the heck it would have filled or how you would access the water in it with a slab of concrete on top of it. Youth wants to know?
I suspect that people moved away from cisterns b/c of the likelihood of contaminants collecting in the water either macro like leaves and bugs or micro like disease carrying bacteria. Rain barrels are not in as much vogue as before either, although my folks have a modern one.
28 November 2007 at 10:09 pm
Robert says:
Sammy,
Don’t let one day fluctuations cloud your financial intellect! Remember what goes up must come down and vice versa. (Damn, made a lot of money today!!! Oh well, gone tomorrow).
29 November 2007 at 7:25 am
Sammy says:
R—of course, and as always, when you buy you’d rather have lower prices, and higher when you sell, and right now I’m not selling, so what the hey? See! Just as you said!
29 November 2007 at 12:01 pm
Mary Jo says:
Until the 70′s cisterns were the common water source for houses here in Deschutes River Woods. Some were filled from private water companies water trucks, others were filled from the irrigation canals straight out of the river. I expect a lot of Clorox was used too. Our friend Dean built a house along the Deschutes river canyon in the mid 90′s with a concrete cistern filled from the irrigation canal. He had to drill a well and bypass the cistern in order to sell the house (not required by code though). Water rights out here are a tense issue. “First in time equals first in line” for water use. So if your great grandfather came by wagontrain and claimed water rights, you continue to have those rights, regardless of the current water issues (drought, pollution, efficiency of use, wildlife, etc.).
1 December 2007 at 2:38 pm
Pooh says:
She dropped her dentures at the sight of the young men sagging their pants below their hips. Thus she was both edentulous and incredulous.
3 December 2007 at 7:07 pm
kayak woman says:
I actually paid (?) attention to that news story today and had the “exact same” (dontchya hate that pseudo-phrase) reaction!
4 December 2007 at 7:20 am
Sammy says:
Love it!
5 December 2007 at 11:54 am
kayak woman says:
And then there’s “Foreign Babes in Beijing,” by the daughter of Liz and Mouse’s [fantastic] high school English teacher, which I read last summer. These days, my reading material is limited to web technology stuff and keeping up with the New Yorker. And yes, I’m pretty much keeping caught up!
But don’t quiz me 
5 December 2007 at 12:56 pm
Sammy says:
Unfortunately our county library doesn’t have that book; I may have to put it on my Xmas list!
6 December 2007 at 2:57 pm
kayak woman says:
Cracking up! LOVE that variation of “blog”.
6 December 2007 at 3:00 pm
kayak woman says:
haha! I was kind of joking although I did enjoy reading the book, a light-hearted view of living and working in China. And moon-lighting as an actress in a Chinese soap opera. According to Wikipedia, somebody is going to make a movie.
6 December 2007 at 3:34 pm
Sammy says:
Seems worthwhile, both to read it and to support the author!
7 December 2007 at 8:52 am
Pooh says:
Me, I’m blown away by the color transitions in the photo. So simple, yet so complex.
7 December 2007 at 9:06 am
Sammy says:
Regarding picture: that’s the way it really was; I didn’t hype reality using the magic of Photoshop or Acorn.
9 December 2007 at 9:09 am
Pooh says:
I think that I remember learning in college that the invention of a harness for horses led to such an increase in effeciency, which in turn led to a decline in the number of human slaves. My memory is pretty fuzzy, possibly this was in Roman times? Certainly it didn’t end slavery, as sadder parts of US history show.
9 December 2007 at 10:08 am
Sammy says:
Well, changes in the ratio of human labor to accomplish the “same” ends (intensification) free people’s time to do other things, and society changes in concert, usually.
11 December 2007 at 5:24 pm
james says:
Haw! Haw!
(what a terrible picture of me…)
11 December 2007 at 7:20 pm
kayak woman says:
Omg! No! I always need my own laptop. I do NOT share! Kee-reist!
12 December 2007 at 6:22 am
kayak woman says:
Nah, typical weather for this time of year
I could do with just a little less ice, though.
12 December 2007 at 9:17 pm
kayak woman says:
hahahaha! No words for now but maybe I’ll have some tomorrow! For now, I *loved* this entry [rant] but a lot of it went with the usual whooshing noise right over my head. That’s okay. You go girl!
14 December 2007 at 1:20 pm
kayak woman says:
I dunno. I just see greed as the major issue in the most recent mortgage debacle.
14 December 2007 at 1:30 pm
Sammy says:
And a measure of fast-talking, combined in some cases with ignorance, I suspect….
16 December 2007 at 12:40 pm
Jay says:
We just retreived our boy from the land of Moose Drool (actually he came to us). He says it has been cold enought to be looking for a more warming beverage lately. Keep conserving!
16 December 2007 at 7:54 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
that stuff is good!
17 December 2007 at 11:36 am
kayak woman says:
3) We spend a lot of money but nowhere near $3600 on furniture
(haven’t read the article yet as I’m klutzing along here getting ready to go to school)
4) That may be true but Ann Arbor and a whole bunch of other schools are off today. Side streets are generally not plowed yet. My Accord can navigate our street, the Civic might be iffy. Jeep? No prob. Oh, right now there is a little VW bug stuck out there. Neighbor’s daughter’s boyfriend, I think.
17 December 2007 at 12:07 pm
kayak woman says:
Ah yes. The oldest. The one who can buy booze. And, as I said to the GG the other day, next summer, I’ll be able to send *Mouse* out to buy booze. Hopefully I won’t get confused and tell her to buy “Jim Crow,” like The Commander did when *I* was a young-looking 21.
17 December 2007 at 7:45 pm
froooggy says:
Grok grok. I think that’s one o’ my ancestors! Grok grok!
P.O. Ol’ Baggy is helpin’ me spell.
19 December 2007 at 7:25 pm
GG says:
The ’puter is cool. The newer versions have a better reputation. I am asking G1G1 at laptopliving.org about delivery of the donor ’puter to a teacher in Dakar. They said they will deliver only to the donor. What if the donor is a teacher in Dakar? I’ll let you know the answer.
20 December 2007 at 12:15 pm
Sammy says:
Luck with that and all other conundrums, GG!
24 December 2007 at 10:24 pm
kayak woman says:
I *love* the blue photo from yesterday and I have some airplane photos like that in my archives. Merry Christmas, folks in Hotlanta!
With *much* love,
Kayak Woman
26 December 2007 at 9:58 am
kayak woman says:
so this menu is more in favor of veggies than thanksgiving?
Cacciatore recipe?
26 December 2007 at 10:30 am
Sammy says:
Okay, I typed the cacciatore recipe in and added the link above and here…. Lemme know if you try it! As to the menu, the idea was to avoid all the last-minute fuss of mashed ’taters, gravy, and the like.
28 December 2007 at 5:26 am
marc says:
Hi, good point about environmental determinism.
But the great rotten thing about Easter Island’s ‘collapse’ seems to be that is was mostly due to Western contact (disease, slavery). Only later Western scientists, or well Thor Heyerdahl, came and constructed the collapse story out of very unreliable myths and even less reliable c14 dates.
http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/EE%2016-34_Peiser.pdf
(pdf file!)
Galling: first destroyed by outsiders, then also blamed for your own collapse!
Good luck with your MS!
28 December 2007 at 6:58 am
Sammy says:
Thanks for your good wishes and the Peiser link (how did I miss it?—good stuff); how goes your own Aegean research?
28 December 2007 at 4:37 pm
kayak woman says:
Heavy snow started in about one or so, switching over to a cold rain a little later. Beautiful in its own way in this darkest time of the year. I’ll have a wet walk this afternoon.
31 December 2007 at 8:26 pm
kayak woman says:
I don’t know whether it’s an omen or not but I love fog. Great picture. Happy New Year.
31 December 2007 at 11:58 pm
gg says:
happy new year at the monkey bar… Anne asleep at home… Midnight!!!
31 December 2007 at 11:59 pm
gg says:
oh yeah… Heavy snow!!!!!
1 January 2008 at 2:11 pm
Jay says:
Our omen was the Space Needle fireworks starting, stopping—big pause, finally starting, … (we were watching from afar) … wonder which kind of computer went bad. So we went back to sharing favorite you tubes.
Happy new year
9 January 2008 at 1:26 am
anne-bananne's eldest says:
Dale Chihuly received an honorary degree from my alma mater, Kalamazoo College, in 2006 (the very same year I graduated!).
9 January 2008 at 11:09 am
Sammy says:
What a small world it is! Does this mean he came to the campus? Spoke at graduation maybe?
12 January 2008 at 12:57 pm
kayak woman says:
Great fun!
12 January 2008 at 5:57 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
No… he did speak on campus, though not at graduation. He was doing a residency slash gallery exhibit at the Kalamazoo Art Institute at the time.
13 January 2008 at 4:04 pm
Mary Jo says:
I agree with McGovern, but what about Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Rove, Gonzales, etc.? Where are they now? After getting us into this mess, they just disappear into academia/ business/ the Pentagon/ the CIA? Who’s keeping an eye on them? And will they ever have to account for their crimes against the American people?
15 January 2008 at 10:48 pm
kayak woman says:
Yeah, I got home at like 9PM-something from the longest day on earth and I was dredging laptop computers out of my vee-hickle and we have this horribly wickedly slanted piece of concrete in our driveway that I was parked over and I slid and — no, I didn’t slide underneath the vee-hickle, thank the gods — a bit and whammed the fronts of the lower part of my legs (whaddya call those?). Ouch! Salt, anyone?
Safe travels and say hello to the Derringer-Nalls.
16 January 2008 at 9:07 am
Pooh says:
Umm, KW, could those be shins, ankles, feet, or big toes? You must have really hit hard!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You know I love you.
20 January 2008 at 2:42 pm
kayak woman says:
Er, The Commander (who drives to Canada a lot) is sitting here and she says that passports are not yet required if you drive there. Flying is a different matter. The (stupid) gov’t extended the deadline because they (stupidly) did not estimate how much time and hassle it would take to process all those passports.
The Comm seems to think they are still arguing about the whole thing and predicts that passports may *never* be necessary to drive to Canada.
20 January 2008 at 2:43 pm
froooggy says:
Grok grok. *I* want one o’ them thar cute li’l green ‘puters! grok grok.
20 January 2008 at 2:47 pm
kayak woman says:
Drove to Siberia today. Snow until 15 miles north of A2. *beautiful* blue skies and bone-dry roads until Graying. Heavy, blowing lake-effect snow through until about, oh, Injun River. NOT good driving. Clear until bridge. BEAUTIFUL above bridge until about 15 miles south of Siberia. Then it all went south again. 1 degree here but beautiful. Back home tomorrow.
Sincerely yours, Boomerang Woman
20 January 2008 at 3:58 pm
pooh says:
But make sure you bring your birth certificate! At least when coming into the county at the Detroit/Windsor crossing. I suspect the twin SSM border stop is always a little friendlier than the DTW one.
(Unless of course it’s the 70′s and you come across the SSM border in a van and say you’re from Ann Arbor, and look like hippies, but that’s another story.)
20 January 2008 at 4:21 pm
Sammy says:
Froooggy, just wait your turn! It’s coming!
20 January 2008 at 4:21 pm
Sammy says:
Drive safely!
20 January 2008 at 4:25 pm
Sammy says:
Against all odds, JCB had the same customs & irritation officer he had last spring when she hassled him up and down for not having a passport (or as you point out, Pooh, birth certificate—“proof of citizenship”)—then let him in. His little gibe at The Establishment was to have an expired passport, which she had to accept (no doubt, see asterisk in law books!)….
21 January 2008 at 8:15 am
kayak woman says:
Customs is pretty random anywhere you cross. It was rumored that old Ot McNaught sometimes hassled his own high school biology students! For years, after the Canadian customs hassled us about whether our kids were ours (kee-reist!), I was paranoid about the birth certificate thing. But in the last couple years, I have crossed at the SSM border a few times and not even been asked for my driver’s license. In one case, they didn’t even ask what I had to declare. The perks of being an old, tired blonde beach-front property owner (he did ask about that).
21 January 2008 at 3:11 pm
kayak woman says:
Er, meaning “blonde” in terms of stereotypical “middle-aged” female WASP-looking person, i.e., probably not a terrorist, not in terms of hot chick!
21 January 2008 at 3:19 pm
kayak woman says:
*Love* the Lebanese food from La Shish, a Detroit area chain. A YAG buddy of mine used to bring it to board meetings sometimes. Unfortunately, the owner has been accused of some sort of Al Qaida-related money laundering. Dunno if true or not.
22 January 2008 at 8:23 am
pooh says:
And our local Lebanese restaurant, in University City,
“Saleem’s, where garlic is king!”
Haven’t seen the owner dance, though they do have bellydancers on the weekend nights.
22 January 2008 at 12:56 pm
kayak woman says:
yay! Always looking for new ideas.
Yay for tj’s too.
25 January 2008 at 7:16 pm
kayak woman says:
We had a vee-hickle faaar once. In our case, the whole thing was hilarious, I’ll have to blahg it one of these days…
26 January 2008 at 6:41 am
Sammy says:
I await your words…speaking of which, I very much enjoyed this trip down memory lane to the old cabin—before my time!
27 January 2008 at 9:08 am
martha says:
Hi Sammy
A case of tanqueray??? I expect a bottle at my house warming party next august.
I’m looking for that map of the indian trails of atlanta, the ones that are now roads. I know I have it.
Let’s update this site.
M
28 January 2008 at 8:00 am
Pooh says:
I’ve never even seen them fly in anything close to a straight path, yet they can cover 50 miles in one day? That’s at least four or five hours on a bicycle for me, with gears and coasting, etc. Wow!
When I took Dave to school freshman year, I came back through Ontario, hoping to see them migrating from Point Pelee. The strong winds were out of the Southeast that day, so needless to say the butterflies were not venturing out across Lake Erie when I was there! Here’s the web site for Point Pelee, it might have more info on their travel height: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/on/pelee/index_e.asp.
(I have to get ready for work, or I’d check it myself.)
2 February 2008 at 4:47 pm
kayak woman says:
Naw, it looks okay as long as you know what it is.
I made wild rice mushroom soup today. The random recipe I found (easy one) called for half and half and I bought some but in the end, it didn’t seem to need it. I did put sherry in.
2 February 2008 at 6:25 pm
Sammy says:
Wild rice mushroom soup sounds lovely! Wish I were there!
4 February 2008 at 8:21 pm
kayak woman says:
so, do you have one? I’m not initially impressed, mostly because of the limited drive capacity.
But I’ll wait.
But then, that’s what I said about the iPhone, wasn’t it?
5 February 2008 at 5:35 am
Pooh says:
I’m still waiting for my XO (One Laptop Per Child). Hope they sent one out to my “one child” somewhere before they send mine.
5 February 2008 at 7:08 am
Sammy says:
We haven’t bought one, and I don’t think we will—limited drive capacity is a big factor, plus the laptop we have is very fine! And, of course, JCB is distracted by the XO. He’s now installed software so that it imitates a Mac—an old one….
5 February 2008 at 4:10 pm
frooggy says:
I’m still watin’ fer my l’il green ‘puter too. Grok grok
5 February 2008 at 5:22 pm
Sammy says:
Guess we’re lucky we got ours, what? six weeks ago?
5 February 2008 at 9:24 pm
froooggy says:
grok grok grokGROK!!!!
5 February 2008 at 9:30 pm
kayak woman says:
I didn’t get the “fat” part of the title until I arrived home after my own “super-Tuesday” and read the newspaper and found out that it was Fat Tuesday. It’s super-Tuesday every week for me because I work all day and then over to WCC to audit Jason’s php class. Yes, I am a wuss but I am not the only one. Anyway, when I got to work this morning there were these food items up for grabs on a lunchroom table that I thought were leftover Barry Bagels from LAST THURSDAY. Therefore, I did not take one. Now I’m thinkin’ that someone probably brought in pacskis (or however you spell ‘em) to share. My loss. I’d've prob’ly passed anyway on account of having already eaten my Cheerios.
9 February 2008 at 6:51 am
kayak woman says:
I’m usually pretty blase about elections but once we had a school board election I was rather emotional about. I knew absolutely nothing about the campaigning rules surrounding polling places and wasn’t even thinking about the fact that I had my “BOE” (my candidates) button on. Not a good thing.
9 February 2008 at 6:53 am
kayak woman says:
The increasing light is a mixed bag for me. I love when it’s dark when I take my morning and evening walks. But I am starting to get ready for warmer weather. Sick of the constant slogging around here.
10 February 2008 at 8:29 am
kayak woman says:
8 degrees and blowing snow.
10 February 2008 at 12:28 pm
Sammy says:
Brrrrrrrrrrr!
10 February 2008 at 2:32 pm
kayak woman says:
Now it’s down to 3 or something.
10 February 2008 at 3:51 pm
Pooh says:
Buttons are easy to ask people to cover up or remove inside the polling place. T-shirts are harder! Fortunately the McCain t-shirted voter who was outside the polling place at 5:30 AM (!!) knew the rules and had taken it off to reveal a VOTE t-shirt when he came into the polling place. He really wanted that #1 voter ticket! I even went out to ask him if he was a poll worker. We’re supposed to tell people wearing t-shirts to remove them or go outside and turn them inside out, but I’d just as soon not have to do that. Especially when Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday are on the same day! Course we didn’t have any beads to reward people for removing their shirts.
10 February 2008 at 4:10 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, the political intricacies of shirt removal! Trickier with t-shirted women, no?
13 February 2008 at 11:34 pm
Jay says:
I have always loved orange cats. And all the ones I have had were male – Butterscotch (his sister was a tortishell and did not stay with us long) and Chas in MI, Frodo in CO and moved to WA, and then Sam in WA. Now with Rey being allergic to cats we don’t get to have one in our home.
14 February 2008 at 7:08 am
Sammy says:
JCB’s allergic, too, so we have yard cats—the neighbor’s cats who roam our yard. Mostly it’s the black-cat-with-the-white-feet’s territory….
15 February 2008 at 9:32 am
Maureen says:
But context is everything! Oh wait, my obsession is showing. Now after slacking off all week I need to do some work.
15 February 2008 at 12:53 pm
kayak woman says:
two years ago when my dad was in the hoosegow, that dog show was the only thing he showed any interest in on tv. Snowboarding in the olympics came in at a distant second.
16 February 2008 at 10:39 am
Pooh says:
“Cleave asunder/Cleave to”. That’s a good word to remember. Also “forge” which has multiple meanings, some of which are almost opposites. Consider that if you forge a printing press, it’s much different than using the printing press to forge money.
My favorite mental image right now is one of those motivational posters. In big bold letters at the top it says, “FORGE AHEAD” and there is a picture of a team of people gathered around a table. At the bottom, in tiny letters, it says, “but don’t get caught”. Seen under the arm of one of the people, is a sheet of dollar bills w/ Smiley Faces instead of George Washington’s face.
This thought came to mind when I watched some students, 8th graders I think, using an on-line dictionary to look up definitions, instead of reading the article where the words were BOLDed, and the defining phrase followed in close proximity. One of the articles was about peanut allergies and how mast cells are part of the allergic response. The worksheet asked students to use their own words to define several words including “mast”. Looking over one student’s shoulder, I saw that the dictionary had defined it as a tall post supporting sails on a sailing ship. I almost hope he copied that definition down — his teacher would have had a good laugh!
16 February 2008 at 7:18 pm
kayak woman says:
The Seney is more like 25 (maybe 27) miles. I know this partly because I often look at mileage when I’m driving and specifically because of the day I drove from our beach to Marquette and back (to drop Mouse off to visit a friend) in my old POC when it was semi-broken. It had been given the okay to make that drive while we were waiting for a part. I definitely had a love-hate relationship with that beeyootiful Island Teal beast.
And. Although the Yoop can certainly get hot in June, it doesn’t always and therefore I wouldn’t call it a semi-tropical anything. I remember wearing my ski jack to walk the beach one June back in junior high or so.
16 February 2008 at 7:22 pm
kayak woman says:
I forgot to say (about the POC trip to Marquette) that I was nervous about the vee-hickle and therefore listening (it was a problem you could hear and my hearing is acute in all ways) and looking at the odometer constantly. Couldda been such a fun trip. But not. Except that I had lunch with Paula, who was still alive then (Mouse visiting her and her daughter). Sigh.
17 February 2008 at 6:59 am
Sammy says:
As to Harrison’s semitropical assessment, I would go with it (on occasion) inland, but guess it’s less frequent in June along the shores of Gitchee, that is, KW territory….
17 February 2008 at 10:39 am
kayak woman says:
Haha. Yeah. Inland can definitely have a different climate than beach. And just in case anyone is wondering, I don’t know what a “ski jack” is either. I meant “ski jacket” of course.
Apropos of nothing, playing around with MarsEdit today. Interesting what you can get up to when your every spare weekend moment isn’t taken up with homework.
17 February 2008 at 2:36 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, it’s a different life to be out from under the academic whirlwind. Even leaves time for the woodwind, I suppose! [For some of us, the talented ones….]
17 February 2008 at 10:46 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
I guess that I am still nothing… that time line ends with 1981! And they’re already doing radio music marathons (90s weekend, anyone?) targeted at my gen, sure evidence that we are aging as far as I’m concerned… Somebody had better get on it.
18 February 2008 at 6:25 am
Sammy says:
You are not nothing! Those crazy social analysts just haven’t gotten their act together to come up with another name (Gen X was kinda lame, so maybe they’ve lost their creativity)….
18 February 2008 at 10:40 am
Pooh says:
“Generation Jones”?? Never heard of that one. I always thought I was a baby-boomer, but maybe I’m a leading edge Jonesie. I will say that I’ve noticed that there is a fissure, if not a gap, among the boomers.
This concerns the Viet Nam war. Our class had males with draft numbers, but unless you had a really low number, you probably weren’t drafted. I think they went through more numbers in previous years. (Based on no research whatsoever, just the fact that most VN vets I know are a little bit older.) By the time I started college, the big campus protests over the war were mostly over. The biggest march down Grand River at MSU occurred in the spring of 1972, I got there in the fall. By Spring 1974, we had a huge “Streaking” event.
Also a technology leap in this time frame. When I started at MSU, the joke about Briggsies, (Lyman Briggs College – the liberal science college, now a school), was that they all had slide rules on their belts. By the time I left, it was the calculators on their belts that marked them as nerds.
18 February 2008 at 2:57 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, Pooh, you take me back. Hmmm. Briggsies….
28 February 2008 at 5:11 pm
jcb says:
I thought those were so tasty. You also helped things along by cutting little slits in the ends of the stalks, so the flavor really was infused…or the garlic and butter taste was. Nice!
29 February 2008 at 7:47 pm
kayak woman says:
Well, one could also say that I made a “splash” today. On hard water.
But I did catch nn.c’s blog today. Amazing…
I’m sure I’ll never get that famous. There’s something nice about being a small family/friend oriented blahgger.
3 March 2008 at 11:05 am
jcb says:
It was all downhill from..uh..a certain point.
3 March 2008 at 9:04 pm
Bill says:
No, it REALLY was all downhill. The uphill parts would have been downhill if we had been going in the other direction. Sort of like it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere.
3 March 2008 at 10:33 pm
Sammy says:
Guys, after I get rested I’ll give you another chance to nail the point when the trail starts going downhill; maybe the lovely V can join us then, too!
7 March 2008 at 12:59 pm
anne-bananne's eldest says:
i am further and further convinced that raw vegetables are the way to go. now following through on that is a different story…
7 March 2008 at 1:22 pm
Sammy says:
At least buying them raw. Or frozen with nothing added….
7 March 2008 at 5:21 pm
jcb says:
We former PBS people know him by the affectionate name “Snuffy.” I didn’t realize until I read your Wikipedia link that they had transitioned him from semi-imaginary friend to more “real” critter—and why they made that change.
My favorite thing about him…he always referred to “Big Bird” as simply “Bird.”
8 March 2008 at 9:40 am
Pooh says:
Just watching the teasers on TV had me grumbling to Dan that I didn’t think there were civilizations in 10,000 BC that had gotten to the huge walled city state, especially not the ones that were hunting large mammals with spears.
He went googling to wikipedia. I hadn’t made the effort to back up my argument with facts — what fun is that? However, I will yield to your expertise.
8 March 2008 at 12:35 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, no walled city states in 10K BC, even if you count Atlantis.
8 March 2008 at 3:54 pm
Maureen says:
I’m more annoyed that I have to spend the next few years unteaching this claptrap out of freshmen who think that’s prehistory. I envision many baaaad papers trying to prove this was true.
12 March 2008 at 11:45 am
kayak woman says:
I dunno, I prob’ly spend more time at my blasted blahg than anywhere. I wonder what they get outta that!
14 March 2008 at 8:02 am
Pooh says:
Even if it is a pear, “malus aforethought” is too good to waste. Your blog is not peer-reviewed by pears, though possibly by peres. If the pears don’t like it, they should “make like a tree and LEAF”.
Thanks for the punny start to Spring Break!
19 March 2008 at 8:03 am
manette says:
Where are you guys? did you escape the Atlanta tornados?
21 March 2008 at 8:08 am
kayak woman says:
hahaha! I thought that character looked familiar!
21 March 2008 at 8:10 am
kayak woman says:
And that looks like Violaree at the helm there. Obviously I am catching up on my daily archaeofact.
Now off to work, hi ho!
21 March 2008 at 8:27 am
Sammy says:
Actually, I think there was a cosmic time-lag with some posts while we were in transit….
21 March 2008 at 6:56 pm
kayak woman says:
Is this an archived photo or is it in real-time. ’cause if my blasted host service ever lets me load up my post for today, you will be able to see what you somewhat narrowly missed up here in the norther regions.
23 March 2008 at 5:28 pm
Pooh says:
And why would you want to weed out violets? Heck, I only weed the dandelions in the front yard when the neighbors are outside too. Long live lawns that are multi-cultural! Every spring we have spring beauties in our back yard, and the rule is that the lawn can’t be mowed until they finish blooming. (“Claytonia virginica”, for you purists.) Easy for me to remember, since we live a block and a half from Clayton.
24 March 2008 at 9:10 am
Sammy says:
These violets spread and take over the lawn, which is supposed to be green with grass not violet leaves. It is silly, however, but such are social mores.
25 March 2008 at 5:31 pm
Mary Jo says:
Tulips fading!! Ours barely have the green out of the ground, at least the snow has melted off the big sections! Too bad the deer will nip them before we even see the buds!
26 March 2008 at 5:13 pm
Pooh says:
When Cindy Presler, the chief meteorologist at the local NBC station, started her job here, the sports announcer introduced her segment with: “and now for the weather with weather girl, Cindy…” When she finished the weather, she turned back and said, “and now Mike Roberts, our sports boy, will tell us about the sports!” Touche!
26 March 2008 at 8:05 pm
GG says:
Report from Ann Arbor:
It is March 26 and there is no signs of any flowers in any way.
Crocus are common in February.
Daffodils are common in March.
Nothing but record annual snowfall with continuous below freezing temperatures.
Hey!
26 March 2008 at 10:09 pm
Sammy says:
Sorry 4 U, GG. Lookin’ mighty fine here (not meaning to rub it in…)….
28 March 2008 at 6:47 pm
kayak woman says:
Wonderful picture!!!
28 March 2008 at 9:06 pm
Jay says:
Maybe they plan it to be a deep fat based eatery, and selling their bi-product for bio-diesel homegrowers.
29 March 2008 at 11:06 am
Pooh says:
I was happy to read on and find out that the robin was dining on the “early worm”, and not a recipe for “Robin a l’orange”! It is a great picture.
29 March 2008 at 11:18 am
Sammy says:
You are both so kind! I guess the house functioned as a blind of sorts, as I shot through the plate glass window…love a long lens, too!
30 March 2008 at 8:59 am
jcb says:
Just for reference, in web format, News 14 Carolina’s Carolina blue is #4A82BF! (Their red (leveraged off the NC State Univ colors) is #961127, and their dark blue (leveraged off of the Duke colors) is #171783.
1 April 2008 at 2:42 pm
jcb says:
Terrapene carolina carolina! You know I love those double (or triple) Latin names for, uh, stuff.
5 April 2008 at 10:05 am
Pooh says:
I agree, that’s a lotta hotta!
My understanding was that wasabi was Japanese horseradish. Maybe adding the mustard (and the FDC yellow and blue) is what distinguishes it from good-ole American horseradish.
A digression on the subject of mustard. When Dave was young he used to confuse waitresses and waiters by asking for “cold mustard”. What he wanted was “regular” yellow mustard, and not the “hot mustard” that came with Chinese food.
You probably already know that mustard is yet another member of the Brassicacae family – the family of cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
5 April 2008 at 10:25 am
Sammy says:
Pooh, yeah, wasabi is often referred to as “Japanese horseradish,” but botanically, it’s something different. We’ve eaten real wasabi, ground before our eyes on a special sharkskin grater, at two different sushi restaurants, and the wasabi powder stuff (meaning the horseradish/mustard combo) is stronger, harsher, and more biting. Real wasabi is still hot, but more complex and subtle. Check the link above, or this one JCB found, for more info….
6 April 2008 at 11:25 am
Pooh says:
Hmm, so horseradish, wasabi and mustard are all parts of the Cruciferacea/Brassicacea family. Yesterday’s comment was made w/o reading the facts entry, obviously. As my dad says, “Why let the facts get in the way of a good argument.”
13 April 2008 at 8:04 am
kayak woman says:
I had one of my horrible “packing” dreams. I guess I won’t go into detail here. I’d just as soon forget it all.
17 April 2008 at 1:25 am
Jay says:
Don’t do it! We had 70 degrees last Saturday, snow predicted for this Saturday.
17 April 2008 at 5:39 am
Sammy says:
I confess; I already took the heavy bedcovers off the bed once. And put them back. Proof of my lack of confidence in the warmth of the spring weather patterns was that I just set them aside, instead of placing them in summer storage….
19 April 2008 at 4:31 pm
mouse says:
wow! I’m willing to bet that it is intended to be a soup base. On the other hand…you just never know. Whichever way you look at it, it is delightfully repulsive.
21 April 2008 at 9:17 pm
Maureen says:
Thanks for the trillium picture! We had them in Ashland and in Boone, and I miss these heralds of spring. It helped my hard-ish day (can any other fellowships turn me down? Dear god) be better. Now off to grade (she says, through gritted teeth). Semester over soon…semester over soon…semester over soon
22 April 2008 at 7:29 am
kayak woman says:
One o’ these days, I’ll have to post the story of The Commander’s adventures as the Trillium Bandit.
22 April 2008 at 7:31 am
kayak woman says:
Agreed about the economy (you must’ve seen my rant), however, I’m not sure that I’m not one of those who *doesn’t* know how to live poor. Sounds stupid, but.
On a lighter note, we got the kids five anoles back when Liz was in about 5th grade. The last of them died a rather astounding six years later.
23 April 2008 at 6:28 pm
kayak woman says:
people (or dogs) aren’t peeing on it are they? Being funny here, after a long day. I don’t really think that’s what it is.
And, hey, new look!
23 April 2008 at 6:58 pm
Sammy says:
No chance it’s urine-kill. Sorry. Please try again!
24 April 2008 at 8:11 am
Pooh says:
Someone collected the detritus for research, or to set up an encampment? Both seem unlikely, although when I worked part time for the MI DNR, we did do a study on deer browsing. It involved a transect line and every 100? meters we would mark a meter square and clear and weigh ALL green stuff w/in the square and up to a height of 5 feet. Five feet is how high deer can browse. If there was a bush or tree in the plot with a woody stem we left the stem.
Maybe it was some weird part of the tornado path or a micro burst?
A squirrel with OCD collecting leaves for its nest, but they have to be from this tree only?
