Slicker than silk pajamas on a snake

I don't often talk about politics on this forum, but the early "official" handover of power in Iraq today qualifies as a slick move. Hala is all smiles. As I mentioned in my more political blog before, actual Iraqis are much more hopeful and positive about their country's future than the press would have you believe -- mostly because the press doesn't believe it. God forbid they put a positive spin on a story. It might be mistaken for a pro-American stance, which of course must be avoided at all costs because THAT would be BIASED.

Ok, enough of that.

Went out to Mom and Dad's Saturday for a little Father's day thing. We went out to do some stuff for Dad and visit. Walked the fenceline to see where goats might be getting out. Well, there's a zillion places where they might be getting out, but one real likely place. A 100' stretch of fence along the back where it's just barbed-wire and not hogwire. It's only 100 feet, but a goat's only about 16" wide, as I told Dad. Apparently they've been getting out of one pasture and back in to the next, and making their way up to the house and damaging the yard plants. Well, fixing the fence is going to be a much more than 1 day job. So (Jeff, Joel and I) mucked out a couple of goat stalls and just visited.

With this cold (I got used from Vicki for a real good price) that was plenty of work - I was dog-tired and went home and went straight to bed at 9:00.

Sunday I put away CD's and re-organized their filing system to allow more space in each drawer. Then I headed out to Lowe's to replace the sliding screen door. I could just buy new wheels for the existing one, or a whole new door. When I saw the design of the adjustable parts on the new doors, I opted for the new door. But when I got it home, I noted that the screen was slopily installed (it wasn't tucked in behind the gasket in many places so there were big gaps around the edges) and on top of that, apparently my screen doors need to be about 80.75" instead of 80.25"... which is all the bigger this puppy would expand. I think the best solution unfortunately will be to install a new top runner. I'm pretty disgusted with paying $35 for a cheap screen door that I'd be ashamed to put on the shelf of MY hardware store. I think it must've been put together at 4:59 PM on a Friday by some worker who had a date with a beer. There was about zero pride in that person's workmanship.

Didn't get my auto-watering system hooked up... Again. Kevin switched the doors on the beer fridge in the garage. That was cool. Just volunteered to do it and got right to it. He and Vicki spent saturday re-arranging stuff in the garage to fit Kevin's other car (the one he needs to sell pronto) in the garage.

Last week Sarah, an old college friend (ok, she's not old, really but you know what I mean) contacted me out of the blue by finding my hotmail address. It's been great catching up with her. She's probably 8 miles from Mark and Cami out there in KC. And it turns out she & her family have been out to Summit County, CO and Jackson Hole recently, too. Get me talkin' about mountains.... so we've been emailing back and forth. Sounds like she's doing fine, which is always good to know. Sarah was a part of my college "family" way back when. For a couple of years there weren't many breakfasts or dinners that our motley clan of four didn't have together. In an odd way, she was kind of like a sister now that I think about it. And a good one she was. I probably didn't appreciate her like I should have because I was too lost in the mad crush I had on her roommate. Ah, nothing like time to give you perspective.

Last thursday Lee threw the big change I've been kind of dreading at me... two different finger patterns in the same song. Of course, ultimately, it'll be good for me. Plus, get this... in the midst of all of these folk songs, I'm learning "Wipeout". Ha! So I'm back to where I was when I was 18 with the Stingrays at the high-school talent show. Only back then, I played bass... barely. It was one of two songs I knew. Seriously, though, I've come a long way with Lee, and I can see myself going to him for quite some time to come -- maybe as long as he ends up teaching. I've gotten away from playing songs all the way through. Working on a lot of basics. But I need to get back to it because ultimately, that's what I enjoy.

Well, off to see the Lizard.

(*poof*)

Down around a bend in the water

We went floating with Ryan and Kristie and friends this past weekend. It's an annual thing. Kristie grew up floating with Family and friends from around the Springfield area. Ryan loves to float. Kristie actually says that Ryan's sort of hijacked her summer float trip to be more of a river party than a float trip. But they do another in the fall (that we went on last year) which is smaller, and, well.... "floatier".

We had a good time camping. My tent pops up in a flash. Gonna have to work on the whole "camp coffee" thing, though. That little percolator -- not too happy with it.

We drove down to Alley Spring Friday afternoon, popped the tent up, stayed up talking. Well, I did. Vicki felt a little under the weather and turned in early. Frankly, feeling the way she did, I was surprised she came. She was a real trouper. Anyway, we helped Ryan and Kristie's friends set up their tents ast they showed up from Springfield, Kansas City, and St. Louis ... into the night.

Why do people go out to a nice campground and turn their bleedin' music up? I go out there to hear the crickets and whiporwills and peep frogs, not the latest hip-hop or post-metal grind. Anyway, the rangers come around around 10:00 to enforce the quiet hours.

We got in the water at 10:00am, floated in short spurts, stopped to play in the water.... got on fun-noodles and floated through chutes in the stream. And in general had a nice, relaxing, fun float. Lots of people brought their dogs. Dogs love float trips. Lots of stuff to keep their attention.

Saturday night a guy camping behind us was playing guitar. I had thought about bringing my backpacker, but you don't want to appear to be some sort of grandstander with people you don't know, so I decided against it. This guy made me wish I had... although in hindsight I probably would have sat and played with him and ignored the group I was with.... so ... maybe better I hadn't. Truth be told, I think it would've gone over pretty well had I played it in the background around the campfire that night. But the pressure! ;-)

We stopped at Round Spring on the way back on Sunday. Had a leisurly drive. Haven't done much since we got home. We have a lot to do to prepare for company in July. Things around the house to fix, clean, get rid of, build. I have to build that bookshelf downstairs. Move the beer-fridge door to open the other way, touch up the paint on the cabinets. Vicki would like the livingroom chairs re-covered. So would I, but I don't know that that'll get done. I did it 12 years ago. It took a while. Plus, we can't even find the material I want.

Also have to get the auto-watering system up and running on the deck.

Brian and Kevin (did I mention this before?) are both living with us this summer. Kev's trying to get back on his feet after his troubles, and Brian just graduated from IU and is working for his dad this summer. Kevin has a new girlfriend that seems pretty nice. Hope to see more of her.

Me, I'm just pluggin' along. Vicki's reading her books, I'm practicing guitar and making half-hearted attempts at getting things done around the house. I try to get at least one thing done per night.

I'm off to Mom & Dad's this weekend to do stuff for Dad (with Jeff & Joel)... sort of our Fathers Day thing. Do some chores he hasn't been able to get to.

Oh... I was going to mention Guy and Carol Lynn & family just got back from Scotland. Carol's been looking very forward to this trip for a long time. We've been sharing pictures (mine from Jackson, hers from Scotland). Very pretty country (both places). Sounds and looks like a very good time was had by all.

Happy Anniversary Baby

Ok, so it wasn't our anniversary... Mark & Cami have been hitched 10 years now. Well... pretty close. Cami had a surprise party planned, and invited Bobby and Gina up from Texas. Long story short... it got moved up a week. Several KC friends came by Malloy's Irish pub friday night to do some well-wishing. It was a good time.

We took the kids for the weekend. Stayed overnight at their house. Came back Sunday early afternoon. We didn't really do a lot. Cassie went to the grocery store with me. There were baths and bed. Nathanial was coughing terribly. Poor guy. I fixed up pillows so he could sleep with his upper body on a slant so the stuff could drain from his sinuses and not get stuck in his chest. As long as he was like that he didn't cough much... but they don't call their kids Kung Fu sleepers for nothing. He slid down several times, and went back to serious coughing. I'd get up and re-adjust him. At one point, since it was too soon to give him more cough suppressant, I gave him the more placebo-esque eccenacia stuff that they like.

He didn't sleep well, but ended up sleeping most of the morning. As a matter of fact I got him up by carrying him to the living room. Figured his sick body needed something to eat. Of course, it was the traditional Snoopy Waffles.

Went to see Shreck II after lunch. Very funny for kids and adults alike. We talked about going to the park when we got back to the car, but Q was already fading fast, excited as he was about the prospect of the park. So we decided to go home and do a nap and early dinner and then go.

The nap went on and on -- I started reading The Ghost of Windy Hill to Cassie... but then I took her to Rock Bridge park and let her play nature girl for a while, slogging through the shallows in her flip flops, looking at waterbugs, minnows, etc.

We went to the Rock Bridge itself a little later, and looked at the waterfall. It was getting pretty dark under the bridge, so it was a little spooky ;-) So then we went out and looked for fossils and other neat rocks in the stream. Cassie caught a toad for a little bit, and then let him go and watched him hop away. She said she "will always remember that toad". Wonder if she will? Good for me if she does.

Got home, did the baths, read the rest of The Ghost and then went to bed. Q had a much better night.

Cassie wanted to listen to the sounds of the crickets and frogs outside to go to sleep to, but we'd turned the air conditioning on. So I got out my "Frog Chorus" CD and played that on repeat for her.

It was so pleasant I left it on the following morning. We had breakfast and read "How Fletcher Was Hatched" and "Eric and the Little Canal Boat". An episode of Scooby Doo later, we packed up their bags and we took off down the road. Q had had one final tussle with the curtains. Apparently Aunt Vicki warned him away from them all weekend as he tried to hang on them. Well, this time he wasn't being watched and he bent the supports and the rod -- and had an "oh sh*t" look on his face. Four-year-olds. They're fixable. I got pretty stern with him and Mr. Defiant Four Year Old came out for the trip to Concordia.

Cami appeared fresh and pretty in a pink sundress and as happy to see the kids as they were to see her. We probably looked like a couple of divorcees exchanging kids, as is often done at that McDonalds (it's halfway between here and KC). I definitely felt appreciated as she gave us a very nice card and plant and thanked us profusely for what I'm sure was a much-too-short weekend. We certainly weren't expecting a gift for a gift, but I suppose it speaks to the appreciation of "time off".

And that's the weekend, pretty much.

They're off for a real Anniversary Trip this weekend with the kids to some cabins in their favorite spot.

Hey, it's good to be back home again

...Not

All in all not a bad vacation.

