Isaac has finally left our area (it is now bedeviling the poor residents of Arkansas), but it made quite an impact on "the landmass" before it left.
Yes, this is the ACTUAL tornado watch box that was in effect all day yesterday, stretching hundreds of miles inland from LA to FL.
Some residents in our area are likely to be without power for several days, and flooding is still a concern throughout the state. There is no telling right know how bad the damage was right down on the coast, but it looks pretty awful. Miraculously, my own home never lost power, and even though my workplace seems to have had a few short outages overnight the other night, we had full power for the workday, so we more or less carried on as normal. My little redbuds look a bit raggedy, but made it through, as did the figlet (hooray!) and my other plants.
The most shocking survival is the fact that the magnolia tree just next door made it through the storm. To understand why this is such a shock, you should first have a look at a healthy magnolia tree:
Notice the luxurious, thick growth of healthy, dark-green leaves. Magnolias are much-loved, of course, because they produce beautiful, creamy flowers all over, just about the whole warm season:
Now take a look at the tree next door. It looks slightly different than that first image.....
I have no earthly idea what ails that poor tree, but so far nothing has been able to finish the poor thing off and put it out of its misery. My one colleague (readers may remember him as Super Sociable Guy) dubbed this tree "the Charlie Brown magnolia" for its resemblance to, well, this:
I think the analogy is fitting, don't you?
Note for those who don't get the "landmass" reference: When the path of Isaac had yet to be determined, there was evidently a commentator on The Weather Channel who discussed a possible hit on Mobile, and a possible hit on New Orleans, and in the process dismissively referred to the territory in between (also known as Mississippi) as "the landmass in the middle". This on the near-anniversary of Katrina, no less, which was devastating to the MS Gulf Coast. The indignation on Facebook was epic.
My recent adventures have included my flurry of anual checkups, not the least of which was my eye exam which yielded a new prescription for me to adjust to, which has of course been fun.
However, everybody's attention has been on another eye--or should we say "I" for Isaac? The storm (whose own eye, coincidentally, could be seen today when it formally reached Hurricane status) has just made landfall and is preparing to churn inland bringing wind and rain.
Even though we are reasonably inland where I live, we could still get a fair dose of the wind-and-rain, though our biggest risk would be widespread power outage, rather than serious structural damage or flooding. Still, the roof repair folks (remember them? They're still working on our roof from months ago.) were scurrying around frantically the last couple of days. They were pretty close to done before now, as soon as I can tell, but obviously they wanted to be sure to put on some finishing touches before their work is put to the test.
Meanwhile, the local schools have been closed both of the next few days, which I definitely think is panicking in advance of the need, but maybe that's just me. I've done what sensible things I could--filled up the car, brought in a few loose items from my back porch, and drew a little cash. This evening, I decided to go ahead and pick up some bread and peanut butter in case of widespread outage (no power = no cooking) and a jug of water, since while at lunch we started hearing rumors of runs on these items. I am glad that I filled up the car, too, as memories of Katrina, fears of power outages (which would also mean no working pumps), and fears of a run on gasoline...have prompted just such a run on gasoline. Sigh.
Luckily, the little car has plenty to get me through a normal week, and right now I'm thinking that the anticipation is likely to be rather worse than the reality of what makes it to our area. All I know is, the kitties are snug, I'll keep an eye on things, and I've had enough for now of things that sound like "eye".
Well, it has been a while, but it has been quite a hectic few weeks at work, though we've been very productive and gotten a lot of good stuff done. In what free time I have I've been unwinding by reading books, which was also a nice way to stay occupied during travel on a recent business trip. As some might have read via Facebook, we (two colleagues and I) traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to visit with some academic collaborators at Carnegie Mellon University. The meeting was a good one, and the whole trip went very smoothly with no travel delays or lost bags. We didn't have time to tour around, but we had a great dinner at Monterey Bay, which had this spectacular view (which many of you have also probably seen on FB by now):
The whole trip was also a nice break from the heat. We haven't had it nearly as bad as some places (Arkansas, for example) but it hasn't exactly been pleasant. The poor cats haven't had outside playtime in quite a while, and there were two very unpleasant episodes where the (it turns out) faulty wiring of my AC system caused it to temporarily cease functioning and necessitated an emergency, after-hours visit from a repairman. Friday, we got the problem properly fixed (Leo-kitty helped, of course). So, all is well now and we're even getting a bit of a break after a front came through.
Unfortunately, between travel and heat, it is too late for most of the stuff in the planter basket, but the portulaca and irises in the flower beds are fine, and the Figlet is still doing well. The kitties actually got some outside-time today which they liked, and I am proud of myself for getting in a half-hour of cardio this morning and earlier in the week between workouts with Trainer Guy. I still have some errands to run (got a late start today, and the grocery store was going to be too crowded, so I'm thinking this evening or even tomorrow would be a better bet).
As for the rest of today, I'm personally enjoying a generally quiet time, even though it is sort of a Big Day on two counts: we finally heard about Romney's VP pic (I will not go on a political rant, I will not go on a political rant, I will not go on a political rant...) and, far more importantly, it is Mom and Dad's anniversary.
So, much, much love to Mom and Dad and I'm hoping they have a great day!
Since the friend I usually carpool to church with had some personal business to attend to this weekend, I decided to opt for a lazy stay-at-home Sunday today.
Well, not totally lazy. I started by hitting some cardio at the gym, doing half an hour on the recumbent bike. That went well, though it always works up quite a sweat. After that, it was back home, with the day already growing hot. Still, I went out to run some water to the trees, and thus the door was opened for some outside-time for the kitties.