24 April 2008 at 9:06 am
Sammy says:
Or maybe a squirrelly scientist with OCD? You may have nailed it, Pooh!
24 April 2008 at 1:39 pm
kayak woman says:
Right on both points. I am glad you kept the picture at the top.
27 April 2008 at 3:51 pm
Maureen says:
Is that my advisor at the podium?
27 April 2008 at 4:07 pm
Sammy says:
Yes! Did you recognize him or the content of the slide—or both?
27 April 2008 at 8:43 pm
jcb says:
I tried to log on to the NWS’s lake levels site on Sunday evening and got:
Sorry, unable to connect to database. Please try again later,Government servers, I guess. Or maybe the server room has a leaky roof.
4 May 2008 at 10:23 am
Ruthette Mills says:
So where is the person who belongs in those shoes?
4 May 2008 at 10:27 am
Sammy says:
Update
We walked by this fence this morning: no shoes. The mystery continues….
4 May 2008 at 11:54 am
kayak woman says:
Could be that they were a lost and found. Kid in stroller manages to “lose” shoes while mom isn’t looking. (“I don’t wanna wear these things, so I’ll just take ‘em off.”) Random pedestrian comes along and thinks, “somebody’s gonna be looking for those!” and mounts them on the fence in hopes that they’ll be more noticeable.
Yes, I have gone back to look for kicked-off shoes.
4 May 2008 at 12:07 pm
Sammy says:
KW—I like your hopeful, positive scenario….
6 May 2008 at 7:09 pm
kayak woman says:
Gorgeous pic. I have no other words!
7 May 2008 at 7:08 am
james says:
I thought it looked like a dead robot, with it’s little legs in the air.
But that’s just me…
8 May 2008 at 6:33 pm
kayak woman says:
Mouse used to make a face a lot like that when she was intensely scrutinizing something.
9 May 2008 at 1:25 pm
Pooh says:
I saw a green heron last week when I was bicycling in Forest Park. It was in a wet spot, a large puddle under some pine trees, not far from the bike path and the street. I’ve seen them before near the regular waterways in the park. I guess it was just checking out this “bonus pond” left by the recent rain. It had left by the next time I came around.
11 May 2008 at 6:30 pm
Pooh says:
Have you read “Ursula, Under” by Ingrid Hill? It’s a wonderful book, set in part in the UP. It starts with a small child falling down an abandoned mine shaft. Then there was the child in 1985 or 1987 who fell down a well, which had a diameter of only 8″! I know it was one of those years, b/c I remember watching the news in the hospital after either Dan or Dave was born.
11 May 2008 at 9:37 pm
Kyle Bladow says:
Hey Sammy!
This is Rachel’s friend Kyle. I’m glad I found your blog. You’ll have to send me your address! In the meantime, I delved into the language question. Here’s what I found, thanks to a kanji program I have on my computer:
The red lettering reads
珍奇の味
chinki no aji
chinki: “strange, rare, novel, curious”
aji: “flavor, taste”
so, “novel flavor” or “taste of strangeness”
Thus, I’m guessing “sapor” is a bastardization of savor/flavor.
Take care! I’m missing the ensalada de nopalitos!
Kyle
12 May 2008 at 1:31 pm
mouse says:
Oh my gosh!! It’s contagious. I thought we were the only ones, but apparently it’s time to warn our friends and family members…
12 May 2008 at 2:03 pm
kayak woman says:
You have *got* to be kidding! Kee-reist!
(Actually, I think I used that word the *last* time a tree fell on your house. At the time, it was one of my brother’s favorite words.
12 May 2008 at 3:04 pm
Sammy says:
All kindsa things repeating. We’re fine. Chainsaws have been running intermittently. Chippers are noisy!
12 May 2008 at 8:40 pm
GG says:
SHIIIIITTTT!
13 May 2008 at 7:56 am
kayak woman says:
Oh boy, that is a lot worse than our damage. Maybe you can get a turret or something out of it this time?
Glad you guys are okay. Where were you when it happened and what kind of storm was it?
13 May 2008 at 11:27 am
manette says:
Remodeling the old fashion way! Do you package and ship firewood?
The trees have you tagged.
Glad to hear you are alright. Were you both in the house when the “attack” occured?
13 May 2008 at 5:46 pm
Dogmomster says:
OMG! Spectacular photo of an unfortunate happening! Nook just said to make it complete, we’d have to have a tree fall on OUR house. The catch is, the only way that could happen is if a Sikorsky Sky Crane *dropped* one on us….
15 May 2008 at 11:10 am
Maureen says:
at least the (what I think is) stained glass window is intact on the right. Either happenstance or someone knew what they were doing re: structurally when it was put in. I seem to remember this was a wedding gift perhaps, but it’s been almost 5 years since we stood there (!) and so I may be wrong.
15 May 2008 at 11:23 am
Sammy says:
Yes, it’s a stained glass window. Not a wedding present, but the most complex of the three windows we had Atlanta stained glass artist Pat Vloeberghs make—cost/effort are linked to the number of pieces. We thought it had been installed to just pop out, but no, it’s well-caulked. So, for now, it’s safe there. A second piece she made is a round window in our bedroom far from the destruction—design is moon and shooting star. Third piece was commercial beveled glass pieced square in the shower—which I figured was a goner because it was right under the trunk of the tree. BUT, it’s intact, set aside safely, and awaiting reinstallation in the new shower! We have been so lucky with all this!
The kicker: we had the three windows made to mark our return to the house after the (first) tree crushed our house in 1991!
16 May 2008 at 8:27 am
kayak woman says:
I will likely be posting some rather similar pics later today;-)
17 May 2008 at 9:16 am
kayak woman says:
well, we went to our “favorite”/default restaurant last night and it was swamped but I was at the absolute end:-)
cooking tonight though!
17 May 2008 at 9:39 am
Sammy says:
Knights is a very special refuge; those are wonderful!
21 May 2008 at 2:42 pm
liz says:
yeah, mass communication! i learned all about that my senior year. check out “Imagined Communities” by Benedict Anderson, if you have not read it already…
26 May 2008 at 8:25 am
kayak woman says:
I’m not looking forward to having more light (and heat) this summer either. I need more trees!:-)
26 May 2008 at 8:55 am
Sammy says:
Tree falls in spring 2008: another bonding experience for us, KW….
BTW, we plan on replanting a canopy tree, probably a replacement oak, in our front yard, to replace one denuded and wrecked by the monster that fell….
29 May 2008 at 2:41 am
Mary Jo says:
Wow, that’s a great picture! Did you photoshop it at all? It looks like the pottery shard is floating above the textured wall (but then, we’ve been driving for 12 hours a day the last two days and I’m drinking a glass of sherry!).
29 May 2008 at 5:22 pm
Sammy says:
That’s what it looked like; I didn’t even crank the color using Photoshop. The mounting wires (directly behind each sherd, and invisible from dead on) gave the stunning depth of field….
3 June 2008 at 9:45 am
Pooh says:
White coral bells
upon a slender stalk,
Lilies of the garden
line my garden walk.
Oh, don’t you wish
that you could hear them ring.
That will only happen
when the fairies sing.
I don’t remember when I learned this, maybe in Brownies? I think we sang it as a round.
3 June 2008 at 11:08 am
kayak woman says:
they’re wonderful until they try to take over your yard.
4 June 2008 at 8:28 pm
Mary Jo says:
My favorite flower, because it signaled my birthday! The May flower, Lily of the Valley. Love the poem from Pooh!
6 June 2008 at 11:30 am
I have found a hidden patio with these exact bricks also southern clay bricks any more history on them? says:
jogorich@yahoo.com
8 June 2008 at 12:21 pm
kayak woman says:
Yeah! I already told you we were on Holt Road watching that storm from the south.
8 June 2008 at 12:22 pm
kayak woman says:
fergot to say, I was too askeert to get a picture of it, being in a small-ish motorized vee-hickle driven by a mad scientist and all.
8 June 2008 at 7:41 pm
GG says:
S & J,
A nice BIG tree smashed the house of my niece, near Linden, today (6/8). She has the same insurance company as me. Fix the damage and send the bill…
GG
10 June 2008 at 4:36 am
Sammy says:
Loved the poem, Pooh. Plants are such situational things. We love them when they’re growing here, but not there. Except for PI, right KW?
12 June 2008 at 8:09 am
Pooh says:
When I hear the cellphone tagline, “More bars in more places”, I’m always reminded of our bike tour through Wisconsin. One of our favorite names was the Linger Longer Lounge. Lingering longer with a Leinenkugel at the Linger Longer Lounge, sounds like a lovely lassitude.
12 June 2008 at 8:32 am
Sammy says:
Leinie lassitude! Linspirational! Leinie languor and lethargy, also!
13 June 2008 at 12:36 am
Jay says:
We actually know a Leinenkugel, of the beer family. The mother of one of Rey’s friends in school once upon a time. Carl thinks they are now a Miller product.
14 June 2008 at 8:36 am
Pooh says:
When Cornwallis surrendered to G. Washington at Yorktown, the band played a British song, ‘The World Turned Upside Down”. Trivia from who knows what cranny of my cranium.
It does look like the world is in duck and cover mode.
20 June 2008 at 9:07 pm
kayak woman says:
the never-ending stack of New Yorkers.
21 June 2008 at 10:05 am
james says:
Me:
A collection of HP Lovecraft stories.
The Harryhausen book y’all got me.
The “Make” magazine y’all got me.
The Jack Chick book Rebecca got me.
NYTimes puzzle printed out (finished).
24 June 2008 at 4:45 pm
kayak woman says:
wow! I have no words!
25 June 2008 at 4:10 pm
manette says:
“The term cupola is also often used for a projection above the roof of a barn, which is primarily there for ventilation purposes” Wikipedia
Dave just painted the cupola above our garage yesterday and we were trying to remember the term for that ornamental/ventilative sturcture. I threw in the towel and called it a cornucopia, knowing I was wrong and knowing what a cornucopia actually is. Reading that the cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman’s fertility, I think I would rather have the cupola over my house!
25 June 2008 at 4:52 pm
Sammy says:
Maybe residential-cupolas have different vibes than barn-cupolas….
25 June 2008 at 8:05 pm
kayak woman says:
There are some old, old houses up in Siberia with turrets and cupolas. I was instructed on the difference at an early age during rides around town with the parental units.
25 June 2008 at 8:16 pm
kayak woman says:
Omigosh! When I wrote my comment, I hadn’t thoroughly read Manette’s. I love the idea of calling those things “cornucopias”!
26 June 2008 at 12:58 pm
marc says:
The 1,000-year event calculated for here was forced upon the bureaucrats because of the huge 1953 flooding which killed nearly two thousand people. But a report by one engineer had warned earlier for a slightly larger event that could possibly have led to tens or hundreds of thousands killed. The 1953 flooding basically scared them into taking that warning seriously.
26 June 2008 at 1:15 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, yes. Risk-assessment and risk-management differ greatly by individual, corporate group, and even nation-state!
28 June 2008 at 7:02 pm
kayak woman says:
You are still in drought?
There has been so much rain in the midwest that I think those stories are overshadowing what is still going on in the southeast. Not as dramatic to write about but still…
28 June 2008 at 7:46 pm
Sammy says:
Track the drought—now worse northeast of here in the mountains, but we’ve still got it bad—here.
4 July 2008 at 2:36 pm
mouse says:
Squeak squeak!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok (!!!!!)
4 July 2008 at 3:08 pm
kayak woman says:
Ooh! 3-bean recipe (or plan or whatever you wanna call it).
7 July 2008 at 7:15 am
kayak woman says:
Made a fast trip to that southern city yesterday morning. Brunch at the Crow’s Nest on Westnedge.
9 July 2008 at 7:02 pm
kayak woman says:
AAAAA-men!
(Also loved the shot of the truck-riding train.)
10 July 2008 at 7:25 pm
kayak woman says:
Ooch, one of my favorite lepidopterans. Or not. But I still don’t like to see creatures die. So, you go, girl.
12 July 2008 at 11:08 pm
jcburns says:
what a great image…I particularly like the measurement on the bottle..,DRAMS!
14 July 2008 at 7:19 pm
Kay Wood says:
I agree. We all change our minds. When we become better informed, we adjust our view on a particular topic or issue. What’s wrong with that?
I think flip-flopping is being confused with “wishy-washy”.
17 July 2008 at 9:05 pm
kayak woman says:
So glad to see things progressing down your way. But. Um. Did the dormers not match before? Or am I just confused, as usual?
17 July 2008 at 9:42 pm
Sammy says:
You see, the replacement dormer, no matter how hard they tried, would never match the old ones (siding, window), so they will alter the old ones to match the new one to make it a matched set of three. It IS rather confusing!
21 July 2008 at 9:34 pm
Jay says:
Of course the pitchers have their catcher to confer with, disagree with and finally agree with.
But soccer players – definately an individual breed, and I think many of them would listen to their advisor, nod in ascent, and then do what they wanted to do anyway.
21 July 2008 at 10:23 pm
mouse says:
What about cats? I suppose the lack of tin on the hot roof pretty definitively rules out the presence of cats.
22 July 2008 at 2:32 pm
jcb says:
They seem to be concerned about Steve Jobs’ health, which the Apple folks are tersely saying is “a private matter.”
Glad our future isn’t tied up in Apple stock, although I think the company’s stronger than its ever been…ever.
23 July 2008 at 9:33 am
Robert says:
As an ex- financial advisor, I think one of your best investments is to have a roof over your head! Glad things are moving along!
29 July 2008 at 1:47 pm
Maureen says:
As a proud Aries, think of it as my happy face looking right back at ya!
29 July 2008 at 3:16 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks; I will; that’s far better than thinking of a fallen oak tree.
1 August 2008 at 7:50 pm
GG says:
Will JCB & SS make it to the U.P. anytime soon?
1 August 2008 at 9:02 pm
Sammy says:
Not in the immediate future; we’re baby-sitting this house project for now. We’ll let you know when we know!
4 August 2008 at 5:39 pm
Pooh says:
And here I thought it was just a tourist who actually read those signs in the park. I guess I’m only a smarty-pants tourist, not an intellectual one, as I hardly ever see park signs referring to Freud, Hegel, or any of the Marx Brothers.
4 August 2008 at 11:45 pm
jcb says:
Redbud? Not dogwood?
5 August 2008 at 7:34 am
Sammy says:
Total botanical brain-fade. The photo is a REDBUD. We have to replace a REDBUD. Thanks, bud!
5 August 2008 at 5:19 pm
Tony Marshall says:
Looks Better than before!
5 August 2008 at 5:53 pm
Sammy says:
Yeah, can’t wait for the siding and windows, so we can see the new look in its entirety!
7 August 2008 at 9:26 am
Pooh says:
I saw superior and possibly fata morgana refractions one day at the cabin this year. I was looking towards Iroqouis Point and the end of the point looked like it had a mouth in it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera with me, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
8 August 2008 at 9:12 am
Pooh says:
While in Scotland, my friend pointed out large thistles growing in the cloisters in a castle. When she said she thought they needed weeding, I reminded her that the thistle was the royal symbol of Scotland!
8 August 2008 at 9:44 am
Robert says:
Hey Sammy,
we’ve been camping from the central Oregon desert to the high lakes this past week, canoeing, hiking, fishing and relaxing. Is there something going on in the world we need to know about?
8 August 2008 at 9:56 am
Sammy says:
Naw, Robert. Selected news topics: no VP selections, Russian planes being fired at over Georgia (the Euro one), no live Olympics hoo-hah on US TV (mentioned above), elsewhere it’s just Friday 08.08.08 and we’re watching for more economic fallout from the home-loan situation.
9 August 2008 at 9:32 am
Jay says:
I did watch NBC’s non-cable version of the openning.
Whatever opinions you may have of NBC, China, etc… WOW.
I was so impressed by the precision – especially the bit that looked like the topographical pin toys. I frequently get bored when they overhype, but these people were amazing.
9 August 2008 at 10:26 am
Sammy says:
Okay. I admit it; I peeked. And it was amazing! I was mad when NBC cut away to adverts and I couldn’t see the transitions. The fireworks footsteps across the city was pretty amazing, and one thing we could see on TV that the Bird’s-Nest viewers couldn’t.
10 August 2008 at 10:57 am
kayak woman says:
I always *hated* volleyball with a passion. I can still remember the gym teacher (who wasn’t a bad sort, just doing her job) talking about “serving” etc. Just lemme outta here. Dodgeball was even worse.
10 August 2008 at 2:46 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, dodgeball was worse, especially with “the boys.”
10 August 2008 at 11:23 pm
jcb says:
Did you pick this image because it reminded you of the flag of some obscure Olympic-attending country? Incredible color.
11 August 2008 at 10:38 am
kayak woman says:
I was thinking “that was us!” (Seney, a year ago). But it couldn’t have been because this is the 11th and we drove south on the 12th.
But we had fun when we *did* go to Seney!
11 August 2008 at 11:29 am
Sammy says:
It was you; I tricked you with a late post….
11 August 2008 at 2:10 pm
kayak woman says:
Aha! Yeah, that *would* be right then. I remember refusing to go on an inland kayak trip on the 11th with the north country trail folks. too hot and I was exhausted. Not from Seney though.
12 August 2008 at 12:11 pm
kayak woman says:
The illusions all kind of fit in with the steroids and all that stuff. I used to like to watch the olympics, now it all seems too much like hype, hype, hype.
12 August 2008 at 12:59 pm
Sammy says:
During my lunch break, I flipped on the coverage and watched a fellow from Togo win a bronze in K-1 whitewater kayaking. Poor guy is listed as a winner on the NBC page, but no mention of him in the athlete roster. As you say, given all this, I’m finding it harder and harder to care.
12 August 2008 at 1:33 pm
kayak woman says:
Yeah. With a major network assigned to “cover” the games, a lot of interesting stuff is missed. A few little human interest stories sprinkled in with all the superstars. And I didn’t even know whitewater kayaking was an Olympic sport. I don’t *do* the whitewater variety of kayaking but I can sure *relate* to it. Now, beach volleyball? That, I knew about because an old beach friend was (is?) involved in coaching it (or whatever) in Florida. Still don’t like volleyball though.
Gearing up for my own Olypost. And maybe one about cycling, given that Nancy’s topic yesterday really got me stirred up.
12 August 2008 at 1:52 pm
Sammy says:
Can’t wait!
12 August 2008 at 10:54 pm
Maquis says:
Me neither!
13 August 2008 at 11:28 pm
Robert says:
Don’t know if it is (national parentheses day), but it’s the first day of our 6th year of retirement! We spent the day putting up a carport over the camper (after spending a few days in the desert to see the meteor showers). Your house looks great!
16 August 2008 at 4:38 pm
kayak woman says:
Whew! Quiet weekend here on the Planet Ann Arbor. Chores and shopping and maybe I’ll get those blasted socks finished and maybe even play with my “Whack ‘em” tablet. Need it. Next two weekends outta town.
16 August 2008 at 5:46 pm
Sammy says:
Socks: yeah, Pooh finished hers, so the heat’s on! “Whack ‘em” tablet? Is that a Wii-thingy?
17 August 2008 at 3:18 pm
kayak woman says:
Wacom tablet. Doc Burns knows what it is, I’m sure.
17 August 2008 at 4:38 pm
Sammy says:
(Disgusted with self) Oh. Duh. I not only know what it is, I use one instead of a mouse, which helps me avoid carpal tunnel/pronation problems. Must have been utterly braindead when I read your comment!
18 August 2008 at 8:53 pm
kayak woman says:
I have *always* been totally terrified about having my house burn down.
18 August 2008 at 10:42 pm
Maquis says:
The tree trimmers are coming tomorrow.
19 August 2008 at 4:16 pm
John says:
* Is today national parentheses day?
Only if you had put the last question in parenthesis.
19 August 2008 at 4:38 pm
Sammy says:
Sorry. I’m just not as clever as I might be. [Maybe it's really national brackets day?]
19 August 2008 at 5:05 pm
Pooh says:
Not one but TWO pairs! Of course, if I’d paid attention to the gauge swatch, I’d only have done one pair. It was nice to have a mistake work out so nicely.
19 August 2008 at 5:42 pm
Sammy says:
I find it’s usually a terrific idea to look for a silver lining…. When we dug boxed and bagged crap out from under our eaves where we’d stored it, I discovered socks I’d forgotten I’d knitted something like 25 years ago (not much demand for heavy hand-knit socks around here). Do they count?
20 August 2008 at 10:58 pm
Jay says:
Please tell the rest of us the stuff’s name when you find out. We have many windows with little panes. Painting is a certainty again soon
21 August 2008 at 12:44 pm
manette says:
Speaking of getting back up to the cottage, when might that be?
Cousin M.
23 August 2008 at 10:17 pm
Jay says:
Clay 8791 points – GOLD
24 August 2008 at 9:35 pm
kayak woman says:
I was always taught to wipe cans off before opening by The Commander. I rarely do it any more. I do not get sick. I don’t think The Comm always does it any more either. It depends a lot on how dirty the can looks. But ya never know, eh?
25 August 2008 at 6:27 am
Sammy says:
I guess I think (but hopefully not worry) about can’t-see things like heavy metals or warehouse pesticides more than viruses and bacteria…
26 August 2008 at 1:03 am
Robert says:
But have you ever looked at your can opener cutting edge, or cleaned it on a regular basis?
26 August 2008 at 5:54 am
Sammy says:
Boy, they can get gunky! I clean mine periodically with an old toothbrush (a common cleaning tool for New World archaeologists).
26 August 2008 at 7:14 am
kayak woman says:
I do look at the can opener and clean it occasionally. I worry sometimes that we are all too “clean”. I’m thinking about the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that continue to evolve.
26 August 2008 at 7:17 am
kayak woman says:
What surprises me about this is that people actually get to a live website when clicking through a spam message. On the random occasions that curiosity-killed-the-cat leads me to click on a link in a spam message, usually, there’s nothing there.
And then there’s the Alcona Country treasurer, who fell (more than once? too lazy to google) one of those Nigerian scams. Come on, those things have been around since the Internet was in the wild wild west period. You know, the 1990s.
29 August 2008 at 9:18 am
preclovis says:
Not that____is interesting – may I continue to believe that correlation is not causation until I understand?
29 August 2008 at 9:19 am
preclovis says:
I mean THAT is interesting.
I am going to think about it all. It’s a lot.
T
29 August 2008 at 9:20 am
Pooh says:
A ‘ruggedized’ boom box — I guess that’s ‘professional grade’ just like those macho pickup truck ads. It reminds me of an old radio at the cabin, which had been spattered by creosote. It still worked.
29 August 2008 at 9:30 am
Sammy says:
I think maybe that the kind of data Anderson’s talking about, the kind that’s voluminous enough to constitute petabytes, may work the way he says, but that the less voluminous, small samples that I use would not. Still, it’s interesting to contemplate the hypothesis that we’ve reached a time when some types of data have exceeded the must-be-modeled threshold.
29 August 2008 at 10:56 pm
tom says:
McCain’s internal polling must’ve shown that too many fundamentalists would be staying home in November – that’s like a third/half of their party. She gives me the willies – strikes me as a likely candidate for most treacherous member of the Sunday school class. But don’t get me started.
30 August 2008 at 4:33 pm
kayak woman says:
That sounds like a whole lot more fun than my two trips to Wollmort today. Er, except I managed to avoid the second trip.
2 September 2008 at 10:03 pm
Maquis says:
Sam,
Your tree experience and Anne’s two led me to hire a tree surgeon. They came, they chopped, but my question as an Axe, did they chop enough?
Marquis
3 September 2008 at 5:39 am
Sammy says:
You ask the wrong question, Marquis. Your focus instead should be on whether they used an Old Saw!
3 September 2008 at 11:54 am
kayak woman says:
I remember that bargello phase!
3 September 2008 at 11:55 am
kayak woman says:
And the sock phase. (oops, hit submit too fast the last time.)
3 September 2008 at 12:10 pm
Sammy says:
I never got interested in crocheting (guess I saw too many pieces worked in crappy polyester yarns), but some kind of needlepoint is sounding interesting. (I’m carefully not mentioning uncompleted projects that are tucked here and there in amongst the construction detritus and shambling mounds.)
3 September 2008 at 4:56 pm
kayak woman says:
I’m just an open-toed kind of gal. But there are times when closed-toed shoes can come in handy and I am not uninterested in Keens.
Crocs? Yes, they look pretty ungainly. But they really are comfortable if you aren’t power-walking for 4 miles with no socks.
3 September 2008 at 5:20 pm
Sammy says:
I’m such a klutz I need the safety of the open toes!
9 September 2008 at 4:22 pm
Thanks! says:
Great Blog! On behalf of myself and the rest of the staff at Oldcastle Surfaces, we enjoyed working with you as well; and plan to be there for you and your future projects.
John M. Cheatham
President
Oldcastle Surfaces, Inc.
http://www.oldcastlesurfaces.com
10 September 2008 at 1:23 pm
kayak woman says:
We have a series of three new roundabouts not too far from our house. Two are at the entrance/exits to the freeway (M14), which has *always* been a dangerous place in my not-so-humble opinion. The 3rd is at the entrance to the new high school. Yeah. High school. New drivers et al.
I do *not* like them. They have a tight circumference (probably not too tight for trucks though). People don’t seem to understand how to use them. And, while the roundabouts themselves have two lanes, going around, the *road* is only one lane each way, so you have to merge. Or something.
There are only freshmen at the new high school this first year so not many student drivers. Yet. I bet the parents will be bad enough though.
11 September 2008 at 11:04 am
Jay says:
In Seattle traffic circles are little traffic calming devices at uncontrolled intersections (low traffic neighborhood type). You can even drive around them either way – legally. The Roundabouts (there are two in the area I work so far) are the yeild to enter, idea to avoid waiting in line for a traffic signal. What I have read about them is – for higher traffic areas the bigger diameter, the easier for the motorist. All of ours have the planter kind of thingie in the center, and then a “paved, but raised” brick circle, that is not intended to be driven on, except by trucks that can not negotiate the driving circle. So far the two are just the one lane variety, fairly easy to deal with. A two lane one is proposed to replace a traffic signal at a busy intersection. We’ll see how well that goes. Previously, the only ones I had dealt with were at MSU – and they were big enough that you didn’t really think about it much.
14 September 2008 at 6:27 pm
kayak woman says:
We’ve got Ike but (of course) nowhere near like what the Texans got. Just lots and lots of rain and now some wind. Same old same old.
18 September 2008 at 7:03 pm
Maquis says:
Who would eat a bucket of golf balls?
18 September 2008 at 7:20 pm
Sammy says:
I admit they’ve never been one of my cravings….
20 September 2008 at 9:19 am
Pooh says:
And that’s why the third little pig made his house of bricks.
This message brought to you by the Masonry & Brick Association.
20 September 2008 at 10:04 am
Sammy says:
And was that the pig wearing lipstick?
21 September 2008 at 8:18 am
kayak woman says:
Ikea usually has a similar effect on me. So much stuff. Do I really need this or that doo-dad? Or, oh heck, I can just get tea lights at Meijer. Etc., etc.
21 September 2008 at 11:26 pm
Jay says:
I have on occassion gotten some great stuff at Ikea – I think both of the kids bedrooms are Ikea (or Dania?). Plus some CD bookshelves, and the dining room hanging lamp, and the living room area rug, a few floor lamps and maybe some bowls. But we don’t buy much all that often. And I usually go through the catalogue and try to decide what I might be interested in before I go. Although I did take Ashlan on a pre-college dorm trip once as well. Right now we are in the don’t buy mode, as much as possible.
22 September 2008 at 9:18 pm
Marquis says:
Snow in ATL? What about global warning?
22 September 2008 at 9:52 pm
Robert says:
Unrelated to the topic, but the Block name reminded me of the ’70′s when my brother worked on the L.E. Block, the flag ship of the Block ore carrier line. My other brother silk screened a t-shirt that said “Solid as a Rock, The S.S. L.E. Block” with a picture of it sinking. I don’t think it sank, at least not while my brother worked on it!
22 September 2008 at 9:53 pm
Mary Jo says:
The previous comment was from me, Mary Jo, not Robert!
23 September 2008 at 7:36 am
Sammy says:
That much snow in Atlanta, particularly in Sept, would certainly be a global warning.
28 September 2008 at 9:33 am
Pooh says:
When I was a network administrator, I was told that the tool that DW is using was a BFH Adjuster. Probably not a good thing if your computer repair involves the BFH Adjuster!
28 September 2008 at 7:39 pm
Marquis says:
The corn looks a lot drier then here in the midwest.
29 September 2008 at 9:17 am
kayak woman says:
I was pretty embarrassed to find out *after* purchasing the newest addition to our little fleet that *premium* is the recommended grade of gasoline. I looked at my personal EPA vee-hickle emissions testing expert and asked, “did you know about that?” Not.
Fortunately, the service guys say it will run fine on regular. I think I will still buy a tank of premium here and there.
30 September 2008 at 1:15 pm
Sammy says:
I’m confused (or is it cornfused?); I thought northern Ohio was right smack in the eastern part of the Midwest….
30 September 2008 at 5:02 pm
Pooh says:
I’m guessing my better half was thinking of our immediate vicinity Midwest, aka Southern Illinois and East Central Missouri.
30 September 2008 at 7:17 pm
tom says:
The Ladder Lads!
No, The Laddest Lads!
1 October 2008 at 8:12 pm
Sammy says:
Laddy, now, hard to call The Botanist a lad. Especially from my unique position as The Botanist’s daughter…but I like the alliteration!
1 October 2008 at 8:49 pm
kayak woman says:
Now it’s my turn to be envious!! Love Hurricane Creek.
2 October 2008 at 8:10 am
tom says:
Any lad in his 90s who can wield a saw 12 ft up a ladder is definitely in touch with his inner lad. It’s all a state of mind…
2 October 2008 at 5:21 pm
Pooh says:
46 degrees and a strong North wind? I’d be cold too, even without getting my feet wet. In August, it might have been warmer in the water than out, but it is now October. Love the view, though.
3 October 2008 at 7:50 am
kayak woman says:
more diary and more pics!
4 October 2008 at 12:32 pm
kayak woman says:
Hey, I think I have been at that boat ramp too!
4 October 2008 at 3:34 pm
Sammy says:
I suspect you remember it very clearly….
4 October 2008 at 5:33 pm
Marquis says:
How about itinerant pedaling?
6 October 2008 at 7:40 pm
tom says:
A celebrity! Co-starred with Brando and Martin Sheen in “Alpaca Lips Now”…
(the horror… the horror…) Playing the role was an artistic stretch, requiring extensive make-up and prosthetics to get the ears looking right.
I’m calling the one in the back “Dolly”.
8 October 2008 at 2:49 pm
Sammy says:
I find the eyelashes positively amazing, and I have it on good authority that they’re natural….
8 October 2008 at 6:49 pm
pooh says:
So chipmunks are not fur bearers? They are cute though. We have a couple of pictures of chippies from our trip last summer to the Pictured Rocks.
8 October 2008 at 6:51 pm
pooh says:
It’s much more efficient to pick barberries when you have mittens attached to your coat to hold them. LBBs need to go to LLB(ean).
9 October 2008 at 7:11 am
kayak woman says:
happy birthday!!!
9 October 2008 at 10:45 am
Mary Jo & Robert says:
Happy Birthday Sammy! Remembering a year ago, the little campfires, the river walks and the Proseco! So much has changed in one year, but some things are timeless.
9 October 2008 at 8:43 pm
Maureen says:
Happy Bday Sammy! Wish you were here or I there to make you another banana cake. Wishes for many more (both cakes and bdays, that is).
I love the picture.
M.
10 October 2008 at 2:51 pm
Sammy says:
Of course chipmunks are furry, but not usually trapped and stripped of their pelts….
