Blue House Diaries - Recent Comments

Here's to Friday night here in the Bay State:

mplo — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:48:30 GMT

The Good: A good work day--got lots of work done today. Happy about that. McGee was re-checked by the vet regarding the skin sores under his wings--was essentially given a clean bill of health. The vet tech who lives not far from me said that, if I book her at least two weeks in advance, she'd be willing to house-sit McGee if and when I travel. I said that I'd be making my annual road trip and pilgrimage out to the midwest to visit relatives in mid to late September, and that I'd let her know two weeks in advance. No news is good news, hopefully.

The Bad: In soldering the flange into the bottom half of the fitted-lid silver box that I'm presently constructing, there was one little spot where the solder didn't flow. I turned off the tank, bled the line, and am presently aircooling the piece, waiting to pickle it for a while, deciding to take care of it on Monday. I always take the weekends off--it's good to do that, I think. The handle to the small, sterling silver lidded bowl that I'm making seems to be coming along, but it's been complicated and rough. I figured out a way to solder cracks without making an unholy mess, though somewhat too late.

BFD: Well--it goes with the territory. It's raining here in the Bay State--what the heck--nature of the beast. Saw my therapist the other day--he thinks that everything'll turn out OK. He seems to be right about these kinds of situations, and he matter-of-factly advised me not to escalate situations by doing or saying things that would make people who've bitched about my working even more ticked off. I agreed that was right.

BFD 2 : I'm waiting for yet another screening of WSS to come around. I thanked the people at the Brattle Theatre Box office for playing it. They know it's my alltime favorite film. They said they'd bring it back. It did pretty well.

it's 102 here

wu ming — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:27:09 GMT

all the way from redding to bakersfield and all parts in between. thankfully, the wind stopped, but we're all lounging around in the living room under the AC and ceiling fan, cat included.

this is the first time i've seen my sage go limp from the heat. the hot pepper is happily soldiering along, as is most of the xeriscape. apparently my landscaping choices were on target, cause nothing came close to death but the peppers and eggplants i transplanted two days ago (poor little plants).

it's amazing how quickly they come back after you sprinkly a little water on their leaves and roots, though. wish i was as resiliant.

(the washingtonian wife is not pleased. on the bright side, she's no longer complaining about the icewater being excessively cold)

Friday cat blogging

Montereyan — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:23:46 GMT

It's 94° out there in Monterey. But this apartment is built VERY well - feels no warmer than 70 in here. And now the breeze is coming in off the bay, an afternoon delight. Inca, as you can see, is very pleased.

Ticks

gatoscuro — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:50:43 GMT

Though definitely irksome, I have to rate them below the cockroach...even though I keep a glass of soapy water by the bed for drowning ticks.

oh, that's terrible

wu ming — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:38:28 GMT

and yet extremely funny in a sort of way.

happy planting.

random nattering

jeanne — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:31:13 GMT

if you buy flowers by the gross, you will be digging holes for many many hours. just fyi.

:) of course, they're lovely. gorgeous. pretty flower therapy. they make me so happy, in fact, that i'm going to buy more this afternoon.

BLUE! i smiled at you watching idol b/c it made me smile! my sister and her daughter watch it 'together' on the phone. i've seen it a few times, the verrry first, or maybe second, season. i don't have cable now, and haven't for awhile, so i don't see a lot of shows.

WU! late to the icky bug poll, but just want to point out that you neglected the most awful bug of all. THE TICK. it could be that it is so heinous it must be passed by. we dare not speak its name sort of thing. heh. and just to guarantee that you all will agree with me, i'm going to share one of the worst tick evah stories with you. former brother in law, innocently doing yard work, finally finishes up and takes a nice relaxing bath. does the 'look for ticks' routine...and finds one stuck on his scrotum. that's right. get rid of that. whattodowhattodopanicgrosspanicwhattodooooooooooooooo!!!!!

back to digging holes. i've given myself a rule that i can't get more til i've planted what i've got, so i need to get crackin'.

Lost

Paul in San Francisco — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:33:42 GMT

I have to say, despite the "make-it-up-as-we-go-along" randomness of the show, and the sheer silliness of certain plot twists ("we're going to move the island"), last night's episode was quite good.

took thursday off

bluebird o'happiness — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:07:33 GMT

Took all day yesterday off, told myself I was on vacation, and proceeded to sleep until about 2 pm, then got up for a little while, took a nap, got up again, read to one of my kids, and went back to sleep. Best. Day. Evar. Never underestimate the value of sleep. Every time I thought about becoming tense I reminded myself I was on vacation and didn't have to do a damn thing, that nothing mattered and I could do whatever I wanted. It was great! Try it.

It's gorgeous outside today - they say your heat wave is coming up here and it's supposed to get up to 90, but for now it's good sleeveless shirt weather, everything feels very lush and the air is fluffy soft. I'm going to be outside for a while admiring the greenery and soaking up the sweet atmosphere. Woo hoo!

that's activism

bluebird o'happiness — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:58:42 GMT

What if all highways were full of people on bikes? It's sad the way the bike people are the ones being stopped by cops.

You might be interested in Project 350 (there was an article about it on Alternet recently) - it's about how we need to get the world's CO2 levels down to 350 parts per million (currently at 385) to avoid the calamatous impact of global warming - if it isn't too late, to try to turn back. They have a campaign going to spread awareness (although I find it somewhat ironic that they want to communicate with the masses via postcard, due to the amount of fuel involved in carrying mail across country.)

www.350.org

Coincidence!

Linnaeus — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:36:25 GMT

Just as I was reading this item, this song came on the radio:

My Name Is Jonas
My name is Jonas
I'm carrying the wheel
Thanks for all you've shown us
This if how we feel
Come sit next to me
Pour yourself some tea
Just like grandma made
When we couldn't find sleep
Things were better then
Once but never again
We've all left the den
Let me tell you 'bout it
The choo-choo train left right on time
A ticket cost only your mind
The driver said "Hey man, we go all the way"
Of course we were willing to pay.
My name is Weepel
I gotta box full or your toys
They're fresh out of batteries
But they're still makin' noise
Makin' noise
Tell me what to do
Now the tank is dry
Now this wheel is flat
And you know what else?
Guess what I received
In the mail today
Words of deep concern
From my little brother
The building's not goin' as he planned
The foreman has injured his hand
The dozer will not clear its path
The driver swears he learned his math
The workers are goin' home
The workers are goin' home
The workers are goin' home
The workers are goin' home
Yeah
My Name Is Jo-nas

Not my fave Weezer, but I had to post it.

The good: Very warm and sunny today, after a pretty much non-existent spring. John In The Morning on KEXP.

The bad: Too much to do, not enough time to do it. Not looking forward to talking to a perpetually upset/depressed friend this weekend.

The BFD: Lots of change in the next few weeks. Feels very weird.