As we can see, Khan wisely sought out some nice shade:
Ahh, nice and cool here under the baby redbud.
Then, as I beat a hasty retreat back towards the coolness of my air-conditioned house, I spotted something that made me double-take:
This random weed at the edge of my porch is unmistakably a snapdragon. In theory, I know where it came from--I had snapdragons in the planter box last year, so one must have self-seeded. But how they managed to seed--and have one land right there and sprout--that just boggles me.
I guess it's just one of life's random, happy little surprises.
It has certainly been a busy couple of weeks! The spell of hot-and-dry gave way to some serious rain. Fortunately, this week has seen the arrival of roof repairmen to fix the tornado damage that our building at work suffered...oh, two months ago or so by now.
I also took a couple of days off work and drove up to my parents' house for a visit. We celebrated Mom's birthday, and even though some things did not quite go according to plan, we all really enjoyed being together and I know I had a great time. Mom liked her presents, and I got to meet their new kitty (shy but very sweet--I'm sure she'll have more to say about him on her blog).
Mom's fig tree (parent of my baby fig) is doing extremely well and promising to put forth a record crop. I made sure to take a picture to help inspire my little guy:
and to give some perspective, here is Mom posing with her prize pupil:
Don't get too close or it might just eat YOU!
As you can see, it has really grown to an impressive size. I have high expectations for my offspring-fig.
Not a lot of change in my own garden, except to say that the cardinal vines have bloomed, and I saw a hummingbird the other day who was quite interested in my petunias. Lucky for him, the cats did not seem to notice his presence, as Khan-khan is known to think that hummingbirds look deliciously bite-sized. Not that he's ever gotten to sample one, of course....
So, all is well here, and it's good to be back. I hope this finds all of you well, too.
We officially topped 90 degrees today, so summer temperatures are here--just in time for Memorial Day! Since we've at least had some rain, the garden is doing okay for now.
The planter is more colorful than ever. The geraniums have really gained momentum, and the petunias are spreading like crazy. The poor marigolds, alas, are sort of getting swamped under. But, the little cardinal vines have discovered the trellis and almost instantaneously shot up to the top.
A riot of flowers!
Taking the trellis by storm....
Last weekend, I actually found some portulacas. They only had pink, but the flowers were sweet anyway.
All sorts of pink!
I actually found one lone sprout that self-seeded from last year's batch. I was a bit surprised to see it, since finches and other birds had a bonanza eating the seeds last summer. Evidently, one managed to hide and find itself in the right sort of place to sprout.
The trees are all doing well, but by this next weekend I'll probably be needing to water them again.
Anyhow, that's about all the news from the Great Outdoors. Now back to relaxing in the Air-Conditioning!
It has been busy lately! The good news is, lots of great things are getting done. The less good news is that it has meant less blogging. However, today I hope to remedy that.
Yesterday was especially jam-packed on account of I was due for a haircut, it was a workout day, AND the in-town orchestra group started rehearsals again. We're planning a patriotic concert on July 1st. It should be a fun program. My fellow viola player and I are not especially fond of the two Sousa marches--not because the marches themselves aren't stirring and wonderfully composed, because they are--but because we violas are relegated to playing offbeats almost the whole time. For those without musical experience, offbeats are the "two" part of the traditional march rhythm, which goes one, two, one, two--like tramping feet. So we don't get any of the nice melody, we're just sitting there keeping the rhythm, which is very important but also very boring. Oh, well. We can't all be stars.
Other than that, though, we do get some good parts, which cheered us up immensely. The biggest challenge in this program is going to be the fact that a number of our pieces are "medleys", which consist of a bunch of songs linked together. Individually, they are easy enough, but each one has a different rhythm, and goes at a different speed, and is in a different key, and having to switch on the fly can be quite a feat of mental agility. They also tend to have a lot of pauses and held notes which are probably the most challenging thing of all for amateur musicians, because you have to really pay attention so that everybody pauses, holds and releases together, or the effect is ruined. This is doubly true if, like our local group, the conductor is also relatively inexperienced. Our director is actually very good, all things considered, and she is just about the world's nicest person, which makes rehearsals quite pleasant, but by profession she is a trumpet player, so she spends most of her time on the other end of the conductor's baton. Therefore, holds and pauses have always been a bit tricky for us. To date, however, we have always managed to make them work right in time for the concert.
To honor this little quirk of ours--and all in a spirit of good fun--I'll leave us with a little video. The piece being performed in this video is "The Dance of the Comedians" by Bedřich Smetana. Our local orchestra group has actually performed this piece, and it was delightful to play, but this video is not of us. It is, rather, an actual, professional group directed by the great Viktor Borge. I think you will enjoy it.
I just glanced out my porch door/window, and I saw something that is still almost as fascinating as the first time I noticed it: bats in flight.
It turns out a small (as far as I can tell) colony of them live somewhere in the immediate vicinity of my house. I do not know where exactly they live, but when the seasons grow warmer, and I am lucky, I can sometimes catch sight of them. The first time, I just happened to look outside right at sunset, and it took a moment to realize what I was seeing when a silhouette when flashing past my field of view. While our neighborhood is home to a very healthy community of swallows, who sometimes fill the air, their peak time is about an hour before sunset. They were long abed, and their swooping flight is quite distinct from the flight of my sunset visitors. It was a sort of flittering motion, combined with instant, on-a-wingtip changes of direction, and that was my big clue: anything flying like that had to be an insectivore, and there's only one creature that comes right to mind when one is thinking about insectivores that come out as night falls. So I was seeing a bat! That was a real first for me.