10 October 2008 at 3:00 pm
Sammy says:
Kindly thanks, all! Fantastic day!
11 October 2008 at 10:39 am
pooh says:
When I took French in HS, I noticed that ‘maintenant’, the french word for ‘now’, is very close to ‘maintenance’. A quick check in the dictionary reveals that ‘maintain’ comes from OE from OF from ML and literally means ‘hold in hand’ as ‘main’ is ‘hand’ in French, and ‘tener’ is ‘to hold’.
As an aside, ‘lieutenant’ means ‘place holder’.
So yes, maintenance chores are now and forever.
11 October 2008 at 11:04 am
Mary Jo & Robert says:
Maintenance, the reason we don’t have a house! Yet we find ourselves doing maintenance chores on our neighbors houses (in return for fabulous meals and unlimited drinks!). On another note, we went camping east of town on Thurs. and got three inches of snow and ice. We wimped out after 23 hours and came home. Now we can work on those maintenance chores!
11 October 2008 at 8:04 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, yes, maintenance awaits, near-eternally, calculating our next moves, so as to effectively stalk us….
12 October 2008 at 8:59 am
kayak woman says:
Seeya on the I75 SUV Speedway!
15 October 2008 at 8:26 pm
kayak woman says:
wazoo!
16 October 2008 at 11:19 am
Ruthette Mills says:
Now that’s what I call political support.
18 October 2008 at 7:37 pm
kayak woman says:
Not bored with it at all. What immediately struck me was that some of those people seem to be talking on cell phones. Right?
18 October 2008 at 7:59 pm
Sammy says:
Maybe caught getting errant strands of hair out of their mouths?
20 October 2008 at 7:25 am
kayak woman says:
L. O. L.!
22 October 2008 at 1:54 pm
kayak woman says:
I have GRUDGINGLY begun turning on the heat again. 65 for shower and after work (so the mad scientist doesn’t get all crazy), 62 during the day and overnight.
22 October 2008 at 2:33 pm
Sammy says:
We keep the upstairs closer to outdoor temps (cooler in winter, warmer in summer), and temper the downstairs (main living area) a bit more, but still use our heating/cooling less than most folks around here, and keep blankets on the couch, for example, to compensate.
24 October 2008 at 2:42 pm
tom says:
Is it just a coincidence that your posting following this bean soup one is titled, “Windy, breezy”? I made a big damn pot of beans on Tuesday with a ham bone I hauled back from a family reunion weekend in Florida – so, it’s windy and breezy at my house too!
24 October 2008 at 4:33 pm
Sammy says:
Hmm. Coincidence. I’m not as clever as you are…. Yes, beans are the magical treat….
24 October 2008 at 8:33 pm
kayak woman says:
and Christmas! In the Great Lake State.
25 October 2008 at 7:18 am
Sammy says:
Yes, Christmas. How could I forget? Gas, ornaments. Maybe the usual assortment of beer, bait, and milk, too….
25 October 2008 at 9:19 am
pooh says:
We went through Christmas last year — even on a bike it’s a “don’t blink you’ll miss it” place. Michigan also has a Hell and a Paradise. Not coincidently, IMHO, Paradise is in the UP and Hell is in the LP.
25 October 2008 at 9:57 am
Sammy says:
I hadn’t thought about the north/south spatial distribution of Paradise and Hell. Down here in Georgia, we have Hell Gap, Hard Labor Creek, our own Ypsilanti, and poetic names like Screamer Mountain. That’s just a sample….
28 October 2008 at 1:19 am
Jay says:
One of our friends houses was sliced by a tree in a windstorm. No one was hurt, but if they had not taken the baby out of the crib 5 minutes earlier, it would have been a different story as that is where the tree landed. The sister in the same room was just covered in insulation. The father still gets very jittery when the wind picks up. For the real story and picture try – http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/296212_baby16.html
28 October 2008 at 7:31 am
Sammy says:
Oh, geeze. Yeah, I especially worry when it’s windy and I’m trying to fall asleep. Asleep equals unaware and helpless in my brain. I’m glad your friends came through okay. Miracles!
1 November 2008 at 7:26 am
kayak woman says:
Student Ghetto/Early Inlaw here!
1 November 2008 at 8:17 am
Sammy says:
So, your music: eclectic and a bit ragtag, too? How ’bout recycled aspects?
1 November 2008 at 9:16 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, there seemed to be something on NPR a bit ago about recycled music. I didn’t catch it very well because I was multi-tasking: laundry, groceries, cooking ahead…
1 November 2008 at 9:19 am
kayak woman says:
“Quicken and iPhoto”
hahahaha! Didn’t read this carefully before.
Speaking of, I have a checking acct to balance…
2 November 2008 at 11:03 pm
Marquis says:
Sam, you take the best pictures!
3 November 2008 at 12:55 am
Rana says:
Yes. But consistency has not exactly been a prominent feature of his campaign…
(Found your blog via a comment on NancyNall.com – a happy discovery!)
3 November 2008 at 6:57 am
Sammy says:
Welcome Rana&ravens! NN.C is a gem; in contrast, I limp along (and I don’t mean after yesterday’s hike!), blown by the winds of the moment…. BTW, I’m adding YOU to my RSS feed list….
3 November 2008 at 6:59 am
Sammy says:
Very kind of you, Marquis. I love your banners, but miss that they disappear from exalted banner status so quickly. Of course, that can be argued to be part of their charm….
3 November 2008 at 8:02 am
kayak woman says:
Thanks for posting about your hike!
And yes, Sam is the best photographer. Self-taught, too, if memory is accurate.
3 November 2008 at 8:11 am
Sammy says:
Just like you, KW! I like that you post photo series; I tend not to invest the energy in them. Perhaps I should…. I know I always love yours….
3 November 2008 at 8:28 am
kayak woman says:
I would’ve loved a series on that hike
Also, the Marquis puts his mastheads on Flickr.
3 November 2008 at 8:44 am
Sammy says:
True, but they’re disconnected from their lofty setting atop the day’s words, and maybe another picture…. Okay, I’ll work on a photo series! (Arm is twisted!)
3 November 2008 at 12:30 pm
kayak woman says:
Thanks!!! Love it!
4 November 2008 at 10:59 am
Mary Jo & Robert says:
Hi Sammy, A great way to hike along with you, and what a beautiful looking day! Right now it’s spitting snow here at 32 degrees. We’re going to the brew pub to watch the election results to either celebrate or cry in our beer!
4 November 2008 at 11:05 am
Sammy says:
I’m crossing my fingers for celebration. We are contemplating ordering a pizza, but I may not make it very late. I’ve still been waking up on old-time, which means pretty darned early! You’ve got the time zones working in your favor!
4 November 2008 at 11:13 am
jcb says:
We could call it ‘the Finish Line…day.’
4 November 2008 at 1:39 pm
kayak woman says:
I was dreading the long lines today. But the weather was great and one of my best friends from when the kids were in grade school (my polling place) was behind me in line!!! How lucky is that? I’ll probably blahg it all when I get home from work.
4 November 2008 at 4:53 pm
Mary Jo & Robert says:
It’s kind of anti-climactic here in Progressive Oregon with the mail-in ballots. We have about two weeks with ballot in hand to ponder the government supplied voter pamphlet which contains all the language of the ballot measures and the arguments for and against, as well as a short comment from all candidates. We can turn off the TV (if we have one) and pay attention to the issues and decide based on well thought out arguments (some of them anyway). I always had to bring a crib sheet into the voting booth in the past.
4 November 2008 at 4:55 pm
Mary Jo & Robert says:
Did John also get the free cup of coffee at Starbucks because he voted?
4 November 2008 at 6:17 pm
Sammy says:
Not as yet; I’m rather surprised.
5 November 2008 at 1:09 pm
jcb says:
5 November 2008 at 1:23 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks! (Wonder what the final spread will be….)
7 November 2008 at 7:34 am
kayak woman says:
love the lens flare!
7 November 2008 at 7:36 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, dirty (wide-angle) lens & looking into the sun, not Photoshop.
7 November 2008 at 2:37 pm
tom says:
I’ve explored that area a lot on 2 wheels. Kept spotting Faulkner in my rearview mirror.
7 November 2008 at 3:52 pm
Sammy says:
Ooooh, it’d be a great area to explore like that! Nice rolling terrain, with little traffic! Place names are shorter than Faulkner’s faves, though….
7 November 2008 at 5:15 pm
tom says:
He’s a mutt! Everybody loves a mutt… especially mutts who are comfortable with their mutthood. Rahm is an interesting choice – he seems high-drahma, where as Mr.O. is (reportedly) no-drahma. I’m sure we’d get along well for at least five seconds.
7 November 2008 at 5:34 pm
Sammy says:
Wonder why he didn’t use that line during the campaign….
7 November 2008 at 6:21 pm
kayak woman says:
What is that skyscraper with the “wings” (or whatever they are) over there on the right.
7 November 2008 at 7:44 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Salaries don’t begin until January 20 or sometime afterward. Many of the appointees have to be vetted and go through the security clearance process and then be approved by the Senate. Rahmbo will continue to collect his pay as a Congresscritter until his resignation takes effect, probably on January 20. He does not have to be approved by the Senate. Cousin Barack is off to a good start on staffing his administration.
8 November 2008 at 6:14 am
Sammy says:
We are mystified about that design, too.
8 November 2008 at 7:48 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, HH, for the info on how the transition salaries are funded. I should have guessed they aren’t. Like the term “Congresscritter”. I guess the Pres-Elect is still collecting his Senatorial earnings until the swearing-in, too….
8 November 2008 at 10:57 am
Sammy's second cousin says:
Yes, he and Biden get paid their Senate salaries up until they resign their seats. If there’s a lame-duck session, they should do that sooner rather than later. Their successors could be sworn in right away and get a leg up on seniority, which is important for things like committee assignments.
Also, I have a fantasy scenario that begins next week:
1. Cheney resigns for “health” reasons.
2. Bush nominates Obama to be Vice President under the 25th Amendment.
3. Congress confirms Obama, also under the 25th Amendment.
4. Obama is sworn in as Vice President.
5. Bush announces that due his incompetence he is resigning. (Millions cheer.)
6. Obama is sworn in as President.
7. Obama nominates Biden to be Vice President.
8. Congress confirms Biden.
9. Americans give thanks on November 27.
Wilson planned something similar in 1916 in which Hughes would have been sworn in before March 4. However, much to everyone’s surprise Wilson narrowly won.
8 November 2008 at 12:28 pm
tom says:
The skyscraper with the wings is Sauron Plaza. The flaming eye is suspended between them (visible only at night with special goggles – at least for now.) Cheney has a sublet there beginning late-January. Vigilance, people.
8 November 2008 at 7:52 pm
Rana says:
I was quite impressed by the NYT graphics as well. (Though, being in the one county in the whole state of Indiana that was delayed in reporting was a bit embarrasing!)
8 November 2008 at 9:10 pm
Marquis says:
Well you had my hopes up.
13 November 2008 at 2:31 pm
kayak woman says:
Shudder… Comcast does NOT care one iota about customer service! They sent a sub-contractor out to my house that took 2.5 hours to REPLACE A MODEM! And he scared the beejabbers outta me (you’ve heard this story). Absolutely no social skills at all, wouldn’t answer questions. Generally creeeeeeepy. When the GG *finally* came home, *he* was creeped out too.
I won’t tell the whole sordid story here but call him out. And what the heck kind of truck is that anyway?
13 November 2008 at 3:32 pm
Sammy says:
Best Ford can produce, that van, and decorated with a wrap that has scorpions on it (no lie!). I’m guessing it’s a promotion for some show I don’t watch. [Maybe THB knows?]
13 November 2008 at 4:13 pm
kayak woman says:
Yeah, it was the graphics I was wondering about. I mean, I am not one to think everything and everybody should look all squeaky clean and corporate all the time but I *already* have zero confidence in Comsuck’s customer service and a van with scorpions certainly doesn’t add anything positive to that.
13 November 2008 at 4:20 pm
Sammy says:
Yeah, in short, what were they thinking!
13 November 2008 at 7:08 pm
tom says:
Shades of the Time Warner system build in Cincinnati in the early 80s. In an area called The Village Of Indian Hill (one of the wealthiest communities in N.America) the locals were aghast when a worker relieved himself while perched in a tree – at least it was warm weather and the leaf canopy provided some level of privacy. But apparently not enough. Cable companies used to outsource day labor to do their construction and install work… probably still do, even more so. They’d send someone with next to no real vested interest in the enterprise to come into your home, drill holes and hammer nails. A recipe for successful customer relations. Or reduced healthcare costs. Or something…
13 November 2008 at 8:43 pm
Sammy says:
Seems like there’s widespread agreement that all too many cable company employees (contract workers?) are rather irksome…
14 November 2008 at 9:49 pm
kayak woman says:
haha. When I first saw this, I thought, “mosquito on the lens!” Although it’s not really all that mosquito-like.
15 November 2008 at 5:23 am
Sammy says:
Perhaps it’s a famous Southern Oak-Leaf Mosquito?
17 November 2008 at 9:01 am
jcb says:
the color temperature of that pic clues one in to how shady that part of the trail was…that Georgia mountain snow doesn’t stand up to full sunshine!
19 November 2008 at 12:59 pm
Rana says:
Beautiful!
20 November 2008 at 7:52 pm
Marquis says:
Well all that I can say is there goes western civilization …
21 November 2008 at 1:02 am
Rana says:
Oooh. Yum!
23 November 2008 at 1:30 pm
kayak woman says:
good times! Where is this?
23 November 2008 at 5:17 pm
Dog Momster says:
Oooh, never been to an oyster roast before, but sounds yummy & fun! Guess it would help to live near where the oysters are, wouldn’t it?
23 November 2008 at 5:20 pm
Dog Momster says:
oooh, and I just discovered a Trader Joe’s near a Whole Foods just yesterday (shopped the Whole Foods, not the TJ’s)…. in Rochester Hills, about 30 miles away. Those are the closest ones to me
so I won’t be going too often 
23 November 2008 at 7:22 pm
liz says:
i almost bought these today but opted for almond-inside-coconut-and-chocolate… or whatever they are called instead.
23 November 2008 at 8:07 pm
Sammy says:
We feasted near Columbus GA on the southern flank of Pine Mountain (SSW of ATL), but that lovely area is another story. The oysters arrive at the market in Columbus once a week via truck from Apalachicola Bay on the Florida Panhandle. Yum!
23 November 2008 at 8:10 pm
Sammy says:
Liz, head back to TJs and get these—or, alternatively, put them on your mental list for your next visit—they’re too good to skip!
24 November 2008 at 9:31 pm
Maureen says:
Well, shoot, I know that bearded man! Missed him and the lovely Miss. K at SEAC, so good to see them here. Am I right?
24 November 2008 at 9:32 pm
Maureen says:
They’ve replaced the sign, though hopefully not the dead people, since my time.
25 November 2008 at 4:52 am
Sammy says:
Yup. The Miss is to his left. You can see her foot.
25 November 2008 at 4:54 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, and there’s another temporary sign, too, but little additional info. The U is cleaning up the place; I hear EG’s doing (aka directing) some remote sensing to ID graves.
25 November 2008 at 5:53 am
kayak woman says:
have read that book.
25 November 2008 at 6:20 am
Sammy says:
Once again, I just follow the leader (KW!)….
27 November 2008 at 9:41 pm
jcb says:
The verdict was: pumpkin wonderful…apple superb, beyond wonderful.
30 November 2008 at 12:14 pm
kayak woman says:
y’all are still in need of rain, right?
30 November 2008 at 1:05 pm
Sammy says:
Badly; here’s the drought map showing just how bad it is. This drippy rain is good, but we’re entering a rainy season now and need more than this to show for it.
30 November 2008 at 6:35 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Yes, it is terribly sad. I’ve been looking through your posts with an eye to the question of comments, and what makes people comment, and find it interesting which things DON’T have comments. The post about alcoholism lacked response, and this one too. It’s as though people don’t want to respond to (or acknowledge?) the heavy, depressing stuff.
30 November 2008 at 8:18 pm
Jay says:
What – nothing from Sarah Palin? I heard she was going to go south to help campaign.
1 December 2008 at 12:38 am
Pooh says:
I thought she already helped the campaign go South!
Snark, snark, snark.
1 December 2008 at 7:14 am
kayak woman says:
I hadn’t even thought of that method for finding a picture of the day.
1 December 2008 at 9:22 am
Sammy says:
Oh, yeah, Palin has three stops scheduled. Local snarks will chronicle whether she speaks any complete sentences without a teleprompter.
As to pictures, well, sometimes the crop of the day don’t cut it.
1 December 2008 at 6:31 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Wow, I am so touched to see the old Country Journal sign and your links to my cyberspaces. Here is the long story: Sammy’s husband J.C. Burns worked with my husband R.D. Eno and me at a weekly newspaper in Plainfield, Vermont called The Country Journal in 1975-ish. It was an exhausting and hilarious undertaking, with almost no pay (We made $40 a week between us; I’m sure J.C. made even less.). On paste-up night we’d stay up all night putting the newspaper together. It was back in the day, before computers, so all the type was created on an IBM typewriter. By about 2:00 in the morning we were all blithering, which most of the time involved breaking down into hilarious laughter at the slightest provocation. My favorite thing that J.C. did: There was a column that was mailed to us every week from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department called “Outdoors with BJ.” They supplied a line drawing of BJ, and J.C. created a little banner for the column. He’d draw appropriate seasonal/meteorological elements surrounding BJ. As fall would approach, for example, leaves would begin to drift down around BJ. Week by week, more leaves would accumulate around him, slowly obliterating his face, until by the time winter arrived, BJ would be completely covered. Then it started all over again with snowflakes.
1 December 2008 at 10:16 pm
Berrian Eno-Van Fleet says:
I’m Berrian, Janet and R.D.’s daughter. I’m 27 and I’m a second year law student at Tulane University in New Orleans. My parents might not know this but when I finally got old enough for them to leave me home alone, my favorite rebellious thing to do was to play Dad’s untouchable Beatles records and read through the old copies of the Country Journal. I would also play with the hot wax machine they used to paste up copy and pretend I was publishing an underground newspaper. The legend of the Country Journal lives strong in my imagination.
2 December 2008 at 7:03 am
Sammy says:
Janet, that’s pretty much the story I’ve heard, along with the drives to Canada for the printing. Thanks for the bit about the banner art; that’s a new one for me…. Welcome, Berrien! Please stop in and see the real, actual Country Journal sign if you travel between VT and LA overland….
2 December 2008 at 3:31 pm
R.D. Eno says:
R.D. Eno here, Sammy. Actually, we went up to Canada to smuggle back Cuban cigars. The Country Journal was printed in Newport. After Thursday’s all-night paste-up, J.C. got to go home and sleep, but Janet and I (and sometimes I alone after Janet became pregnant) had to drive the flats 60 miles to the printer in any kind of weather, wait until the job was done, load up the papers and drive back to Plainfield to mail out subscription copies and distribute the rest for newsstand sales. It was often late Friday night before we saw bed, but those 48 sleepless hours left us mysteriously high, though I’m not sure I want Berrian (who shared her own dark secrets) to hear that — I don’t know how we survived. My favorite J.C. memory involves sending him to Cabot to get a story — any story, so long as Cabot people were in the paper, because if they weren’t, no one in Cabot would buy a copy. All J.C. could find was adult night at the school gym, where basketball was in progress. He wrote a story that consisted almost entirely of the sounds of the game (THA-DUMP,THA-DUMP, THUNK! CLUNK-CLUNK … “Hey!” “Here!” “One More!” “All right, Harv!” “Hwup!” “Oh!” “Ow!” “I’m sorry!”). Classic.
2 December 2008 at 3:42 pm
Sammy says:
Aha! Now we have the stories straightened out! Thanks all!
4 December 2008 at 5:24 pm
deb says:
oh my goodness. i met JC in 1976 in athens, ohio. i’ve been hearing about you two for so long that i always thought of you as a single unit, because that’s how JC always expressed it: “rdenoandjanetvanfleet.” nice to meet you all, virtually, at least. berrian, i would KILL to have one of those waxers. they are true relics; treat yours with care.
4 December 2008 at 5:26 pm
deb says:
oops, on re-reading, i realize berrian probably doesn’t actually have that waxer. pity. what do you suppose one of those would go for on ebay?
6 December 2008 at 10:44 am
jcb says:
Given the site’s name, I suspect it’s an Arctangent. or an Arccotangent. It’s definitely “periodic in the real part of its argument,” whatever that means.
6 December 2008 at 10:52 am
Sammy says:
Archaeo-tangent, perhaps? What it might mean: its numerical pattern repeats….
6 December 2008 at 11:02 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
Arachnotangent?
Or, as my mother says, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to conceive.”
6 December 2008 at 11:04 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
You dust?
6 December 2008 at 11:13 am
Sammy says:
Mothers are reservoirs of wisdom….
6 December 2008 at 11:16 am
Sammy says:
No, it’s purely a theoretical concept. Actually, I love how the southern Mexican ladies dust. They take a soft cloth and gently slap it down on places where dust might accumulate, thereby making the dust airborne, and giving them eternal employment. This approach makes sense when you live next to unpaved roads and other permanent dust sources….
6 December 2008 at 12:07 pm
Pooh says:
My mother once accused me of dusting by snapping the dust cloth towards the four corners of my bedroom and considering the job done. That was when I actually did pick up a dust cloth.
When things get so bad that even the dust bunnies are complaining, I now use Swiffer products. The floor ones work fine as dust cloths, just don’t wrap them around the thingy with the handle.
7 December 2008 at 12:42 pm
Pooh says:
I love the picture, especially the warm colors in the background and the cooler colors in the foreground. A little bit opposite to how we usually expect colors.
7 December 2008 at 9:06 pm
Marquis says:
I have envy for your camera’s eye. — M
8 December 2008 at 6:39 am
Sammy says:
Thanks. Lovely macro. I liked your santa’s neck picture, if that’s what it was. I think differently about images when I look at your exaggerated horizontals.
10 December 2008 at 8:23 am
pooh says:
Sammy,
That is the planetarium portion of the St. Louis Science Center. Its shape is based on a hyperbola, one of the conic sections from geometry. As opposed to hyperbole, or the use of excessive language. Interestingly, they both have the same etymology, from the Greek, “throwing beyond”.
The bow around the Planetarium is a traditional holiday decoration. Other times, they have colored lights shining on it, which slowly change hue. One time while driving West from downtown, the sunset sky was shading from tangerine to teal and the planetarium was fuschia. I was wishing for a camera!
10 December 2008 at 1:35 pm
kayak woman says:
Um, that’s a sunrise, roight? Speak slowly, I’m blonde.
11 December 2008 at 5:48 am
Sammy says:
Points to the blonde!!!!!!!!!!
13 December 2008 at 10:18 am
pooh says:
I agree whole-heartedly with your sentiments about building on barrier islands!
15 December 2008 at 11:07 pm
jcb says:
What can brown lighthouse do for you?
16 December 2008 at 8:22 am
pooh says:
Maybe it’s far inland b/c the land is stable there. They had to move the Cape Hatteras lighthouse farther inland, as the sea was eating away too close to the base.
17 December 2008 at 2:28 pm
Sammy says:
Probably. Lighthouses, I guess, are all about location, location, location!
20 December 2008 at 12:27 am
Jay says:
From the water department side – is it possible they read your meter while you were away? If they suspected a leak and nobody was home they might have turned off the water at the meter. Our Customer Service Reps might do that without talking to the homeowner, although they try not to unless it looks like a large water loss. Then again, turning off water would be an interesting prank, but hardly enough response to warrant the trouble.
20 December 2008 at 7:10 am
Sammy says:
We thought of the leak angle. JCB turned the water back on and made a quick check for leaks (none observed). We’ll look again today in the light. Thanks for the advice….
21 December 2008 at 8:44 am
Marquis says:
I hope that your weather stays nice, Dave is scheduled to pass through your airport tonight.
21 December 2008 at 8:50 am
Sammy says:
Hoping for the best!
21 December 2008 at 7:39 pm
wmcourtos@ababsurdo.com says:
I remember a canoe trip through the Dead Stream Swamp area just West of Houghton Lake. This counts as a remote location. I had two martini glasses, dry vermouth, that Bombay Saphire gin and ice cubes in a cooler. I might have had olives or cocktail onions (fuzzy memory in some respects). I kinda surprised my brother that I had a rather complete set of fixin’s for martinis when isolate miles from anywhere in a canoe.
I can’t tolerate much gin. That’s why I stick to Manhattans.
21 December 2008 at 8:03 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, yes, day-trips into the great outdoors sometimes can be most excellent when tempered with a bit of hooch….
22 December 2008 at 9:55 am
Marquis says:
shaken or stirred?
22 December 2008 at 10:04 am
Sammy says:
Not being a bartender, I use a highly unprofessional dump-and-swirl method.
23 December 2008 at 7:27 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
Clematis! Very beautiful! Nature is the very best sculptor/artist of all.
I am waiting for paintings of flowers!
23 December 2008 at 12:05 pm
Pooh says:
Thanks, Janet, I was wondering what type of plant it was. Great picture, Sam.
23 December 2008 at 3:57 pm
Sammy says:
Clematis! Ah-ha! You are right; I had forgotten….
24 December 2008 at 12:46 pm
kayak woman says:
This is a late comment, but someday I’ll have to scan and post pics from my dad and Radical Betty’s 1986 canoe trip in Georgian Bay. Martinis abound. On the rocks. So to speak.
25 December 2008 at 6:58 pm
Jay says:
Our tree looks very similar, until Christmas morning. And while this year was much trimmer than many previous years, the kids were still pleased. We had a tradition evolve that meant no presents under the tree until they awoke on Christmas morning. This actually started so they, or the other kids Carl has cared for, wouldn’t open packages early. Then after awhile they would get very upset if presents arrived early. Even last night Ashlan yelled at me when I placed a card on the tree before they went to bed.
26 December 2008 at 11:27 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
Yes, very good charcoal drawing, but more, more, more. Look at that blank wall behind the tree! And I’ll bet there are others ALL OVER THE HOUSE that are begging for paintings, collages, relief sculptures, etchings, children’s crayon drawings, doghair weavings, and other hanging things. Not to mention things that could sit on pedestals, tabletops, and the mantelpiece. Janet’s New Year Wish: Create Green Jobs! Make more art! Buy more Art! (Full disclosure: I have a material interest in the position I am advocating.)
Ho, ho, ho. Happy New Year!
28 December 2008 at 7:27 pm
Marquis says:
What is green and white and red all over?
A Spartan Froggie in a blender!
29 December 2008 at 9:29 am
Pooh says:
What’s black and white and red all over? A sunburned zebra, an embarrassed penguin, etc.
The Marquis “blended” together 3 riddles. Well, 2, but who’s counting?
1. What’s white and green and white? A frog sandwich.
2. What’s brown and green and brown? A frog sandwich on toast.
3. What’s green and red and goes 90 miles an hour? See the Marquis’s.
29 December 2008 at 9:44 am
Sammy says:
Was #3 ever updated with a food processor?
29 December 2008 at 7:44 pm
Maureen says:
I vote this for next year’s Xmas card. Billy agrees. Gillian is reading and thus has no opinion
My Xmas is now merry, with inlaws a’gone.
29 December 2008 at 10:42 pm
Jay says:
Some of us still only have blenders
30 December 2008 at 2:39 am
Pooh says:
looks like our window, except that we did try and clean ours, so now the bottom half is cleanER, and you can see just exactly how high we could reach up the back side of the double hung window. We need to get the ladder out and do the outside, and the outside of the inside.
30 December 2008 at 6:12 am
Sammy says:
Our New (post-tree) Windows are double-hung in such a way that from the inside you can remove each panel, wash the outside (or, heck, paint it!), and return it to the window frame. Clever, eh!
30 December 2008 at 1:35 pm
kayak woman says:
for sure! urushiol oil! Yikes! Managed to almost totally avoid it last summer. Only a few random little bits.
31 December 2008 at 9:03 pm
Dog Momster says:
I wore out my food processor a few years ago… back to using a blender again.
31 December 2008 at 9:06 pm
Dog Momster says:
…I think I’ll be asleep by the time the “extra second” kicks in. *yawn*!
1 January 2009 at 2:49 pm
tom says:
From wiki:
“In many midwestern regions of the United States the Sweet Bell Pepper was commonly called a mango.[16] With the modern advent of fresh tropical fruit importers exposing a wider latitude of individuals to the tropical fruit variety of the mango, this usage has become archaic. However some menus still call a stuffed bell pepper a mango.”
That’s what we called ‘em when my archaic self was growing up. Didn’t know what a real mango was. My grandma, I think, told me that the green peppers were displayed at corner grocers in crates with the word “Mango” or maybe “Mangoe” stenciled on it – the name of the Italian truck farmer who supplied the produce owned the crates and wanted them back. The shoppers thought that it was an identifying label for what was inside. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Say, some stuffed mangoes sounds pretty good for an early January supper, no? Maybe sliced mango for dessert? Not good if man-go hungry.
1 January 2009 at 6:12 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Happy New Year Sammy & John
2 January 2009 at 5:17 am
Sammy says:
Stuffed Midwestern mangoes (that are not mangoes) sounds like a lovely menu! Hmmmm….
2 January 2009 at 3:48 pm
james says:
We had black-eyed peas (from dried ones) made with the ham-bone from xmas, plus fresh collards, mashed potatoes, and cornbread (ahem!) that I made from scratch.
3 January 2009 at 11:04 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Is this some kind of southern food tradition to bring luck in the new year? We had pork chops, grits and scrambled eggs, does that qualify as a southern lucky meal for the new year?
3 January 2009 at 11:50 am
Sammy says:
Yes, it’s a Southern tradition. The greens are for wealth/prosperity in the coming year (duh!—like folding money). The peas (uh, beans) are also for wealth (coins), some say, but more say they’re for luck (generic). Some say you eat cornbread or sweet potatoes for more wealth (gold). The rice is for health. Pigs are good luck, some say—something about moving forward. But there are many variations on this (both specific foods and interpretations)! I would say that you were pretty close in your variation….
8 January 2009 at 7:17 am
kayak woman says:
Were we talking about this that night you guys were here for lasagne? Which now seems like about a billion years ago…
8 January 2009 at 7:57 am
Sammy says:
Could be. I’ve been known to repeat myself! And I think it might have been a billion-scrillion years….
8 January 2009 at 8:08 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
Wow, this was fabulous; I wish you WOULD go on!
I had heard of this concept in history as a variant of the Great Man idea, in which the big, important man (almost invariably a man, of course…) changed the course of history. I remember when I was in Chicago and a new professor at the University (whose name I can’t remember — hah!) introduced the notion of studying the common man, since there are so many more of them (us) and so what they (we) do and think is clearly going to have a major impact. I think he was interested particularly in common sailors, rather than the captain of the ship. It was a revolutionary idea, and I still think of it often, for example, when I muse about how our country wound up in its current mess.
9 January 2009 at 12:03 am
Rana says:
Nice! I really like the overlapping patterns of shadow-light and the boards.
11 January 2009 at 7:03 pm
kayak woman says:
I’ve been reading nn.c about the auto show. I’ve been to that thing a number of times. We used to travel down to it from the Yoop when I was a kid. My moom and I would go buy clothes and stuff at the downtown Hudsons’s and meet up with the guys at the auto show later. Have been a couple of times in adult life but probably not this year.
12 January 2009 at 7:32 pm
Marquis says:
Looks a lot like my Starbucks. About the same number of customers, although I think mine has more food?!? Seriously, the Starbucks I go to is next to the mortgage and banking district and the number of customers there has declined a lot in the last six months.