Friday, May 21

We went to St. Louis Friday night since we had to be at the airport at 5:00 am for our 6:30 flight. In my last minute packing I decided to bring my leather fedora I bought in San Diego. I kind of wished I had it last year in Colorado for its sun shading properties. Little did I know what a good decision that was to be this time around.

Sat, May 22

Got to the airport, and my bag was 13 lbs overweight. They said transfer 13 lbs to the other one and I'd be ok. I removed my backpack, a pair of hiking shoes, and my "power supply" bag (that alone was 10 lbs) and used my backpack for carry-on, stuffing the shoes in Vicki's bag.

Got through security ok. They took a pair of manacuring scissors from Vicki -- they were in her makeup pouch which she did not check. I've said it before and I'll say it again... any passengers/pilot who allows their airplane to be hijacked with a pair of manacuring scissors deserves to be hijacked. That trick worked once. It won't work again. You can mail them to yourself, but for the price of a pair of scissors, it's a wash. They sniffed my camera bag and backpack because of the batteries and power supplies I had in them. But we passed.

Connie couldn't find her cell phone. We figured it was probably in the car back at the hotel. She called and had her phone forwareded to Sam's.

Jetted to Denver, prop-planed to Jackson, and we were in town a little after noon local time.

Checked in to the Grand Victorain B&B, and went downtown for a bit where I bought a geology book on the area. Late afternoon we went for a drive on Moose-Wilson road to look for wildlife and get a gander at the mountains. They were beautiful as advertised. Went in to a bar in Moose called Dornan's with the most spectacular view of the range, and right at sunset Sam and I decided to drive out to one of the turnouts and take some mountain shots.

The forecast for the week was showing a promising Mon, Tue, Wed, and maybe Fri. Sunday looked rainy and Sam said that made it a good day to do yellowstone because it wasn't about big scenery, but features and wildlife.

Sun, May 24

Well, now the forecast for Yellowstone calls for about 38 degrees and snow. Oh well. Plow ahead. The Yellowstone Plateau is consistently one of the coolest places in the nation temperature-wise. About 1,200 feet above Jackson, it's often about 8-10 degrees cooler.

We stopped a couple of places along the way for some photos of us by the Grand Teton National Park sign, and some shots of the mountains and an abandoned cabin.

Our guidebook said to be sure to check out Moose Falls in Yellowstone -- that it was often overlooked. It's about a mile past the south entrance. We drove right by it. There was a lot of road construction in and around Yellowstone. Craig pass was closed due to last night's snow and a possibility of 4" today, so the main geyser basins were out. Dang. I really wanted to see those. But Lewis Canyon was pretty and the Lewis River had a nice falls on it we stopped at. The weather was going through changes about every 5 minutes. Sometimes less. Rain. Sleet. Sun. Rain and sleet. Snow. Rain and Snow. Rain and sleet... and Sun... all at the same time. And so on pretty much all day. Connie had a lot of fun trying to keep track of it all in the log book.

Connie is a huge bear fan. One can not overestimate how badly Connie wanted to see bears. She has one around her neck. She has a very nice photograph of one by Tom Mangelsen framed on her wall at home. Not a triffling thing.

Stopped at West Thumb and Sam pointed out my first hot spring. Cool. Steam rising from a big pit in the ground. Unreal! At the parking lot there was the whole West Thumb thermal basin where there were several hot springs, mud pots, and maybe a geyser or two. Several steam vents as well. While walking the basin and taking pictures, it decided to get serious about the snow. Not quite whiteout, but pretty heavy. I had about 1/2" on my fleece jacket in no time. It looked cool, though, with snow falling through steam rising out of the ground, and little pools of boiling water on top of the ground, boiling for no apparent reason. And occasionally, a good whiff of sulpher.

Got back in the car and went around West Thumb to Bridge Bay... there was "stoppage". That means one or more cars stopped at the side of the road with people out of their cars, looking off-road, intently.

Connie hopped out and asked what they saw... "A Bear!!!!!" she said at the top of her whispering lungs, eyes like CD's and hands out like "OH MY GOD!!!!". Kid in a candy store.

A man in the woods said it was a brown bear and three cubs. I set up camera not caring what kind of bear it was with three cubs and took some shots from about 100 yards off. The bear noticed all the people and led her cubs back into the woods. We got into the car to drive off. I looked at the pictures I got, and we all agreed that it was a Grizzly. Connie and Sam were sure of it before, but in the excitement I really hadn't had much time to look at what I was seeing. Down the road maybe another 150 yards Vicki looked out the window and there she was, maybe 30 feet from the car, coming towards the road. She boogied it on back into the woods with her cubs. We got out of the car to see where she went, and through the trees I could see her down by the lake again, maybe 150 yards off.

I saw her heading back west and decided I could get ahead of her and get a few shots maybe from in the woods while she walked along the lake. I went into the woods maybe 20 yards and hid behind a tree and used it to steady the camera. She started walking towards the road again, directly toward me. I got one shot from maybe 80 yards - she hadn't noticed me, and slowly backed out of the woods motioning for the woman behind me to do the same. I wanted to let her cross the road.

More people showed up from down the road, though, and she turned and took them back into the trees by the lake. We decided she was agitated enough and felt sorry for her, so we left, happy with the shots we got. She wasn't confrontational yet, but I think she was getting a little concerned for her babies and wanted to get them out of the area.

We drove on and soon came upon a herd of buffalo in a field. Lots of calves. One of them was playing rather vigorously, getting a drink from it's mom and then running around her in circles about 6 or 7 times and stopping for another drink and repeating the process. Snow was falling. I got a nice shot of a lone buffalo in front of a tree in the snow.

We pressed on to this "hill of fire" where there were many thermal features. Basically every kind there is. Vicki and I walked the path through them leaving Sam and Connie in the car. It was raining, snowing, and sleeting. It was cold. On our way back a man pointed behind us. Maybe 20 feet behind us was a pair of buffalo who had popped over the hill ... obviously after we passed, and were headed perpendicular to our path and back some, quite unconcerned with our presence. We went back to the car.

Stopped and ate at Canyon Junction in a pretty good snowstorm and talked to a pretty Polish girl who was our waitress. It was her second summer there. That would be so fun to do for a young, single person. Most of the people we met were not from Wyoming, and a good many were from out of the country. That included Jackson Hole as well, not just Yellowstone. I read that Wyoming's population is kept stable by tourism. People come, fall in love with it, and stay about as fast as natives get fed up with it and leave. But, as they say, the Billionaires are driving the Millionaires out in the Jackson Hole area, at least.

I really am trying to keep this brief. We did see some elk as well. We went down the canyon from "Inspiration Point" (not to be confused with the one at the head of Cascade Canyon in Grand Teton) and also hiked down to the head of the lower falls and back up. Very pretty. Nice hike. We had some snow, but it got more and more sunny as the next hour or so passed.

Looked for more wildlife on the way home. Stopped and looked at this huge pool of churning, boiling water, but everyone was tired and I was the only one looking anymore, so I hopped in and we drove back to Jackson (a good 120 miles from where we were at the time). We passed Moose Falls without remembering it was there on the way out. It was 9:00pm by the time we got into Jackson. Many restaurants weren't seating anymore, and a recomended one was nixed when it was noted that the chili was $14 (which became a long-standing joke for the rest of the trip).

So, we ate at Wendy's and went home exhausted.

Monday, May 25

Originally we were going to do the big Cascade Canyon hike on Tuesday, but today's forecast now says that Wednesday has the best chance of being a decent day. So we putzed around town in the morning -- however, nice an afternoon as it was, we headed out to Grand Teton and did a 5 mile loop around Taggart and Bradley lakes. Very pretty hike, nice afternoon for it. Good warm-up for the Cascade Canyon hike, I thought.

On the way back down we ran into a tall, slim, blue-eyed, dark-haired cowboy on a horse... maybe 35-40 years old. The women fluttered a bit. He was a good lookin' guy, I must admit. For a (hetero) guy to notice that, they have to be.

We went to Dornan's for more Margaritas & beer and more of that spectacular view. The sun set. We ate dinner there. Went home. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Tuesday, May 26

The girls are sleepy, so Sam and I head out to Moultan Barn to take some morning pictures. We never got a clear shot of the Tetons behind it, but took some nice photos. Another photographer came along and Sam talked to him for quite a while while I went down to the end of the road to photograph another barn. I loved the sagebrush-dotted high plains field with birds and ground squirrels. The signs that tell you to beware of the buffalo seem out of place... not a bison in sight. Or an Elk, or any mamal larger than... a ground squirrel.

We head back for a "putz around town day". Sam and Connie go to art galleries. Vicki and I look for more comfortable hiking shoes. Both of us got sore feet yesterday. My hiking shoes are really too small (should be "wides" but aren't) and Vicki's shoes are a touch too small. I wore my Eccos at Taggart lake, but the soles are soft and don't offer much protection against rocks. There are a lot of rocks in the mountains. Heck, they're practically MADE of them ;-)

We meet for lunch at the Merry Piglets, a Mexican restaurant we probably went to 4 times.

Vicki found a nice pair of hiking shoes at a second hand shop for $6 and a nice jacket for another $6. I bought her a packable quick-dry rain hat at Eddie Bauer. Sam and Connie are looking at expensive art ... we're hitting the second hand shops. We laugh at ourselves. Vicki heads back to the room, and I go back downtown resigned to buying a good pair of hiking boots at full price. I find a good pair at a place much like our local "Alpine Shop" and go back. Dinner at the Merry Piglets.

Cascade Canyon tomorrow. It's supposed to clear overnight, and cloud up again during the day, with isolated thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. I decide to get up early (5:00am) to catch Moultan Barn at sunrise since it's supposed to be so nice.

Wednesday, May 27

Yawn! How many chances in my life will I get to do this. Very few. I get myself up. Dress. Sneak out with my camera so as not to wake Vicki. The sky had a few clouds. After getting past the two big Buttes that hide the mountains from Jackson, I see lots of clouds on and behind the mountains. Shoot. To the east, there is sunlight, but no sun yet. Drove out Antelope Flats road, and parked the car across the road from a very old willow tree and wait for sunrise. I noted after some cloud watching that about the time the sun came up over the Wind Rivers, the clouds will have blown off the Tetons. My luck was changing.