I could hardly believe it, but once seen, they are kind of unmistakeable. I have never seen them well enough to tell their exact species, given how they are zipping about in near darkness, but they are small and I assume that if there are some near my house they must be from a species that is pretty common.
My only other encounter with a bat, besides the occasional glimpse of my neighborhood colony, was one at my mom and dad's house. They have a lovely porch, with all the usual patio furnishings, including the table with an umbrella for providing shade. Well, one day while I was there on a visit, a little black bat had apparently decided that the table umbrella (folded down at the time) was a perfect, cozy spot to sleep away the daylight hours. Alas for the bat, we elected to go out to the porch to relax, and when dad opened the umbrella out, there was the poor little bat hanging there--and probably wondering what had happened to its great napping-spot. Dad quickly called us all out so we could see it, and we were privileged to get a really close look at it.
It wasn't long before it flew crossly off to a nearby tree, but I managed to snap this picture:
Just look at those adorable ears and nose!
That definitely ranks as my closest-ever encounter with these fascinating creatures.
Well, the weather man said that our glorious stretch of perfect weather was not going to last, and he was right. By the time I was up and around this morning, rain had moved in. On the plus side, it's providing some welcome water to all the trees and plants, and we'll be missing the rain when the hot, dry days of true summer settle in. Of course, it was still a soggy experience running Saturday morning errands, which I got through as quickly as possible. Fortunately, I didn't have too many stops I had to make.
Alas, no outside-play for the cats today, since the back yard currently looks like this:
Glub, glub
With the weather as it is, what I really feel like doing is curling up with some tea, wrapping myself in my cozy sweatshirt, even though it's not really cold, opening up my book and snuggling in with the kitties. In fact, other than having some laundry to run, things are in pretty good shape, so I might just go and do precisely that.
I hope everyone is dry and warm wherever you are. 'Till later.
After a round of rain--which we sorely needed--we have been enjoying several days worth of nearly perfect weather. There have been balmy temperatures, low humidity, and plenty of gorgeous sunshine. Of course, that round of rain turned our office space into a dark, dripping cave again (yes, we still have no roof) but right now that seems to be a small price to pay for our current lovely conditions.
We've been going full-tilt at work, but between the lovely weather outside and the fact that I seem to have hit a nice peak with my workouts where I am gaining energy rather than being worn out by my workouts, I am feeling really good right now. It has also been really nice to get to spend some time in the back yard and enjoy the green, growing things. The cats, of course, naturally insisted on enjoying the lovely outdoors, too:
Elegant kitty is elegant.
The planter basket is doing extremely well. Everything I planted is still green and generally blooming up a storm:
Some very happy flowers.....
Also, the cardinal vine seeds I planted have sprouted...along with about fifty "volunteers" that sprang up after last year's vines (evidently) self-seeded. Alas, in the interest of not having the little surprise sprouts take over and strangle everything, I had to pull most of the volunteer vine-lets, but the ones where I am wanting them have of course been left in and are doing well. They're the ferny, feathery-looking plants, and they're growing fast:
Cardinal vines making their debut.
I don't think it will take long before these find the trellis and totally take off. The baby fig is also doing well, budding out a couple of new little leaves on its growth tips. It also appears to me that it has a miniature hitchhiker that arrived with it in its pot:
Can you see the eeeeensy violet?
It's hard to see, but if you look next to the trunk on the side opposite the fig leaves, there is a mystery sprout with suspiciously heart-shaped tiny leaves. I have a feeling that this is yet another violet. Of course, this seems to be a tradition given the very healthy violet that came with my bigger redbud tree:
Not the best picture, I am afraid, with the lighting throwing it off, but it's a very good-sized plant with deep-green, heart-shaped leaves. This, readers may recall, is the one which has begun to colonize my yard and has an offspring currently doing pretty well in my flower bed. Could it be that the famous Bible verse was actually meant to read "the violets shall inherit the Earth"? Inquiring minds want to know!
My name is Laura, and I am a bookaholic. Seriously, I am. I cannot bear to be without some book I am currently reading. This love of reading surely started very early, with a Mom who would read to my brother and me every day (I still have fond memories of how we used to fill the time waiting for the schoolbus by reading from various stories).
Well, I just lately found my self in need of my next book to read, and after so admiring Stephen King's open letter, I was put in the mood to revisit a book of his that I have especially liked. Actually, it is a collaboration between King and Peter Straub, called The Talisman. It is the tale of a boy who finds himself on a quest to save his mother, and who must cross worlds to do so. This other world, a sort of alternate version of ours, is beautifully constructed in itself, but even more interesting are the ways this other world compares with our own. The contrasts highlight the differences between our "modern" life and simpler modes of living, but there is more to it than that. Certain things endure across the worlds, and these illuminate the authors' perceptions of which truths are universal, which symbols carry deeper meaning, and which things in life are really the most important, and this is done often in very subtle and fascinating ways.
That is why I am giving this book a re-read. Also, to my delight, I have discovered that a sequel now exists (which, if I recall, was not yet published when I first read The Talisman). I am very much looking forward to reading that one, too, which is entitled Black House.
This is, alas, a short post...but I must get back to reading!
Like many Saturdays, today has mainly been about getting things done around the house. Along with stowing groceries and starting the laundry, I took the time to water everything outside on account of how hot it has been. I even watered the bigger trees, because if the summer is half as hot and dry as it feels like it is planning to be, I figured it would be a good idea to fortify everything against it as much as I can. So the planter box got some water, the fig got some water, the redbuds got some water, the kitty got some water....
Hold on a second....
The real main event of the day, however, is an event that has been in the works for a while.