13 January 2009 at 7:31 am
kayak woman says:
I just don’t get the fuss about Starbucks in general. The one in the Westgate Kroger is always a mess. The one downtown on Liberty and State gives you like a half-filled cappuccino. And is a mess. I never understand their “system” and you have to *pay* for wi-fi. At least last I looked.
13 January 2009 at 8:16 am
Sammy says:
I’ve never seen a messy Starbucks; wonder why A2 is so special? As to wifi, you got a free year of it with your OLPC, but that’s probably expired. I understand that if you get a Starbucks debit card ($10 to start), and use it once a month, you get two free hours of wifi/day. I think.
13 January 2009 at 10:41 am
kayak woman says:
A2 is special because of entitled students and entitled helicopter parents. (grumble-grump
) Honestly, the Liberty/State Starbucks has been known to smell like, uh, dirty diapers. And *that’s* the one the students frequent. Go figger.
Last I knew, wi-fi was $6 a day at Starbucks, it’s been a while though. Nowadays I have scant time to sit in coffee shops.
13 January 2009 at 10:45 am
kayak woman says:
Er, can’t say I have *never* used my phone while driving but every day I encounter more than my share of eccentric drivers with their phones up to their ears. yadda yadda yadda. *What* is there to talk about that can’t wait a few minutes?
Boy do I sound like an old crank today. Not really!
13 January 2009 at 12:55 pm
Rana says:
Heck yes! I have on occasion gotten a call in the car, and my response is always “I’m-in-the-car-can-you-call-me-back-in-fifteen-minutes-thanks-bye!” I’m very visual, so for me to even _hear_ people on the phone I sort of have to blank out before I can understand what they’re saying – NOT good on the road!
13 January 2009 at 1:49 pm
tom says:
Anyone involved in an accident while phoning should be charged with “depraved indifference to human life.” I think I saw a statistic that said a cell phone equals three martinis or eight beers. Or something.
16 January 2009 at 6:41 am
kayak woman says:
13 below fahrenheit
16 January 2009 at 7:08 am
Sammy says:
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Living in the Sunny South so long has made me wimpy!
18 January 2009 at 6:39 pm
kayak woman says:
I was gonna say, “those look like knees,” then I *read* “cypress knees”!
Temp innnnnccccchhhiinnnnngggg up in these parts. 15 above right now, don’t think it broke 20 today. I think I am ready for a “heat” wave.
19 January 2009 at 7:49 pm
Marquis says:
I just heard a British newscaster pronounce the president-elects name, Ba-rack Ah-bama, instead of Ba-rock Oh-bama. Still its cool …
20 January 2009 at 2:10 pm
Rana says:
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who was taking photographs of the tv.
20 January 2009 at 8:01 pm
kayak woman says:
tx for those pics. I was working today. Heard just a bit of the speech on a lunchtime errand.
26 January 2009 at 8:41 am
kayak woman says:
I always wonder how the Fibonacci sequence (et al) may be used behind the scenes and is not obvious to the human eye.
Just a thought from a very amateur mathematician.
26 January 2009 at 8:43 am
kayak woman says:
Er, not sure that made sense, I mean maybe it is not *always* obvious.
28 January 2009 at 9:16 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Haven’t checked into your blog lately, so am catching up.Here in Vermont, even though the pipes are buried 6 feet underground, people still sometimes need to keep the faucets dripping for the same purpose. Sometimes you see wonderful ice sculptures that are created by leaving an outside hose or faucet dripping, which makes ice stalactites. I’ve seen them over ten feet tall! In the building next door to my studio there’s a heat vent (Why? Don’t know…) on the side of the building that must make condensation because there’s a big blob of ice beneath it, hunkering on a window sill like a nest.
28 January 2009 at 9:30 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
I don’t think that’s a Jack… they have leaves in groups of three; sometimes I mistake them for trillium.
31 January 2009 at 9:46 am
Pooh says:
The word “salary” comes from the Latin and means “payment in salt”, or something close to that. There are also the expressions, “he’s worth his salt” and “salt of the earth”. One more tidbit. Detroit is both the Motor City and a big salt supplier. Having driven the old Ford “Pucci Rustoli”, one might suspect that one industry feeds (or eats) the other.
1 February 2009 at 8:46 pm
Jay says:
We have the book too, on CD. It was given to Rey at some point, but he does not have a CD player in his car, and is not given to listening to books on CD at home. So it stayed here. I was planning to add it to my commute for a few weeks .
2 February 2009 at 6:26 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Kurlansky’s “Salt” (I think) is the adult version, but also heavily influenced/dependent on the salt trade as an explanation for increasing cultural complexity. Still, it’s the most detailed examination of salt cross-culturally & historically (aside from a paper I wrote for class, of course
. See also Heather McKillop’s “White Gold” about salt trade along the coast among the ancient Maya.
I always say, it always goes back to salt. It’s the salt of the earth, and it’s worth it’s weight in salt. Ok, I’ll stop now.
5 February 2009 at 7:16 am
Janet Van Fleet says:
Did you know that Fibonacci was one of the first mathematicians to advocate for the use of the arabic numbering system (with its miracle of ZERO!) by the west? Can you imagine doing calculations with roman numerals?
7 February 2009 at 12:46 pm
tom says:
I’ve been through there a half-dozen times on the motorcycle. Felt very much like some of the towns in Western and Central PA. Momentary vibe of severe earth-trauma as I passed through, but didn’t dwell on it long… being focused on dodging the side road traffic, enroute to Tellico Plains and the western end of the Cherohala Skyway.
7 February 2009 at 1:08 pm
Sammy says:
The Cherohala Skyway is positively lovely! Well, it’s really a scar across the wilderness. Now that it’s there, I have to confess I’ve really enjoyed it. Along with platoons of motorcyclists (almost platoons, maybe just fleets or even pods; better: bevies!).
7 February 2009 at 1:10 pm
Sammy says:
I do try to get the backstory, but sometimes, poof, I miss it! Thanks, MM (who does not have a salty tongue—couldn’t resist adding my own…).
7 February 2009 at 2:15 pm
tom says:
Bevies! Yes! “Bye bye Miss American Pie…drove my bevy to the levy but the levy was a strip mine…”
7 February 2009 at 3:34 pm
Sammy says:
Truly, you are inspired, Tom!—even more, I daresay than the myriad of verses JCB can create about nearly anything to the tune of the Edmund Fitz.
8 February 2009 at 10:52 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
wait till she finds out she’s famous!
9 February 2009 at 10:39 am
tom says:
Yum! White chocolate Twix bar!
9 February 2009 at 11:10 am
Sammy says:
Hmm. I guess it was just cold enough and just windy enough that that never occurred to me when I was standing there!
11 February 2009 at 9:15 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Lingering, longevity… my birthday!
12 February 2009 at 10:08 am
Rana says:
Yes. When the winds started yesterday I moved the car out from under the tree – the old, decaying, full-of-squirrels tree.
13 February 2009 at 10:55 pm
Jay says:
Seattle’s light rail starter kit should go into action later this year. The link from downtown to the U District is scheduled next. And the route through our neighborhood has been planned, but is not quite financed. It is really interesting to have been involved in our neighborhood discussions which leaned toward, “Yes, but where to put the specific stations” and the just starting discussions on the eastside. The first report I read was, “We don’t want it near our neighborhood, people might come here.” Difference between an urban and suburban attitude. They would rather continue to drive SOVs.
14 February 2009 at 8:23 am
kayak woman says:
“They would rather continue to drive SOVs.” Until the next time gas spikes over $4.
14 February 2009 at 10:42 am
Pooh says:
STL had a similar situation to Seattle with our light rail. St. Charles county, (classic exurb, for those who don’t live in St. Louis), had a proposal on the ballot to extend the Metrolink light rail to St. Charles. They voted it down, with many opponents saying it might bring criminals out to them. As one of my friends who rode Metrolink from her suburb to downtown said:
“Yup, we’re coming to steal your big screen TV, and we’re carting it back to our urban center slum ON THE METROLINK!” Everytime I picture this purported crime wave, it makes me laugh.
14 February 2009 at 10:43 am
Pooh says:
Beautiful shot!
16 February 2009 at 8:04 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Yum. Snow outside here; this looks pretty wonderful. Even in spring we don’t get these puppies…
17 February 2009 at 11:39 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Most of the uproar is over uploaded photos and videos. I’ve uploaded only a couple of each, all very inconsequential. For the interesting stuff I post a link to a different site. However, I’ve read that Facebook is the largest repository of photos on the ‘Net, so I can certainly understand others’ concern.
I’m chiefly using Facebook to (re-)establish contact with lots of relatives and some old friends. Quite a few of the former are descendants of our common great grandparents. They eventually get redirected to my genealogical website.
18 February 2009 at 10:04 am
kayak woman says:
So sorry about that fire but *love* the picture.
18 February 2009 at 10:09 am
kayak woman says:
Until this post, my main reason for not joining facebook is because I don’t want to stalk my kids. Although I suppose I could be on there and just not be connected to them. I joke that it’s because I don’t want my old high school boyfriends to find me but in all truth, I doubt they’re looking.
I have to wonder if they won’t end up retracting that new policy though.
18 February 2009 at 1:00 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, they already have reverted to the old policy, but warn they will make some changes (if I have the story right).
23 February 2009 at 12:24 am
Beckster says:
Yummy beyond compare! Sammy rocks! I love that you post every day. I wish I had the energy. xo xo
23 February 2009 at 5:23 pm
future fossile in the wrong place says:
Bul-la-kai
Be childlike, yet not nieve…
Just a hello from george. : )
23 February 2009 at 9:47 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Wowzers! Fascinating and riveting!
You write well in waking life too.
24 February 2009 at 10:25 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, I noticed that big-time on my little commute this morning! And it is light when I get *back* from my walk before 7 AM!
25 February 2009 at 5:58 am
kayak woman says:
I didn’t watch the prez, so it’s out of context (I know, I’m lame). Does that mean he wants us to spend or save? I think it’s the “critical thinking” phrase that’s throwing me.
Also, is there any news on what caused the fire?
25 February 2009 at 11:07 pm
Marquis says:
Sam,
On Friday morning, Anne and I will be passing through ATL. We have a 3 hour layover. We could cross the security barrier to meet you. We land at nine AM and would have to leave you about eleven.
Let us know,
Le Marquis et Pooh
25 February 2009 at 11:52 pm
Jay says:
1. Our daffodils are arriving. At least the green tips that are more than an inch out of the ground now. (Snow predicted tonight)
2. P&M Where are you going after Atlanta?
26 February 2009 at 11:19 am
Rana says:
I am looking forward to daffodils!
26 February 2009 at 4:33 pm
Pooh says:
Jay,
Sure, i’ll help you hijack Sam’s blog. We’re going to W. Palm Beach, FL for a four-day weekend. M. went there for business last month, and like the idea of warm weather so much, he wanted to do it again.
26 February 2009 at 4:36 pm
Pooh says:
It was very enjoyable to watch President Obama’s speech. One, he’s intelligent. Two, he’s a good orator. Three, I agree with his policies. Three things that were SO lacking in the last eight years, IMHO!
27 February 2009 at 2:24 pm
tom says:
Shenanigans just keep repeating – there’s always more than one.
There was a made-for-TV movie about this… “Shenanigan Begin Again”.
It plays 24/7 on CNBC.
1 March 2009 at 1:26 pm
Jay says:
And here I thought you lived in the south.
1 March 2009 at 2:04 pm
Sammy says:
Well, sometimes it’s an optical illusion! Hope The Travelers get through okay tomorrow; flights are late and being cancelled already….
1 March 2009 at 2:46 pm
kayak woman says:
Holy Toledo! Cold up here but not a cloud in the sky!
1 March 2009 at 3:03 pm
Sammy says:
Can’t tell if we have any clouds. Too many huge huge huge (did I say huge?) flakes airborne! Still going strong; I’d say an inch and a half of fluff out our windows right now….
3 March 2009 at 7:07 am
kayak woman says:
A good covering of snow really does light the night up.
3 March 2009 at 11:29 am
Pooh says:
I love the luminosity of the petals – excellent photo.
3 March 2009 at 11:36 am
Pooh says:
Thanks for coming out to the airport! It made the three hour layover go by quickly with a lot of good talk. We still need to figure out if Atlanta Bread Co. and St. Louis Bread Co./Panera are related.
We ate breakfast Monday at a cafe called “Bonne Bouche” in Lake Worth, FL. I mentioned that there was a restaurant in St. Louis with the same name.
“Non, non, I am only one here,” was the reply from the chef. The TV was playing a French language station.
3 March 2009 at 9:20 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Wow, we heard there was snow in Atlanta, but we couldn’t believe it until we finally checked Sammy’s website! We were in Yuma, AZ in 90 degree, sweltering, blazing sunny heat. Today we’re on the banks of the Colorado river north of Yuma and had a wonderful cloudy day! Time to start moving north!
6 March 2009 at 1:49 am
Janet says:
Ah, yes, lovely architecture. I would love to live somewhere someday where I can actually see something other than just simple industrial boxes and triangles everywhere… Grand Blanc is rather architecturally dull, and where I go to school now isn’t much more interesting.
6 March 2009 at 8:11 am
Sammy says:
Good Old Moo U (roight?)—even the old buildings are pretty functional. ’Course down here we don’t have to worry about snow load & cleaning sidewalks, so that makes it different, too.
12 March 2009 at 7:26 am
kayak woman says:
note to self: go out in the yard after work and see if there are *any* crocuses coming up.
12 March 2009 at 10:44 am
Pooh says:
What are the fashionable colors now? That’s pretty extraordinary to think that the original bulb to this year’s daffodil might have been planted 5-6 DECADES ago!
“The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la, have nothing to with the thing, tra-la…”
Re the witness tree article, I think we used data from the Hubbard Brook LTER project in 1975, when I was part of a collaborative learning project that covered two semesters. We looked at using forest ecosystems as a tertiary water treatment solution. I ran across my copy of the research paper last year or so, and was tickled to read it again.
12 March 2009 at 10:56 am
Sammy says:
I see whiter outer petals, more exotic shades for the inner cone (whatever it’s called) in newer bulbs.
Love the longitudinal philosophy behind the LTERs.
13 March 2009 at 7:10 am
kayak woman says:
I just remembered that I did a school project a couple years ago in a graphic design class — “experimental” web design — in which I had to design a daffodil site.
I was amazed at how many types of daffodils there are and the range of styles and colors. I’ll have to post the [fake] site again.
14 March 2009 at 12:37 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
What a beautiful flower and photograph; sorry, I think it is not a Star of Bethlehem, though I don’t know what it is (might be an Ipheion). Here’s a description of the SoB (!) from http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/starbeth.htm : From the center of the rosette, there develops one or more flowering stalks about 6-9″ tall. Each stalk terminates in a cyme-like raceme of white flowers. This raceme is rather short and spreading. The lower pedicels are 1-3″ long, while the upper pedicels are somewhat shorter. Both the basal leaves and flowering stalks are hairless. Each flower is about 1″ across when fully open, consisting of 6 white petals, 6 stamens, and a single pistil.
What’s interesting to me is the whole thing about the number of stamens being related to the number of petals. I love going out and spring and seeing that. In your flower, there are 3 wonderful stamens, and three inner petals. Maybe there are three more stamens down deeper in the throat of the flower that relate to the lower 3 petals?
14 March 2009 at 12:47 pm
Janet Van Fleet says:
Hurrah for JCB!
And how cool to see these garbanzos. I would never have imagined this is what they looked like in their youth.
14 March 2009 at 1:25 pm
Sammy says:
Garbanzos. Just think what work is involved if you’re a subsistence farmer. Grow. Harvest (one by one). Tote in from the field. Shell (one by one). Cook. Mash forever if you’re making hummus….
14 March 2009 at 4:35 pm
Jay says:
Is it your close ties to magic or knowledge of the arcane.
14 March 2009 at 4:51 pm
Sammy says:
The postmodern part or the Uktena part? Or both? Whew! Hard to chose between magic and the arcane; maybe I’d give weight to the latter? Unless it’s a moonless night….
15 March 2009 at 4:51 am
Sammy says:
I looked around on the web and thought that the flowers identified as SoB (yes, !) looked different, but that’s just the thing about common names—what the taxonomists think and what just-folks name things often don’t match….
15 March 2009 at 8:08 pm
anne bananne's eldest says:
cool! and cool! is punk really post-modern? i guess maybe so. does that make post punk post- post-modern?
what kind of post-something band would uktena be?
15 March 2009 at 10:05 pm
Sammy says:
I just want to say, Ms. Eldest, what kind of post is that??? (Oh, I guess it’s a comment….)
18 March 2009 at 7:15 am
kayak woman says:
I think you did a great job. You’ve got me laughing.
21 March 2009 at 10:07 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
yay! double exposure!!
23 March 2009 at 12:48 am
jcb says:
And we have the redbuds going up and down the street, for yet another color contrast. That sure was a fine stroll in the mountains, Sam.
23 March 2009 at 7:17 am
kayak woman says:
Love the landscape and yesterday’s rock!
25 March 2009 at 9:28 am
Pooh says:
I didn’t have time to comment yesterday morning, but the orchids are beautiful. What is the size of the actual flowers? When we were in Florida, they were selling orchids at the Farmer’s Market, and we also saw vendors selling them from the trunks of their cars. I would have loved to send one to my mom, but the logistics and expense of sending them would have surpassed the bargain prices. oh, well.
25 March 2009 at 10:15 am
Sammy says:
These were probably 2 cm or a bit more. Not so big. Some orchids in FL are raped from the wild, which is mighty sad (remember the movie “Adaptation”). I imagine most of the cheap plants come from nurseries, or home gardens. I wonder if the higher Latino population down there is part of the impetus for this biz; they do buy/cultivate flowers, even at some of the poorest houses, IMHE.
26 March 2009 at 7:05 am
kayak woman says:
At about 8, I read the entire book “The Mighty Soo”, pronouncing “Colonel” in my head just the way it looks on paper. Same kind of thing with “Chicago” — Chick-a-go, emphasis on “Chick”.
26 March 2009 at 8:47 am
Pooh says:
I was subbing in a gifted class. The 3rd graders were using on-line dictionaries to look up vocabulary words. The program would also pronounce the words. “Ek-sent-tric”, said the machine. “EE-sent-tric”, said my brain. How did I go this far in life pronouncing “eccentric” so EEcentricly?
26 March 2009 at 4:48 pm
kayak woman says:
I’ll just about bet dollars that both pronunciations are acceptable.
28 March 2009 at 2:56 pm
kayak woman says:
Well, they confiscated the GG’s shaving cream at Metro at 0-dark-30 this morning. (See twitter) But he should know better.
28 March 2009 at 2:57 pm
kayak woman says:
love that photo btw. rural ny?
28 March 2009 at 7:48 pm
Sammy says:
Yär. NY. Good detective work!
29 March 2009 at 8:04 am
kayak woman says:
kinda like being in the banking business, I guess.
31 March 2009 at 3:16 pm
tom says:
The pollen had me feeling poorly after four hours of butchering shrubs. Came inside and even playing on the Mac (which is a joyful thing) wasn’t able to make me feel better than a two-benadryl nap did. You must’ve packed light to have shlepped all the way from the N line (or Inman on the E?) About the same distance, isn’t it? Suppose the scenery on the way would be the deciding factor for me.
31 March 2009 at 3:27 pm
Sammy says:
We did pack light, but we drove back (although I took the train up—North Metro line)—we avoided checking baggage that way, plus it was just four days!
31 March 2009 at 6:01 pm
kayak woman says:
I am just speechless. Toilet problems? What next. I am not a frequent flyer although I will probably do more of it in the upcoming years. When I do fly, I try to do only carry-on. My Thursday Coffee Buddy flies all over the world all the time and won’t check baggage unless she’ll be gone more than a week.
31 March 2009 at 8:50 pm
Marquis says:
A friend of mine was flying from Moscow to Siberia, a ten hour flight. Normally, he flew first class, as do all other westerners, on this domestic flight. But there was some screw up and he ended up in coach, on a jump seat, one of those seats that flight attendants use for takeoffs and landings. His jump seat was next to the lavatory. Throughout the flight we has subjected to the noxious odors emanating from the lavatory, even though there was a flight attendant there, whose sole responsibility seemed to be to sprich the lavatory after each use.
31 March 2009 at 9:55 pm
Sammy says:
I guess it would have been worse if there had been no spriching….
1 April 2009 at 10:34 pm
Marquis says:
No won seamed to get get my joke either
2 April 2009 at 12:10 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Sammy & John,
We think you need a map on your website to show “Where are they now?”!
4 April 2009 at 8:05 am
kayak woman says:
er, is some forward going around?
I had a weird little moment at our usability conference this week where I said something mildly disparaging about GM, then looked at Twitter (there was a conference stream going on) and realized that in the *next* room, a GM person was on the panel discussion…
I’ll have to figger if I can expand it into a blog. If it doesn’t get away from me…
4 April 2009 at 4:36 pm
Pooh says:
They can pick up the cans and bottles from the roadways in Missouri, and ship them to Detroit to get the Michigan 5 or 10 cents deposit. Our local (well, formerly local, now Belgian) industry giant is Anhauser-Busch (InBev), so we’ve never had a bottle bill state-wide.
10 April 2009 at 6:02 pm
jcb says:
Just to be “that way.” Hmm. You are certainly very very “that way,” and I mean that in a good “way.” Thought I would “way” in.
10 April 2009 at 8:26 pm
jane says:
very “white paper-ish”
my white paper box would say “cheeseburgers are yummy.”
11 April 2009 at 11:15 am
tom says:
One of those weather dudes points to the radar map and says “when green meets red, get under the bed.” Once I heard that, I muted the sound. Had all I needed to know to escape unscathed.
12 April 2009 at 11:30 am
jcb says:
Thanks for a wonderful April 11th, Sammy! (And, delicious!)
14 April 2009 at 8:02 am
Pooh says:
Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!
15 April 2009 at 7:15 am
kayak woman says:
hopefully your Apple store has a better checkout “system” than ours does.
15 April 2009 at 7:23 am
Sammy says:
Ah, we went to the smaller store with the friendlier employees, even though it’s farther away. But, yes, I agree, Apple Stores have idiosyncratic systems.
15 April 2009 at 9:13 pm
Marquis says:
too early if you ask me …
16 April 2009 at 4:50 am
Sammy says:
Actually, it’s too exotic, well, too early, too, but more, I think, the supply line. Most of the fruits and veggies we saw on sale (it was a weekday, after all, and so rather quiet) came from Texas, Florida, and Mexico—none of them rhubarb lands…. [The "Georgia-grown" area was totally vacant….]
16 April 2009 at 9:37 pm
Marquis says:
White coral bells
Upon a slender stalk
Lilies of the valley
Deck my garden walk
Oh, don’t you wish
That you could
hear them ring.
That will happen only
when the fairies sing.
17 April 2009 at 5:45 am
Sammy says:
Hmm. Pretty. Thanks, M! BTW, in this part of town, then, I guess it’s just a matter of time….
18 April 2009 at 6:34 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
I guess that latitude trumps altitude. The meteorologists here have been repeatedly advising against planting tomatoes before Mother’s Day. There actually was frost around here a couple of nights ago.
21 April 2009 at 8:38 pm
Marquis says:
We have them on our walk. They make attractive but poisonous orange berries. This makes them a love/hate item while raising small children.
22 April 2009 at 9:51 am
jcb says:
So, I get the US Flag, and the Georgia flag. Which is that third one is in tatters? And what’s that stubby green fourth flagpole for?
22 April 2009 at 11:07 am
Sammy says:
Picky picky (har)! Does Atlanta have a flag (not pennant, mind you)? Otherwise, I wondered, too. I guess I should have Photoshopped that green post out; it was a light pole or something in the mid-ground. The world is not always organized for best framing….
24 April 2009 at 7:39 pm
kayak woman says:
I’ve heard of Passover Coke!
25 April 2009 at 5:43 am
Sammy says:
So, drinking a coke is a religious experience?
25 April 2009 at 12:05 pm
tom says:
>>So, drinking a coke is a religious experience?
When it’s made with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. Tastes like it did 40 years ago. I have stocked up in the past at the Toco Hills Kroger. Fizzel tov!
25 April 2009 at 5:07 pm
Sammy says:
And a tip of the (bottle) cap to ya!
27 April 2009 at 1:43 am
jcb says:
From something called ‘mondofacto.com’: “Wake-robin: Any plant of the genus Arum, especially, in England, the cuckoopint (Arum maculatum). In America the name is given to several species of Trillium, and sometimes to the Jack-in-the-pulpit.”
I shake my head (again) at this naming stuff, and hoist a cuckoopint to our jack-in-the-pulpits.
28 April 2009 at 10:01 am
tom says:
<>
I’m in the middle of painting my roof (the flat part over the sunroom) white. The can has an energy star endorsement – weird to see it on something you don’t plug in. Hopefully it will make a difference – even a couple of degrees would help.
“According to Hashem Akbari, a physicist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a 1,000-square-foot roof — the average size on an American home — offsets 10 metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere if dark-colored shingles or coatings are replaced with white material.”
30 April 2009 at 10:16 pm
Jay says:
Interesting – almost perfect shape. We have some Stereo viewers at work and a series of aerial photos from the mid 80′s to use with them. Used at one time for gross sewer layout, and maybe for water too. I can’t use them (amblyopia caught to late). I always thought those viewer clicker things that people had with cartoons or photos of interesting places were just a way to look at magnified pictures. I never understood the 3D thing was what made them so popular.
1 May 2009 at 11:00 am
Rey says:
Hi Sam,
This is Jay’s son Rey. I just thought I’d tell you when my roommates and I are going to be in Atlanta. We’re planning on driving down the morning of Sunday the 17th, attending the Braves game that day and then driving home in order to work the next day. Ashlan and Dad will probably be down there on the 11th of August.
5 May 2009 at 11:29 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
So where’s the picture of the winning hats?
5 May 2009 at 12:39 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, no posed picture of hat-wearing ladies, sorry; remember, we were drinking mint juleps!
6 May 2009 at 1:27 pm
Marquis says:
Looks cool! Vimeo here you come …
6 May 2009 at 1:48 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, no, actually, I’ll leave the videography to the television professional….
7 May 2009 at 11:41 pm
Rana says:
For me, sowbugs are slightly flatter versions of pillbugs, which can curl up into a nice round “pill.” Sowbugs don’t curl quite as well.
8 May 2009 at 12:30 pm
kayak woman says:
That looks a bit like the jack-in-the-pulpits I was trying (unsuccessfully, fuzzy fuzzy fuzzy) to photograph this morning in “my” woods. But the leaf on mine forms more like a hood. You have to more or less get down there and look up from below.
I’m pretty sure I do have them identified correctly, black thumb and all.
8 May 2009 at 12:35 pm
kayak woman says:
Mine also had a stem with three leaves accompanying it, which I’m seeing on jitp images all over the internet.
Well, back to work.
8 May 2009 at 6:39 pm
Marquis says:
You’ve got to watch those micro climate variations. Our iris is always weeks behind the rest.
15 May 2009 at 7:29 am
kayak woman says:
Our old library was a Carnegie library with big lions out in front. The kids’ section was in the basement and the kids’ librarian was Bobby Kreager (not sure of spelling) and I can still remember her voice. My rather eccentric great aunt worked there for about a billion years.
I’m pretty sure the building is still there although the library moved to a new building and is now called Bayliss. I can’t find a good photo on-line, guess I’ll have to take my own next time I’m up there.
15 May 2009 at 7:31 am
kayak woman says:
found a picture
15 May 2009 at 9:00 am
Sammy says:
Love postcard pictures made like that, with the desired details highlighted and the uglies removed….
15 May 2009 at 10:51 am
kayak woman says:
Well, you can bet I’ll get my own photos when I’m up there next week
16 May 2009 at 4:57 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Libraries, like museums, are indeed sacred places. The hushed tones might have something to do with it.
Since my local branch of the county library dates only to 1991, I don’t have a postcard picture, just an aerial view from Google Earth. While I wasn’t inside the library when the picture was taken, I am there right now while I’m typing this.
16 May 2009 at 5:01 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Yes, I goofed up. You’ll have to click on my handle to see that Google Earth view.
Oh, yeah, my other library is about 20 miles away; it’s called the Library of Congress. I go there for items I can’t find here.
22 May 2009 at 8:08 am
Pooh says:
Oh c’mon, don’t be koi about your puns!
27 May 2009 at 7:53 pm
GG says:
This is as good a place as any to say… last week in the U.P. I saw…
Golden Eagle
Immature Bald Eagle
Osprey
Broad-wing Hawks
Sharp Shinned Hawks
Rough Legged Hawks
Coopers Hawk
Swainsons Hawk (probable)
Turkey Vultures
Ravens
Crows
Great Blue Herons
Sand Hill Cranes
Green Heron
Least Bittern (at Lake Erie three weeks ago)
Devians
Piping Plovers (rare and endangered)
Kildeer
other sandpipers
Common Loons
Canada Geese
other geese…
Merganzer Ducks
Mallard Ducks (of course)
other ducks
Double-crested Cormorants
Spruce Grouse (great pictures!!!)
Herring Gulls
Ring Billed Gulls
other gulls of course
pretty gulls (girls – chicks of another kind of course)
Chaffinches (European Stray)
Least Flycatcher
Purple Finch
Goldfinchs
Gray Cheeked Thrush
Swainsons Thrush
Robins (a kind of thrush)
Thousands of Bluejays in flocks
Northern Cardinals
White Crowned Sparrows (male and female)
White-Throated Sparrrows
House Sparrows
other sparrows
Blackburnian Warblers
Magnolia Warblers
Yellow Rumped Warblers
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
other warblers
Tufted Titmice
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
Evening Grosbeaks
Baltimore Oriels
Scarlet Tanagers
Tree Swallows
Cliff Swallows
Black-capped Chickadee
Nuthatch
unidentifed Vireo
Ruby Throat Hummingbird
unidentifed woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker (in April at the Soo)
Redbellied Woodpecker (in Ann Arbor)
no Flickers, Sapsuckers, Hairy, or Downey Woodpeckers!!!
OTHER
30 May 2009 at 11:06 pm
Marquis says:
Good Shot, Sam!
2 June 2009 at 9:39 am
Pooh says:
Alright, I give, what was the structure’s use?
2 June 2009 at 10:37 am
kayak woman says:
I also had a terrible time getting a clear photo of forget-me-nots. ‘course I just had my trusty old powershot.
2 June 2009 at 6:08 pm
tom says:
I’m wondering also. I find it a bit frightening – in a 1940′s, German sort of way.
2 June 2009 at 9:38 pm
GG says:
We have humming birds (Ruby Throats) in Ann Arbor!!!
4 June 2009 at 11:04 am
Sammy says:
Iron smelting. Fayette, Michigan. State Park. Closed 1891.
4 June 2009 at 10:00 pm
Marquis says:
Have the egrets and herons shown up there yet?
They seem to be leaving the Park.
I assume that they are headed north.
5 June 2009 at 2:30 pm
Sammy says:
A few is my best answer (I’ve sighted herons but not egrets). There aren’t even the full complement of Canadas and ducks. A few trumpeters, but not many yet. I think the migration is still inbound.
8 June 2009 at 9:39 am
kayak woman says:
I don’t find Mackinac Island much fun in the rain and cold (like yesterday) either.
What was the sandwich shop in Harbor Springs?
13 June 2009 at 9:57 pm
kayak woman says:
You’re probably right but our woods’s JITP are doing a sort of similar seed thing lately. I keep trying to remember to get a photo but I never seem to have my “good” camera with me when I’m out there…
15 June 2009 at 6:55 am
kayak woman says:
I have ocarina! Haven’t played with it much, I’ll admit.