However, just about the time that happened, an overcast layer blew across the sun and I never got my morning gold light.

I took what I could, and enjoyed the solitude of the nice cold morning in such a pretty setting, and went back to the B&B.

After breakfast, we headed out. The plan was to catch the Jenny Lake Ferry early in the morning, hike all day, and take it back in the late afternoon. However.... during the off season the earliest it leaves is 10:00 am... and the latest it comes back is 4:00 pm. Our 8 hour hike is now a 5.5 hour hike.

And it's raining.

We take the back route to see more animals, and miss the 10:00 ferry. On top of that, due to the weather they're only leaving on the hour, not on the half hour, so our 5.5 hour hike is now a 4.5 hour hike. And somehow it doesn't hit me that that means hike in + hike out.

But, we make the best of it, ferrying across at 11:00 and starting our hike near 11:15. It's a 420 foot climb to Inspiration Point, past beautiful cascades and falls in the rain and snow and sleet. Jenny Lake is close to 6,800 feet. I'm sure the ceiling is about 8,000 feet today. But it made it more of an adventure. At one point the trail narrows to about a 6 foot wide notch cut in the side of the granite stone going up to Inspiration Point. It's neat watching clouds form as the air moves up the mountainside. Hidden falls is beautiful as advertised. And after about an hour of hiking and stopping and enjoying and picture taking, we reach Inspiration Point, about 1 mile into the trail.

I'm sure Inspiration Point is much more inspiring on a clear day. You can see Jenny Lake, I'm sure you can probably pick out Bradley and Taggart from there as well, and you can probably see all the way across the snake River Valley and Jackson Hole to the Wind River Mountains. And behind you, Mts Teewinot and Owen and The Grand Teton itself. But not today. You get a wind-whipped and rainy Jenny Lake and a cloud-shrouded atmosphere -- an interesting sight in itself, but the 25 mph wind blowing cold water in your face on a 38 degree morning makes you say "well, wonder what the canyon looks like?" and turn quickly into the trees toward it.

At 7,200 feet, the clouds are maybe 800 feet over our heads. After about another hour and 15 minutes of hiking Sam notes that half our time is burned and we'd better eat and head back. I can't believe it's been so short. By the landmarks I see, we made it about a mile up (to Inspiration Point) and about 2, maybe 2.5 miles into the canyon... At 1:30 pm, we head back.

As you might expect, going down takes much less time than going up, although the canyon itself is rather flat. Well, we weren't stopping as much since we'd seen a lot of this stuff on the way up. We were ahead for a while, then Sam & Connie passed us and we lost track of them. Worried that they may be down at the bottom trying to make the 3:00 ferry, we don't tarry much and get to the boat dock at 2:55pm. They come around the bend about 5 minutes later. They were worried that WE wanted to catch the 3:00 ferry. I don't think either couple meant to get down that fast. So, we all caught the 3:00 ferry making it a 3:45 hike. About half of what I had expected before several situations conspired against it. Coulda spent more time up by Hidden Falls. Sam & Connie said they found a spot where you could actually see the whole thing without trees in front of it. Hmmmm. Next time, I guess. Reminds me of my first attempt at Sniktau.

Well, what better way to cap the day than to go to Dornan's. And Vicki's cowboy was there, to boot. You can't see the Mountains, but it's a nice place anyway, with the high plains & willows and Snake River winding just outside.

Later, off to the Blue Lion for dinner. Three of us had the Elk, Sam had the pork chop, I think. It was very good.

Thursday, May 28

Another rainy day in the forecast, but a little warmer. We decide to head up to Yellowstone again.

There's lots of road construction. As we round the turn from Lizard Creek north of Jackson Lake, there are two cars stopped on the right side of the road, and an upside-down truck in the ditch, hissing, and wheels still spinning on the left. Sam stops the car, realizes it must've just happened, and gets out to see if anyone's hurt. I'm fumbling around my seatbelt and door lock, kind of in semi-shock... I've never come upon an accident like this where help wasn't already there. Sam hollers at the vehichle, and just as I get across the road a young man comes spurting out from the other side. He's in shock, but alert. Connie calls 911, and a government truck pulls up behind us and gets on the radio. The man was a mechanic, basically driving a mobile garage to help work on the road construction vehichles. His tire had caught the side of the road and he lost control, went into the ditch and the vehicle flipped. Good thing nobody was on the passenger side. They wouldn't have made it. It was crushed. But he had a banged head and a cut ear and would probably be all right -- just needed to be checked for concussion. We talked to him to make sure he stayed awake until a paramedic arrived and more help was on the way, and pressed on to Yellowstone.

In all the excitement, we forgot once again about Moose Falls. However, this time, Craig Pass was open. You cross the continental divide three times between the south entrance and the main geyser basin. Anything above 8000 feet has snow, and a bunch of Yellowstone is 8000 feet or above. It's actually a relatively flat area, due to the geology of the region (how it was formed)... Anyway, we don't spend much time stopping this time because we want to get all the way up north to Mammoth before turning around. However, we get to the Old Faithful geyser basin and stop there about 35 minutes before the next scheduled eruption. Vicki and I take the time to walk around the other thermal features in the area in a hurried tour and get back to the seating area about 5 minutes before "time".

It throws off a few 3-4 foot mini eruptions, and dies down each time. It's a little "late", and we see a geyser about a mile off erupting, which is fun. A few minutes later, Old Faithful can't hold herself anymore and the real eruption begins. I got a 16 second movie of it on my digital camera plus a few snapshots. I just wanted to see a geyser erupt first hand. Very cool. But we must press on. We headed up towards Madison Junction and Firehole Canyon Drive, and stop to enjoy some cascades along the way. A very tame chipmunk whom people have obviously fed for a long time comes up to check to see if we have any food, right up to Vicki's and Connie's hands. Cute little guy. Very healthy. Bright color, fat, sleek. The volcanic stone in the canyon walls looks neat -- I try to imagine the pyroclastic flows that violently formed them a very long time ago, and then the river slowly cutting a canyon through it.

It was a much nicer day than the first trip we made. We wound up to Mammoth Springs. Upon seing no elk there and with a rainshower moving in, people are ready to head back. But I want to at least go look at the big mineral formation for a little bit. No sooner do I get to the wooden path than the sky opens up and dumps a torrential downpour on me.

Let me just say something about my hat. I bought the leather fedora in San Diego a few years ago. I like it. I wear it a lot in the winter. It keeps my head warm and dry. I've treated it to be waterproof. Vicki's not particularly fond of it and I don't think she was too excited about my bringing it. But boy am I glad I did. With this weather I'd've been soaked and cold without it all week. Any such trip I take from now on it's coming with me. This is obviously why people wore hats so much back in the day.

At any rate, on the way back Connie mostly slept, we looked for wildlife, but we were basically hoofing it back. We did finally remember to stop at Moose Falls on the way out of the park. It's less than 100 yards off the road. Very pretty.

I think we ate at the Merry Piglets again.

Friday, May 28

Another day of putzing around town. Didn't really do much. Had coffee at the 89 diner that morning, and Vicki and I and Sam and Connie split up for the morning again. Ate at the Bunnery. Good chili. $4.25, not $14.00. But it didn't have venison in it. ;-) It rained off and on, with sunshine at times, I think. We went back up Wilson-Moose road to look for wildlife again, and went to Dornan's for a while, then back in to town for dinner.

Saturday, May 29

We packed the night before, so we had time to go downtown for "Wild West Days", the kickoff of the Jackson Hole summer tourist season. There was a parade, and dispite the weather forecast of an inch of slushy snow, it was cool and partly cloudy at 10:00 am, and we watched representatives of various organizations from an older ladies dance club to an indian tribe to the ... saddled floozies or something along those lines (old west barmaids on horses), to highland scotts, and yes, the Forest Service itself. And guess who works for the forest service? Vicki's cowboy. I tried to get a good shot of him, but the only one where he was facing me he was blinking and his front teeth were sticking out. So he looked less than dapper. I told Vicki I did that on purpose, and she jokingly agreed that I had. We got some coffee at a streetside stand and headed for the airport.

We sat in the airport bar looking out at the clouds and snowshowers that had moved in right after the parade was over. When we went to board the plane, I wondered if my boots would trigger the alarm, and I mentioned that and waved them through. One of the guards said "actually, we can't have you do that, sir"... not terribly sure why, but oh well. But somehow I couldn't walk through without it beeping. So they wanded me, looking me over for guns, knives, explosives, needles, thumbtacks... "turn the plane around, buddy, or this guy gets it with a thumbtack! -- I mean it, man, right in the forehead! I'll use this 'kick me' sign, so help me!" I'd forgotten to take my watch off.

We boarded the plane. The pilot said we could listen to the conversation between the planes and the control tower on channel 9 of the airplane "radio", so I did. A driving sleet storm ensued. However, that's not why we couldn't take off. A ground stop in Denver due to severe thunderstorms. 1 hour. The stewardesses started a movie, but we could only get it in Spanish on our side of the plane. I read and listened to the tower conversations. Eventually, we did leave. They switched our flight for us in the air so that we got a different one to St. Louis, a mere 35 minutes after landing in Denver. We flew between thunderstorms in eastern Kansas on the way back. Landed in St. Louis at 9:30, went to the hotel, got the car (and Connie's phone) and went to Denny's to hopefully meet Sam's son Chad. However, the young whippersnappers were disorganized and partying and couldn't make it. So after the two hour drive home and another half hour from Sam & Connie's, it was probably 1:45 am before we got to the house. The neighbors took very good care of the cats -- Bart wasn't mad at us like he can be. He was glad to see us. We went to bed exhausted.

Wow... you made it to the end. Of course, there was much more, but that's the highlights. Now you know.

By the way, the pictures are at http://leithp1.home.mchsi.com/jackson .... there's three pages of thumbnails, so beware!

Later....

It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got

Gotta keep remembering that as I look at the forecast for Jackson, WY next week. Yesterday, it didn't look so good for much of next week. Accu-weather looks a little brighter today. It IS next week, though, so I need to remember that things will probably be different. I'll just have to love the weather we get.