One thing about having my first real job post Grad School has been coming to grips with the fact that I am no longer a lowly student living in a grad pad. It was a nice grad pad, really, and perfect for my circumstances at the time, but it was pretty clearly intended for the rental market, and I furnished it on a pretty tight budget. The few nicer things I had in it were either the furnishings that had been in my room for years growing up, or were pieces my parents had to spare and were kind enough to pass along. (I don't recall ever thinking such things, but if, at any time, I ever was so foolish as to think that it was "lame" having parents who spent so much time in antique stores, I have long since realized my folly.)
So, I had a lot of work to do when I moved into my new place. There were only a couple of things to do to the house itself; one room had previously been a nursery, and was painted ohmigosh PIIIIIIINK, so that had to be fixed, and the back door to the patio was originally a (really ugly, cheap-looking, ill-fitted) set of French doors, so a much nicer sliding door had to be acquired and installed. Also at the top of the list was a washer and drier set with more than two cycle settings between them. (The set that sold with the old house were on the simpleminded side. Their general settings were Harsh and Harsher. The Washernator and Dryzilla got the job done, but they were not kind to clothes.)
Once these items were taken care of, however, I was still left with two empty rooms, one half-empty room, and a totally tasteful collection of Walmart Special particle-board furniture that desperately Needed To Die. This whole process of furnishing my new place has taken quite a while (is it still a "new" place at almost three years?) but after a long journey the place is really looking great. I picked up a set of office furniture for the first guestroom/home office/den (the ex-nursery), and bought some nice living room furnishings from a colleague who was nearing retirement and looking to downsize (that worked out well for both of us). Then came the super-classy particleboard entertainment center. That turned into quite a project. After all, if I was replacing the furniture, it might be time to think of upgrading the serviceable but now way too small TV that sat on said furniture. And if I was going to get a really nice TV, it was going to need some sound to go with it.... The people at Best Buy loved me that day.
All this, of course, has been the work of a couple of years (no hurry, right?). With the Great TV Upgrade, the last piece of particleboard was finally dead, and I felt quite accomplished if I do say so myself. The one thing really remaining was the dining room--or, more accurately, the space intended to be a dining room but which has gone unused because of a complete lack of dining furniture to dine on. Well, a little while back on a particularly pleasant Saturday I hopped into the faithful car and took a road trip up to a great little antiques place my Mom and Dad discovered on the route between their place and mine. They had exactly what I was looking for: there was a cute drop-leaf table with Queen Anne feet which would fold nicely out of the way if/when I need the space for orchestra practices, and a set of really neat chairs with a kind of unique design to their backs.
The biggest hitch was getting them all back home, since my car--as awesome as it is and all--definitely did not have enough room. So I had to arrange for shipping, which was not cheap, but it was the only feasible way for me to manage things. It also meant having to wait for a while until the shipping folks could arrange the pickup. Well, after all of that, today was Delivery Day, and I can now proudly say I have a proper dining room--and a fully furnished house!
The dining room is a small space, but a nice one. Here it is "before," ready and waiting:
And finally:
An actual dining room! The pictures on the wall are hung thanks to my parents, who took time to help put them up before heading home last week. Only one thing was needed to properly complete the whole ensemble:
There! Is perfect.
Leo got to spend a little time in "kitty jail" while everything was being brought in, as he apparently thinks he's part of the cast of The Great Escape, making it his mission in life to find a way out the front door. However, he clearly held no grudge against the new arrivals, finding the table to be an excellent vantage point from which to survey his Vast Domain. The chairs were also objects of great interest:
Does this mean he gets Fancy Feast....?
So! It was a very exciting day, and it really feels nice to have finished (more or less) putting together my home. Now to decide how to celebrate....
My intention in starting this blog was not--and is not--to create a political soapbox. To that end, my plan was to steer clear of anything blatantly political for some time yet. Well, a couple of things came together, pressed my buttons, and got the juices flowing. So today, gentle readers, this blogger must inform you that you are about to be treated to a Major Political Rant, complete with widespread and gratuitous use of italics.
To kick off my rant, perhaps I may be permitted to begin by referring to another rant composed by someone far more talented than myself.
Those who spend a lot of time online may have heard in one way or another about an open letter published by author Stephen King. The main topic is taxation of the rich, why it needs to happen, and why arguments against taxing the rich are, to put it bluntly, bunk. Actually, King uses harsher words throughout the letter (fair warning, there is foul language) I honestly think it is well worth the read. The whole can be found here. To get at an important point, however, here is a (free-of-bad-words) quote:
It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.
What charitable 1 percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “OK, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.
In sum? Our society has responsibilities. As citizens, those responsibilities are our responsibilities, and in its most direct form that means that those with the money pay taxes to fund public programs. In other words (insert scary music here) government doing stuff. But, some skeptics ask, isn't that just "asking the government to do everything for us"? Because, hey, who really needs the government, anyway? To begin the rebuttal, the defense calls to the witness stand the sheer brilliance that is Monty Python:
The message here is that, being part of a society, a civilization, confers a plethory of important benefits upon individuals, including physical protection, access to resources and information, and adjudication of conflicts. These benefits are often so fundamental and pervasive as to be taken for granted (like they are in the video clip). But being part of a society is also an implicit agreement--an agreement share not just the benefits of being in society, but also the resources and responsibilities that are the foundation of those benefits. The building of roads and schools, the equipping, training and staffing of Police and Fire stations, the commissioning of necessary but long-running scientific research--all these things take effort. All these things require money. None of these things, when done right, produce the sort of fast profits that provate companies are lookng for, so the private sector is not going to do these things. Even if the private sector tries, it will never be able to do so on the proper scale or in a way that keeps the whole nation's needs in mind. Therefore all these things require an entity, not for profit, empowered to act in the name of the public and charged to act for the public good. That entity is the government.