15 June 2009 at 7:53 am
Sammy says:
Sort of an iPhone flute-ette….
15 June 2009 at 9:23 am
Pooh says:
I have a question about the app prices. Is the 99 cents a one time charge, or a recurring charge (monthly, yearly)?
15 June 2009 at 9:36 am
Sammy says:
As far as I know they’re one-time charges. Some apps are free, others cost varying amounts. Still others have a free version & also a pay version with more gazinta.
15 June 2009 at 8:58 pm
kayak woman says:
One-time charge. I’m guessing that a monthly charge would have to be verly clearly specified.
15 June 2009 at 9:20 pm
kayak woman says:
er, very, not verly… :-]
16 June 2009 at 10:12 am
Pooh says:
Mimosas? Isn’t that when you mix champagne and OJ, so you can drink alcohol at brunch? Are the flowers shown on a tree or a smaller plant? The tree in STL that has flowers like that I’ve heard called “smoke tree”. It was definitely one of the trees that stood out when we moved South.
–youth wants to know
16 June 2009 at 10:53 am
Sammy says:
Mimosas, in this instance, are smallish trees. Smoke trees are an entirely different thing, botanically. Mimosa are leguminous, while smoke trees are Cotinus genus, and related taxonomically to…poison ivy. At least according to Wiki-Pee.
20 June 2009 at 12:49 pm
jcb says:
I like the idea that the internet—when used with intelligence and discrimination—can be a library as big as all of our understanding.
That said, it’s also quite easy for it to be a huge time-waster. But I think it’s absolutely identical to brick-and-mortar libraries in that regard. Your point(s) about motivation, guidance, mentoring…I think those are the key components which can yield a life of productive learning and thinking when plugged into the world’s knowledge…online.
Having seen baobobs and cotton (not together,) I sure wouldn’t have been able to draw commonalities.
Live and learn.
24 June 2009 at 6:29 pm
wdw says:
He is not known as Matte Silver by anyone, especially by those who know him well! And this car has no connection to anything like stock car racing. It is a vintage MG Midget British sports car and will compete in road races where the drivers must turn left and right.
24 June 2009 at 9:04 pm
Sammy says:
Oops. I don’t do “trying to be funny” very well. I take back the whole Matte Silver line of thinking…. Clearly, I’m in over my head here. This fine vehicle is gorgeous and I will be excited to see it when it’s time to race it!
26 June 2009 at 9:12 pm
Marquis says:
Pixar always does a short before their feature. They use to use the short to demonstrate their new animation technology and use it to to promote their next feature. Nowadays, I imagine it is just tradition. The Christmas before last they put out a DVD of all of their previous shorts, priceless.
27 June 2009 at 7:51 pm
Marquis says:
What is it about southern Marks?
Mark Sanford’s plight has been splashed across the news and now I find that there is another Mark in the mix. Mark Musselwhite, a Republican, mayor from Georgia, was arrested for being nude in a park.
Is there a vaccine?
28 June 2009 at 5:09 am
Sammy says:
I figured you were on the mailing list with those other Marks and that you would know about vaccine potential, but maybe I’m wrong…. Of course, I was wrong about the rain—we got a late-night shower, more wind than rain, though….
5 July 2009 at 3:10 pm
Deb says:
what a lovely view…almost as good as being there. and hey, i recognize that guy…
15 July 2009 at 12:18 am
Marquis says:
Isn’t this a drinking society now? I think that it was once featured on NPR.
15 July 2009 at 6:22 pm
Sammy says:
Aren’t we members of a drinking society, at least generally?
17 July 2009 at 10:47 am
jcb says:
But then Wikipedia says: “…A natatorium is, strictly speaking, a structurally separate building containing a swimming pool. In Latin, a cella natatoria was a swimming pool in its own building; thus, the sense was much as now, although it is sometimes also used to refer to any indoor pool even if not housed in a dedicated building (e.g. a pool in a school or a fitness club)…”
So i get from that that it’s very much about the indoorness. But that’s just Wiki-p, right? I could have edited it to say that. But…I didn’t…
18 July 2009 at 11:05 am
jcb says:
I thought it was the feline tai chi class leader.
18 July 2009 at 4:26 pm
kayak woman says:
feral?
Right now, I have a tai chi guy on my walk. Or some kind of Asian discipline, may not be tai chi. He also does some kicking.
19 July 2009 at 1:02 pm
kayak woman says:
Betty had one of those on her house a couple years ago. Seems like somebody got stung before it eventually got removed. Can’t remember exactly what happened.
21 July 2009 at 5:21 pm
james says:
Is that a real picture, or Photoshopped?
21 July 2009 at 6:08 pm
Sammy says:
No Photoshop; joke cup—great for stuffy parties, I guess.
22 July 2009 at 4:04 pm
kayak woman says:
You know, I totally missed the nose cup when I first looked at this yesterday. I was focused on wondering who the person was. Hilarious!
24 July 2009 at 1:09 pm
kayak woman says:
I have just about had it with off-leash dogs in on-leash public parks and I *like* dogs. I think our society has gone totally overboard with pets. If you don’t *train* your blasted dog, then you should at least keep it corralled around other people who may be legitimately afraid of it or — like me — just want a quiet, solitary walk.
24 July 2009 at 8:20 pm
Marquis says:
Hey, another bird paparazzi!
24 July 2009 at 8:32 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, no, only a poor imitator; you are the real bird-arazzi!
25 July 2009 at 7:30 am
kayak woman says:
Wonder how far he got with that thing. (Or she?)
25 July 2009 at 8:20 am
Sammy says:
Disappeared into the back yard; had no problem muscling it around. I probably wouldn’t have this problem if I had staked the tomatoes. On the other hand, the neighbors have staked theirs, and have more problems than I do with the birds. Also, with the number of ’maters we have getting ripe (probably at least three overnight), I guess we can lose a few to the rodents. Being neighborly and all that.
25 July 2009 at 6:31 pm
GG says:
The rodents have done much damage to my bird-seed barrel. Chipmunks are coming from two blocks away to raid the bird-seed. I see them crossing the street. The barrel was rodent-proof until they cut a hole in it with their evil teeth. The fox squirrels started the hole – the chipmunks finished the job.
26 July 2009 at 6:32 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, plenty o’ drama around these parts.
26 July 2009 at 8:54 am
Sammy says:
Rodents are by definition busy creatures! Gotta keep those teeth in line! (And bellies full!) After all, “rodent” comes from the Latin rodere, to gnaw!
27 July 2009 at 11:08 pm
jcb says:
That’s a grapefruit with a small apple snugged up next to it, and a really, really large penny.
28 July 2009 at 12:54 pm
Marquis says:
Yep its a greenie!
28 July 2009 at 1:13 pm
jcb says:
And she’s not the least bittern about it.
30 July 2009 at 10:01 am
Mouse says:
Cute!! I love birds, especially when they stand in inquisitive poses.
31 July 2009 at 5:50 pm
jcb says:
Lycopene Lane?
31 July 2009 at 6:11 pm
Sammy says:
Love it!
1 August 2009 at 5:48 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
squirrels keep eating our almost-ripe ones. Well, they take two bites and throw the rest to the ground. So we pick ‘em green and let them ripen on the windowsill or just make fried green tomatoes. Ugh, though!
9 August 2009 at 4:06 pm
Jay says:
Every now and again we get a fairy ring in our front yard.
Do you think they call the cedar tree rings fairy rings too?
9 August 2009 at 7:07 pm
Sammy says:
Tree rings like dendrochronology? Or something else? I’m mystified.
12 August 2009 at 4:33 pm
jcb says:
All we are saying, is give fish a chance.
13 August 2009 at 7:52 am
kayak woman says:
I think it almost kind of sounds like “yellow-red”.
13 August 2009 at 9:48 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, they spelled things differently…
14 August 2009 at 2:56 pm
tom says:
“Geo-lou-reed”.
Take a walk on the wild side. But bring a map. Or GPS.
16 August 2009 at 7:49 am
kayak woman says:
Scary! My hard drive hasn’t crashed but I am in need of a larger one. Or maybe a new computer. Even though this one is still clunking along (knock on wood).
16 August 2009 at 10:56 am
Sammy says:
All I can say is 1) it happens, and, therefore, 2) Time Machine.
21 August 2009 at 2:37 pm
kayak woman says:
I was confused for a minute because I thought your mom’s birthday was around Memorial Day. But then I remembered that JCB had tweeted about having the same birthday (date?) as the Big Mac. Somehow, I thought he was younger than my bro (8/12/1957). I guess this comment is probably confusing too.
25 August 2009 at 11:00 am
tom says:
I’m pretty sure that Napoleon still had hand crank telephones when I was in college. Nice to see the sign on at the Chevy dealer.
25 August 2009 at 2:33 pm
Manette says:
According to the program handed out for the wedding, Radio Man is also known as a “Music specialist”. Very impressive.
25 August 2009 at 10:09 pm
kayak woman says:
So you are driving the truck this time? I admit to having mixed feelings about the clunker program after learning that some vee-hickles qualify that I wouldn’t have expected to (maybe your truck does though and I am not here to dispute qualifications). What I can’t quite get my poor little blonde brain around is that I know that this is “stimulus” money but I can’t help thinking that, if I can afford a new vehicle on my own (and I/we usually I can), I should be paying for it on my own. Maybe my ’01 Honda Accord EXV6 with 131K on it qualifies? Dunno. But hopefully it’ll continue to get me to work and up north w/ kayaks for another couple of years…
Man oh man, shaddup, KW, and go to bed!!!
25 August 2009 at 10:10 pm
kayak woman says:
BTW: *love* that photo of the field…
26 August 2009 at 1:04 pm
Marquis says:
It seems to me that the Sandhill Crane has really made a comeback as of late.
30 August 2009 at 4:36 pm
kayak woman says:
I know that raw feeling. The one that turns to something more like bitter in the winter.
1 September 2009 at 8:59 am
Manette says:
Which route did you take? The hike from the Log Slide to Au Sable Point Lighthouse is one of my favorite all time walks, especially in the fall.
1 September 2009 at 2:48 pm
Sammy says:
We were wimps and came from the west, from Hurricane Creek. The road from the west, from the Kingston Plains and Kingston Lake is not yet open, so we took a complex and indirect route, having headed north from Seney up the Fox River Road….
1 September 2009 at 4:55 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
It looks like the rhubarb sauce we had back in June! I like being able to recognize some of the backgrounds in your recent pics!
2 September 2009 at 7:40 am
kayak woman says:
The swim noodles are a nice touch.
2 September 2009 at 7:42 am
kayak woman says:
Yesterday (I think) my phone said Houghton Lake was 31, Brimley 39. Not unheard of though.
5 September 2009 at 5:33 pm
Sammy says:
We believe in retaining the most colorful items (for the next purging, perhaps?).
6 September 2009 at 2:30 pm
jcb says:
Too close to the Prius and its plutonium-powered engine?
7 September 2009 at 7:54 am
kayak woman says:
We were going to walk it today but the GG told us we had to BE there at 6 AM, so we opted out. Maybe next year.
8 September 2009 at 2:37 pm
kayak woman says:
The GG and some of his family and friends did walk the bridge. We drove over it between about 12:30 and 1:00 PM. It was a zoo. He had to wait on the south end at least 2 hours before he could catch a bus to the other side.
They had a great time (I’ve never done it and didn’t get to yesterday due to family commitments). I will do it one of these days but will want to think through the logistics of timing and vee-hickle placement pretty carefully.
Rest of trip was relatively calm for Labor Day, only a few slow-downs and no stand-stills, not even on the bridge. We did take the Lansing route though.
9 September 2009 at 7:25 pm
manette says:
I ran it along with 330 others; it was awesome! The sun began to rise just after I had crossed the half way mark. Would do it again…the walk; too many people. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to cross back over to the north side.
13 September 2009 at 9:35 pm
jcb says:
One word headline, one word post, nice!. Is that a record? I’m surprised you didn’t link to the Wiki-P entry for Oleophobic (and its cousin, lipophobic.) I’m planning to dunk our new device in Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil tomorrow to test that out.
14 September 2009 at 9:15 am
kayak woman says:
Well, back when I was “rolling by own blahg”, so to speak, I once made a one-word entry. It was “Grrrr.” I was told by a reader that it was not a proper blog entry. Nowadays I am way too wordy.
I’m confused about the iPhone upgrade pricing. Did they charge you an arm and a leg for the new phone?
14 September 2009 at 8:26 pm
kayak woman says:
Were you questioned as a juror? (Maybe you can’t say.)
15 September 2009 at 8:01 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, just not chosen. Shrug.
16 September 2009 at 7:20 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
definitely NOT nit-picking, IMHO
18 September 2009 at 8:02 am
Pooh says:
You can use pokeweed berries, (and maybe the stems near the berries?) as a natural dye. It is a beautiful color, but not very light fast. I remember that you have to use special dyeing techniques because of the pH. Maybe you add a lot of vinegar to the water? It’s too early for me or I’d look it up.
21 September 2009 at 7:23 am
kayak woman says:
Umbrella!
21 September 2009 at 7:47 am
Sammy says:
Too warm/humid much of the time; the weather’d make you into a greezy sweatball! Almost instantly! (But, yes, I should dig one out!)
30 September 2009 at 1:35 pm
kayak woman says:
Actually, between arriving in the UP last Friday morning and leaving on Sunday, there was a small but noticeable change.
30 September 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sammy says:
24 degrees predicted overnight by the Marquette radio station….
1 October 2009 at 8:24 am
pooh says:
When the 1939 World’s Fair was in NYC, my dad was a lad of 12. He heard the tourists from the Great Lakes area* talking about “pop”. He thought it was a brand name, and wanted to try some of the Pop soda.
*What are the demarcations of the pop/soda/sodey/cola naming conventions?
1 October 2009 at 11:44 am
Manette says:
I can’t wait to be there!
8 October 2009 at 10:00 pm
kayak woman says:
I dunno, I decided I *liked* the photo before I read what you said about it.
8 October 2009 at 10:09 pm
kayak woman says:
I love Kitch-iti-kipi. We went there when I was a kid and I was transfixed!!! When we went there with *our* kids, it was raining cats and dogs and we couldn’t really see anything. Will have to go again one of these days.
13 October 2009 at 7:23 am
kayak woman says:
The last time I actually had to go *in* to the Secretary of State to get my license, the temperature was hovering around 0 (F) and I was wearing my ski band in the photo. I have had the occasional person question my identity but never any serious problems about it. I guess I don’t look much like a thief or bamboozler or whatever.
13 October 2009 at 2:35 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
So who is he, or are you going to leave us in suspense? Do we have to be on the lookout for an escaped criminal, or am I jumping to an unwarranted conclusion based on unconscious prejudice against long haired hippy types.
14 October 2009 at 12:29 pm
kayak woman says:
The corn palace! Been there. On one o’ them thar family vacations. You know the kind. Where the kids get sick, the car breaks down, and the dog runs away!
18 October 2009 at 12:24 pm
Jay says:
What a great time to be in Yellowstone! Looks like a beautiful day.
22 October 2009 at 10:58 pm
Jay says:
You could go watch the filling and placing of all sorts of sand bags down south.
23 October 2009 at 10:13 am
Sammy says:
Now, that’s a possibility I hadn’t considered—thanks!
23 October 2009 at 10:29 am
kayak woman says:
That’s how I felt about our whirlwind trip to SF and that’s just about what we ended up doing. No sandbags though.
P.S. Didn’t comment but loved that really rather disturbing looking pumpkin from yesterday. Almost seemed like something out of the Hannibal Lecter books.
23 October 2009 at 10:44 am
Sammy says:
Apparently the disturbing-looking pumpkin is an homage to something JCB recognized, but isn’t in my pop-culture knowledge-base.
1 November 2009 at 9:53 am
Marquis says:
I use to live there when I was in 1st through 3rd grade. It was my parent’s second house. I don’t know how much this one cost, but their first once cost $10K. I’m guessing that the La Jolla one couldn’t have been more then $20K. Everything was new construction then. I brother and I use to play among the newer still housing plots. All of that construction turned up a lot of rattlesnakes.
1 November 2009 at 1:16 pm
Sammy says:
Saw squirrels, various birds, people in camo wetsuits, but no snakes (thankfully)….
6 November 2009 at 8:29 am
kayak woman says:
A beach read
6 November 2009 at 9:47 am
Sammy says:
Given Ann Arbor’s bookstore resources, you can do much better!
6 November 2009 at 9:12 pm
Marquis says:
I agree …
… but it has been 27 years since I have had you access to our country.
You’ve heard of red states and blue states. I’m in a green state of mind.
But don’t you know, I would have PhotoShopped the center left one a bit.
9 November 2009 at 7:24 am
kayak woman says:
two-tracking?
9 November 2009 at 8:43 am
Sammy says:
Yar; you know me/us well! There was a dry wash. It was sandy (duh). Thankfully, we had water with us, and angels arrived in three pickups and pushed us out, although we had almost dug ourselves out by then.
11 November 2009 at 7:17 am
kayak woman says:
When we first bought the now-defunct jeep, we were two-tracking near Houghton Lake somewhere and we encountered an older couple (hmm, like our age now) in some kind of low-slung sedan completely stuck. The GG literally built a road with sticks and got them out.
Our Honda Civic SI with the performance tires is not so great very far off pavement either. What *were* we thinking?
20 November 2009 at 10:23 am
kayak woman says:
We have a lot of ponds in our business “park” and I have been watching the geese as they raise their goslings and get them ready to migrate. Last couple of weeks a lot of airborne activity but I can’t tell if they are actually leaving or just practicing or what. I guess I don’t know enough about their life cycle and behavior. Last year there were quite a few of them on the pond even as ice was pretty well formed.
20 November 2009 at 10:47 am
Sammy says:
Ah, the goose version of ADHD laggards?
22 November 2009 at 10:21 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
ooh, wish we were closer so D&K would invite us too! I had such a good time chatting with them at SEAC.
23 November 2009 at 3:12 pm
kayak woman says:
I absolutely agree that the gas prices go up at high travel times. Although I admit I don’t really pay much attention to the prices until they start edging up over $3.00 or so. If you have property (and/or octos) in three different places, you have to drive. Period. Relatively fuel-efficient vee-hickles and a mere 8-mile work commute though.
25 November 2009 at 10:27 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
glad we could welcome you to our fair commonwealth!
27 November 2009 at 10:30 am
Pooh says:
Is it prie-dieu, perhaps? Possibly, “Praise God”? Je m’oublie trop de Francais.
27 November 2009 at 3:53 pm
kayak woman says:
Re our earlier conversation: http://www.annarbor.com/news/icy-conditions-lead-to-crashes-on-expressways-throughout-washtenaw-county/ (can’t remember if I have to enclose that link in an anchor tag or if WP will do the job for me…)
30 November 2009 at 10:19 am
jcb says:
You mean this ‘movie’ here?
30 November 2009 at 10:47 am
Sammy says:
Yes, that’s it! I urge readers to check it out! The moral of the story is that jcb turned a gift pen that doesn’t write into an object of desire! (Or something like that!)
30 November 2009 at 2:16 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Wow JCB! I had to watch it three times to get the full effect! Nice sound effects.
2 December 2009 at 5:18 pm
jcb says:
Wow, amazingly bright, given how gloomy a day it was. Out on the freeway, it felt like tankers full of rain were falling from the skies.
3 December 2009 at 8:40 pm
kayak woman says:
Oh man, I am a moom and I definitely use training wheels!
3 December 2009 at 9:59 pm
Marquis says:
Is this statement really directed at the mother? I think not.
Maybe the Mom uses training wheels on whom the sign is actually directed at.
8 December 2009 at 9:56 pm
kayak woman says:
I LOVE that photo! And, yes, we’re getting snow here. Despite that, I am remembering the time I picked you up at Metro on a dry and sunny December 19th and we drove over your way and walked your woods and ponds, et al. Gorgeous day that I’ll never ever forget.
9 December 2009 at 12:37 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Then there’s that day in Atlanta, in early December many years ago when snow flurries were blowing around! Oh yeah, that was your wedding day!
10 December 2009 at 8:05 am
Marquis says:
OK, I’m green and not in the climate sort of way.
10 December 2009 at 9:34 am
kayak woman says:
Congratulations!
11 December 2009 at 10:49 am
Manette says:
How many does the recipe make?
11 December 2009 at 11:04 am
Sammy says:
I tripled the recipe for my first batch (therefore: 3 boxes wafers and 12 oz pecans), and will make another triple batch since these are our primary holiday “hostess gift.” Of course, it depends on how small/large you make the spheres in determining “how many” you end up with…. PS I refashioned the recipe and will try to add a photo….
11 December 2009 at 11:15 am
Maureen Meyers says:
ooh, thanks for the recipe. Bourbon balls are a huge thing in KY, not surprisingly. Did you use Fair Trade cocoa? it’s some good stuff.
11 December 2009 at 11:17 am
Sammy says:
No, I’m lame. I did Kroger/cheap. Naughty me!
12 December 2009 at 10:48 am
Pooh says:
When our high school redid the track and football field, all of our games were away, even Homecoming. This year, a couple of our “home” games were held at other schools’ fields, i.e. neutral territory. These games were on Saturday, instead of Friday night. I never investigated into the reasons why. When the team made sectionals, (last 2 years, but not this year), our home games were played at a larger school’s field b/c we didn’t have sufficient restroom capacity or something like that. Mind you, we were playing teams from similar sized schools.
15 December 2009 at 8:05 am
Pooh says:
“Candlesticks are always nice.” –from the movie, “Bull Durham”. Different sport, but a hugely funny scene in a good baseball movie.
17 December 2009 at 9:22 am
kayak woman says:
I go back to my home town frequently and I am always struck by how many old buildings have been gone for so long I can’t remember what was there.
I like the sign and not the windows. On the other hand, it seems like there were also windows there *before* the sign. So yes, it is a bit mind-boggling.
I remember going in to our old Kresge store as a kid, ordering a cherry coke at the lunch counter and watching the waitress stir the cherry syrup into it. Really good. Much better than that canned stuff. (Don’t remember them having a celery flavor.
)
18 December 2009 at 1:00 pm
jcb says:
I’m looking at a somewhat more dramatic skyline at the moment. Hello from the Fifth Avenue Apple Store, where the Archaeofacts site looks really nice on one of those fancy 27″ screens.
18 December 2009 at 1:15 pm
Sammy says:
Awww! Is the site drippy? It’s rainy here in ATL.
19 December 2009 at 9:02 am
kayak woman says:
I am a huge fan of christmas lights. Year round!
22 December 2009 at 9:33 am
kayak woman says:
Tree up, decorated.
Laundry, caught up but it’s always pretty much caught up.
What bread cubes?
HousecleaningBigdinner menu. Not yet.Packing mailing? Done! Yay for the post office uscan!
Gifts? Getting there.
Wrapping? Getting there.
Your house looks fantastic! Mine? Not so much.
22 December 2009 at 9:37 am
Sammy says:
Your place has the famous Caribou Rack, however. That’s like a jillion points right there!
22 December 2009 at 11:46 pm
Jay says:
Tree up, decorated
Laundry ??? I’ll ask the laundress
Menu, dinner – that will get figured out Thursday
Packing, mailing – done a week ago
Gifts – out of money, have to stop
Wrapping – done
Picking up kid one in 3.5 hours
Picking up kid two in ~15 hours
Then the holiday can begin
24 December 2009 at 8:13 am
kayak woman says:
Looks like a fun place but such a flashy website
26 December 2009 at 9:07 pm
kayak woman says:
ha ha ha. I did not notice the ***pie*** until the end of the text!
26 December 2009 at 9:12 pm
kayak woman says:
Our dinner was simple but a “guest” (aka visiting 20-something daughter) helped me much by cleaning up the dining table area et al, setting the table, lighting candles and helping with dishes.
27 December 2009 at 4:39 pm
jcb says:
That one waterfowl in the center seems to be saying to itself: “WTF?!” …which might be “water this full!?” or “why this flooded?” or…
31 December 2009 at 10:20 am
kayak woman says:
How about painting the door a nice shade of aqua or turquoise.
31 December 2009 at 10:39 am
Sammy says:
Ah, photoshopping the neighborhood, always nice to contemplate. I’d make all the trees very strong and enduring, too….
2 January 2010 at 4:57 pm
kayak woman says:
We (Mouse and I) once emerged from Ikea with a stuffed rat. Fortunately, it’s far enough from us (half hour) that we don’t go there very often.
3 January 2010 at 8:32 pm
kayak woman says:
lower single digits here in southeast Michigan this morning. That called for snowpants and balaclava for walking.
5 January 2010 at 7:26 am
kayak woman says:
Mouse and I watched a squirrel pick up a sizable piece of tin foil and climb up to a second floor balcony with it.
As to laziness, well, being from the frozen north, I would have to agree with you. 17 *below* might keep me inside (-;
7 January 2010 at 1:10 pm
kayak woman says:
Right on! And there’s also that whole thing about how many years accurate and complete world-wide weather records have been kept.
7 January 2010 at 1:12 pm
kayak woman says:
What iSlate/iTablet thing? Yes, I live under a rock.
8 January 2010 at 10:29 am
Maureen Meyers says:
I only liked the Julia part of Julie & Julia. I wish the whole movie had been that, and only Meryl Streep.
And I owe you a long email–it’s coming. Snow days and Billy in Philly means I’m homebound with G.
8 January 2010 at 12:20 pm
kayak woman says:
Shuffling can work too, if you’re traveling over varying surfaces. And I need to start carrying a baggy or two of driveway salt for those who refuse to salt their own blasted sidewalk.
8 January 2010 at 1:09 pm
Sammy says:
KW, your foresight never ceases to amaze me!
9 January 2010 at 1:37 pm
Jay says:
I put my trust in Cheeses
9 January 2010 at 5:25 pm
Sammy says:
Jay—& Wisconsin is your homeland?
14 January 2010 at 1:13 pm
kayak woman says:
Yeah, not my style either. Interesting though.
16 January 2010 at 2:13 pm
kayak woman says:
There was some long involved discussion about 10 o-clock TV dramas related to that Conan-Leno thing and I actually almost understood it (-;
17 January 2010 at 12:33 pm
Pooh says:
Well, in the Central Zone, Leno’s show is on at 9:00, and that’s way too early for me to watch him, i.e. I’m awake. Even flipping back to the NBC news and catching the closing 30 seconds of him makes me cringe. And yes, I usually do flip back to the news, but mostly because the local news on CBS seems to be more sensationalist.
18 January 2010 at 7:34 am
kayak woman says:
Discussion on NPR, that is.
19 January 2010 at 9:46 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
I hate to add to your list, but just heard that Frank Schnell passed away Monday.
20 January 2010 at 9:53 pm
John Chamblee says:
Just finished going back through John Adams, by McCollough, and I had been recently thinking similar thoughts about the difficulties of winter. It has always been so.
22 January 2010 at 4:30 pm
kayak woman says:
I think I see evidence of a spiraled nautilus (or whatever the correct term is) (-:
24 January 2010 at 1:52 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Considering your history with over-looming trees, I would think you might view the tree in the picture as more ominous than nursing (or nurturing).
24 January 2010 at 2:10 pm
Sammy says:
Yeah, sometimes you can get more out my blog entries if you (slyly) know my backstory…. A line of storms is just hitting ATL as I type. Rrrrr.
25 January 2010 at 3:48 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Maybe not if you’re using an elephant garlic and a counter-top toaster oven!
25 January 2010 at 4:34 pm
Sammy says:
Probably an improvement! I’ve used the toaster oven option myself! But I keep thinking about getting or making a solar oven!
27 January 2010 at 7:25 am
kayak woman says:
I think I would recommend paying for someone else to make a solar oven, remembering a failed project Mouse’s girl scout troop once embarked upon. Laughing just thinking about it.
29 January 2010 at 7:25 am
kayak woman says:
I don’t like the name either. I wish “they’d” (we’d?) move away from this iEverything.
29 January 2010 at 9:02 am
Pooh says:
…a fire in the skies…
The three opening chords of that song, always take me back to my college days.
29 January 2010 at 3:03 pm
Sammy's Second Cousin says:
I know enough about economics to know that I agree with Paul Krugman almost all of the time.
“Gah” is definitely better than “gaaaaccckkk” but inferior to “D’oh!”
2 February 2010 at 8:07 pm
kayak woman says:
somebody apparently shot JR.
2 February 2010 at 11:08 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
quick, call Chamblee. I think he lost his hat.
4 February 2010 at 3:19 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Looks like Spring-Cleaning month in Atlanta. It’s Get-in-Shape month for us in Central Oregon. We joined the local public swim & fitness center since the weather is not conducive to the walking we’re used to. It’s nice that the place has expanded with workout rooms, a weight room, yoga, etc. since we lived nearby back in the 80′s/90′s when it was only an indoor pool.
5 February 2010 at 3:28 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Reminds us of our excellent yoga class this morning!
11 February 2010 at 6:00 pm
Pooh says:
What? No bicycles? Is it b/c of the environment on Sapelo or what?
11 February 2010 at 6:07 pm
Pooh says:
Well, I jumped to conclusions, then read the link about Sapelo. Never mind.
19 February 2010 at 6:03 pm
Maureen says:
Well, you two are too cool. that was the best b’day card ever, a definite keeper. You are so very thoughtful! She’s having a great one.
22 February 2010 at 5:44 pm
jcb says:
Does a poor job of keeping them away from our monitor lizard, though. Chimera, eh? Interesting.
26 February 2010 at 7:38 am
kayak woman says:
haha. A rather grumpy KW this morning, I’m afraid. Lots o’ reasons, defying description (-;
26 February 2010 at 11:19 am
Manette says:
Which first cousin?
28 February 2010 at 11:08 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Ironic since the original lyrics were in French. There are two versions of the English lyrics, one a translation from the French and the other not.
1 March 2010 at 8:31 am
Pooh says:
I was wondering about that, too.
2 March 2010 at 1:02 am
Jay says:
I think I heard a portion of the anthem in french during the closing ceremonies. But NBC in their idiotic Prime Time directive chose to tape delay the start, break at 10:30 PM for a Jerry Seinfeld creation they had spent the Olympics advertising, pause for local news and start again with the closing ceremonies finish at 11:30 PM. So it may not have been french, but snoring bouncing against the back of my head.
4 March 2010 at 1:00 pm
jcb says:
Once again (sorry for the preaching): climate is not clematis.
5 March 2010 at 7:25 am
kayak woman says:
It almost looks like a loom.
5 March 2010 at 4:53 pm
Pooh says:
The purple blobby bit looks sort of like the laptops at the high school where the screen has cracked. This apparently was a common problem when students jammed the laptop into their book bag, instead of using the laptop case that was issued with the laptop, and specifically designed to protect said laptop. However, I suspect that you and JCB are taking more care of your Lumix.
7 March 2010 at 5:00 pm
Terry Hynes says:
“stumplet on the verge”…now that sounds poetic. Having just come from a visit to Robert Burn’s cottage and having heard some of his poetry read, and being in a pseudo poetic mood I do believe some poetry can come from your little phrase.
After all, if Burns could write a poem to a mouse, couldn’t he do something with a stumplet?
I’m waiting for Spring
9 March 2010 at 7:26 am
kayak woman says:
Looks a lot like some of the junk around my house. No Fresca though.
10 March 2010 at 7:50 am
kayak woman says:
I’m glad for the warm temps and rain. I’d rather drive north through rain than black ice and whiteouts.
10 March 2010 at 10:34 pm
Marquis says:
Nice Shot!
10 March 2010 at 10:47 pm
Marquis says:
When I first saw your photo, I instinctively loved it. Then I made the mistake of thinking about it. The body is out of focus. The shot needs more depth of field. Wait. Focus. First on the head and then on the duck’s bill, the rest is background. Go with your first impression, it is usually the best.