Starting to pack -- sizing up what I can take in the luggage I'm willing to lug. Looks like if I want to bring the tripod... and I think I do... I need to take the medium suitcase. We were hoping to get by with two smalls, but I think it'll be the small and the medium.

I'm planning on taking the video camera (thanks, Joe) mainly for Yellowstone. A picture of steam rising out of the ground ain't the same as video with sound.

Getting the deck squared away. Need to get the autowatering system up and running for the summer. I planted some veggies in the garden over the weekend. The watercress hydroponic pot is slow to start -- hope it takes off while we're gone.

I also figured out why the Big Green Egg wasn't working so well the last couple of times we used it. I had used those parafin/sawdust firestarters in it the last few times I lit it... well apparently a lot of that wax melted and clogged the bottom draft area with a crunchy mixture of charred wax and ash. Cleaned it out, and it's back to its old terrific self again.

Looks like the yahoos next door are moving out. I hope we get a more stable set of neighbors, but proably shouldn't hold my breath. Responsible adults would be nice. The management company running the place don't seem to care who they rent it out to. It's the only rental on the block. The rest of us owners are stable, working or retired adults. Got home yesterday and there was a blacksnake in their house. I went next door and helped capture it and released it in the woods behind our house. It was about 3 feet long. No idea how it got in, or more amazingly, managed to get up on their hockey table.

That house is a mess inside. There was a note on the door from the management company saying that they were going to show the house today. Bet they'll be pissed when they see the condition.

Had dinner with Sam and Patty & friends last night at Murry's -- Kristen graduated. She's turned in to a pretty young lady. Going to ... oh, some college in Atlanta for Grad School. Patty's looking great. She has a short hair cut that looks really good on her. You always see Patty and Kathy in dresses. They look so nice in them. John got his hair cut! Wow! He's probably 56 years old now. I guess fatherhood gets us all eventually ;-) Sam was quiet... we mostly listened to John. We should really get down to Arizona sometime and visit them.

Brian got a letter from one of his economics professors praising him and telling him what a joy it was students like him in her class. Wow. I never got anything like that. Impressive.

Gotta go!

Congratulations....

We're back from the graduation/mother's day/mother's birhtday weekend. Other than the purposes (celebration, seeing family, helping out around Mom's house -- all fine and good, but if you know what I'm talking about there's no need to explain, and if you don't no amount of explaining would be enough) -- so... other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip ... oh, except for there's now something drastically wrong with the front end of Vicki's car. It got worse on the way home. Some vibration. Didn't affect the steering, but it was noisy and you could feel it in the car.

The litterbox got too full while we were gone and Bart took to the bottom of the stairs, so I had that to deal with -- bleah.

Brian's back with an old girlfriend, Carrie. She was graduating, too, although she has to take 3 more hours this summer. She spent a Christmas with us a few years ago. We liked her, too. She's had a bit of a rough go in life, but has stood up to it well. Heh... taking on Brian... and she actually knows what she's getting into. ;-) That says something. Brian says this is different. Hey, it's the first time he's ever gone "back" to someone. I suppose there's something to that.

Kevin apparently has a new girlfriend, too -- haven't met her. Adrianne. She's got like a year and a half left -- triple major in Photojournalism, History... and something else. He was over last night. Brian came back yesterday sometime and did some work for his dad. He came over about 2 hours after we got home, and Kev came to join him. Kev seemed pretty happy when Adrianne called. Twitterpated. Yup.

Well, the problem on Vicki's car is a wheel bearing. No surprise there. So that brings the grand total over about the past 6 weeks on the car to $800. Oh well. Cheaper than a new car.

10 days to Jackson, WY. I've been pouring through my books I got. Even got a topo map of Yellowstone in Fort Wayne. Now if I just had a Teton one... Got some socks for hiking. Last major hiking trip I took (Chicago Creek valley with Vicki) I got some sore spots on my feet. These are thick, breathe, and are moisture-wicking. Right then.

Well, I'm off.

*poof*

The boy is back in town

The wierd things you do when you're missing someone. You keep expecting to just open up the door and there they are. I did this several times yesterday, upstairs and down. Vicki and I even wandered the neighborhood at dusk calling for him. No dice.

About 9:00pm, I was sitting downstairs at the computer, and I was about to head back upstairs when I thought "ah, I'll just look outside the back door again".... there he was, looking up, as surprised to see me as I was to see him. "Holy sh*t!", he seemed to be saying with his eyes, "I can't believe I found the right place!"

"Get in here, Bart", I told him. Stupid cat. Oh well. I picked him up. He commenced frantic purring and kneading and sniffing. Hey, he smelled fresh. He appears no worse for wear. Some vegetation stuck here and there in his fur. As I was going upstairs, Vicki said "Did Bart knock on the back door?" She had no way of knowing outright that I was currently carrying him up the stairs. "Basically", I said.

Didn't mention the Anutt purging trip. We went. Loie still has trouble letting go of things. I understand. They're often perfectly good and useful things. Many of them sentimental. I have some of the same tendencies myself, on a much smaller scale. On the other hand, memories are in our heads, not in the things, and really, there's only so much room in our lives for stuff. If we really need it later, we can obtain it again. She hasn't found that balance between what I need now in this phase of my life vs what my past has been, and what my dreams are. And she's so close to it she's probably the only one who can't see it -- at least not easily. Don't know how much of the Dawna Walters book she read. I know she talks a lot about these things in there.

But, she did pretty good for Loie -- it was a start. Momentum is everything in this game, so we hope she keeps going -- it gets easier if you keep it up -- and then go for a second iterative pass with a new attitude -- after you've tasted the freedom that purging can give you. Space -- the big "nothing", has much more value than people give it.

Well, we have this weekend to do a little organizing at our place... there are rumors of a neighborhood garage sale, too.... then next Wednesday we leave for Indiana and the graduation/mother's day/mother's birthday thing. Then another two weeks after that, it's Tetonsville!

It's extremely windy today. Ok, yes, there's that, but I'm also a weather buff. I love wind. There are other things it brings out the fluid grace in as well.

I'm off...

*poof*

He's a little runaway

Bart flew the coop. Often, when we get home and we're unloading the car, he'll come out on the front stoop and even on the driveway and roll around in the dirt, grab some leaves to eat, etc... and he'll either go back in on his own or we'll shoo him in when we're done.

Well... it occurred to us this morning that we didn't see him at all last night. Then it occurred to me that the last time I positively saw him he was rolling in the dirt on the driveway right after we got home Sunday evening..... Meaning.... there's a good chance he got locked outside. We went around the house (inside and out) and did not find him.

We both went home at noon and looked. Vicki went up the street and called for him. I printed up little cards with a couple of pictures of him.... "Have you seen this cat in the Huntridge/Bluegrass Neighborhood?...." ... gave them our names and number. I put them on about 60 doors and went back to work. Of course, he couldn't've run off before I spent $42 on him at the vet.

Three people said they'd seen a large grey tabby this morning winding his way up the private drive on Huntridge. He'd been an indoor cat for almost 10 years now. And he's declawed. Anyway, hopefully somebody'll spot him. I filled out a missing animal report at the humane society... but I honestly don't expect him to show up there.

Going out for Kevarino's birthday dinner tonight --- we had to wait until after Vicki's tonsils healed up sufficiently. She can eat most stuff that isn't spicy or acidic now.

I also tested out the TCON-17 Teleconverter with my Olympus C720. Works great, dispite Olympus' claims to the contrary. So... I'll be able to get long shots of wildlife in Wyoming... Whoohooo!

*poof*

Lookin' for a rainbow....

It's been a dark couple of weeks, with Vicki's sore throat and all. Plus, a couple of nights ago, I noticed we didn't see Bart all evening. Yesterday morning I found him laying in an odd place for a cat, in an odd orientation to the room. You get to know things about what's normal for a cat to do after a few years. We've had ours for almost 10 years.

He wasn't moving, and wasn't real responsive. Last night Vicki said he was acting real listless and even staggered a bit when he tried to hop up on the couch -- kinda like low blood sugar.... or diabetes (might as well be low blood sugar because they can't use any of it).

But, he hasn't lost weight, he's not camping out by the water, his litter box clumps are normal. All the same, he was still pretty listless this morning, so I decided to go ahead and spend the $42 to take him to the vet. I was going to test his blood sugar myself, but I couldn't find a vein easy to get to. He's got thick, dark hair, unlike Theo. Besides, I don't think I would've believed the measurement had I taken one-- it was 67 at the vet. 80 is about as low as they ought to go, normally. But he checked out ok in about every other way. A little dehydrated, they said. So, I figure he just caught a bug and isn't feeling very good, so he hasn't been eating or drinking a lot. We'll see how he is in a few days. He seems a little better today already. Fed him some high calorie food to see if he'd perk up. He did some. Still, he went and hid under the couch downstairs when I got him home -- a sign that he's still not feeling good.

Frankly, I'm tired of cats, but I don't have it in me to just do them in because I'm tired of them. After all, I did take them on. I like them ok. They seem to trust me. It doesn't seem right for me to betray that trust and intentionally put them down. If they were doing something destructive other than being a little messy, it'd be different. With Theo's diabetes, they are pretty expensive to keep. They probably cost us the price of a decent vacation every year. If Bart turned out to be diabetic, too, I think that would probably have been the end of both of them. Can't afford that.

Dr. Templar said that Vicki's throat should improve dramatically over the next few days, and shouldn't be hurting by Monday. She says it is getting better. Dr. Misra said she looked at my knee MRI and doesn't see anything major, but she's going to discuss it with her musculo-skeletal expert today and give me a call on a plan of action. It's been almost 8 weeks now since the injury, and it's still not healed.

Sent the Crystal Optics Teleconverter (2x) back to Digital Foto Club... it had the same problem as the one I'd ordered a year ago. Just incompatible, basically. Can't put the whole frame in focus. I ordered an Olympus TCON-17 (1.7x) that I'd tried out. It definitely exaggerates the chromatic aberration and blooming in my digital camera, but as long as I don't take challenging shots with it (high contrast with a lot of bright white light) it should be ok. I talked to a guy on the bird forum and he's very happy with his C740 and the TCON-17. Mine's a C720... not quite as much zoom as his.