Don't believe me? Here's another quote for us:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
In other words, if "the people" wanted to have something that could take care of their needs as a whole, then the thing to do...was set up a government. Yes, this is according to the Constitution. Can a government become unhealthy and function in a way that is harmful to the public it governs? It can. Does that mean that the answer is to not have a government, or to negate any role of the government in our lives? The Founding Fathers clearly thought not--their answer was to take the positive role of Government as a given, and use that as the basis to build a government properly. And, really, it's not necessarily the form of the government that makes it a good one or a bad one; a monarch can be a wise and thoughtful statesman who governs his people fairly and well; a democracy or republic can become corrupt. A government can be so large that it becomes inefficient (see the origin of the descriptor "Byzantine") or so small that it becomes driven by personalities or a few individuals' greed.
No, the deeper issue is not the form of a government, or what "size" it is. Nor is it so simplistic as "how much" it collects in taxes. The issue is when a government loses sight of its role looking out for the common good (or "general Welfare" as the Founders put it). And that is what is so wrong about the rabid cries to "get the government out of our lives," suggesting that the answer to everything lies in the private sector and that the government should basically sit there and do nothing. That's what is so wrong with reviling the very notion of taxation or government aid programs. That is what is wrong with "letting the private sector take care of it". The government exists for a reason. It has a purpose. If the government does not seem to be doing a good job of fulfilling that purpose, then by all means hold it accountable. In a democracy, that's what a ballot box is for. But by saying the government has no purpose, that it can do no good, you are letting the government (and by extension society) off the hook and inviting the very corruption and failure you are claiming to despise.
As unique and indivudual as we may be, let's be honest with ourselves: we also exist as part of a whole. When we are threatened, or when we suffer misfortune, we expect that whole to protect us. It's not always perfect, but by and large it does its job. The firemen will arrive to douse the flames. The police will respond to the scene of an accident. The schools will continue to produce doctors to treat our ailments, and lawyers to defend us against our accusers. The research that will bring us tomorrow's technologies is being done. No matter how much you consider yourself a great, rugged individual, no matter how much you cry "freedom!" you do count on your fellow man and your nation. They'll come for you when you are in need, and it is your job to be there for them when they suffer. In layman's terms, that could be called "fairness'. It could also be called by the shorthand preferred by eighteenth and ninteenth century philosophers (whose thinking, incidentally, heavily informed our Constitution's Framers): they called it the Social Compact (a.k.a Social Contract).
Everybody is taken care of by their fellow man, and everybody takes a turn caring for their fellow man. If you want to grumble when it's your turn--your turn to do jury duty, your turn to pay taxes, your turn to respect someone else's space--well, I can't stop you from grumbling. But I can expect you to do it anyway, and expect you to acknowlege that it is your responsibility, and I can call people like the Tea-Partiers out on it when they put forth their false--and supremely selfish--notions.
So just who does need a government, anyway? We all do. It's time we said so.
Well, it has been a busy few days. My parents came down from Arkansas so we could celebrate my Dad's birthday, and so they could attend the orchestra concert I took part in. Both parts of the visit were a smashing success, and we had a great time all around.
When not at concerts or celebrating birthdays, we played some cards (I did rather well, if I do say so myself) and did some antiquing downtown. Dad found some records, and Mom found a few small items. There was nothing in the way of what I was looking for, but we did stumble across something Mom and I thought was kind of neat:
This USDA pamphlet describes what was the cutting edge of hive design, suggests how to get bees to move to the "new digs" and as a bonus recommended the best choice of toxic chemical for the removal of bee colonies in inconvenient locations (in the walls of one's house, for instance).
Mom also brought me a rooted cutting from her really wonderful fig tree. I'm really excited about my little guy. He grew a bit wonky, but I picked up a plant stake, cut a strip of soft cloth,
and along with its cozy tree ring for mulch, it is all tucked in safe and sound.
My baby fig!
Even though it is due to rain at some point in the latter half of the week, I went ahead and ran it some water from the hose since the poor fellow was only just transplanted over the weekend.
While picking up the plant stake, I checked to see if Home Depot had any Snapdragons or Portulaca in--still no joy, much to my disgust. I am going to have to do some serious scouting around town this coming weekend. But, all is not completely lost: among the many sneaky, unwelcome weeds to "volunteer" to come up in my flower beds was one surprise guest who will be allowed to stay.
Surprise!
Those heart-shaped leaves are the hallmark of a common Violet, and I have a pretty good guess as to this one's parentage. It so happens that teh bigger redbud tree came with an extra stowaway, in the form of a violet from Mom and Dad's yard. Now, Violets are shade-loving and extremely tough, so this one survived a couple of bad brushes with a negligent lawn-guy and has, in fact, managed to thrive. It has also seeded one whole patch of the backyard with its offspring. (Violets are also extremely prolific. One very small pot with maybe two violet plants managed to cover my whole side-yard where I last lived.) Clearly, yet another of the Stowaway's offspring has appeared, and managed to find itself in some prime real-estate. This might be called a new approach to weed management: if you can't beat them, choose them.
