Musings

This aging stuff is…complicated. Apparently, I’m tough on my teeth due to a combination of genetics and behavior. So, today I went through another step in the Dance of the Root Canal, and acquired my ration of a bio-inert substance, now filling the space where the nerves were in the afflicted tooth. It’s called gutta-percha, and it’s a natural latex from the sap of a Malaysian tree.

Apparently, this latex dries in the open air/sun. This contrasts to the substance that native peoples collected from trees in the Mesoamerican lowlands to make the balls used in the games in those elaborate ballcourts; they set up that latex by mixing the tree-milk with compounds from a plant in the morning glory family.

The Doc who installed my tooth-quota of gutta-percha used a fancy light microscope and other high-tech equipment to do the job (which was pretty darned pain-free—believe it or not). The blanks are pre-shaped into long cones just right for filling those pesky canals.

I love the juxtaposition of a twenty-first-century electronics and tropical plant that lead to my own consignment of set-up plant-sap….

Posted at 5:42 PM | Comments Off on Bio-inert point-tip-needle-spikelets

There are some days I feel like I’m spinning my wheels, and, sure enough, I have a hard time putting my finger on what I got done.

Today I met a somewhat higher standard, but not a particularly rigorous one. I did track down a few dust bunnies (maybe more like dust-ponies), and I did venture out for some groceries, and, um—see what I mean?

I did find a super-helpful 2010 article by Tina Thurston that helped me understand the Bronze Age in Italy and Europe; she combines archaeological data and archaeological theory, rather than being cowed by the writings of the ancients…. Yippee!

Thurston, Tina L. 2010. “Bitter Arrows and Generous Gifts: What Was a ‘King’ in the European Iron Age?” In Pathways to Power: New Perspectives on the Emergence of Social Inequality, edited by T. Douglas Price, and Gary F. Feinman, pp. 193–254. Springer, New York.

Posted at 6:33 PM | Comments Off on White knight, white flower

We just did a drive-by (the tourist kind), as it was raining (mostly) and miscellaneous other (mostly nebulous) factors were in play, but the house looked prosperous for its time.

The house: John Glenn’s boyhood home. Long before his space tour.

The website says it was moved back to Main Street. Wonder where it was moved away to….

Anyway, the house now fronts the National Road, now US 40. We even saw the old mile-markers in a few places.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Glenn’s early days

View south-southeast across the mouth of Sandusky Bay.

We discovered (well, really: RE-discovered) that from the lighthouse in Marblehead you can see Cedar Point*.

Not Russia.

We’re talking Ohio and Lake Erie….

* WikiPee says the Cedar Point amusement park dates from 1840. Whew!

FOOTNOTE: Téo has become Téo Two.

TECH NOTE: Maybe do the operating system upgrade to version 4.2.1 later.

Posted at 8:12 PM | 1 Comment »

A few of you Gentle Readers may remember when this building was actually a post office. Then I remember enjoying a series of outstanding breakfasts here (much better than steam-table dorm food, ya see)….

It’s now East Lansing’s Dublin Square eatery and bar. Of course…yes, we drank Guinness.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

I spent a fun day exposing social science schoolteachers from around the state, in Athens for a conference, to the ArchaeoBus, with a great crew of ArchaeoTenders. We even had two who said they’d seen the Bus at the Georgia National Fair earlier this month, who were excited to be making a return visit!

I got bonus family time at the end of the day, driving back to Big A-Town with the Budding Scientist…great!

And a super-bonus James-chili meal, too!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Bus time

We saw this house in Darien with the low early morning light just right. We passed by again in mid-morning and it was meh, so I was especially happy we caught it when we did!

I always wonder what might be found under porches like this, where the dogs, kids, chickens, and cats (maybe rodents, spiders, and palmetto bugs, too!) would hang out, and the floor-boards might let stray objects drop into the darkness.

Posted at 6:47 PM | 2 Comments »

We wandered today beneath Spanish moss, around interesting historic and prehistoric archaeological sites on St. Simons Island, off the Georgia coast at Brunswick. The various tour guides had us looking down—at building foundations, historic cemeteries, Indian mounds and more—and I also took the time to look up at the moss…gently swaying in the breeze.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on On tour

The ArchaeoBus people have put together a scrapbook of the ArchaeoBus’s history (it’s now in its second year!), which includes some thank you notes from kids who’ve toured it. I loved this wee drawing….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Day 2 with the ArchaeoBus at the Fair

We spent the day volunteering with the ArchaeoBus exhibit of the Society for Georgia Archaeology at the Georgia National Fair.

The short version: the ArchaeoBus is really cool!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Volunteering with the ArchaeoBus