16 March 2010 at 3:13 pm
Sammy's Second Cousin says:
After you’ve filled it out, make a photocopy before giving it to U.S. Snail, and store the copy with your personal papers. The original will become available to the genealogists of the future in 2082, but you don’t have to make them wait that long.
17 March 2010 at 11:40 am
Frooggy says:
Grok grok! Iiii’m gunna drink sum greeeeeen beeeeeer! Grok-hic! Akshully i’m alreddy drinkin’ sum! Grok grok squee-grok hic!
23 March 2010 at 7:18 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
see any mounds? Oh no, wait, there *aren’t* any in Virginia
23 March 2010 at 7:45 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Remember my red ’74 Dodge Colt? It met its demise late in 1982 in a collision with a deer on one of the roads through the Beltsville Ag Lab. The deer was uninsured.
2 April 2010 at 7:27 am
kayak woman says:
I’m sitting here contemplating what the heck to wear to work today. The warm weather is nice but I am not ready to face up to my shredded summer clothes.
2 April 2010 at 10:31 pm
Ruthette Mills says:
Daffodillies!! Wow! Such yellow!
4 April 2010 at 10:18 am
kayak woman says:
Bet jcb was chompin’ at the bit waiting for that delivery. No TD here, of course. Not yet, anyway.
6 April 2010 at 7:21 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
My Uncle Bud made Dandelion Wine but I never got a chance to taste it. Always wondered what it would taste like.
11 April 2010 at 11:48 am
kayak woman says:
All right what is that nautilus-like object?
11 April 2010 at 3:45 pm
Sammy says:
Hey, it’s a large ceramic outdoor objet d’art. That’s a decoration on the side of it….
15 April 2010 at 8:51 am
kayak woman says:
I dunno, she-who is a nincompoop but I also think she is a flash in the pan. Maybe ignoring her will make her go away. But then I’m not very political and what do I know…
16 April 2010 at 11:38 am
Pooh says:
Using Iphone to read the blogs, so got the google definition of “ab absurdo” as well as KW’s blog. Can’t help but think that the TP’ers and their fearless nincompoop make an Ab Absurdo argument ridiculously easy and redundant. (Redundant = We dun dat?)
21 April 2010 at 7:33 am
kayak woman says:
Bwa-ha-ha!!! Love it!
24 April 2010 at 11:13 am
pooh says:
I’ve been entranced with backlit floral photos also. The way tulips shine is gorgeous. I’ve also got a few of Japanese maples with the leaves in the sun and the bright red seed-pods. I haven’t tried the seed pods to see if they helicopter, or if you can split the end that has the seed to stick it on your nose, but their color is wonderful.
26 April 2010 at 9:45 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
And the traveler is much rested, and refreshed, and grateful. Much karma has been banked.
28 April 2010 at 7:20 am
kayak woman says:
Oh, it was the Botanist’s bday too, right? (Who was your traveler)
29 April 2010 at 8:01 am
pooh says:
Just like saying “ATM Machine” sounds better, but is redundant.
2 May 2010 at 9:06 am
kayak woman says:
Kind of mind-boggling in a way that Obama was here yesterday, back in DC (I think) last night, and down by the gulf today.
5 May 2010 at 7:34 am
kayak woman says:
Go AFPLS! Totally agree about unsupervised kids.
6 May 2010 at 12:45 pm
kayak woman says:
Twothree buck Chuck?10 May 2010 at 11:26 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
I have an issue with the use of the word cheap. I define it as ‘of little value’, as in poorly constructed or inferior grade. I think most people would define it as ‘inexpensive’. After a taste I might agree that the ‘cheap wine’ is cheap, but not inexpensive, whereas I’ve had 3 buck chuck that was inexpensive, but I would not consider it cheap or of poor or inferior taste (or maybe I have a ‘cheap’ palette).
10 May 2010 at 9:15 pm
Marquis says:
I guess Mr. Copperfield is not X-Rated.
12 May 2010 at 1:20 am
jcb says:
They were the best fries I’ve had in longer than I can remember. but that’s because you are la Maestra.
20 May 2010 at 8:17 am
Maureen Meyers says:
Can you cut it down some, and force it to create shoots?
20 May 2010 at 11:23 am
Sammy says:
I’m thinking: yes. I did weeding & some transplanting today. I’ll nip it back some tomorrow!
21 May 2010 at 7:59 am
kayak woman says:
On the old Green Acres TV show it was something like “shoosting up to the sky”.
24 May 2010 at 9:29 am
kayak woman says:
I’m only an amateur at photography but I actually like the iPhone camera.
25 May 2010 at 8:31 am
pooh says:
Oh no, it’s “The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”! *
*A rather bad movie that tried to ‘feed’ on the cult status of “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, with ‘stunted’ results.
Let’s do the time warp again…
25 May 2010 at 9:50 am
Maureen Meyers says:
oh, that’s a great bad movie. The funniest part is when someone tries to infiltrate the tomatoes and is disguised as one, but gives himself away when he asks for ketchup for his burger.
Damn, those maters grew in a short time!
30 May 2010 at 8:32 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Explain Cocoa to me, and please send some of that heat to the west coast! We are dawdling in Colorado, Utah & Nevada, waiting for the snow to melt in Bend!
31 May 2010 at 1:03 am
GS says:
I can feel the heat! Dang near got snowed on here in the PNW.
2 June 2010 at 10:51 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
I don’t remember so many lupines last year, had they already bloomed? It’s a beautiful picture, but one thing is missing, the Bigfoot camper to the right! We wish we were there! Hope you guys are having a great time, thanks for the memories!
3 June 2010 at 7:16 am
kayak woman says:
I love lupine! I wish we had some at our cabin. Not quite the right environment, I think.
3 June 2010 at 8:19 am
Sammy's second cousin says:
Thanks for posting this. Belle’s legacy is more than I had imagined.
4 June 2010 at 6:06 pm
jay says:
When we got married (on the beach) my Mom got permission from a person in Brimley to pick lupin from his front yard, which was pretty much all lupin. Our wedding was attended by family, a few friends, beach folks and a lot of bees.
4 June 2010 at 6:08 pm
jay says:
The last time we did the walking tour, a year or two ago, Rey & I enjoyed the walk around looking at birds and what not. Carl & Ashlan made a very quick circuit after finding the herds of mosquitoes were waiting for them. My trick to avoiding most mosquito bites is to stand next to Carl.
4 June 2010 at 8:31 pm
Sammy says:
I agree; I find The Husband a great distraction from me for the mosquitos!
5 June 2010 at 2:13 am
Sammy's second cousin says:
It’s was not uncommon for a husband to put property in his wife’s name when he put up the cash. It protected it from his creditors.
5 June 2010 at 8:48 am
kayak woman says:
Also can be important to get the story straight and maybe in writing in an safe but accessible place (safe deposit?). I had a big battle with my mother about a property issue over the winter. I thought she was delusional about something but it turned out she was *right*, just couldn’t describe it so I could understand it. A trip to the courthouse wasn’t much help. She doggedly pursued the matter on her own with the surveyor’s office (I think) and I ended up eating my words. Pretty happily, since the outcome was positive for us.
I saw that rain on the radar map yesterday afternoon. Much needed. VERY dry up there the last time I was there.
6 June 2010 at 11:12 am
kayak woman says:
I absolutely agree about extending living spaces outside. Our cabin is very small and was even smaller when I was a kid and we didn’t have the upstairs. Absolutely essential to have an adjacent forest and beach. Unfortunately, that philosophy doesn’t work too well when it’s -10 Fahrenheit (-;
7 June 2010 at 7:55 pm
kayak woman says:
Loooooove it! That is all.
8 June 2010 at 11:14 am
manette says:
One of my favorite afternoon hikes. Especially in the Fall.
8 June 2010 at 11:36 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, your recommendation is partly why we went!!
8 June 2010 at 9:50 pm
kayak woman says:
Our neighborhood here on the Planet Ann Arbor is skunk city! There are mornings when I wake up and the smell is so strong it almost makes me feel nauseated.
9 June 2010 at 8:53 am
pooh says:
Makes me wonder how much energy is expended by the skunk when it activates its defense mechanism, and is there a recharge time? Of course, the smell is so strong and so lingering, that probably the skunk doesn’t need to worry about how long it takes before it can use it again.
9 June 2010 at 10:30 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
What you smelled may have just been the skunk body odor, like all mustelidae they have the scent glands, but they also have really strong BO! I remember mink denning in the crawl space of the Elks club in Bend. They had to be evicted because of the smell and were released at the Museum. One of their offspring stayed around and was quite the show at the pond, fishing and catching crawdads. Even skunks who have had their scent glands surgically removed have a strong odor!
10 June 2010 at 9:43 am
kayak woman says:
I heard that story too. Not to dismiss the climate change theory but I also wondered if the country club simply provided an overall more suitable environment for them. Not sure what that would be, not being a sparrow…
12 June 2010 at 8:23 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
Earlier this week I was on a genealogical field trip, and on Thursday evening I drove on a short stretch of U.S. Route 127 from Ohio State Route 126 to the entrance ramp for Interstate 275. The next day I drove across southern Ohio and crossed the river into Point Pleasant, West Virginia over the replacement for the bridge that had collapsed on December 15, 1967. For me the weather was good both days. The only bad weather I had encountered was in the Detroit area on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, but it was nothing that Dr. Kearns’ wonderful invention couldn’t handle.
14 June 2010 at 8:35 am
kayak woman says:
slodgy around here too but fortunately, not very hot. Garbage smell in my house too.
15 June 2010 at 10:52 am
kayak woman says:
Um, why do you guys call it the “butter” Jesus? Or should I read nn.c?
Also, I read/heard somewhere once that alligators respond to b-flat. Some guy had some in his basement and his wife’s sewing machine ran at b-flat and that would get the alligators riled up or whatever.
15 June 2010 at 11:13 am
Sammy says:
So, you’re saying that’s an alligator call out there? Hot enough to have ’gators around here! Oh, the butter part refers to the off-white color. Singer-songwriter Heywood Banks named a song “Big Butter Jesus” about this statue, which lead the name to go viral.
15 June 2010 at 8:21 pm
kayak woman says:
LOVE those power lines in the background!
15 June 2010 at 11:03 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
With all the power lines around, it’s interesting that Butter Jesus is what was hit by lightning!
17 June 2010 at 2:45 pm
kayak woman says:
Wow, that looks *really* good! Is it lurking in the recipes or is it secret?
17 June 2010 at 3:15 pm
Leslie says:
It’s called “butter Jesus” (or was) because of the annual butter sculptures at the Ohio State Fair, which are the same color (and there is some stylistic similarity…or was).
17 June 2010 at 4:45 pm
Sammy says:
Okay, it’s no secret and I’ll work on it!
18 June 2010 at 8:41 am
kayak woman says:
Thanks for the recipe! Lightning is one of the few weather conditions I don’t walk in. Gotta love that wind (-; or not…
19 June 2010 at 8:57 pm
kayak woman says:
Tried the recipe tonight and loooooved it!
20 June 2010 at 11:33 am
kayak woman says:
Wait a minute! I thought you didn’t like fennel.
Discovered here in Black Thumb land that we actually have some decent morning glories on one of our arbors! I thought that they had given up on us.
20 June 2010 at 6:40 pm
jcb says:
it’s huuuuuge. And yeah, yummy looking.
23 June 2010 at 11:00 am
kayak woman says:
haha! Blahgging adventures.The GG has complained that my entries are too long. The GG has complained when I have written a short entry. The GG has complained when he can’t understand an entry because it’s too vague, cryptic, confusing or whatever. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Blahg on and and if somebody complains, tell ‘em t’ git their own dern blahg!! (-;
23 June 2010 at 11:04 am
kayak woman says:
P.S. I do remember the pokeweed story!
27 June 2010 at 12:05 pm
kayak woman says:
I also get that surprise bonus insect effect from time to time. Love it!
29 June 2010 at 9:21 am
kayak woman says:
I dunno if you are loopy but I probably am. What island is that?
29 June 2010 at 10:49 am
Sammy says:
Sicily, darlin’.
29 June 2010 at 8:39 pm
kayak woman says:
Black Thumb Banana aka Kayak Woman has actually successfully grown basil and turned it into pesto. Not this summer here on the Planet Ann Arbor but LOVE IT!
3 July 2010 at 1:53 pm
kayak woman says:
You could fedex some of those squirrels up here to torment the GG!
3 July 2010 at 2:03 pm
Sammy says:
Gladly! However, I’m stumped at Step One: catch ’em!
12 July 2010 at 7:58 am
kayak woman says:
And so many rivers have been routed underground and things like that. I mean, probably not these rivers, but they have done that on The Planet Ann Arbor, many years before I lived there, so who knows what it used to look like…
13 July 2010 at 7:58 am
Marquis says:
Did you see any shows?
13 July 2010 at 9:38 am
Pooh says:
We saw some older houses and a Main Street-ish area on Staten Island when we rode the 5-Boroughs ride last May. I would have like to explore more, but it was the last of the five, and 42 miles in the rain had kind of sucked the explorer out of me. To be more succinct, 42 miles in the rain sucked. Period.
13 July 2010 at 9:46 am
Pooh says:
Tchaikowsky and the entire percussion section were having a labor dispute. Failing to come to an amicable resolution, after a long and drawn out battle, in which the musicians were threatening, repeatedly, to strike, the conductor said, in the words of Mr. Trump, “You’re fired!”
At least I think that’s what the War of 1812 was about.
13 July 2010 at 12:06 pm
Sammy says:
Just the city’s normal light show!
13 July 2010 at 12:06 pm
Sammy says:
I can only imagine.
13 July 2010 at 12:07 pm
Sammy says:
History by Pooh. It doesn’t get any better!
15 July 2010 at 8:29 am
Pooh says:
I’m always amused when people say, “Holy Sh!t”. What exactly is holy? Or maybe they meant “wholy sh!t”, meaning it is totally and nothing but… Or “holey”?
16 July 2010 at 9:19 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
In a documentary entitled “Pompeii: The Last Day” (not to be confused with “The Last Days of Pompeii” by Edward “It was a dark and stormy night” Bulwer-Lytton) they interviewed folks living within the zone that would be devastated by an eruption comparable to the one in 79. The short of it is that these people are living in denial.
17 July 2010 at 10:03 am
kayak woman says:
And then there’s Mouse. She was about 5 and we were xc skiing — no volcanoes anywhere Michigan, right. We were on about a 5K trail and she was tired and I was carrying her poles and my poles in one hand and holding her hand with my other, wondering what I had been thinking, taking a 5-year-old on such a long trail. Out of the blue, she said, “Mom, I’ve thinking about volcanoes too much.”
17 July 2010 at 10:07 am
kayak woman says:
Er, that would be “no volcanoes anywhere NEAR Michigan”. Typing in the car on That Device.
18 July 2010 at 10:56 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Isn’t the milkweed the plant that Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat that makes them poisonous, or at least distasteful to potential predators?
19 July 2010 at 11:19 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
My grandfather grew the biggest, reddest tomatoes I’ve ever encountered. Unfortunately I didn’t appreciate them at the time. I have since experienced heirloom tomatoes in CA and haven’t found the same since. Homegrown looks good, but will the local farmers market carry the same? I must explore.
20 July 2010 at 9:46 am
kayak woman says:
Came home Saturday afternoon to sliced heirloom tomatoes (from Plum Market, no idea where before there) topped with slices of “real” mozzarella, basil leaves, and a little olive oil. Obviously the kids have graduated from spaghettios and box macaroni and cheese.
Our farmer’s market(s) do sell homegrown heirloom tomatoes.
21 July 2010 at 6:26 pm
kayak woman says:
There is a Romulus and Remus statue on the grounds of the Chippewa County Courthouse in Sault Ste. Siberia, given to the city by former governor Chase Osborn, a Sault native. I believe one of the twins was missing for a long time but I think the statue is intact now. You would think that, growing up in that town and hearing the story over and over and over again, I would remember it better
24 July 2010 at 11:16 am
kayak woman says:
I remember you telling me about the little snifter of booze at breakfast (-: Why did I think it was vodka? Plum brandy? Slivovitz? (spelling?)
27 July 2010 at 9:35 am
Pooh says:
Or maybe a davenport?
When the kids were tiny, we would have visits from the PAT (Parents As Teachers) counselor. She would ask me ahead of time what word we used for the couch, just to make sure she didn’t confuse the kids by using the wrong term. Of course, the funniest part for me was when she showed one of the boys a picture of an iron, and he said that’s for sewing. He’d certainly never seen me pressing clothes, but I do press cloth and seams, etc. when I’m sewing.
28 July 2010 at 1:42 pm
kayak woman says:
I’ve been thinking about this cycle-of-life stuff a lot. Yesterday morning, I heard this clackety-clackety noise on the sidewalk and realized that I had interrupted a robin’s attempt to snag some big beetle-y sort of bug (I called it a cricket on Twitter but think it might have been a beetle). I know that robins have to eat but I was still a bit bugged by it. Not sure why. (Er, didn’t really intend to be punny — “bugged” — but what the heck.)
1 August 2010 at 8:51 am
kayak woman says:
Thanks for explaining the zigzag. I was thinking, “is that an artifact of the camera or what?”
1 August 2010 at 10:12 am
Pooh says:
Good shot. I tried like crazy to get a photo of a spider and web last year, but the camera kept focusing on the brick/stone wall of the house behind the spider, and not the spider. The web was right next to where I parked my car, and was there for several days, even though it seemed like there was some attachment to the car.
1 August 2010 at 11:00 am
Sammy says:
An important feature of the shot (no reason you should know this) is the looming ginkgo tree in the background. It’s female and currently dropping fruit/seeds/whatchucallit, but that’s another story….
1 August 2010 at 3:20 pm
jcb says:
Expelliarmus stabilimentum! Hey wait, wasn’t there supposed to be a magic “poof” or something?
2 August 2010 at 7:04 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
So 9 years ago almost I bought my most expensive pair at a fancy good store with excellent customer service-$500. I did have a bonus which covered it all, but I decided that since I wear them every day, they were worth the investment. I’ve never regretted it, still wear this pair, get lots of compliments, esp. from “eye” people, and only had to have the lenses replaced a few years back b/c the Rx changed. I figure 360-odd wearings/year for almost 10 years, I got a good investment. The only thing I wouldn’t do again is get the night glare reduction. It scratched off and looked awful and didn’t really work. Just my experience…
4 August 2010 at 11:37 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Since we don’t have a TV I’m not familiar with the show but from the picture I notice that Whoopi is the only one in comfortable looking clothes! And what’s with the spike heel shoes?
4 August 2010 at 12:13 pm
Sammy says:
Yeah, those high heels are just the thing in NYC—gives the physical rehab people LOTS of work!
5 August 2010 at 9:24 am
Pooh says:
We have pelicans here in the spring, using the Mississippi River flyway, so not too unusual. We also saw them in Yellowstone this year, and in Saskatchewan in 1982. I was surprised to see them in Saskatchewan, fishing at a dam. These were all white pelican sightings, the brown pelican does seem to stick more to coastal areas.
5 August 2010 at 6:02 pm
Leslie says:
Costco. Got my fancy designer glasses (both sets) there. My Ray•Bans, however, are from Brooks Brothers, but they aren’t prescription. Costco does do sunglasses too.
I have Transitions on my long distance set of lenses and although it helps, they get no where near as dark as I need here in SoCal. If you want sunglasses, get the real deal.
6 August 2010 at 7:31 am
kayak woman says:
Pelicans were spotted at Round Island back in May or June or thereabouts.
6 August 2010 at 7:32 am
kayak woman says:
I heard that oil well stuff over and over on NPR yesterday. I couldn’t understand any of it. Picture needed!
6 August 2010 at 5:32 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Vegetarian; Do you KNOW what they DO to that chicken you’re buying?
Comedian; No, but it sure is DELICIOUS!
14 August 2010 at 10:35 pm
kayak woman says:
Bad breath or not, he’s a beautiful dog! I’d have been a little nervous too though.
15 August 2010 at 1:45 pm
Sammy says:
I was! That’s why I passed him in the street and not along the sidewalk. And didn’t look at him. I think he must have had an electric collar or something. But maybe not!
16 August 2010 at 7:29 am
kayak woman says:
Those electric fences make me nervous. There used to be a vicious dog on my route that got *out* of its fence. Of course, I’m not afraid of most dogs…
16 August 2010 at 8:03 am
Sammy says:
Personally, I assume that every dog is a biter. Perhaps that’s unfair, but it works for me!
17 August 2010 at 7:56 am
kayak woman says:
I agree with that but I think that most often, it is the dog owner’s fault for not training/socializing the dog. I like pets but there is way too much emphasis on them these days.
18 August 2010 at 10:23 pm
Sammy's second cousin says:
A few minutes ago I posted the following to my Facebook profile:
“[My name] has been hearing and reading a lot about the so-called “ground zero mosque” (more than what’s in the linked article) and has concluded that NOT siting the Islamic cultural center at the Park Place location would be handing a victory to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.”
The article is at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_go_ot/us_mosque_fact_check
25 August 2010 at 10:14 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Aug. 24 – doesn’t ring a bell. What were you celebrating?
26 August 2010 at 10:07 am
kayak woman says:
Job-related milestone?
30 August 2010 at 7:32 am
kayak woman says:
Looks like northern MI ??
30 August 2010 at 8:06 am
Sammy says:
RR at McMillan. I think. RR comes west from the Sault, right?
31 August 2010 at 11:13 am
kayak woman says:
And now you can crop those waaarrrs right out. On your phone with Photoshop express.
2 September 2010 at 8:19 pm
So when does the big game and the even bigger deal - the 3D graphics take place? Are y'all having fun? says:
So when does the big game, and the even bigger deal – the 3D graphics take place? Are y’all having fun? – Neighbor D
6 September 2010 at 10:14 am
kayak woman says:
Wonder how many years it’ll take till that technology will fit into an iPhone-sized device?
15 September 2010 at 11:11 am
Maureen Meyers says:
This looks very much like my balloon flower that grows outside my door and has lasted since July. But this bell flower is more elongated, both in and before blooming. Same family?
17 September 2010 at 5:30 pm
kayak woman says:
You may not have video but your words are eloquent, as is the photoooo. I take it you chose to use the outdoor bathroom?
Also loved the SK hats in the previous pic. Thinking that the SK that lives with me could be the “personal friend” or do you know another?
17 September 2010 at 5:41 pm
Sammy says:
Indeed! SK = GG
19 September 2010 at 12:37 pm
kayak woman says:
Envious. Heading north late in the week.
21 September 2010 at 12:54 pm
kayak woman says:
knowing all too well another kind of insect that likes milkweek, I was almost too chicken to look at the pic
21 September 2010 at 12:56 pm
kayak woman says:
I *love* this photooooo! Hot here today. Much warmer than the last few days.
23 September 2010 at 10:54 pm
Eglee says:
Great picture Sammy! a little scary… I am back home since just a few hours ago. Thanks for your smile grrat to see you and John! warm here too.. love!
25 September 2010 at 9:24 am
pooh says:
I wonder if they are ingesting the alkaloids like the Monarch butterflies do so they taste nasty to predators. Both species have the orange and black “danger, danger” coloration also.
30 September 2010 at 10:24 am
kayak woman says:
I was wondering what that stand was!
30 September 2010 at 11:20 am
kayak woman says:
Um, what *are* they? Yes I live under a rock.
30 September 2010 at 1:20 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
I must be under the same rock. Clue in the rock-dwellers, please.
30 September 2010 at 1:47 pm
manette says:
I was part of the crew that last shingled the playhouse under the direction of my dad. We couldn’t go swimming until we finished the job. Those shingles you replaced were over 45 years old!
30 September 2010 at 3:44 pm
Sammy says:
Um. You put them in the sip-hole to Stop Splashes. Trust that makee sensee?
3 October 2010 at 8:45 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Where’s the glasses part of the glasses?
3 October 2010 at 9:27 pm
Sammy says:
Better polish yer own lenses! They’re there!
(At least as “plastics” rather than actual “glass.”)
4 October 2010 at 7:35 am
kayak woman says:
I saw all kinds of odocoileus virginianus when I was walking at Houghton Lake yesterday morning.
4 October 2010 at 7:35 pm
kayak woman says:
Love your little tour! I always giggle when I smell pot behind the Plum Market — where the employees hang out on [smoking] breaks
6 October 2010 at 7:36 am
kayak woman says:
My microwave is 26 years old. Still working. Does make strange noises sometimes…
6 October 2010 at 5:15 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
well, I’m wondering what the complicated reasons are, but thanks for the honorary title of *wonder* hostess. Have done wonders with advisor since I saw you. Thanks for the uplift of mood & the wonderful wine and extraordinary company. Will send diss in a day or two.
7 October 2010 at 7:30 am
kayak woman says:
For a minute, I thought you had managed to get a photooo of the GG’s freakout chamber.
11 October 2010 at 7:51 am
Kelley says:
OK, where are the REST of the plastics? I see something under the eyes and by the nose, but what about the rest of the darned things?
19 October 2010 at 7:27 am
pooh says:
my guess would be a great white egret, based on what we see in Missouri (and Illinois).
19 October 2010 at 7:37 am
Sammy says:
I figured Someone from your household could help me out. Yes, white egret sounds right.
19 October 2010 at 8:09 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Reminds me of the house McKivergan lived in down there.
20 October 2010 at 6:03 am
Sammy says:
Except, maybe, this one was HUGE! (Maybe eight columns across?)
22 October 2010 at 9:35 am
kayak woman says:
I like the reflection too.
23 October 2010 at 7:16 am
kayak woman says:
Dogs and their untrained owners are one of my hot-button issues. I am NOT afraid of dogs but I HATE when some numbskull’s dog runs all the way up to me and JUMPS on me before the numbskull [insipidly] yells, “off” or “oh, he’s just friendly” or some such rot. Why so many [self-absorbed] people think it is okay for their loverly aminal to harass people out for a walk, I will never know. Keep yer dern dawg offa me!
Thanks for letting me rant!
P.S. Interested in the “new” wetland.
23 October 2010 at 7:49 am
Sammy says:
Come visit & we can explore the wetland together! (I wish….)
25 October 2010 at 8:41 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Angel trumpet–had one in Florida, and one here that died. Put another in the ground this year, and though it grew, it did not bloom. Poisonous too.
29 October 2010 at 9:56 pm
kayak woman says:
The candy begging still happens on the date here and I actually have a big bag of HFCS hanging around waiting for it.
I dunno. I’m puzzled about Halloween too but I think for slightly different reasons. I think that for a lot of folks, it’s just a fun holiday and maybe doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning beyond that. On a somewhat opposite end of the spectrum, we have a fair number of fundies (or whatever they are) around here who lock the doors and turn out the lights and keep their kids out of school the day of the Halloween parade.
I do agree that Halloween decorations are starting to equal or even surpass Christmas decorations. And then there was the year that I didn’t buy HFCS until October 31st and when I went to Kroger to get it, they had removed it from the shelves, dumped it all into shopping carts, and were putting out identical pieces of HFCS wrapped in red and green and silver instead of orange and purple and black. Go figger!
How’s that for a long, rambly comment?
30 October 2010 at 8:59 am
pooh says:
All Hallowed Day –> All Saints Day = November 1st
All Hallowed Eve –> Halloween = October 31st
It’s not a totally pagan holy-day or holy-evening, but like many of the Christian holidays, it assimilates parts of the pre-existing rites and festivals.
(Resistance is Futile, you will be Assimilated… to further mix metaphors and costume ideas.)
31 October 2010 at 10:41 pm
Leslie says:
Bill Maher said this past weekend that Tea Partiers should not be permitted to do trick-or-treat. His logic was perfect. Ha!
Btw, in San Diego, the begging is tonight (10/31), after dark, with no specific start/stop times. It’s about the only thing not fully regulated, permitted, and requiring full body armor for children in this city.
1 November 2010 at 7:33 am
kayak woman says:
Revisiting this entry after the holiday. It occurs to me that, the Planet Ann Arbor would have a good time trying to regulate when trick-or-treating happens given that it does not have a daily newspaper any more.
2 November 2010 at 9:37 am
kayak woman says:
I forget how much storage. Thinking about a new computer but need lots of disk space.
3 November 2010 at 7:57 pm
kayak woman says:
Um, were there rattlesnakes there? Not-desert person here…
3 November 2010 at 8:28 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
3 November 2010 at 8:29 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
BTW, Gillian is asking for an ipad for Xmas. Thanks John. Or at least an itouch.
6 November 2010 at 7:52 pm
kayak woman says:
I thought that 15 minutes thing was only in Meeesheeeegaaan.
Love the photoooo.
9 November 2010 at 3:05 pm
jcb says:
Is bald cypress where bald peanuts come from?
9 November 2010 at 8:01 pm
kayak woman says:
Last week, when I drove to work the sun was low in the sky and the light was beautiful. This week, when I leave work, the sun is low in the sky and the light is beautiful.
14 November 2010 at 8:45 am
kayak woman says:
Or did they get it from the American south ala “cocktail weenies braised in co-cola” ?
15 November 2010 at 6:26 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Funny, at one time I thought ALOT about the upper catchment area of Etowah. The pic brings back memories. BTW, I owe you a phone call or email, but have been sick since returning.
16 November 2010 at 7:44 am
Sammy says:
I bet you did!
17 November 2010 at 1:06 pm
kayak woman says:
It was indeed a drive-by to the Apple Store. After lunch at the Red Hawk, from which you absconded with a partial bottle of whine under your coat!!
19 November 2010 at 2:38 pm
kayak woman says:
One of our high schools is a round building and I’ve heard that it is really expensive to do anything to it.
25 November 2010 at 9:52 am
kayak woman says:
Oh yeah, been there a few times, don’tcha know! Catching up on blahgs on this rainy, chilly, loverly Thanksgiving morning.
25 November 2010 at 10:03 pm
kayak woman says:
Did T.B. answer “yes”, when faced with a choice, like my dad and his mother used to do?
29 November 2010 at 10:00 am
kayak woman says:
Jim & Becky facebooked that they were headed to the Eastern Market last Saturday, so maybe you passed each other without knowing it. I have never been there. Maybe it’s high time for an expotition!
29 November 2010 at 10:03 am
kayak woman says:
Aaaannndddd… Cedar Point is just down the road a piece from our fave Magee Marsh. Springtime warbler migration.
Er, what is Teo Two.
Yer favo-rite under-rock friend, KW.
30 November 2010 at 10:16 am
NPjane says:
McClure’s bloody mary mix, huh? haven’t tried it, but just bought Tabasco Bloody Mary mix (spicy) for the first time. I like it, but it’s missing….. something still. I’ll look for McClure’s next.
2 December 2010 at 7:19 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Wow I’m famous (sez G.)
2 December 2010 at 7:23 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
WOW. I’m famous. G says it (again)
4 December 2010 at 2:49 pm
kayak woman says:
Definitely a gray Michigan day here and feels colder than it really is (about 30). My mood is a bit grayer than I want it to be but that usually means I just need to get off my you-know-what!
I *loved* the bridge pic yesterday!
7 December 2010 at 8:10 am
pooh says:
My mom, a docent at the Mathai Botanical Garden (UMich), always tells her young visitors that horsetails “were around when the dinosaurs were alive!” Their cousins, the scouring rushes, were used by pioneers to clean pots — a vegetal steel wool.
