It’s important to keep the Historical Records up to date, so here’s what’s happening in the front part of la hacienda: Barn Swallows – When last we checked in on the little #@*%& fellows, their nest was almost complete. It’s now finished and positioned so close to the ceiling that we can’t see inside the… Continue reading Front Porch Update (or, “Doo doo doo, lookin’ out my front door”)
Dancing With The Stars, You’re Dead to Me
It’s been several days and I’m still stewing about the final results from Dancing With The Stars. The fact that Chelsea Kane, by far the best dancer on the show this season, didn’t even make the top two is astounding to begin with, but to think that she was beaten by Kirstie Alley, who was… Continue reading Dancing With The Stars, You’re Dead to Me
Random Thursday
It’s been a while, but since Random Thursday posts are like falling off a bicycle, I think I remember how to do them: just start typing and let gravity do the heavy lifting. Or is that “heavy dropping”? And speaking of falling off a bicycle, we sort of did that last weekend. Well, what we… Continue reading Random Thursday
ABC’s “Combat Hospital” raises moral issues
ABC is airing promos for a new summer fictional drama entitled Combat Hospital. This is a Canadian-conceived show set in 2006 in a military hospital at the Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan, and purports to depict “the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the UK and other allied countries.” Wartime… Continue reading ABC’s “Combat Hospital” raises moral issues
Currency Devaluation
Make Your Franklin is a “community art project” that lets folks redesign the US one hundred dollar bill and upload the results to an online gallery. The site even provides a high resolution scan (7300×3000 pixel) of a Benjamin in case you don’t have one handy (and I never do). A lot of the entries show… Continue reading Currency Devaluation
Stationary Hummer
So, say you’re a hummingbird trying to cope with 40mph+ winds, blowing dust and smoke from wildfires on the north and the south, temperatures in the 90s and humidity around 5%. What would you do? Probably the same thing this little guy is doing…perching on a tomato cage sheltered by a concrete block wall, and… Continue reading Stationary Hummer
Underwater Flight
It’s been years since we’ve been scuba diving, following a period where we took a dive trip for seven or eight consecutive years. We enjoyed the sport immensely, but other priorities – financial and otherwise – took over, and our gear is probably slowly succumbing to dry rot in our closet. It’s hard to explain… Continue reading Underwater Flight
Barn Swallows 1, Us 0
If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, we’ve just been enslaved due to inattention. I stepped onto the front porch this morning, just before daybreak, and this caught my eye: I swear, that nest was not there yesterday at noon, when Debbie and I did our usual lunch hour tour of the front yard… Continue reading Barn Swallows 1, Us 0
Bike Shopping
Our 13-year-old Ryan Duplex recumbent tandem is starting to show its age (aren’t we all?). It’s been a great bike and over the thousands of miles we’ve had it, we’ve had to walk home only once (well, twice…but the second time was my fault, not the bike’s) due to a mechanical problem. And even that… Continue reading Bike Shopping
Trading the Real for the Fake
I daresay that Georges Seurat’s painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is only recognizable to most people in the most vague, I-think-I’ve-seen-a-poster-of-that-somewhere-before sort of way, and most of us would surely not be able to describe it sight unseen. I suppose there’s nothing inherently wrong with this; the painting is more than… Continue reading Trading the Real for the Fake