Dr. Misra just called. Basically, the musculo-skeletal expert said don't jump or run or do any high impact activities on it for the next 6 weeks. She gave him my history and everything. Bicycling and walking are fine. So.... that's that. Like I said, it IS getting better, finally. Slowly, but it's improving.

We got some literature from the B&B in Jackson .... we'll be there in 1 month. Another mountain fix for me. It's like a revival. I was talking to Ryan about that. I think I want to bag at least one peak a year for a while. I have the vacation time to do it. He said he might just save up vacation and go with me next year. He wants to bag one where we have to hike and camp out one night to make it to the top. Sounds fun. That could be Long's Peak. We'll see.

Going to Anutt tomorrow for Mike's birthday and to help Lois purge.

Material possessions are the road to hell

Ha. Easy for me to say. Of course I'm talking about people who have more material possessions than I have.

It's a line from a Firefall song that I'd all but forgotten about. I knew I liked enough Firefall to fill a good hour of music, but since I haven't listened to cassette tapes in a long time (I once put them all on a tape) and all my Firefall is on vinyl and the songs are spread across about 5 records. Well, my recent vinyl MP3 ripping included those Firefall songs and I've been listening to them today.

I would have missed "Old Wing Mouth" (actually a Jimmy Webb song that they covered) -- I only remembered the line "he came to do good; he did well" and I saw it on the lyric sheet while I was ripping the ones I remembered I liked. When I saw that line I remembered I needed to include that one. They were an excellent band -- underrated, I'm sure. From polished pop (You are the Woman, Just Remember I Love You, Strange Way) to some pretty Stephen Stills-esque stuff like Clouds Across the Sun, Just Think, Sweet and Sour, Old Wing Mouth. Good schtuff!

Actually, it's the attachment to material possessions that get us in to trouble. It leads to hoarding and then to greed -- and it's my belief that money is not the root of all evil... greed is. Greed for stuff, greed for attention, power, whatever.

Finished up the front porch tonight. Looks much better. I could be happier with how the trim worked out, but everybody seems to think it looks great. The artist is always most critical of his own work. Still.... don't like the inside corners.

I played like crap today in my guitar lesson. My forearm muscles and thumb muscles were very fatigued. I haven't been playing as much as I used to -- I HAVE been busy. But it could be a combination of this weekend's work and the weight-lifting. If I don't wear the wrist straps especially when bench pressing the tendons in my wrist get irritated, making my fingers stiff and sore. Need to watch that.

Still no word from Dr. Misra on my knee. It IS improving, slowly. But it needs to be healed by May 22! (for those of you not paying attention that's Teton Day!)

Brian's G-gag-u-a-tion is coming up fast. We'll be in Indiana in a couple of weeks. Mother's day... Mom's birthday. Still not done with Kevin's birthday... his other present was delayed in shipping. But we'll go out to dinner next week when Vicki's throat feels better.

I have to send my Crystal Optics doubler lens back that just came in the mail.... it's just not compatible with the Olympus C720.... not sure what the deal is but I think their models that have high zoom factors (like mine is an 8x) is really a 4x with a built-in doubler. The second doubler just doesn't work with it. Oh well. Mountains require panoramic shots anyway. It's just that you don't want to get TOO close to that bear!

Well, das all for now, folks. Yeah. Like all three of you who read this.

*poof*

Long Hard Ride

Vicki's still recovering. Slowly getting a little better each day. It's still pretty bad, though.

I imagine by this weekend she'll be able to eat semi-normally. Could be a month before all of the swelling and tenderness goes down.

Had our work picnic last Friday. Ok, Kimmie says "no, it's the spring cookout. The picnic's in the fall!" Anyway, the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, of which moi am a member, brought our instruments over and played a little Bluegrass, a little of Wayne's honky-tonk, and some Eagles and other stuff at the picnic. Kinda fun.

Friday evening was beautiful. Sat out with the neighbors and we eventually had a small neighborhood fish-fry. Daryl does the best fish-fry on the planet. Kristie had bought some hush puppies and Deb made coleslaw. Vicki even felt good enough to come sit with us for a while.

Saturday I went out to look at what it would take to tile our very rectangular, very flat front stoop. By the time I bought the tools and everything it would've been $125. Not terrible, but not this month...

The outdoor carpet that was there was probably the original installation at the 19-year-old house. It was worn badly, and even getting some holes. I decided that I needed to do something this weekend before it gets too hot. When I gave Vicki the options, she said she wanted a step out there anyway. It was about a 10" step up. Pretty difficult for smaller and more chronologically advanced folks. Well, that'd make the tiling job much more complicated and expensive, so I went and got some new outdoor carpet... looks kind of like jute dyed dark green. And yesterday I tore the old off, cut notches and built a step, so now it's 2 5-inch steps instead of 1 10 inch step. Didn't get the trim on yet. I was too tired last evening to continue -- and besides, I couldn't quite figure out how to do it. It's more complicated with the corners and the riser.

Something Vicki said later then clicked with what the guy at Lowe's said and I know what to do now. It's actually pretty easy.

Didn't get any gardening started this weekend. I wanted to get the hydroponic watercress going outside and the "ranure" (Leith euphemism) blended with the garden soil.

Oh, I need to call Parker Lawn Service and pass Dorothy's complaint along to them. They're not blowing the grass off of her sidewalk and porch like they do everywhere else.

Also moved my turntable downstairs and hooked it up to the computer to rip some vinyl to MP3 for my Rio Riot. Including Marshall Tucker Band's Long Hard Ride -- Works pretty well.

Still need to find out about my MRI from Dr. Misra, too. Knee still has problems.

*shazzam*

She hasn't got time for the pain

Well, on the MRI I had a choice between 6:30am or 2:30pm. I figured 6:30 would get it out of the way and possibly get it over to my doctor that day so she can make her decision faster. Plus I have my guitar lesson this afternoon at 1:00.... and it only takes 15 minutes to get anywhere in Columbia. 10 minutes at 6:00 am ;-)

The MRI took longer than the one on my head last year. This time I had to lay still for about 30 minutes. The lady doing it wasn't much fun. I guess it was too early for her. No cracking a smile on her. But she was at least courteous and professional, so no complaints.

As for Vicki, her throat still hurts bad this morning -- she thinks maybe the codiene might give her headaches, but she doesn't care. She said "Oh, I'm taking it, trust me!" It's so sore the amoxycillin hurts.

I brought her warm tea and an ice pack for her head, and she took all of her drugs. By the time I got the trash out she was asleep so I didn't bother to say goodbye and just left for work quietly.

Fire on the mountain, lightning in the air

Went home to check on Vicki at noon on Monday and she met me at the door saying she needed to go to the emergency room. I had just missed her call when I left work. She said I probably wouldn't be able to understand it anyway as she was gagging on blood.

She harked up a big blood clot and was bleeding down her throat. It was pretty scary there for a bit until we had it all checked out. It was quite a bit of deep red stuff, and that was just what came out her mouth. We weren't sure how much was going down her throat.

We got there, and it clotted back up by the time they got her checked in and actually looked at her throat. They threatened to put her under and re-cauterize. I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary. Turns out it wasn't. But I was in various places with her at the hospital and even had to run home to get some of her meds and bring them in. They kept her overnight to watch her. Today her throat hurts a lot -- they said it would in 5-7 days when the scabs came off. Today is day 6. Right on schedule.

Now she can't go back to work until Monday at the earliest.

Yesterday I had my own doctor appointment to have my knee checked out. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (6:15 am -- YAWN!) to see if I need surgery or physical therapy. I'm hoping physical therapy. This is for the injury from the ladder fall back on Feb 28. I've been treating it right... lots of ibuprofen, ice packs, and even a little knee brace. It's not any better than it was a week after the accident.

So, will report back what the doctor orders. Hopefully I'll hear from her by the end of friday.

Forecast is for a beautiful weekend!

I'm off!

*poof*

No song title today... my throat hurts - (my feet stink, and I...)

Well, Vicki got her tonsils out today. I've been dreading it knowing what kind of pain it involves -- even though ultimately it should get her morning sore throats down, and maybe help her sleep better and reduce her headaches. I even had a sympathetic sore throat this morning for her and it's continued throughout the day.

She came through very well as usual. Her throat is sore and swollen, but she's talking about just doing Tylenol when she comes home tomorrow. She can talk fine, which kind of surprised me. But they say to expect a lot of soreness for 5 or so days, and lingering soreness for about two weeks from today. She's a trouper, she is. She's chipper, joking around, and taking it all in stride. Typical Vicki. It's what everyone loves about her.

Last weekday I stained the deck -- the water seal I used last year after the power-wash and new wood was added looked all nice and even at first. But the first rain showed the old wood right away -- and every subsequent rain. Over the last year, even when it was dry it was pretty obvious that there was old wood and new wood. So I powerwashed it again and used a cedar stain on it, and it looks pretty good. Also looks a lot better protected. You can still tell the old and new wood, but it's a lot harder, and it has more to do with texture than color.

I left Vicki for a few hours this afternoon, had a beer with Ryan, made dinner, gave Theo his shot, and went back and hung out with her for a couple of more hours this evening until they kicked the visitors out. Taking tomorrow off, to, to "hover" over Vicki and make sure she's comfortable -- and then we'll have the weekend.

And now... to bed.

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane

We're booked.

We're goin' to Jackson, WY in late May. The Tetons. Yellowstone. Whitewater. Mountains. High Plains. Auurrr-auurr-AURRRH-auuur-AAAUUURRR!

Do ya THINK I'm psyched? I mean... well look at this guy's site. How could anyone not be?

Staying in a nice bed & breakfast, and we'll be sharing the trip with Sam and Connie, who've been there before. The feet will hike. The shutters will click. The air will be breathed. We'll talk to God and listen to the casual reply....

Did I mention I'm psyched?

Listening to some Robert Johnson blues today after hearing Clapton's latest. Found Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings on Rhapsody. A man, an acoustic guitar, and the blues. It don't get much more simple than that.

I'm contemplating packing the backpacker along to Wyoming... and just how to do that. You used to be able to carry them on, but post 9-11 I'll probably have to check it -- which means I'll need to build a beefier case for it if I wanna bring it. And you know I do.