Naturally, my Loyal Furry Assistants were on the scene during today's gardening efforts. Leo made sure the new baby was safe, and Khan-khan arranged to look very decorative:
My parents also brought another redbud sapling when they made their trip, which was a gift for Super Sociable Guy and his family, who have really been very good friends and very sweet to me. I delivered it to them yesterday, and they have already picked it a spot and got it securely planted. I chatted with my friend about it today, and he is quite pleased, and I recommended that he pick up a tree ring to help it along. It was fun to chat, as always, and I mentioned the new fig. Sociable Guy smoothly suggested that, you know, if I ever needed any help picking figs down the road when my tree is established that he and his family would be happy to help out. Just sayin'....
Working full-time does not necessarily leave a lot of time for a social life, but luckily for me I have several colleagues at work who have become friends to me, and unless some serious scheduling conflict comes up, we like to meet up each workday and go out somewhere for lunch together. This group was already in existence when I first joined the workforce, and it seems to have cohered largely thanks to one particular colleague who, in light of this being a public blog, I shall refer to as Super Sociable Guy.
I had hardly been at work for moer than a few days when I was first approached by Super Sociable Guy. He isn't in my working group, but he's from the next group over (remember, super sociable) and he heard through the grapevine that I have an interest in music. He had the same interest, and moved quickly to sound me out about joining a community orchestra, one of the two I now play in, and the one which happens to have a concert coming up this weekend. (Incidentally, he had a hand in forming the second orchestra. Did I mention super sociable?) Anyway, in the process of recruiting me to the musical cause, he invited me to join the Lunch Bunch crew. That being the sociable thing to do, and all.
The cast of characters who attend most regularly are a colorful lot. There is myself, and the Super Sociable Guy, of course, who tend to lean towards the left politically. Opposite us are two other members of the crew, who tend to the conservative. So once conversation gets rolling (a given with you-know-who in the mix) it can get lively. The last member of the regular crew sometimes joins in (he seems to align more with myself and Mr. Social when he does) but he also just sits quietly aside sometimes, being a person of more intellectual interests. Others join us occasionally--friends and family of the main buch, mostly, and the occasional random colleague we manage to snag.
A typical gathering of the Lunch Bunch goes something like this: I notice the time, and put in a call to one of the others so they can initiate the Daily Herding of the Cats. Usually, this is the job of Super Sociable Guy. He rounds up the others, and if they don't get side-tracked talking to someone (it has a tendency to happen) the gang appear on my doorstep a short while later. We then select a driver from among our number who has a vehicle suitable to the day's needs, and pile on in.
Then we decide where we might actually want to go for lunch.
Someone--generally the driver--will ask the group where we all want to go. We all just look at each-other and shrug: Eh, we dunno. Where did you want to go? At this point, no strong opinions being ventured, we proceed to to simply pick a place from the exact same list of seven or so places we always go to. To ensure a little variety, the rule is that we try not to go to the same place more than once in a given work-week. That is apparently suffiicent to liven things up.
Admittedly, our town is not huge, so there aren't exactly a million places to choose from, but even then our list remains pretty short. I don't know if it is just a facet of the Engineer/Scientist personality type, or if there is some other explanation, but by and large we seem quite content to fall into a routine and keep it. Not necessarily out of any deep love of the exact routine, but more because we have found soemthing that seems to work, and it saves mental energy to just stick with it.
Sometimes it strikes me that we (people as a whole) spend a lot of our lives this way, and even if they make us uncomfortable sometimes, I think that people who can enter our lives and nudge us to step out of the familiar from time to time are to be valued highly.
Ah, well. At least I know what's for lunch tomorrow!
Having introduced one of my cats, it is only fair now to introduce the other. Dear, sweet, faithful Sher-khan, named for the tiger of literary fame, has been with me for a long time now. At nearly 20 years old, (yes, you read right, 20, two-zero) he is very much a senior kitty; He has slowed down a lot from the days of his youth, with some definite stiffness and arthritis in his gait, but he is still able to jump up on the bed for night-time cuddles and he still lets me hear all about it if something isn't right with his world, such as mommy getting home late or a lack of attention, which is naturally supposed to be constant. And being a Siamese, he's got the pipes to do it with, too.
He is also a cat of many faces. We have basket-kitty,
outside kitty,
and lap-kitty.
He is a big-time lap cat, and one of his pet peeves in life is laptops, which take up space that is obviously supposed to belong to a kitty. He does enjoy excursions out into the back yard, though anymore he only tends to go out a few minutes before coming back inside for a cozy nap (see basket-kitty).
He plays the kindly uncle to Leo, who is still young enough to make a pest of himself sometimes. Still, they seem to have worked things out between them as to who possesses what space when (I am evidently a time-share) and Sher-khan is still able to find space where he can nap in peace. If only all our lives could be like his....
As I have said in "about me," I happen to be the parent-person of two felines. The younger of the two is Mr. Leo. He's posing for us below.
Is he not a totally cute cat-cat? Yes, yes he is.
He enjoys his food--rather too much, in fact--but he will tell you that he is merely "extra floofy". He also holds the firm belief that everything--and I do mean everything--is a cat toy. One of his favorite objects to appropriate is my work ID on its lanyard. This can be dragged along by the "neck", which he thinks is fun, because the Mighty Lion is then dragging his Helpless Prey back to its Den.
His other all-time favorite activity is being let out to play in the backyard. That's where he was in the last two pictures, but when not rolling around on the porch he might be hanging out beside the little redbuds next to the porch swing:
No outside play for him today, alas, due to cold and cloudy weather. But by tomorrow there is a good chance it will be clearer, and the Doorkeeper might just let him out again. It's a tough life he has.
Today's post will be picture-heavy and a little light on the written word, because much of my time this evening has been devoted to a garden project. I have a very nice planter box on my back porch, so I picked up a few annuals and went to town, so to speak. There were a lot of other people at the store as well, so we all apparently had the same idea on this absolutely gorgeous day.