7 December 2010 at 9:17 am
kayak woman says:
That is weird! This morning… Debated whether or not to take freeway to work. Oh, let’s live dangerously, I’ll take the freeway. Wrong. Turned onto nasty Jackson Rd. loop-de-loop entrance only to find that traffic was at a standstill! Can I turn around? No, stoopid. iPhone mapping app showed the slowdown. Unfortunately, I didn’t *check* it until I was sitting there waiting to merge — after looking around carefully for the presence of police because of new no-texting law. Even though, technically, I was not texting. I also took a picture. Wonder if that counts as texting
7 December 2010 at 9:37 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, The Technology only works if you check it out. So, if your GPS is on the phone it’s not okay, but if it’s built into the dash, it is? (Will we see the photo later?)
9 December 2010 at 5:53 pm
jcb says:
Nice way to spend the day with you, dear. Happy 21st!
10 December 2010 at 10:11 pm
kayak woman says:
I am not ready either!
12 December 2010 at 9:36 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, yick is right! Or blech. Slapped plenty of those yicky blechy old things over the years.
14 December 2010 at 1:05 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Perhaps you mean ‘visually and fragrantly’ rather than ‘odorously’ which I think conveys smelly rather than perfumy! But I guess it depends on your sense of smell.
14 December 2010 at 1:39 pm
Sammy says:
Ya know, I was casting about for the word for that spot, and my dictionary-digging suggested that odorously is not the same as odoriferously. The latter is malodorous, while the former means merely having scent. Or that’s what MY dictionary said. Live and learn, however! Thanks….
15 December 2010 at 9:30 am
kayak woman says:
I think that the word “odorous” sounds close enough to “odoriferous” that it makes you think “smelly” rather than “perfumy”.
But then, I always thought that “odoriferous” was “odiferous” (Mr. Rank and Mr. Odiferous used to use our shower sometimes). Then *again*, according to The Google, “odiferous” is a short form of “odoriferous”.
Okay, I guess I have typed those words enough times. Better get back to typing things like “File options” and “File delivery schedule” et al, and earn my keep.
Was intrigued with some paper whites and amaryllis bulbs at Downtown Home & Garden last weekend but there’s always that old black thumb issue.
15 December 2010 at 9:59 am
Sammy says:
The winter-bulbs-indoors thing is easy, just add water now & then. Truly. And after the blooming is over, and spring has arrived outdoors, you can stick the bulbs in the ground for next year (around here; in the Midwest, you might have to plant them when the frost is off the ground in the spring, and not before, to prevent freezing).
16 December 2010 at 1:19 pm
kayak woman says:
Blue berries.
16 December 2010 at 8:38 pm
kayak woman says:
arum… Is that the jitp-like plant? Or am I nuts?
20 December 2010 at 12:22 pm
kayak woman says:
Well, er, sedate is fine but monitoring the wifi for irregularities? Then again, I know who you are married to
20 December 2010 at 10:58 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
OK, I looked at the desserts link, now I have to go find something sweet to eat!
20 December 2010 at 11:01 pm
Sammy says:
So, so tasty! I’m spoiled for life; good thing they’re not in ATL!
22 December 2010 at 3:57 pm
kayak woman says:
I *love* the waaarrrrs in this photooooo and what the heck is that freighter-like hulk back there?
22 December 2010 at 4:05 pm
Sammy says:
Actually, I think it’s an ocean-going freighter and hulk all in one! (You can’t tell, but it was motoring to the left/east at a decent clip (perhaps not yet loaded?).
Didja notice the PALM TREES!??
22 December 2010 at 4:11 pm
kayak woman says:
I did see the palm trees!!
23 December 2010 at 10:59 am
pooh says:
It’s one of Dan’s favorites in CA too, and he doesn’t even eat burgers. We went there the first night we arrived in Valencia, and it was packed, even at 9:30 at night.
23 December 2010 at 12:38 pm
Marquis says:
They say it never rains in California
But girl, don’t they warn ya
It pours man it pours.
23 December 2010 at 12:44 pm
kayak woman says:
I have eaten at an In-N-Out! And it was pretty good, hit the spot anyway. I will also eat burgers at Clyde’s Drive-In at the Sugar Island ferry dock. Used to bring cafeteria trays and wet washcloths along when the kids were young. And the Old Town Barrooooom here on The Planet Ann Arbor.
The In-N-Out also has a “secret” menu for non burger lovers.
California girl scheduled to land here in the Great Gray North in a half hour or so.
24 December 2010 at 10:23 am
pooh says:
I make two cranberry sauces neither of which is cooked.
1. The sauce on the cranberry bag with cranberries, a whole orange (including peel), cut in eighths, and sugar. Combine in a Cuisinart, blender or whatever.
2. Susan Stanberg’s recipe, a perennial favorite on NPR. The secret ingredient is horseradish!
I generally make a half recipe of each, so I can use just one bag of cranberries.
24 December 2010 at 10:43 am
kayak woman says:
I often make two also. My first one is like Pooh’s. The second is whole cranberries boiled with water and sugar. I haven’t tried Susan’s recipe yet. I like cranberry sauce, especially with turkey and in turkey wraps post holiday. But I’m making duck this year.
25 December 2010 at 8:06 am
kayak woman says:
Those ingredients look good. Parsnips up there on the top? We had a leek potato soup last night with fennel bulb and turnips among many other ingredients.
25 December 2010 at 10:19 am
Marquis says:
Merry Christmas, Sam!
I for one hope that you do get snow.
Its fun!
1 January 2011 at 12:10 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Oh, Beautiful. And the sunshine must have felt heavenly also!
4 January 2011 at 11:24 am
Pooh says:
Some orchids carry the “it’s a guy thing” even further. There is a species whose flowers resemble female wasps. The male wasps, being guys, try to mate with the pseudo-female flower, instead carrying pollen from one plant to the next.
This was part of a DVD called “The Birds and the Bees” or something like that, but affectionately referred to as “The Plant Porn Movie” by the biology teachers at Ladue.
6 January 2011 at 2:12 pm
kayak woman says:
Love the salad bar idea and never thought of it before!
6 January 2011 at 3:16 pm
Sammy says:
Problem: no fresh basil on the salad bar (but a small problem). Sometimes if I’m in a huge hurry, I also use the salad bar for stuff to add to soup.
7 January 2011 at 7:53 am
kayak woman says:
Some days are like that
11 January 2011 at 10:01 am
Pooh says:
My school district called a snow day today. On the news last night they said that Atlanta has only eight plows! Good luck and be careful!
11 January 2011 at 10:25 am
Sammy says:
I thought the Interstate system was for national emergencies (plus economics); apparently the super-bare-bones budgets that our government agencies have do not allow for keeping the Interstates open. So much for national safety. Maybe the TSA should be funding this?
12 January 2011 at 7:36 am
kayak woman says:
I’ve kept my facebook activities pretty well under control and have enjoyed connecting with childhood folks I didn’t expect to see or hear from ever again. Also on there with all kinds of family members, some that I rarely see.
12 January 2011 at 8:09 am
Sammy says:
FB certainly has pluses; I am torn about the social network part, but the games, whew.
12 January 2011 at 2:28 pm
kayak woman says:
Back when we had the wrangler, I remember one snowstorm of about 12 inches. The GG could not *wait* to get out there and “play” around with his 4-wheel drive vee-hickle. Unfortunately, people who were stuck kept asking him for help. I’m sure that was fun the first couple times but it got old fast.
Also recalling *many* years ago in the UP, a series of 25-below (or thereabouts) days. Canadian radio was advising everyone to stay inside. “Go to a bar!” Good times.
12 January 2011 at 2:33 pm
Sammy says:
Hmm. We’re trying a variation on “Go to a bar!” tonight and heading to the neighbors’ for the second “cabin fever” cocktail hour invite of the week…great neighbors!
15 January 2011 at 11:08 am
kayak woman says:
Horrendous driving from A2 to HL this AM. Lots of vee-hickles off the road.
15 January 2011 at 11:24 am
Sammy says:
Glad you’re there safely; for a few crazy (crazed?) hours, I thought there might be a chance that we could swoop in and surprise you there at HL…but the stars (oh so clearly) we not aligned for it….
17 January 2011 at 8:44 am
kayak woman says:
Wow, cooold here today! Actually not *that* cold. 14-15 above zero or so but wind blowing a gale!
20 January 2011 at 2:05 pm
jcb says:
Live long and prosper, dear.
20 January 2011 at 11:20 pm
jcb says:
happy blogiversary dear. your images and words have enriched me so many times, so many ways.
21 January 2011 at 12:04 pm
kayak woman says:
Happy blogiversary! I tend to only randomly notice waaarrrrs and things too. I do have to watch where I put my feet at this season. Nastiest, slipperiest walking we’ve had in years!
21 January 2011 at 1:34 pm
Sammy says:
Aww, y’all are too nice!
21 January 2011 at 8:39 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
It’s my daily pick-me-up, my lil bit ‘o sammy that keeps me sane and missing GA slightly less. happy blogoversary, as John says. And of course, I only look down as well.
23 January 2011 at 1:59 pm
kayak woman says:
Those look pretty good! What was the meeting about? Was it the SGA?
23 January 2011 at 2:38 pm
Pooh says:
Love the picture — it reminds me of Easter eggs and spring!
23 January 2011 at 4:25 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, the SGA.
23 January 2011 at 10:02 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Are you studying Italian for your future trip? (the link to Solicchiata that sounds like a wine to me!!)
23 January 2011 at 10:12 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Definitely frog. I could go on and on about it, but I won’t bore you! Just believe that experience led me to ‘jump’ to this conclusion!
24 January 2011 at 8:14 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, I thought so….
24 January 2011 at 8:38 pm
kayak woman says:
Been there, done that! Biorhythms, that is. Whine can help, as I think you know
24 January 2011 at 10:25 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
I prefer ‘WINE’ myself for these days. The Yucca aspect, the all-directional concept, but look at all those strings attached!
25 January 2011 at 8:27 pm
jcb says:
I’m not even sure I could successfully navigate over the accent marks.
25 January 2011 at 10:03 pm
Jay says:
That route looks wild! It appears to be on a steeper face than the western side. Would be quite a bike ride down.
26 January 2011 at 7:48 am
Sammy says:
I gotta say, I also wonder about the water supply; thatsalotta people—Èrici’s population is supposed to be >28K.
27 January 2011 at 8:39 am
Marquis says:
JCB, try reading it backwards, that way you won’t get hooked.
30 January 2011 at 9:47 am
kayak woman says:
Have always loved that field!!!
30 January 2011 at 10:46 am
kayak woman says:
Wow, I missed a few! We stopped at a rest area just north of Jellico in October and ate lunch in the warm sunshine. Then exited *at* Jellico too look for “dramaqueen” (dramamine).
2 February 2011 at 9:16 am
kayak woman says:
Pretty!
Once, back in the Jurassic Age, I took a video back to Blockbuster or wherever (nowadays, I just download things from Netflix to my laptop/iPad/phone). Anyway. I was returning it late so I knew there would be a fine of some sort. Oh well. But then, the young whippersnapper behind the counter asked, “Would you like to pay it all at once?” How the heck much could I possibly owe, I wondered. Turned out it was 99 cents. Wonder what kind of payment plan he was thinking of setting me up with…
2 February 2011 at 10:39 am
pooh says:
Thanks for the shout-out to Marquis’ web site! It might be some kind of finch. When I’m at the pet store, I always take a stroll by the bird and small mammal cages, and your bird looks like it belongs there. Was it outside(!) or inside?
2 February 2011 at 11:43 am
Sammy says:
A caged bird, not singing…. A seed eater, I think, so finch is good!
3 February 2011 at 11:24 am
kayak woman says:
Lots of memories of the original Borders (well, probably about the 4th rendition of the original anyway). We would wrap up the newborn Elizabeth and take her down there and the employees would all ooh and ahh at her. And she learned to crawl up the nice, carpeted stairs there.
(And yes, I do indeed know about equal temperament.
)
3 February 2011 at 3:49 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Lady Gouldian Finch. When I first met Robert he took me to visit his track coach who had an aviary full of these beautiful birds.
3 February 2011 at 4:18 pm
Sammy says:
Thanks, MJ!
3 February 2011 at 9:51 pm
Marquis says:
I appreciate the link-back, but if it actually linked-back that would be better. As is, it is a rotten link.
4 February 2011 at 7:36 am
Sammy says:
Ooooooops (how’d that happen???). Now fixed. Apologies!
4 February 2011 at 10:32 pm
kayak woman says:
But I loooove to wrangle html!
That is THE plant, right?
P. S. The iPad autocorrect changed “loooove” to “police”. 1) I love autocorrect and 2) go figger.
5 February 2011 at 7:34 am
Sammy says:
Yes, and this is why I went to the trouble to make it well-traveled!
7 February 2011 at 12:34 pm
kayak woman says:
Interesting about the white-on-black ebook format. Over the years, a lot of people have disparaged white-on-black but I have read about a study that found that for low-vision folks, a black background with a large yellow font was easier to read than black-on-white. (Not that you have low vision, just thought it was interesting.)
7 February 2011 at 6:28 pm
jcb says:
I’ll be glad to show you the key to observing these things sometime.
7 February 2011 at 9:22 pm
kayak woman says:
I’d probably be focusing on the crocus too. Hmm, focus, crocus?
Anyway, I missed the key too, when I first saw the pic. For a while, we had a propeller on the Indefatigable’s trailer hitch. And kids at Commie High would actually ask stuff like whether it powered the vee-hickle. The GG removed it before driver’s license tests.
7 February 2011 at 11:25 pm
Marquis says:
Perfect!
9 February 2011 at 10:27 am
kayak woman says:
I guess the iPad probably needs a camera but I wonder how wieldy (is that a word?) it’ll be. Also, wiki-pee in my experience, can at least serve as a jumping off point for other references.
11 February 2011 at 6:54 am
kayak woman says:
Eh, yeah it was earlier. I am running about 20 minutes behind myself this winter.
12 February 2011 at 9:14 am
Pooh says:
Reminds me of the song in The Sound of Music where the kids and Maria are running the puppet theatre. LOL
12 February 2011 at 9:15 am
Sammy says:
Perhaps I missed it and our cashier was a puppet? Hmm….
15 February 2011 at 9:28 am
kayak woman says:
I was really puzzled as to what those things in the plastic cases were. I wonder if any of those are selling and, if so, how do the recipients feel about them? But then, I’m not a big fan of cut flowers either. Pretty but wasteful and then you have to throw them out. Usually when their way past their prime, around these parts anyway.
15 February 2011 at 10:04 am
Sammy says:
Too many movies and magazine photo shoots have scattered petals about for there not to be folks out there who want a petal-scatter in their own lives. I agree: wasteful. A tour guide we had in Tanzania summed up the flower business there: that’s how we export our water to Europe. Nailed it!
17 February 2011 at 9:55 am
jcb says:
I think we should travel with flowers in the back seat more often. Makes the car smell great. Of course, it smells a little like beets and roasted vegetables right now.
17 February 2011 at 10:30 am
Sammy says:
Still?
18 February 2011 at 10:54 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, that stack of New Yorkers
I missed that article (December? yikes) and have probably thrown out that issue but I was thinking about that issue (or a few little parts of it anyway) this morning.
Too bad the new iPad app will not let me access the content that I PAY FOR via my dead tree subscription for FREE.
18 February 2011 at 11:19 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah. That last sentence. I mean that it wants to make me pay for ANOTHER subscription if I download the iPad app.
18 February 2011 at 12:56 pm
Sammy says:
My understanding is that if you have a regular subscription you can access the content online for no extra $$, IF you use a browser. Don’t know if it is flash….
19 February 2011 at 9:04 am
kayak woman says:
Think that *is* true for a browser because I have done that. But my understanding is that the iPad app itself is free but you then have to buy the issues. But maybe more research is needed.
19 February 2011 at 10:01 am
Pooh says:
Mo-o-mm, that one in the corner is looking at me. Make it stop!
19 February 2011 at 10:27 am
Sammy says:
It likes you, Pooh!
21 February 2011 at 10:10 am
Pooh says:
But I was just playing…
21 February 2011 at 10:37 am
Sammy says:
I think there’s about six “a”s in that final word….
21 February 2011 at 9:56 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
OMG! You hit the nail on the head! One more nail in the coffin of the unions, the champions of the working class.
22 February 2011 at 7:07 pm
kayak woman says:
Heard about this on Twitter! Looks loverly!
22 February 2011 at 10:45 pm
Sammy says:
And, now I can say: tasted great!
24 February 2011 at 9:30 pm
Jay says:
My first impression was a silly smile, and trying to hide something that he/she shouldn’t have (a carrot from McGregor?)
24 February 2011 at 11:03 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Gillian’s new fave movie is The Holy Grail. Bought myself an anniversary edition as a graduation present. Let’s watch next time you come.
27 February 2011 at 4:52 pm
jcb says:
Ah yes, dogs on motorcycles, people napping on in-line skates…cops on dogs, people on cops’ dogs…blankets on napping motorcyclists…a nice day to be had by all.
1 March 2011 at 2:03 pm
Pooh says:
What’s roaring here is chainsaws and chippers!
3 March 2011 at 1:44 pm
kayak woman says:
Are you getting your own? The only thing about black is that it can get “lost” easily. Like in a black upholstered car, etc.
3 March 2011 at 2:50 pm
Sammy says:
One for the household is…probable. But it will be in a case, or have that nifty magnetic cover, which will increase visibility. And make it more recognizable….
4 March 2011 at 8:04 pm
Leslie says:
Mid-May actually.
4 March 2011 at 9:28 pm
kayak woman says:
I ate cottage cheese until I was five (?) and had scarlet fever (with hallucinations that I can still remember). At one point during my recovery, there was a bowl of cottage cheese next my bed and my little brother came along and stashed an old chewed up blue crayon (one of his ‘gars, aka cigars). That incident was not a hallucination and I do not eat cottage cheese now.
4 March 2011 at 9:45 pm
kayak woman says:
That would be stashed an old chewed up blue crayon (yada yada) in MY COTTAGE CHEESE!
5 March 2011 at 8:08 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
OOOH, I’m so envious. The blooms in your area seem early. Here in Arkansas I’m seeing only buds, but at least there are warm southern breezes.
5 March 2011 at 9:54 am
Pooh says:
Blue? There aren’t very many natural blue foods. Maybe adding red or orange, but blue?
5 March 2011 at 12:47 pm
Sammy says:
Exactly.
9 March 2011 at 8:37 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Hey, Florence, AL is right across the Tennessee river from Muscle Shoals, AL and the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studio! Link;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_Shoals_Sound_Studio
Now that’s somewhere with Romance of Travel. For some reason though, I always thought Muscle Shoals would be down in the Delta somewhere, not northwest AL.
9 March 2011 at 8:42 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Also check out the NPR interview;
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1437161
11 March 2011 at 10:16 am
kayak woman says:
I will have to check that one out. Later. After spending the day with jquery and the LSCHP.
11 March 2011 at 10:39 am
Sammy says:
Guaranteed: you will love it. No flute, though….
13 March 2011 at 6:08 pm
kayak woman says:
I’ve noticed the difficulties in capturing the color purple too. Wonder if it was an issue with film cameras too? Also, “spring forward” kicked my you-know-what this morning!
17 March 2011 at 8:46 am
Yooper Lady says:
Ooooooooooooooo so beautiful. Such eye-candy for us.
17 March 2011 at 8:48 am
Yooper Lady says:
Oh, such beauty! Truly eye-candy for us.
17 March 2011 at 5:22 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Thanks for the flowers! And good thoughts.
18 March 2011 at 12:32 pm
kayak woman says:
That old one foot in front of the other stuff always gets me out of that emotionally wasted state.
19 March 2011 at 12:20 am
Jay says:
What credit card? The 3 percent on our card has made math olympics out of paying tuition. (The Bank of Montreal lets US funds chill for 30 days before they are usable.)
21 March 2011 at 2:48 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
We were greeted with snow sowers and overcast skies for the first day of spring here in Bend. Keep posting the flower pics, they give me hope!
22 March 2011 at 7:20 am
kayak woman says:
I actually have four bags of old clothes to put out for pickup today and I only put *one* of them together! A drop in the bucket but still.
22 March 2011 at 8:17 am
Sammy says:
Kudos, KW! A buncha drops, as they say….
26 March 2011 at 8:18 am
kayak woman says:
7 degrees again this morning here in the yooperland.
26 March 2011 at 10:56 am
Pooh says:
Well, you could go formal, and call it a “white variety of redbud”, but I’d just go with the irony of “white redbud”.
26 March 2011 at 11:08 am
Sammy says:
Seven degrees makes ya shiver & white redbud makes ya think. Thanks, ladees!
28 March 2011 at 10:56 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Thanks! My own blog bday tribute-wow. And I love the azaleas. Remind me of home long ago, and Mom, so good memories. And I had a good day too.
30 March 2011 at 11:50 pm
Mysterious D says:
Hey Sammy – Enjoying all your Spring flowers but these dogwoods are very very special – nice job! – D
6 April 2011 at 9:20 am
Pooh says:
My favorite for r-o-l-l-i-n-g off the tongue is “endoplasmic reticulum”.
6 April 2011 at 5:40 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Having been a Fallon in my pre-married life, I’ll have to try that tribute flavor. My all time favorite will always be Baskin & Robbins chocolate mint, I LIVED on it in high school!!!!
6 April 2011 at 5:43 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
How about “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”, my favorite phrase.
7 April 2011 at 4:23 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
I DO like Americone Dream. Yummy.
11 April 2011 at 1:20 am
jcb says:
Thanks Sam for so many wonderful opportunities for Hanami..my life: enriched.
11 April 2011 at 7:37 pm
kayak woman says:
Hey, me too. My life: enriched. Via The Beautiful Sam.
15 April 2011 at 11:17 pm
Jay says:
I love how everytime I look at your mother I see family resemblence.
16 April 2011 at 11:25 pm
kayak woman says:
We’ve been calling ours the nanamoose
16 April 2011 at 11:29 pm
kayak woman says:
I think I “researched” this last spring (i.e., did the google). I like “croci” but I thought I read somewhere that “crocuses” was more common. A quick google just now turned up mixed results. But, once again, I am up too late. G’night! -KW.
18 April 2011 at 8:21 am
kayak woman says:
Where / who? (email
)
18 April 2011 at 10:20 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Are you emailing each other?
19 April 2011 at 9:30 pm
kayak woman says:
Nope. Not unexpected!
Hoping we get some of that thundersnow here but guessing not at this point.
20 April 2011 at 11:06 pm
kayak woman says:
Kind of longing for a miscellaneous day like that and not, you probably should not feel partiularly safe
21 April 2011 at 7:51 am
Pooh says:
We’ve had not one, but two SWAT team cases in the last month in STL. Seeing a line of armed men with the vests and helmets going up to someone’s door on the evening news is much more unsettling than seeing it in a movie.
26 April 2011 at 9:03 pm
kayak woman says:
That’s what yer s’pos’d'ta do with cooking whine, don’tcha know…
27 April 2011 at 5:10 am
Sammy says:
I think I “smell” a Froooggy comment!
28 April 2011 at 8:26 am
Pooh says:
Glad to hear you are among the lucky ones!
…Sad to hear there was so much damage, and extensive casualties throughout the South. Despite the many homes totally destroyed in St. Louis, we had few serious injuries and no deaths.
29 April 2011 at 9:53 pm
jcb says:
Nice feet! Hope they take you to some interesting places during May.
30 April 2011 at 8:33 am
Pooh says:
In our pre-school, they have a special song to sing when someone gets new shoes. Fortunately for you, I can recall neither the words nor the tune.
30 April 2011 at 9:10 am
Sammy says:
Thanks, jcb; whew!, Pooh!
4 May 2011 at 7:39 pm
James says:
Thanks for the updates. Appreciate the news.
8 May 2011 at 10:51 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
oh yeah, KY looks just like this too. Without the water. yeah, that’s it.
Glad you are having such a great time.
8 May 2011 at 11:46 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Oh, i ricordi, Vernazza delle Cinque Terre, il vino, il cibo, l’uomo dei miei sogni!
12 May 2011 at 9:20 pm
kayak woman says:
Miss you! Have been following your travels but haven’t commented for a while. Can’t quite make my brain extrapolate to the idea that there is actually any other place on earth than The Planet Ann Arbor, Sault Ste. Siberia or the I75 SUV Speedway
13 May 2011 at 10:17 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Wow, looking at Google Maps, I would be intimidated driving around! We only have to contend with cougars in the neighborhood, more on that later.
Fabulous pictures and itinerary. We’re so happy for you, and envious too! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!
14 May 2011 at 9:37 pm
kayak woman says:
As I read this, I could hear your *voice* saying it all. Love, KW!
16 May 2011 at 2:12 pm
Jeff says:
Would it have been “All Along the Watchtower,” the Dylan song the new BG riffed off of the last couple seasons?
17 May 2011 at 7:36 am
Pooh says:
Great picture, with the shadows making it just that much more baroque.
17 May 2011 at 9:16 am
kayak woman says:
I thought you already were a coffee drinker. I mean, not a fanatic or anything…
17 May 2011 at 4:45 pm
Sammy says:
Actually, I quit about 15 years ago, but it’s almost like the pause never happened.
17 May 2011 at 11:40 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Wow, how do you find these places? Do they have chocolate spread in the basket? We found that the places we went in Italy they sure liked their sweets in the morning! We’re enjoying wine in our wine glasses we got in Vernazza as we head to the hottub. We had a rainy day but Robert got some work done on a new storage shed he’s building. Love the posts, so glad you’re having a great time.
18 May 2011 at 7:19 pm
kayak woman says:
I often wish I could herd other vee-hickles on the road that way…
18 May 2011 at 7:22 pm
kayak woman says:
I am an intermittent coffee drinker these days. I drink it 1) socially (sometimes) 2) if I truly am sleepy in the morning (not very often) or 3) I actually eat breakfast *out*. Mostly I don’t really need the caffeine. Getting up at 0-skunk-30, taking a shower and walking 3-4 miles wakes me up more than coffee ever could.
25 May 2011 at 1:11 pm
kayak woman says:
I could probably write a book about how much I hate when real estate developers move rocks around.
And I was just starting to write this comment when you called!!!!!!
27 May 2011 at 5:24 pm
kayak woman says:
Oh, *that* hat!!! (Read jcb’s blahg mentioning it.) I know that hat!!!
27 May 2011 at 7:37 pm
James says:
Yum! More pictures of food!
1 June 2011 at 8:03 pm
Kelley H says:
Hey, world travelers, THIS site is amazing. Truly more than I ever knew, just from your comments. And I can’t wait to hear your reactions in person to Pompeii. Just can’t wait to catch up about all you’ve experienced!! This has been one short month…
2 June 2011 at 11:22 pm
kayak woman says:
Although I am happy that you had such a wonderful trip and have greatly enjoyed reading about your adventures, a part of me is ecstatic that you are once again on the same continent as I am. Love.
6 June 2011 at 10:20 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
I beg to differ. Your picture of the original in the museum seems to be much more richly colored than the copy at Herculaneum (maybe it’s the lighting!). I felt the same way when I visited the Smithsonian, just a jumble of artifacts without context. That’s why I liked the High Desert Museum, context, even if it was fake!
6 June 2011 at 10:25 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
SUMMERFEST?! We haven’t even had spring here yet!! 2 days since May 1st over 60 degrees; May 1st and June 4!
6 June 2011 at 10:31 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Why in a cage?
8 June 2011 at 10:14 pm
kayak woman says:
I made pesto tonight too but I had to buy my basil leaves at Plum Market. And whyyyyy not use Japanese noodles? Fusion? (or something…)
9 June 2011 at 12:09 pm
Pooh says:
Fusion indeed. I believe that Marco Polo brought back noodles from his trip to the Orient. (Although I don’t know if he got as far as Japan.)
9 June 2011 at 12:18 pm
Sammy says:
Ah, the Marco Polo-pasta connection. I’ve been reading a fair amount about Italy lately, and that tale, although widely repeated is considered…a misleading and inaccurate translation. I believe the current theory is that the Arabs developed noodles. And before Marco’s time.
9 June 2011 at 1:54 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
We successfully made and froze a dozen bags of pesto last summer and enjoyed them all year. You add the cheese and butter later, i.e., freeze without them, and once defrosted, add those and wha-la, quickie dinner. Saved my hide many times. Not quite as good as fresh from garden, but still much better than store-bought pesto (which I’ve resorted to on occasion).
15 June 2011 at 12:27 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Wish we were there! Looks delicious!
15 June 2011 at 12:33 am
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Wow! Century Drive just opened yesterday and we drove up this morning. The car registered 28 degrees at one point in the snow fields!.
15 June 2011 at 6:54 pm
kayak woman says:
We LOVED all those photoooos. The 250 and the 36 (or 39 or whatever). And I needed the conversation. And the whine, of course.
16 June 2011 at 11:22 pm
Jay says:
Meijer’s Shifty Takers is how I remember the name.
21 June 2011 at 7:38 pm
kayak woman says:
I love your lupine!
When we traveled to the Canadian maritime provinces after we got married, I remember the lupine. My mom has always wanted to plant it at our place on L. Superior. It doesn’t seem to take in our location. The Botanist would probably know why
22 June 2011 at 8:37 am
Pooh says:
Maybe it means that fennel flowers might make some tasty honey?
22 June 2011 at 8:40 am
Sammy says:
Licorice flavored? Would match your new Prius!?
22 June 2011 at 8:41 am
Pooh says:
Betty always said that lupine made her a little loopy. Maybe the cows or horses would like hay with a little lupine.
22 June 2011 at 8:43 am
Sammy says:
Betty ALWAYS had a way with words!
24 June 2011 at 12:36 pm
manette says:
Love the contrast of your Dad’s lined hand and the new peas… it quite dramatic.
24 June 2011 at 3:08 pm
Sammy says:
Yes, I love this photograph, too.
26 June 2011 at 8:34 pm
kayak woman says:
Stay safe. Love you guys!
28 June 2011 at 8:47 am
Pooh says:
When I first read cuspidata, my brain wanted to make it cuspidor, which then triggered the childish song stolen from Bizet’s “Carmen”.
Toreador-a, don’t spit on the floor-a.
Use the cuspidor-a, that’s what it’s a-for-a!
“Carmen” is my favorite opera, but who knows why these words get stuck in my brain!
12 July 2011 at 7:21 am
kayak woman says:
I may be crazy but I *think* I remember reading or hearing somewhere a while back that phones and laptops and things are one way that bedbugs travel.
12 July 2011 at 12:16 pm
Sammy says:
Ick. I sure hope not!
13 July 2011 at 8:33 am
Pooh says:
Loved the triskelion site. Might have to incorporate some triskelions in a quilting design, someday.
13 July 2011 at 10:37 pm
Leslie says:
Me, I love the velvet-soft ears. Nothing like them. And I love the smell of horse (yes, even horse shit).
19 July 2011 at 10:46 pm
kayak woman says:
I’m kind of wondering what that was and whether it is worth rebuilding…
19 July 2011 at 10:48 pm
kayak woman says:
I think I saw Jcb’s tweet about this event
21 July 2011 at 8:07 am
kayak woman says:
My early morning walk (which was about 1/2 hour later than usual) was at Houghton Lake where it is very hot (like the rest of the Great Lake State) but a stiff breeze made it tolerable. Except when I turned toward the sun. And when the lacewing fly buzzed me for a half mile or so.
21 July 2011 at 9:41 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Blech! and thanks for the phone call. Sorry we missed you guys. Was here, but was braiding a rug, really, and I don’t move very fast anymore. The heat is getting to me–gave up on my 2.5 mile walk and did a maybe .5 mile walk today. Hope it gets better up there.
22 July 2011 at 8:47 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Hmm, our grapes went from green to brown sour. Hope yours stay good. Last year I made lots of jelly, but this year it’s a bad crop, and I don’t know why. Blueberries not as great either. Too much rain? Too much early heat? Anyway, enjoy your grapes. And beans.