Vicki's tonsilectomy is next week. I am so not looking forward to that. I have an over-developed sense of empathy, and you never want to see a loved one go through pain -- I'm taking thursday and friday off to hover over her and take care of her. They're going to give her narcs... but still....

Kev was over last night for a burger and to show off his new "Super Remote"... does IR/RF and relaying. He was using it to control our TV & sattelite. I wanted to see if we could program the cat. Make him go to the litterbox, etc. ;-) I'm tempted to get a flat-panel 15" to replace the ugly box in the bedroom. If you're going to have a TV in the bedroom, it should be as inconspicuous as possible. But I'd need some sort of relay remote so I don't have to mount the sattelite receiever on the wall. U-G-L-Y. But it's still $400... and I have other things to spend that on. Still, you start and end each day in your bedroom and it should look nice.

Well, gotta get going....

*Shazzam!*

Look back -- finish what you begun

One of my favorite Bread songs.... years ago I could only imagine being able to play and sing it out loud. I was playing that this morning before work.

I am addicted to my guitar. I have to play it for at least a few minutes every morning before work. You know that feeling you get when you connect a bat solidly with a baseball, or when you swish a basketball through a hoop -- when you time something just perfectly and everything comes together in a moment and just "works"?

When you sit there and do a song you love - it's like extending a little moment like that for 2 or 3 minutes -- and then.... you can play another! And time flies by.

Looking for places to stay in (or near) Jackson, WY during the first part of June. We really need to get this trip squared away so it will happen. Everything I've seen around that area is so pretty. Man! Mountains get my blood going.

Talked to Carol Lynn last night for the first time in a long time. I was beginning to think they'd dropped off of the east coast and disappeared. Nope. Guy's birthday is Wednesday, I think. Then he'll be "old" like the rest of us. I can't imagine what kind of evil Carol has planned. She's got a good, solid "tease" streak in her. She sent me a picture of them... they look great! Both of them. We exchanged a bunch of family pictures and talked for an hour or so over MSN. They're going to Scotland this summer. Vicki and I would both love to go there.

She promised lots of pictures. Ha! She probably thinks I won't want to see them all. Of course I do -- at least I can live vicariously through them. Carol is at least as much of a shutterbug as I am. And it sounds like she's bringing Ashley up the same way.

It rained a lot this weekend (like 5 inches Thursday-Sunday). Saturday afternoon was pretty, though -- I went out and got some new screen to fix the sliding screen door. And a new lamp for by my bed. Sunday I even went out and got a new bedside table. Round. Mahogany. Pretty. Zen alarm and new lamp look nice on it. Oh, and my miniature daffodils are blooming, and the flowering pears popped out. My redbud is about to bloom as well. Kind of reminds me of that song "Sing Joy Spring" (I think Clifford Brown -- but the version the Manhattan Transfer did on Vocalese with the Jon Hendricks lyrics) -- a google search'll find it easy enough for you if you're curious.

Oh, also listened to Clapton's new album on Rhapsody -- it was out on Rhapsody last week, but isn't being released to the stores until this Wednesday, now how do you like that? It's called "Mr Johnson and Me" -- a bunch of Robert Johnson stuff. Very good stuff.

Welp. Gotta go.

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Ok, it's been much longer than I realized.... I keep thinking "oh, it's been a week or so". Well, today's the 23rd, and not for too much longer, either. And the last post was 19, count them, 19 days ago. And I was so proud of myself for that sudden spurt of activity there around the end of Feb, beggining of March. Haven't listened to Chicago in a very long time. I whipped up some of their older stuff on Rhapsody today and have been having a great time listening to it. I have the first 17 albums on Vinyl... I should look into getting the CD's used if I can. I think I just have IX on CD.

Let's see, what's going on....

Ripped out all the lettuce from the hydroponic pipes. Re-planted some watercress, and planted tomato seeds and roquette. I'm going to do a hydroponic hanging watercress basket this summer. I ordered a pump of of Ebay yesterday for that. I brought a a couple of bags of well rotted horse crud from Mom and Dad's when I went out to help Tom & Betty cut wood.... I could use about 4 more. That's for the outside garden. Nice day last saturday, and I used it to prune a couple of trees and re-stack our own fallen woodpile. A couple more outdoor things, too.

Friday evening we sat out with Ryan and Kristie & Daryl -- and Deb when she got home from work. Had pizza and beer and sat by the chiminea well in to the night. Nice evening.

Sunday I spent going through records to get rid of. Lois should be proud. I threw out about ... oh, 200 of them. We're going down there for the big "Life Laundry" event sometime mid to late April.

I got a Zen Alarm Clock... this little baby dings one of those long-resonating, tuned tone bars at the time you set it. Then again 3.5 minutes later... slowly increasing frequency over 10 minutes to every 4.5 seconds or so. It's supposed to be a really gentle way to wake up. I hate regular alarms, I'm too lazy to change the CD in the CD alarm clock - and I love chimes. So what could be better? Well, we'll find out tomorrow morning. I just got it today.

The guitar is going pretty well... my fingers are slowly agreeing to do things they had much more trouble with just a few weeks ago -- I am playing less stuff, but more often again, and I'm practicing a few scales finally. And learning "Ripple". Not just the chords, baby... the melody. Cool. I'm also getting much better at "Red Haired Boy". And I'm going to learn those treble string sequences if it kills me, and it probably will. I even wrote a song the other day. Maybe I'll post that in a bit. It could use a little more tweaking.... but I kinda like it.

And I'm getting closer and closer to "Pencil Thin Mustache" -- with it's F#7 and B .... I hate "B"'s. Well, I like hearing them. Just hate trying to finger them.

I guess that's it for today. I'm sure other stuff went on in the past couple of weeks... but you know, if you don't write it down... whooosh! Out the window. So... maybe I'll go diddle on the guit... wait!!!! It's 10:00!!!! Dang. Gonna turn into a pumpkin.

*poof*

It's Just a Box of Rain

Actually, we haven't had any real decent rain for a long time. We're supposed to get maybe 3" out of this whole 3 day event. Good... the cinders and salt from the snow we had earlier this winter need washing away.

Sam & Connie came over to discuss plans for Jackson Hole and maybe order some tickets... the tickets out there were quite a bit higher than they'd thought... previously. Looks like if we fly in to Pocatello we can get a better rate in exchange for a 3 hour drive when we get there. I guess I just figured a day of traveling getting there and a day getting back -- But Sam's hoping someone will bite on Priceline for a less expensive flight right in to Jackson. We'll see.

We're also talking about a trip down to Atlanta at some unknown time so Mom can see her sister (Aunt Ruth) .... she's about 102 and apparently slowly fading. She'd like to see her sister one more time.

And then of course there's Brian's graduation to go to in May. Gonna have to fire up that side business ... any day now.

Whipped out some Grateful Dead this morning. Haven't listened to the Dead in quite a while. Richard started playing "Ripple" at this week's tuesday lunchroom jam. And I suddenly got the urge to learn it. It is a very good song. Has all the elements I look for in a song. Nice melody, some nice harmonies (that wouldn't be too difficult) and well-written lyrics. Plus... it's easy to play for an open-position chord guy like me. ;-) "the fourth element", as it were. Big-botta-boom.

We're headed out to Olathe to see the Groves this weekend. Probably ought to firm up the arrival plans.

Well -- I'm off.

Long Promised Road

(Obscure Beach Boys reference for those of you keeping track....)

I promised a post about the bedroom make over. Yep, we pulled a "Changing Rooms". We swapped houses with ourselves, and re-did our bedroom. Boy were we surprised when we opened our eyes ;-)

Before we moved into the house, what, 5 years ago? We painted every last wall inside the place. Vicki was tired of living in white-walled places, and we picked some nice colors everywhere. And there was thought and time put into decorating everywhere... Except our bedroom. Silly, you start and end your day there. It really ought to be a nice place.

It was a moss green -- Vicki loves that color, and we actually did have a bedspread we bought to go with it -- a little flowery... I never liked it a lot, nor did I dislike it. It was just there. Even had a shower curtain that matched. And I'd bought some antique rose prints at Inside Outlet that went with the bedspread ok. But no serious thought was ever given to furniture arrangement, and it was just a room with a bed in it. A nice bed, with nice bedroom furniture. A set, even. Wow! Eventually we got rid of the bedspread and had a plain cream one. The room just felt cold. Bland. Not terribly inviting.

For years I've had this idea -- either an Indian/Bali (that's the country, India) or a West Indies look and feel. "Tropical British Empire", I decided. I wanted a room that said "come in, relax.... spend some time in here."

My ideas were fuzzy, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Finally, we decided "This Weekend", and we went to Lowe's and looked at paint. I wanted clay-looking walls. Soft gold -- something you'd expect to find in the Indies. We picked one and went to look at curtains.

Well none of the curtains went well with the paint, so we found some curtains we liked and went back to the paint. Found a paint we liked with the curtains. Then Vicki saw the area rugs -- Persian style. One of them really spoke to us. But it didn't go with the paint or the curtains. So we took the rug to the curtains, picked out some other curtains we liked that complimented the rug, and went back to the paint to marry them.

Got the paint, curtains, rods, and rug. And a live palm on clearance for $4.64. Anyway, we WERE just going to paint that day and go from there. So what was going to be $45 worth of paint turned in to $450 worth of stuff to redecorate. But -- it was the way to do it, for sure.

We painted it in one day, and re-arranged the furniture. We were going to do the paint-glazing effects thing, but decided we liked the color as it was and didn't want to do the extra work. I bought a wall-shelf for some of my eastern statues, and a little bamboo "table-let" for my Kamakura Buddha. Printed some antique botanical prints of palms to replace the roses in their frames. Put the palm tree in, and got a mosquito netting "canopy" thingy because... well, the corner just needed something. Without it, the bedroom was "almost" there, but it was like missing the mark. The netting really changed the center of gravity and pulled it out of the fire.