So, here the poor planter box sits "before," all alone and empty:
After topping up the soil, it was time to get planting. Lucky for me, I had some expert help:
My elder kitty, Sher-khan investigates.
As does my younger one, Leo
As we can see, an avid gardener!
With such excellent assistance, the whole job naturally went very quickly. Now we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor:
After!
The flowers are all among my favorites: geraniums for the centerpiece, some spreading petunias near the edges, and a passel of bright marigolds to fill in the gaps. The store did not yet have any snapdragons or portulaca in stock, both of which I also love, so I may have to make another trip in a week or two and pick up some of those to go around/between the irises in my flower beds.
I hope you, dear readers, also had a wonderful day to enjoy.
I am a bit tired today because we wound up running late at Orchestra rehearsal last night. "We" being myself, and two other locals who make a weekly trek over to the next state to participate in a community orchestra there. The person who originally snagged me into joining this orchestra hasn't gone in a while, being particularly busy lately with personal commitments, but there are still a couple of folks from my neck of the woods that continue to participate. It was rainy for the drive back, but not too bad, fortunately.
Now, lest one think that "classical" music (that performed by a modern Symphony Orchestra or a group modeled on same) is stuffy and just for snobs who are connected to it professionally in some way, this particular group happens to be made of of amateur musicians, either retired or professionals in a non-musical career who simply like to play, and gather for the fun of it. We've played a variety of venues and types of concerts, ranging from seasonal (Christmas or Patriotic themes) to "pops" (not strictly classical, but employing similar forms and instruments) to more high-minded concerts with proper Classical music.
I happen to generally like the proper classical stuff the best. In fact, I'm all for making sure to get a little dose of Culture in your day, so with that in mind, I thought I'd share a little video below. There is not, unfortunately, a recording of our particular group performing this piece, though we have performed it on one very memorable occasion. However, as this piece holds a very important place in the Classical repertoire, I scoured YouTube and, happily, managed to locate a video of an excellent performance. So, for our mutual enrichment, I present Concerto Gross, composed by Robert Hirsch:
I've generally been sort of reluctant to get heavily involved in social media, for a number of reasons. I wouldn't say I'm an especially public person, especially about the things that mean the most to me. I also grew up in the era just before "Web 2.0" really became widespread (I still remember when Facebook only accepted registrations from a .edu email), so I had "old fashioned" ideas about friendship being something that happens face-to-face between people that see one-enother frequently in real life. Only gradually did I come to appreciate the ability of the web to keep a person connected to old friends now-distant, or to connect one with new people who had shared interests.
It was also hard to ignore the familiar litany of privacy and security concerns that go along with social networking. Is it really safe to let the world know where you are, what your routine is, and what things you're involved with? Do I really feel like sharing my patterns and preferences with companies that will bombard me with advertising? Most anyone I've been around who is involved with any sort of network security regards social networking as the Root of All (security) Evil.
Lately, however, I've really picked up posting on facebook, added a proper Google+ account, and (as we can see) have started blogging again. On the professional side, I've even brushed up a LinkedIn account, which seemed to be a good idea for networking purposes.
So far, it's been fun. I've seen some updates from friends, shared my own updates and enjoyed receiving comments and "likes" in return. I'm still a little ambivalent about it in some ways. I don't want to "live" on Facebook and not have a life, or become dependent on social media for validation. So in a way it is a bit hard to pin down exactly why I chose to dive in, and why I chose to do so now. Sure, I've had a Facebook account for quite a while, but I really didn't use it much and barely checked it at all. Well, I have to confess that there was a brief spate where I got sucked in by the games, but that got old pretty quick. Then I went right back to ignoring Facebook.
I suppose my new embrace of the Social Internet is in part to do with the fact that it is hard to find a lot of like-minded, reasonably-educated people to hang out with fact-to-face where I live. My colleagues are wonderful, and I do consider some of them good friends, but it seemed to be important to move in a broader circle than that. Luckily, I feel like I've found some of that wider circle, but many of them live an hour or so away, and a few in particular share extensively on Facebook, so it is the best way to stay connected with them. I admit that it also feels nice to also be back in touch with some of my good friends from previous days.
I guess only time will tell how everything will work out, but for right now I am really enjoying myself, and I hope to continue to stay connected. So, I wave hello across the electronic airwaves, and say "welcome" to passers-by. I'll be seeing you in cyberspace.
Since it is spring, and since the weather has calmed considerably just lately (koff koff) it's a good time to spend a while in my back yard and enjoy my flower beds. Among other things already in the beds when I moved into my current house are some very nice yellow-orange day-lilies. There is one in particular in the back flower bed which is as happy as a clam, with a bazillion buds:
Next to that, are some recently planted irises. These arrived courtesy of my mom, who had them in a planter bed. This bunch wound up homeless (long story, there) though mom still has some others in her yard. I was mostly just hoping that mine would all take this first year and hang in there, as they had been having a rough life before they were replanted, but not only have some of them really settled in, a fair number started to bud out:
Now they have joined the lily in a riot of blumes, creating a bright, cheerful purple-and-yellow canvas:
And last, but not least from the back yard, are two young redbud trees. These were offspring of a giant redbud mom and dad have in their backyard which produces about sixty-gazillion babies each spring. So they had a couple of extras.
The near one was planted not long after I moved in, and it really took off last year (that's MR Redbud to you, thanks) and the other one (harder to see) was planted early last year and is small yet. Once they reach full size, they should provide some nice shade for the porch and swing.