24 July 2011 at 8:59 am
kayak woman says:
My father-in-law used to wear fancy colored shorts, some of them with wild patterns and things. I think he bought his at Woldemort.
28 July 2011 at 9:23 pm
kayak woman says:
I heard that A2 got six inches in 12 hours. Apparently a tree branch broke through some glass in Bubs & Harry’s greenhouse.
2 August 2011 at 9:17 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
oooh, bring me some, please please please!! I’ll make something delish with them if you do.
5 August 2011 at 11:20 pm
So when does the big game and the even bigger deal - the 3D graphics take place? Are y'all having fun? says:
I recognize this view….you’re at the UP, right? We are in NWLC for a few days, as it is a bit cooler and we have a nice breeze. Everything is fine on good ol Hudson Drive and hope y’all are having a nice time…….D
6 August 2011 at 11:18 am
kayak woman says:
Wish I could make it to the Green Cabin this summer!
10 August 2011 at 8:24 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
The trees and the grass don’t care about the stock market! Why should I?
13 August 2011 at 10:56 am
kayak woman says:
I think you are [arguably] right that Jack’s will attract the seasonal customers as much as anyone. Our go-to grocery store here at Houghton Lake is new in the last 5-6 years or so. Decent meat market with other specialty stuff. Just enough stuff in general that I can *almost* get all of what I need there. Occasional forays into Glen’s or Woldemort are sometimes needed.
I dunno, is it better to wake up to a bat flying around in one’s bedroom or to discover one flapping around in the toilet?
13 August 2011 at 10:58 am
Sammy's second cousin says:
Sleet in August? From your description it sounds more like hail.
14 August 2011 at 12:58 am
jay says:
Bats in the room. My response was to just put my head beneath the covers and try to go back to sleep. They usually were gone by morning.
15 August 2011 at 11:54 am
Sammy says:
Yes, you are right, SSC aka HH. I suspect an overabundance of fresh air has induced mental lethargy. Or something. Text now corrected….
15 August 2011 at 12:59 pm
kayak woman says:
Have seen quite a few deer around my office in the last couple weeks. Not close enough or still enough for a photo.
16 August 2011 at 10:47 am
James says:
Oh, poor Allen! Poor iPhone!
16 August 2011 at 3:47 pm
manette says:
Whoops! We just put that section in a couple of days before we left… I guess it didn’t have enough time to get settled. A better story would have been that the fish was so big, it dragged him along with the dock into the water!
17 August 2011 at 4:16 pm
kayak woman says:
Gorgeous photoooo… Wish I was there
17 August 2011 at 4:18 pm
kayak woman says:
Didn’t manage to get there this summer and likely won’t. When I was a kid, I used to think it looked like coca-cola.
18 August 2011 at 10:32 pm
kayak woman says:
This year is so bizarre. Usually the moe-skee-toes are pretty much history by mid/late August. They were dogging me on my lunch walk today and i slapped one that was full of blood. I hate ‘splainin’ that kind of thing to the overthinkers at work
Eet was a moe-skee-toe, fer kee-reist!
19 August 2011 at 9:48 am
manette says:
Tell Nick if he needs pickers, we will come!
22 August 2011 at 8:55 pm
kayak woman says:
Sorry you are not at the Green Cabin any more (and envious of nn.c et al for being up there
) Glad that the Botanist’s cataract surgery went well.
25 August 2011 at 3:46 pm
kayak woman says:
I once saw an eggplant at the farmer’s market that had a nose like Richard Nixon.
25 August 2011 at 6:05 pm
Sammy says:
Teee heee.
28 August 2011 at 10:24 am
kayak woman says:
You shot hoops? You never fail to amaze me!
(When I was a kid living across the street from a raggedy old basketball court, I used to shoots hoops a lot. I was pretty good. Then junior high happened…
28 August 2011 at 10:30 am
kayak woman says:
Uh, I used to *shoot* hoops.
30 August 2011 at 12:24 pm
kayak woman says:
Despite the fact that, as a child, I probably put my beloved wooden United Snakes puzzle together about a billion times, I admit that *I* had to look at a map to determine whether Vermont was east or west of New Hampshire.
2 September 2011 at 6:52 pm
kayak woman says:
Never been in a salt-water pool. Do tell. About the hang of it, that is…
Just got done swimming in one of the biggest fresh-water pools on the planet
7 September 2011 at 6:53 pm
Marquis says:
Praise be, Sister Sammy, Come to Jesus!
10 September 2011 at 9:52 pm
kayak woman says:
I love seeing turtles when I am kayaking. I rarely get close enough to them to get a good photo. They usually get scared off and dive into the water. Love this photo.
16 September 2011 at 12:40 pm
kayak woman says:
After one of the greenest summers in recent memory.
17 September 2011 at 10:14 am
kayak woman says:
I had an absolute blast buying books for a baby shower last weekend (at an independent bookstore — Nicola’s over in Westgate). I had to make myself stop at four, remembering that I had *walked* over there and was walking back with a stop at the Plum Market on the way. How much could I carry in my backpack? Forgot how much fun that was though.
20 September 2011 at 7:14 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
um, yum. Can you bring when you come?
27 September 2011 at 11:20 am
kayak woman says:
Sad, sorta. We were talking about the economy over the weekend (even the family conservatives seem to be turned off by the GOP presidential candidates) and someone mentioned the downfall of the video rental industry with all the streaming and whatnot. I pointed out that the video *rental* industry was not that old. (I was just sayin’…)
3 October 2011 at 9:56 am
kayak woman says:
I always loved the northwoods dioramas in the dank, dark Underground Forest museum on old US 27, north of Grayling.
4 October 2011 at 12:42 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
G is/was quite excited to see her artwork so displayed! A bit dumbstruck at first, actually!
6 October 2011 at 11:00 pm
kayak woman says:
I love this! I walked in polartech this morning to ward off just a bit of chill in the foggy morning air. By noon, it was summer again! Except for the colors…
10 October 2011 at 9:47 pm
KAH says:
I am instantly returned to memories of Grand Marais… thanks, Sam. And now I can picture the cheese sandwich lunch spot, too, with your help. Glad Your Day was a good one!! Looking forward to seeing y’all SOON!! — XO
14 October 2011 at 9:31 am
Pooh says:
We’ve been there! We rented Bici from near our hotel, and rode down to the Quartier Ancienne. Unlike many people, we also rode our Bici back up the hill. The Bici are really cool, as is the fact that so many people ride bikes in Montreal.
–Je me souviens!
14 October 2011 at 9:35 am
Pooh says:
That bird might be a representation of the Holy Spirit. I once heard a (very) young Catholic neighbor describe the Trinity as “the father, the son, and Donald Duck”. She still had a few years to go until First Communion.
14 October 2011 at 3:43 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Yay you are there and found it.
15 October 2011 at 9:50 am
le Marquis says:
Mount Royal, as they say in English, is a cool town
17 October 2011 at 4:15 pm
Are y'all having fun? says:
Very cool – I really like this photo, and I think about that all the time….the ones that got away……..I just finished reading the Lacuna (at 4:10 PM; 10/17) and non too soon as our book-club meet is tonight. I loved this book although it took me a while to get into her style of writing. I remember that you enjoyed it too and I’m sure brought back your own experiences in Mexico.
Happy Trails to You, D
22 October 2011 at 2:40 pm
kayak woman says:
Lusting after the upgraded camera but waiting (until xmas maybe?) to upgrade. I actually feel like I get a lot out of the old 3GS cam.
27 October 2011 at 5:54 pm
kayak woman says:
A front yard veggie garden renegade! Envious of your homegrowns!
28 October 2011 at 12:34 pm
kayak woman says:
Happy late birthday!!! I always seem to forget. Too many in October.
30 October 2011 at 6:20 pm
kayak woman says:
Dark walk! And love the idea of lighting the path with the iPhone. Frost here this morning. I walked downtown 10-ish and the sun was melting the frost and it was almost like walking in the rain.
31 October 2011 at 9:40 am
Pooh says:
Wishing JCB a quick recovery!
2 November 2011 at 6:09 am
Marquis says:
Happy (belated) Birthday, Sam!
7 November 2011 at 5:12 pm
Fred says:
I think I recognize that shadow.
7 November 2011 at 5:13 pm
Fred says:
awaiting what? and how now?
7 November 2011 at 5:15 pm
Fred says:
don’t see anyone in that darned reflection! don’t think we can say a cool photo thought…
9 November 2011 at 8:22 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Billy is commenting on what a talented photographer you are. Likes the light shining through the holes. When is your exhibition so we can come?
10 November 2011 at 12:42 pm
kayak woman says:
I love that photo too.
11 November 2011 at 11:49 pm
kayak woman says:
The branches that *are* there help frame the photo (not that I know anything about framing photos…
)
12 November 2011 at 9:28 am
Sammy says:
Yeah, elsewhere the trees rimming the river blocked a camera view, but the eyeballs could “edit” them out and appreciate the glowing golden light on the far bank. At this boatramp(!), I could get down to the river without treading in mud (much), and even capture the reflection.
13 November 2011 at 1:45 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
A song to go with your camera. Billy played it on the radio yesterday, and for some reason it reminds me of home.
http://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/node/1172
15 November 2011 at 8:22 am
Pooh says:
Darn, I thought maybe part of the technology of the three-party call was wearing a PARTY DRESS!
15 November 2011 at 10:43 am
Sammy says:
Pooh, you are just too darned sharp for me! Kudos!
17 November 2011 at 7:01 am
Pooh says:
Wonderful picture, party dress not necessary.
18 November 2011 at 11:44 am
kayak woman says:
Gorgeous photoooo. iPhone 4S or one of the others?
18 November 2011 at 12:28 pm
Sammy says:
“Bigcam,” the full-sized Canon. Yesterday’s stage shot was Blue (Lumix), as well as the glass reflections before that. The dress was the new iPhone, though.
19 November 2011 at 6:16 am
kayak woman says:
Bee-ess as in “this kind of display is just a marketing tool for selling brussels sprouts and they’re not any better or fresher than the ones in produce bin?” I’ve always wondered that.
20 November 2011 at 5:54 pm
kayak woman says:
Pretty darn gray day overall. Good flingin’ weather
24 November 2011 at 9:46 am
Pooh says:
Get well wishes for the Doc from Pooh and Mark
25 November 2011 at 9:12 pm
kayak woman says:
So many hours of slanty light at this season, when the sun is out, that is…
29 November 2011 at 8:34 am
Marquis says:
Send in the squirrels!
7 December 2011 at 11:46 pm
Marquis says:
My black Prius had dandruff on it and the slippery streets idiot light came on. I think winter has arrived.
8 December 2011 at 10:09 am
Pooh says:
Wish I was there too! Key lime pie = Yum, yum, yum
8 December 2011 at 11:06 am
Sammy says:
KLP is super simple (follow link above) and, when made with fat-free condensed milk, not as calorie-deadly as you might suspect.
8 December 2011 at 1:16 pm
Mary Jo says:
Shouldn’t key LIME pie be green, or at least yellow?
11 December 2011 at 12:35 pm
le Marquis says:
Nice Photo!
13 December 2011 at 9:27 am
kayak woman says:
Hopefully not with a $230 bottle of bourbon
13 December 2011 at 10:19 am
Sammy says:
Nope. I used the cheap stuff; she used Jim Beam, grandma’s fave.
13 December 2011 at 11:35 pm
Jay says:
I could not quite see the leaves, but it reminds me of a Fatsia
14 December 2011 at 6:31 am
Sammy says:
Sure enough! A quick google confirms! Thanks!
20 December 2011 at 9:52 am
Pooh says:
Did you photoshop the “art is philosophy” or was it painted to read correctly from inside?
20 December 2011 at 10:22 am
kayak woman says:
Art is a philosophy everywhere but the Planet Ann Arbor, where “public” art is decided upon by committee & installed under the direction of a project manager. (Not really sure if that made sense
)
Glad you were able to fit a bit of a ramble into your rocket trip!
20 December 2011 at 1:06 pm
Sammy says:
Heehee. No photoshopping; that’s the way the real world is (sometimes). Great ramble, nice rolling terrain in extreme SE IN.
21 December 2011 at 9:28 am
Maureen Meyers says:
recipe post, please? Love me some muffins, and these sound healthy and good. Perhaps Carol will send an Xmas present to an unknown friend of Sammy & the Guru.
Coming our way southbound? Let us know. We are hanging quietly and enjoying it.
21 December 2011 at 8:48 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Very nice!
26 December 2011 at 1:12 pm
Mary Jo says:
We had 2 Christmas Dinners, a banquet of Mexican dishes on Christmas Eve, the traditional date for their celebratory feast, and a vegan feast on Christmas day with Tofurkey. Both meals were fantastic and there’s lots of leftovers for the coming days. I always thought of a banquet as more of a buffet style with the dishes on the ‘banquet’ table or buffet, and the guests filling their plates and eating at informal settings. The Christmas eve dinner was that style whereas the Christmas day dinner was a sit-down family style meal, passing the serving platters of food around the table. Regardless, neither meal was ‘traditional’ for my immediate family!
26 December 2011 at 3:41 pm
Pooh says:
I was wondering what I’d see when I read the post title on the sidebar. Glad to see it was only Trader Joe’s.
27 December 2011 at 8:29 am
kayak woman says:
Yesterday somebody in A2 tweeted a *current* photo of a dandelion flower. Today snow. Or something. (But is this winter shaping up to be La Nina or El Nino?)
28 December 2011 at 9:14 am
Pooh says:
Great shot! I could see it on the cover of a fantasy novel, as a portal between worlds.
28 December 2011 at 9:26 am
Sammy says:
Love that concept and phrase: “portal between worlds”!
29 December 2011 at 9:36 am
Pooh says:
Gargle with warm water with a pinch of salt. This should help fix your throat tickle. If it doesn’t, you might want to see a doctor. Streptococci are halophiles, so the salt water doesn’t bother them.
Hope this advice is already too late, and your tickle is gone.
29 December 2011 at 9:05 pm
kayak woman says:
Glad you are feeling better. The GG obviously did not comprehend *my* blahg yesterday because this morning he asked me if *I* was okay. Duh. Yes. I do not have any cold symptoms at all! That is Sam with the sore throat…
2 January 2012 at 4:07 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Love this picture! Our thoughts and prayers are with you. So glad she went easily/peacefully, as she wanted. And she lived a full life. Sending you peace and strength for the next few days. On the way home our house is open, of course.
2 January 2012 at 5:00 pm
kayak woman says:
Sam, I am so glad she didn’t have to linger. That part is the worst. I was worried about you guys driving yesterday because of the snow here. I mean, I know you can handle it, just that it isn’t any fun… Love you and have many fond memories of Manette.
3 January 2012 at 9:53 am
Pooh says:
Sam, we are so sorry to hear of your loss, even if your Mom did pass the way she wanted. The picture certainly shows a family resemblence! You and your family are in our thoughts.
3 January 2012 at 6:55 pm
Marquis says:
Sam, we offer you our deepest sympathies, at the loss of your mother. I know how painful and unexpected (no matter how prepared you may feel) the passing of a parent can be. It always comes as a shock. Our prayers are with you and your family.
3 January 2012 at 7:53 pm
Sammy says:
You all are so kind. We truly are doing okay, everything considered. The initial rawness has been a bit buffered already, and I can tell that some loss will always be with me. It comes and goes, however. I’m sure this is everyone’s experience. Thanks, everyone, on behalf of my family and myself, for your kind, sensitive, and thoughtful comments, emails, and calls.
3 January 2012 at 8:47 pm
kayak woman says:
Beautiful! And I have my own theory about how it came to be
6 January 2012 at 7:58 pm
DMK says:
How interesting – we owe a lot to women like your Mom, Grandmom & Great Grandmom. What a family tree! Hope you’re doing well & enjoying this time with the Botanist & Gordy – Diane
6 January 2012 at 8:02 pm
DMK says:
Sammy, you look so much like your Mom – wonderful picture – D
7 January 2012 at 7:34 pm
Mary Jo says:
An impressive pedigree! And to what (or who) do you owe the French influence in names? Belle, Manette, Charlotte?
7 January 2012 at 7:52 pm
Sammy says:
Mary Jo, hmm, hadn’t thought about that. The ancestors on that side are from the British Isles, England for that bunch, I think, so, hmm, Brits trying to be hoity-toity? Further research needed….
7 January 2012 at 9:46 pm
kayak woman says:
And a naming convention that so many of us have probably not thought about…
8 January 2012 at 8:23 pm
Jay says:
Sam & John,
So sorry. And even before I read the post, I was going to comment on the picture. You are in both people. Really. Amazing. And I suppose it is more correct to say you mother is in both people. Love to all, say hi to Gordy and your Dad.
11 January 2012 at 2:31 am
Jay says:
Thank you for this.
Always fun to see some art in water storage.
We have a mural on the 2 MG tank in our front parking lot. It is so nice looking that a neighboring District has a picture of our tank on their web page.
11 January 2012 at 9:00 am
Pooh says:
We have a giant Corinthian column water tower. There is another 19th century structure which I thought was a water tower, but it turns out it is a giant pressure regulator. Not sure if term is right, but it served the same purpose as the part in your house plumbing that prevents “hammering” in the pipes. They have tours one Saturday a month, but it’s been a couple of years.
11 January 2012 at 10:17 pm
kayak woman says:
My dad collected coffee mugs from all of his travels in his later years. They drove my mom nuts even while he was still alive. Eventually I guess I will have to deal with them. Somebody seems to already have absconded with the f*ckin’ bunny mug. Or at least that’s what the GG says. The f*ckin’ bunny mug was the absolute LAST thing on my mind at 0-skunk-30 this morning
12 January 2012 at 2:13 pm
jcb says:
They’ve been warshed, dear.
17 January 2012 at 10:47 pm
kayak woman says:
That looks so good. One of these days I will be back in my loverly little Landfill cooking chili (or whatever) in my own ugly little chitchen.
21 January 2012 at 1:27 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
ours are just still coming up–stems, I mean. These are bulbs I planted 2 or 3 years ago and come up each year. I forget them most of the year and they live in a dark corner of my office.
21 January 2012 at 10:37 pm
kayak woman says:
I love winter because I can see the shapes of the trees.
22 January 2012 at 9:22 pm
kayak woman says:
Oh man, the GG would probably *love* this monstrosity!
25 January 2012 at 7:42 am
Maureen meyers says:
It’s ugly, yet I can’t turn away…
25 January 2012 at 12:49 pm
Mary Jo says:
The skinny one (that would be Mavrik) gets to sit in the middle!
29 January 2012 at 11:00 am
jcb says:
Here’s a wiki-p link on Ponce Springs…which is the water source that apparently was an attraction in years past.
3 February 2012 at 11:55 am
kayak woman says:
One time I had [baby] Liz at a neighborhood playground and a big army chopper buzzed it. I knew intellectually that we weren’t in any danger but it still scared the bejabbers out of me.
Later on, I said to Liz, “Tell dad what we saw at the yellow-slide playground today.” She couldn’t even manage to say “ca-ca-ca”, just got wide-eyed and started circling her arms.
3 February 2012 at 8:49 pm
kayak woman says:
Dogmomster made pot roast here too. Slow-cooked in a crockpot. Smelled sooooo good when we walked in the afternoon. Comfort food?
3 February 2012 at 10:27 pm
Mary Jo says:
They look eerily like the little army men toys my brothers played with, and burned up into globs of melted plastic (it was Vietnam War era, napalm and all that).
4 February 2012 at 9:26 pm
kayak woman says:
It’s I-500, 500 1-mile laps. I think the “I” stands for “International”. Sorry about the confusion!
5 February 2012 at 2:39 pm
kayak woman says:
Also, I didn’t listen to Garrison last night but I heard him tell that joke on the way downstate today. I had this deja vu moment of “hmmm, I’ve heard that one before” but couldn’t remember where!!!
8 February 2012 at 10:06 pm
Mary Jo says:
Did you learn that at Sunshine Valley Growers?
9 February 2012 at 8:39 am
Sammy says:
Yes, ma’am. (I repeat: no laughing.)
9 February 2012 at 7:13 pm
Marquis says:
Kool!
10 February 2012 at 10:37 pm
froggy says:
Grok grok grok. Us froogs luv that ol’ orange scum stuff. But we’d rather drink londry detergent & listerine. Grok grok grok.
11 February 2012 at 10:46 am
Marquis says:
Cool, an iPhone based targeting computer!
21 February 2012 at 2:44 am
Mary Jo says:
What about The Monkees?????? Davy, Micky, Michael, and (my favorite) Peter Tork. I’m a Believer!
21 February 2012 at 2:48 am
Mary Jo says:
Neither looks like the ‘pimenta cheez’ I know from our South Carolina cuzins. But oh so gourmetlicious looking!
22 February 2012 at 6:45 am
kayak woman says:
I have been to Ikea exactly twice. The first time, we (I was with Mouse) came out of the store with exactly one stuffed rat.
25 February 2012 at 11:32 am
wdw says:
Did you squeal like you did at the go go snake site?
26 February 2012 at 9:13 am
kayak woman says:
We apparently had a spectacular sunrise too but I didn’t see it. Grinch called from 6-mile road to report a “spotlight” effect. I think it was a sort of “light column” or something. Anyway I was in the *bathroom* and by the time I got outside it was gone. Plus, buildings probably blocked the view.
26 February 2012 at 9:35 am
Sammy says:
Sunrises are super-ephemera! Super in a buncha ways….
29 February 2012 at 1:19 pm
Eglee says:
Hi Sammy!!!! a HUGE and WARM HUG in this año bisiesto! Love! better two huge HUGS el otro para Jhon… Love to both from the tropical Venezuela… waiting for your visit!
…
29 February 2012 at 4:47 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Congrats on acquiring the needed, yet previously unforeseen as necessary skill. I too acquired those during the summer of 2010. I hope to not use them again, though
29 February 2012 at 8:00 pm
Diane says:
Hi Sammy,
We didn’t realize your Dad was doing poorly; you all have had a rough time lately and I’m so sorry. Hope things are improving and hope to see you both real soon, D & F
3 March 2012 at 10:24 am
Pooh says:
Sort of figured out that you were in “the MItten” for a reason. Best wishes to your Dad. Hope the antibiotics help.
4 March 2012 at 9:32 am
kayak woman says:
Yeah, I think that was a Viking “style” kayak
4 March 2012 at 10:33 am
Pooh says:
It sort of reminds me of the “Piasa Bird” painted by Native Americans on the bluffs of the Mississippi near Alton, IL. Well, except it doesn’t have wings.
6 March 2012 at 10:29 am
kayak woman says:
One foot in front of the other.
6 March 2012 at 12:07 pm
Sherry says:
It is Michu Pichu the lynx god of Lake Superior! The “original” is on a rock face on the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario.
6 March 2012 at 12:18 pm
Sherry says:
…but you knew that already! Really, though, maybe the original is on the kayak?
7 March 2012 at 10:26 pm
jcb says:
I’m just blown away (heh) by how many disparate things you can put together in a simple paragraph or three. I wonder if there are Moraine Locusts near the Trader Joe’s in Moraine (okay, Kettering) Ohio?
8 March 2012 at 10:46 pm
Mary Jo says:
What a fitting blog for the daughter of The Botanist!
9 March 2012 at 9:55 am
Sherry says:
It LOOKS warmer!
9 March 2012 at 8:37 pm
Leslie says:
I’m sorry… but please tell me the doc’s name is not pronounced like it looks (“buzzcock”).
10 March 2012 at 1:32 pm
kayak woman says:
Very windy up here in the Gaylord area.
15 March 2012 at 10:42 am
Pooh says:
Glad to see your Dad was able to enjoy the sunshine! Don’t spoil his view by leaving those weeds above ground for too long. Love, Pooh
20 March 2012 at 9:16 am
Sherry says:
oh- you’re kidding! Now you’ve got me thinking about asparagus & feta omelettes.
20 March 2012 at 9:17 am
Sherry says:
Yay! Praying mantis egg case…good news for the Botanist’s garden.
20 March 2012 at 12:33 pm
kayak woman says:
And Sherry has *me* thinking about asparagus / feta omelets. Hope Farmer John’s asparagus starts coming up soon! Hold that omeletty thought, KW!
20 March 2012 at 9:29 pm
Mary Jo says:
OMG those look GOOOOOD!!!! Yum, Enjoy!
21 March 2012 at 9:06 am
Sherry says:
That is just not fair…I supppose we’ll get some in a few weeks though.
21 March 2012 at 7:21 pm
jcb says:
How much mango could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck mango?
24 March 2012 at 9:38 am
Pooh says:
Sam, our thoughts and prayers are with you and the Botanist. (Although I’d bet on the transfusions and antibiotics over my prayers.)
25 March 2012 at 2:29 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
YAY for lunches, sushi no less, with the Guru.
And yes, I think Target is seeing JCP as its rival. It’s interesting to watch it play out. I like where JCP is going with this, or at least intrigued by it. The freshest thinking in marketing and design to come by in awhile.
27 March 2012 at 9:32 am
Sherry says:
Hmmm….peach glazed duck with a side of asparagus. you are tempting me yet again.
I’m hoping your (and everyone else’s) fruit blossoms don’t get zorched! We had a bit of icy rain here in Curtis this AM, but temps are above freezing. We haven’t advanced to the fruit blossom stage here either.
28 March 2012 at 9:07 am
Sherry says:
sometimes mother nature chooses for us what we are going to eat…I’m still envious! Mother nature is telling us to eat up the winter squash and fingerling potatoes in cold storage.
28 March 2012 at 10:38 pm
Robert & Mary Jo says:
Yes, akin to god (Goddess).
30 March 2012 at 11:09 am
Diane says:
Don’t forget form & composition! – D
8 April 2012 at 9:03 am
Pooh says:
Sam, we are so sorry for your loss. I was fearing the worst when your post was missing for several days. I hope that your father’s crossing was peaceful. Seeing the picture of the three of you walking less than two months ago is a blessing, in that he didn’t suffer for years and years.
8 April 2012 at 9:47 am
le Marquis says:
Sorry for your loss, Sam. It is tough to lose a parent, but to lose both, is so much harder. Prayers for your father, you and your family.
8 April 2012 at 10:56 am
kayak woman says:
Yes, decision-making does take a lot of energy.
8 April 2012 at 10:57 am
kayak woman says:
Amen (not meant in a religious sense, as you know).
8 April 2012 at 11:00 am
kayak woman says:
I think it is. It reminds me of a day sometime after my brother died when I walked in the early morning from the parents’ house to the locks. The Ryerson, my brother’s favorite* lake freighter was parked by the Corps of Engineers.
* Arguably…
8 April 2012 at 11:09 am
kayak woman says:
All I can think of to say is that it was a great honor to have known The Botanist.
8 April 2012 at 4:57 pm
Jay says:
Sam,
I am so sorry, and so honored to have tasted the Botanist’s fare, albeight many years ago now.
8 April 2012 at 5:01 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
A year to the day after my cousin died, after a lifelong struggle with MS, she was in my thoughts and I looked at the car next to me in the Kentucky parking lot to see a Cubs sticker facing me. She loved her Cubbies, and I think she was telling me all was alright. I think your rainbow is saying the same. Good to see you the other night.
8 April 2012 at 9:03 pm
KAH says:
Sam. I love it. Love the gesture/posture of Nick and the intensity on your face. Same face, same intensity 52 (?) years later.
8 April 2012 at 9:07 pm
KAH says:
A moving one, dear Sam. Moving along, moving on, going forward…
8 April 2012 at 9:11 pm
KAH says:
THIS light on THAT red whatever-it-is…is it. What a shot, Sam… good eye!!
8 April 2012 at 9:18 pm
KAH says:
Sam, H___ Road will never be the same. I am sad beyond any words to think that N___’s garden won’t have those large hands to go at it; and glad to realize that his asparagus made it early this year. You have had such a 2012… I am so glad you’re finally back home. Thank you for taking the time, making an effort to post the wonderful, moving photos.
10 April 2012 at 9:07 am
Sherry says:
S&J,
Clan MacKinnon is saddened to hear about the passing of the botanist from this world…he was a very sweet and interesting man. Hugs to you all.
Sherry
11 April 2012 at 9:08 pm
kayak woman says:
Holy mackerel! Or holy whatever kind of seafood it was… Wow!!!!
11 April 2012 at 9:39 pm
Maureen Meyers says:
Happy Birthday Guru! Oddly enough, shared by Ramie Gougeon and Greg Keyes. Coinky-dink? Perhaps. You were first, though.
12 April 2012 at 12:02 pm
Sherry says:
Hey….Happy Birthday! I kinda get the idea you shop there often….
12 April 2012 at 12:04 pm
Sherry says:
Very cool piece of history.
12 April 2012 at 7:28 pm
Carex says:
He’s probably our favorite engineer at the General as well. Definitely the one with the best taste in beer.
13 April 2012 at 8:17 am
Pooh says:
It looks like the color phenophthalein turns when you rinse labware with St. Louis tap water!
15 April 2012 at 9:38 am
Pooh says:
So it was a real dog-and-pony show, eh? I’m impressed that you did it fast enough to record your time. When I do the Komen Cancer Run/Walk here, I am firmly in the walk camp. Besides, it’s hard to set a fast pace with 60,000 people around you. (The runners leave first, so they don’t have to contend with the masses.)
17 April 2012 at 6:18 am
KAH says:
Sam, this one is pure delight. Thank you for posting it… I hope all is well in GA; your flower photos suggest perhaps spring is working its usual cheering on you…. xo
17 April 2012 at 10:35 pm
Mary Jo says:
buds’re??????
18 April 2012 at 7:24 am
kayak woman says:
Cool but the eyes are a little scary
21 April 2012 at 9:43 am
kayak woman says:
I think the Grand Poohbah needs one of those double-decker thingies!
24 April 2012 at 7:28 am
kayak woman says:
Very cool!
25 April 2012 at 7:15 am
kayak woman says:
What kind of snake is that? Something we don’t have around here I guess.
25 April 2012 at 8:35 am
Sammy says:
Snakus plasticus or something like that.
26 April 2012 at 7:59 am
Pooh says:
We had a robin inspecting our work last year when we planted around our new tree. We were planting “big” plants, so none were uprooted. We also have a picture of a robin sitting on top of the lawn mower, when Mark took a break to come into the A/C and get some water.
26 April 2012 at 9:00 am
Rebecca says:
If there is one more snake photo I will have to stop following this blog! You know how intense my phobia is……
26 April 2012 at 9:33 am
Sherry says:
WOW! Great color!
27 April 2012 at 9:05 am
Sherry says:
That looks like Key lime pie….yum.
28 April 2012 at 8:36 pm
kayak woman says:
I love this. Somehow it reminds me of my first college roommate, who was the Gratiot County Bean Queen. And a wonderful person, wonder where she is now…
30 April 2012 at 9:30 am
Sherry says:
There will be nothing left for the pollinators by July!!!!
5 May 2012 at 11:22 pm
jcb says:
I hate to tell you dear, but that’s a “keg of beer” that the figure is supposedly extracting through a brick wall. I thought it was a vent at first too.
Newcastle.
7 May 2012 at 10:09 am
Sherry says:
Will have to try this once the mint gets taller than its current two inches…it won’t be long…
9 May 2012 at 3:49 pm
Fred & Darius says:
Darius wants to know if that really is a Balkan tiger that looks so much like Aggie. Love from all of us.
13 May 2012 at 9:55 pm
kayak woman says:
Our morning was a bit like that too. It made for a beautiful day.
15 May 2012 at 10:00 am
Sherry says:
WHAT???? Since we peon government workers can’t get JSTOR or BIOONE I heavily rely on Google Scholar….I hope it is just a glitch….