We succeeded. It is warm and inviting. The only other thing I'd like (I never liked a television in the bedroom, for the record -- but it does come in handy sometimes) is to replace the television with an LCD wal-mount... maybe a 15" or 17". It doesn't have to be big... nor would I want it to be. I want it to be inconspicuous. TV's aren't pretty. The big one's down in the family room with the surround sound and all. However, a TV like that starts at about $500 -- and we have other things to spend $500 on right now.

So here it is. One "before" picture, and a few "after" pictures (of course, don't expect the links to be good a year after the posting, but it'll probably work until then....) the big bedroom makeover

Enjoy!

Everyone Knows it's Windy

The last couple of days were pretty windy. Yesterday it was in the upper 50's, but it didn't feel like it. Felt much colder.

There are few sights in the world that can compare to blowing skirts on windy days. I happen to think that dresses and skirts form a natural extension to the feminine form - they accentuate and extend the softness and grace of a woman. Windy days, aside from the obvious effects ala Marilyn Monroe (ok, usually not that dramatic, but it doesn't have to be) even a rippling hemline or the way it pushes the fabric against one side of her body, revealing form in an almost Picasso style -- just a curved line on the upwind side, proudly cutting the wind and then blending into a flutter of gracefulness on the downwind side. It's beautiful. And ok, it's sexy as well. Then there's more complex element of the balance between a woman who is aware of her feminine beauty and is not afraid to have her sensuality revealed a bit -- and the minor drama she must endure to retain her dignity that just makes her even more attractive. You can humph! and think "dirty old man", but that's not the way it is. It's truly beautiful.

I love women. I am truly dedicated to mine, but I remain a big fan.

Up On the Roof

Got up to a whopping 62 degrees today. Just the day I needed to go up and paint the siding around the chimney before all the wood rots away.

Now, here's the thing... by the time you're 40, which I am, you're supposed to be smarter than to let your brain get away with the following type of rationalization:

"Hmmm, the ladder slips on the deck some. But.. they're rubber feet, they should hold. Let's try it." So, I made an attempt up to the roof. Sure enough, my weight seemed to combine with the coefficient of friction between the feet of the ladder and the deck and I got to the top. As I stepped off, it started to slide. Oops.


I painted the chimney cap to keep it from rusting further. Then came carefully back down the ladder. And once again, I thought to myself... "hey, you'd feel REALLY stupid, not to mention be in a lot of pain and possibly medical expense... if that ladder slipped. You should really get some rubber matting." I briefly looked around to see if there was any of that no-slip rubber matting around I could use. It didn't come out and bite me in the nose, so I stopped looking. The rationalizing Phil said "ah, we'll get by."

Had to go back up and paint the siding itself. Found the old can of siding stain left by the remodelers last summer. Took it up to the roof, thinking -- "well, hey, a few times up and a few times down, I'll just be very careful." Went up... forgot the brush. Went back down. Got the brush, backup again. About 2/3 of the way up, sure enough, the ladder slipped. Now I knew ahead of time that if this happened, there wouldn't be a hell of a lot I could do about it, and that there would likely be bone breakage involved what with legs and ladders tangling all that slipping and sliding and flailing. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to step through the ladder on the way down and try to land on my feet, albeit with a ladder around one of them. Fortunately, it worked. Sort of.

I am a very lucky man not to have a broken leg right now, I must keep telling myself. I must keep telling myself that for two reasons. One, so I don't pull a stunt like that again, and two -- my left knee and ankle are killing me. They just started a little over an hour ago.

I had walked it off and it didn't seem to hurt much. The stain was dried to rubber anyway, so I took it to Sherwin Williams to have it matched. Little did I know that unlike Lowe's, they typically require 24 hours to match paint -- instead of 5 minutes. However, the boy assured me that nobody was ahead of me so he could have it done by 3:00. Good, I thought. It'll still be warm out and I can get it done.

So, I went to the International Grocery and bought some brown rice and sweet rice (I'm going to try the sweet rice for "popcorn rice" in some gumbo tomorrow -- after beignets and chickory coffee in the morning... mmmmmm) -- then I went to Circuit City and bought a 256 MB stick of memory to set my poor computer free from swapping so much. Then I went to HyVee and bought some shrimp and ham and other stuff for gumbo, and came home about 2:20. Vicki had just gotten back from lunch with Connie, and said the paint people called and the paint was ready. Put the groceries away. Went out and got the paint and went back up on the roof ... this time on the STEP LADDER.... see, I DO learn -- (but still, that whole wisdom thing was supposed to kick in BEFORE I did something stupid). Painted the chimney. Came down and put my memory in the computer (it's much happier now).

So, that's pretty much been my day. Vicki went to feed Connie's dad dinner at the hospital, I went back to the grocery store and got some potatoes to make that potato-green bean-polish sausage dish. Yep, that's the ingredients. Dump, cook, and it's sooooo good. Filled up the bird feeders and bird bath. Made dinner. Now I'm waiting for Vicki to get back.

Oh, about the leg. Right before I went back to the grocery store (remember all that running around in the afternoon?) my knee and ankle decided they were going to let me know just how stupid I'd been. I guess they were afraid I'd forget. Well I'll be reminded when I have to go out and replace the screen I ripped on the way down anyway, (thank you very much mister knee...)

Aren't you so glad you read this now? An exciting day in the life of Phil. Anyway, I popped 4 ibuprofen, and my knee feels better, but I need to stay off it all the same.

We went out to "Dinner and a Show" last night at the Artisan. Jane (Ida Jane, that is) is unhappy with them. Says that they don't treat artists well... especially female ones. I believe her. I don't go there a lot because of that. But, that's where everyone wanted to go and it sounded like fun. So Jorgies, Dourty's, Us & Kevin, Walkers, and Alex and Myla (Alex works with me -- he's Ukranian -- Myla's his wife). Myla is very bright and charming. Interesting couple to be around. We all had a good time. Some local dude was playing light jazz piano.

Well, I oughta wrap up.

Needles and pins-ah

Thus endeth the acupuncture experiment. After about a dozen sessions and wondering if maybe there might be some possible noticeable benefit.... well, if you have to spend that much time to try to rationalize that there might possibly be some benefit, there can't be enough to justify the $200 a month bill.

Or even $100. If progress was infinitesimal at once a week, imagine halving that at twice a month.

So, we went back to the Western doctors to have a look at her nose. The primary doctor just shrugs and puts her on antihistamines and steroid spray again and sends us to the ENT. We did find out what we wanted to find out from the ENT. Her nose is fine. Septum healed well and is pretty straight. Turbinates look good, and she even has more air passage than a lot of people through that area. Tonsils are bigger than normal. The nighttime breathing problems (especially when she has a cold or something) are likely related to that. So they may have to come out.

So, it looks like it's not allergies causing her problems. The may exacerbate the problem somewhat when they flare up, but... and it isn't her nose.

Guitar is going pretty good. I'm slowly improving. Getting closer and closer to being able to land that barred-F in a playing situation... and the Bm is very similar. The pattern picking is getting pretty good on the 1-2-1 pattern. One down.... 26 to go. But there's progress every week and it is encouraging.

Went over to Connie's aunt Ruth's last Saturday night for a sing-a-long, where George, Sam, and I played guitars and we all sang songs -- mostly country and old rock and had a very good time. Nice people, those. I introduced them to "I'm Too Far Away From My Beer" -- heh-heh.... that's always a fun one to spring on people.

Got a subwoofer amp for the living room stereo. So now once again the sub is properly crossed over and independently amped. Balances the sound nicely. And only $36 from Ebay... hey, can't beat it.

Also had to clean Mom's computer -- XP was complaining about running low on disk space. It was down under 200MB on the system partition. Sure glad I put VNC on there as an afterthought when I couldn't get XP's terminal service working on it. Saves having to drive 500 miles every time there's a problem (and that's ONE WAY). I should have split the disk 4GB/2GB instead of 3GB/3GB (system/data), I guess. Well, we'll just bring Partition Magic up there when we go for Brian's graduation and fix that.

We re-did the bedroom, finally. I'll wait to post about that -- it turned out nice, though.

Well, later....

Stuff

There's just a lot of stuff. Stuff everywhere. I've noticed it before, as in "yes, I like that bit of stuff, but I have no room for it in my house." Which has been a helpful attitude I've developed over the past two years or so. But more and more I see stuff for the sake of stuff. People want to sell you more stuff, all the time, everywhere. And people get more and more of it even when they have no place to.... well.... stuff it.

Perhaps watching "The Life Laundry" on BBCA a few times heightened my awareness. Some people have so much stuff you can't even see what any of it is. It's all just a big blurry jumble of stuff.

My house isn't like that. Probably mostly thanks to my wife. But I feel like I have too much stuff nonetheless. Stuff in the attic. Stuff in the garage. Stuff in boxes on my closet shelf. Stuff under the bed. Stuff in a junk drawer. Stuff in cabinets I bought specifically to hold stuff I have. I recently got rid of a bunch of stuff from my office. Well, I really haven't gotten "rid" of it yet. It's in my trunk. It's stuff I need to go through. Or do I? I couldn't tell you what much of it is. If I just tossed the box in a dumpster, would I ever miss any of it? Probalby not.

And that's what I'm talking about. I walked into the grocery store the other day to pick up, get this... "food", and started down the first aisle of produce.... produce on the right that is. On the left.... a bunch of shelves with .... stuff. Things. Knicknacks. Gadgets. Things with team logos. And all kinds of things on the packaging telling me why I need it.

Just because something is kind of neat or unique, or because it is associated with or reminds us of something we like doesn't mean we need to posess it. It won't make me "cool" if I have a Kansas City Chiefs paperweight that looks just like a regulation helmet.

I've become very stuff-conscious. I'm not anti-stuff. I'm no anti-capitalist. I just don't want more stuff. I want to get rid of stuff. And any new stuff I get I will be very selective about. And I'll have to keep reviewing the stuff I have, to see if it really has enough value for me to keep and add to the burden of stuff I own.

So that's today's rant on stuff.

Ass Storm

We were all geared up for another ass storm... oops, I mean ice storm, last night and today, but the warm air nudged far enough north that it's all rain until this afternoon.