My two cats (more on them soon) absolutely love playing in the back yard, which is fenced in, so they can't wander the whole neighborhood and go looking for trouble. This compromise seems to satisfy all parties, though the cats have been known to turn Marco Polo if for any reason a gate is accidentally left open. And when the gate is just standing open like that, is it their fault if they can't resist the call to go exploring?
In lieu of the usual sort of introductory post, I thought I might describe my last couple of weeks, just to illustrate how my life can get and suggest why my blog has the subtitle and address that it does.
So, the other Wednesday, I was having a pretty normal day, the only real wrinkle being that a predicted round of thunderstorms had rolled in that morning. Because the Friendly Local Weather Man had said these were coming, I didn't think much of them, except to grumble about their inconvenient timing, since when lunchtime rolled around it meant dashing through rain to pile into the truck with the batch of friendly colleagues I usually go to lunch with. The Lunch Bunch are a great crew--there will doubtless be more about them on this blog--and the Bunch consists mainly of other government-employed geeks like myself, plus a couple of friends and family members who join us occasionally.
Well, we pick one our usual favorite haunts, have a quick bite to eat, and enjoy being back out of the rain, which got pretty heavy on the drive over. A while later, however, we are in luck as the rain has slackened slightly, so we pile back in to get back to work...when we get a call from one of our other colleagues who is at the office. The friendly caller wishes to inquire how our lunch has been, where we happen to be at the moment, and--oh, yes--did we know that our building just got hit by a tornado?
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We receive a lively description of the resulting damage from our on-the-ground colleague, but it could not quite do justice to the actual scene. One entire corner of the roof had been peeled back like a tin can, and a single car from the front parking lot had been plucked up and artistically placed on the sidewalk. It was really quite impressive. In better news, nobody had been hurt, and automotive damage seemed to be mainly limited to the Artistic Sidewalk Car. My own faithful little vehicle was around the back, tucked safely on the lee side of the building and suffered nothing more than being whimsically decorated by a few strategically-placed gobs of (now wet) windblown insulation.
In another stroke of good fortune, my office and those of the colleagues I most work with are down in a semi-basement area, and are on the far side of the building from the roof damage. Still, with part of the roof gone, a lot of water made it down to our level on that far end, making rather a mess. With the integrity of my own office un-breached, I initially considered riding things out and carrying on work as usual. I then discovered that the network has gone down, meaning no access and no email communication, putting a pretty big dent in things. To be fair, the email didn't go down until just after we got back from lunch: sitting in our inboxes when we returned to our desks was a friendly note advising us that a weather warning had been issued for our area.
Good to know.
The Internet outage meant I couldn't work on what I'd been planning to work on, but that was no biggie. There were some other tasks I could take care of. I cheerfully booted up my main computer and went to bring up some of the relevant programs. When a minute later power to our section of the building was cut as a precaution against gas leaks...I conclude that this is One of Those Days when more work is simply not going to happen.
Now, this probably sounds like plenty of adventure all on its own...but wait, there's more! The next few days were quiet enough, and the weather was as calm and pleasant as could be--as my mom would say, "butter wouldn't melt in its mouth". Turns out it was just leading us on. By the beginning of the next week, some tarps had been laid over the damaged section of roof, and we all dug right in to our work, laboring to make sure we had everything back on track after the previous week's disruptions. It didn't take long for a bout of rain to pass through and demonstrate conclusively that there were a few flaws with the tarp-job. More water, more cleaning-up down at the far end of the hall.
We survive the week without (further) major incident, and by the beginning of the week after that, we are protected by a whole new batch of super-tarps which are thoroughly weighted down. This is sagely agreed-upon as a significant improvement, as the same Friendly Local Weather Man from before has predicted a new round of storms building in around mid-week. By late afternoon on Monday, I'm really on a roll with work, and not really thinking about weather since that "party" isn't scheduled for a couple of days yet.
I don't particularly notice when the few wispy clouds overhead at lunchtime gradually grow thicker and start to darken. I suspect there were a first few quiet, distant rolls of thunder I didn't really register, either. I'm happily tapping away at my computer. By the time rain began to patter down and the thunder was picking up some steam, I've noticed what is going on, and I find it rather curious, since nothing was really predicted for another day or two. I presume that it must just be one of those little heat-storms that springs up now and again, and I shrug and turn back to my work. By the time it dawns on me that the thunder is still gaining strength, and the storm is looking like it might not be quite so small as I had thought, our Kindly Assistant Team-leader from up the hall drifts by my office. We chat amiably for a minute, as he gives the occasional glance through the window, taking note that the rain has begun to blow sideways. Hard. And there is sort of a rattle-and-bang sound coming from the far end of the building. It is at this point Kindly Assistant Team-leader casually suggests moving out into the hall...which just so happens to be nice...and secure...and away from all windows....
We also gather our one other colleague who happened to be present at the time, and we spend a pleasant little while chatting together, listening to the storm, and (for my part, anyway) admiring the merrily tinkling waterfall that was now gracing the far end of the building. Again. So much for the super-tarps.
While this second storm was "only" straight-line winds, it still managed to do quite a number on the local area; any parts of town which hadn't lost power the first time (my home being one of those) lost it this time around (these including the poor Kindly Assistant Team-leader).
We can't be sure if there there is some weather god somewhere who just doesn't like us, if we have some bad, water-related Karma, or if we were merely the victims of just plain bad luck. Then again, my faithful little car ended up surviving both times completely unscathed, so maybe the angry weather god's vengeance only goes so far. I do know one thing, though: I am definitely keeping my parking space.
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