The "ass" storm reference is to a time my inlaws were traveling through the bootheel on the way back from Texas. Stopped in Cairo, Mo where everyone was talking about a big "ass" storm that was a'comin'. It took them quite a while to figure out that that's just how southeast-Missourians say "ice". We had a good ass storm a little over a week ago followed by a little snow storm. Looks like we should have another here Wednesday. Snow. Not ass.

Just celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. An even dozen. Went out for lunch. By the time our anniversary rolls around, we're worn out from Brian's birthday, Thanksgiving, Vicki's birthday, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday. It really gets neglected. Then we went home and watched the new movie we bought, "Open Range". It's the movie I knew I had to see when in the previews I heard the phrases "rustle up some grub" and "sticks in my craw".

And a Happy New Year

And a Happy New Year
As e'r it could be
With my wassailing bowl, I drink to thee!

Happy New Year to all....

Had bro-fest, as it were. Joel and Dawn, Tom and Betty. Jeff called to chime in, and Ryan & Kristy, along with Deb, Daryl, and his friend John came over. Kevin, Brian, and his friend Keith were in and out. Had an outdoor fire and tiki torches on the deck. We had Southwest Shepherd's pie (kind of like tamale pie). Margaritas. Midnight came as expected, and we stayed up talking until... oh... almost 2:00.

My new HP 1210v printer/scanner/copier went back to Walmart today. The scanning was lousy. Had thin, horizontal lighter bands all through the scans. Not acceptable. HP Technical support was not paying attention to what I was telling them. I told them it printed just fine, but it scanned lousy -- and how. They said the print cartridges were probably clogged. Really? And it still prints great but the scanning sucks? Do tell! I clarified the symptoms, and they said the glass was dirty. On my brand new PSC? Mighty regular dirt pattern on that glass. I gave up. Their tech support is lousy.

So I got my money back and went to Sam's where they have the 1210xi for $12 less. I've read great reviews on these things... I figure the first one I got was defective. To get past possible problems with a lot shipped to Walmart I figured a different store and a different model number would do the trick. We'll see tonight.

Also our DVD player fritzed out. Vicki went out and got a new one. Man, have they come down in price.

Guess we'll down the Christmas decorations this weekend. Go see LOTR III again. And there's a couple others Vicki wants to see as well.

Oh, last night some guys came by with a pickup full of wood and offered to sell a "woodrack" full for $45. Probably 1/3 cord at the most... but it was convenient and not green so I bit. Now we have enough to burn this winter without digging into the green stuff and it can season this summer.

Well, better get going.

Wassail!

Wassail! Wassail! All over the town
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made from the white maple tree
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee!

Took Friday and Monday off. We were way behind on holiday preparations. I put up the outside lights.... house only. Didn't get to the trees and bushes this year.

The tree is up and decorated. It is a little lopsided on it's trunk and unfortunately the side facing the room is the side with the most branches... and all the ornaments on that side did make it fall over, but very little damage was done. The water was sucked up and a few ornaments placed back on the tree and key balancing measures were put in to effect. Halls decked, cookies baked. Shrub made. (brandy, lemon, and wine... good drink).

We saw The Lord of the Rings, last installment. Good. Probably have to see it again -- a lot happened in that movie. That being said, it did drag, I thought, in a few places. I realize there was a lot of despair in the story... but the way that was portrayed in the movie was a lot of long, long shots of Frodo's legendarily expressive eyes .... you know, showing... despair. Lots and lots of it. Couldn't they have cut 7 minutes of despair and put, maybe, Saramaun's 7 minute scene back in?

We did not get Christmas cards out this year. Sorry, those of you who did not get them (which would be pretty much all of you) but that's the way it went this year. Don't feel left out. You weren't.

I hear Mahtaj, a lady I work with, is off camping in Colorado. Ah, to just take off and go on a whim. I'm so jealous.

I still have to wrap Vicki's gifts. Looks like once again that will happen on Christmas Eve. I don't particularly like doing it Christmas Eve, but that's when it seems to happen.

Installed MSN9 on Mom's computer, but man, it's bogging it down. May have to go back to 8. I put 9 on there for the popup-stopping capabilities. But really. I think it should run much better than that.

As the season wears on, I listen to more and more traditional Christmas music. Right now I'm listening to "The Sixteen". Mediaeval Christmas music. Pretty much Church music (for the most part). Makes me want to burn some of that incense that we burned at church. Vicki hates the aroma. A lot of people do. I always liked it. Used to be able to buy it at Cool Stuff. "Gloria Blend", it is.

I've learned the chords to "The Gloucestershire Wassail" -- now I just need to learn all the words. It's another Wassailing song that I like better than "Here We Come a Wassailing". It really captures the spirit of wassailing very well. I've also learned "The Boar's Head Carol" -- another of my favorites.

If you haven't guessed, I really like the traditions and circumstance around Christmas and its pagan northern-European counterpart, "Yule". Most of it seems to be centered around (1) the fact that it's a cold, dark time of year when a little cheer is most welcomed, and (2) our own persistence and renewal of that on which we subsist (agriculture -- food) from a time when you couldn't just pop down to the local store and buy some apples or whatever else you lacked in the middle of the winter. The story of the birth of a redeemer fits well into the old pagan ideas -- hope in the middle of dark times and the promise of an eternal life. From what I understand scholars put the birth of the actual Christ sometime in summer, but the church moved the feast to coincide with the grand traditions of the midwinter festivals. Probably not only a politically wise move, but a fitting one as well. I don't see Christmastime through the same polarizing lenses the right and the left see it through. Yes, the word Christmas itself refers to the celebration of the birth of Christ and many of the traditions we see this time of year come from that tradition. Many others come from other traditions. I see them as a remarkably rich blend, not as one side or another being "the right way". This bunk about removing Christmas Trees from public places is a bit nuts to me. I understand the whole separation of Church and State thing but is State to remain completely sterile from culture as well? There is a difference, I think, between endorsing a particular religion and acknowledging that a very large portion of our population is in fact, Christian.

So, as we near Christmas, everybody enjoy the lights, the trees, Mr. Claus and his flying reindeer, the nativity scenes, the church music and the secular music and bask in the synergy of traditions that is known collectively as "Christmas" to Christians and non-Christians alike. And whether you're dreaming of a White Christmas or on a beach on Christmas Island with your stocking hanging on a great big coconut tree.... have a very very merry one, and do your best to ensure those around you do the same. The smile you send out comes back to you a thousand times. Whether you're smiling yourself or doing something to cause someone else to smile, do your part. You'll get yours.

Merry Christmas!

- P

It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long

A very long time. I've been bad. Thanksgiving was cool. We got Mom (Krick) a laptop to replace her MSN companion. Got that up and working well, took it home with her and set it up. I can even remote control it from here so I can help her out. She's doing really well with it.

So we had Mom, Bri, Kev, Ken, and Mom along with Sam and Connie over for Thanksgiving. My stuffing didn't turn out as good as it could've. I shoudln't have covered it. Everything else was great. Connie made sweet potato pie in place of pumpkin -- I knew they were similar -- it was very good.

Ok, between helping kids out with finances, fixing Vicki's car, me frying my computer, (got a new one... 2.6GHz E-machine) and the beer fridge conked out.... we've spent a darned lot of money over the last two months. Hopefully things will get better after this. That heat pump probably won't last forever. It's at the end of its life cycle.

So we got a new refrigerator for the kitchen. Vicki wanted the freezer on the bottom. It's cool. You don't have to bend down to see what's in the fridge. It's a bigger one, too. The kitchen fridge was retired to the garage as the new beer fridge.

Vicki is punting the job as the secretary of the homeowners association -- too stressful for someone with a full-time job. Which means there's another $600 a year we will get to shell out, but it's worth her not being stressed, to be sure.

So, we have her going to a... get this.... acupunturist. I know, I know. Practical Phil, right behind her on this, belive it or not. Her doctors are bent on treating her symptoms, this guy claims to know the cause (liver problems) and he can fix it by.... sticking needles in her and improving her Chi flow -- ok... well... they've been doing it in China for 2,300 years.... so either they can't afford an education in modern medical practice or maybe they've been onto something all this time. Time will tell. Hopefully not too much, as this, too, is expensive.... and not covered by insurance.

Went to an exxxxxxxcellent housewarming party at Alex's house (guy I work with). He has a charming and brilliant wife (cardiovascular research) and they are great hosts. We had lots of interesting food from the Ukraine & other republics of the former Soviet Union. Mostly Ukranian. They have a fabulous house overlooking a bluff on a creek, looking out the back over a floodplain. It was beautiful with 5" of snow covering everything. Then we went out to Vicki's boss's party at their house... that's always a nice party -- and closed the night down with Sam & Connie and ate at the waffle house at 1:30 in the morning. Heck, I didn't party that much when I was in COLLEGE.

The Groves were up two weekends ago. It was a quick visit -- plus, the Lord of the Rings II extended version took about 4 hours out of that. But as always, it was nice having them around.

Sadness... Brian and Jess broke up. We sure like her. She sounds pretty strong, so no matter how this turns out she'll do great. Apparently Brian's just not ready for a Jess at this time. Which is too bad, because you don't run across them every day. Everybody has to figure it out in their own time, I guess. What's that Gerry Rafferty song... "If you get it wrong, you'll get it right next time"? Yeah. Good song (http://www.yimpan.com/Songsite/Lyric/index.asp?sid=3516)

Got the tree up, with just lights on it. Have very little Christmas decorating up. Very unusual for us. Have to get it done this week. I'm taking Friday and monday off. Get some baking done and the rest of the decorating.

For Vicki's birthday we're going to see the Return of the King (with Sam & Connie). Bri and Mom should be home Friday. I'm taking Friday and Monday off, but I have to work Tue/Wed/Fri. Then I'm taking of the next monday and tuesday and working Wed/Friday. And of course Brofest on New Years Eve. Looks like Mexican this year. Ryan and Kristie will probably come over. Kristie has to work late -- but she'll be over before midnight.

Ryan got rid of the bowflex and the freeweights and bought a Wieder C670 weight machine that we're using to work out. He really wants to get 120 workouts in this year -- and that means 10 more before Jan 1. I don't think so, Tim. We'll see.

Well, that's a quick recap. I'll try to be better from now on.