not in the morning

You guys been complaining about me taking scenic pictures in the morning. Now you can start complaining about baby pictures, because that's what you're gonna get from now on as I transition to grandmommyblog. This one I like to call "Tot in a  Bowler."

home decor

Nothing like a few tools scattered around to give a place that lived-in feel.

you dropped da bomb

OK, Citydwellers, What are these things? No points for countryfolk.

difference a day makes

This is it. An ocean of sky and a sky of ocean.
 Deeply into home improvement—why is it not noticeable?—making weigh by tiny oar strokes rather than furlongs and fathoms. Sorry. Gotta get back outside. The wind has quit!

find the surfer

No boats yesterday—the waves were too big, busting way up over the breakwaters. Breaking beautifully in front of Claudia's Surf City, where you're surfing right now, Websurfer.
It was a south wind, so I was able to switch out two dormer windows on the north side. One south side window to go, but must wait for different weather. And if I wait long enough, I know it will come.

fixing a hole where the rain gets in

 


Like the Poetry Man said on the last post, there are places and jobs where the weather really makes a difference. One of these places is the roof over the bed where you are sleeping with a daylight crack in a monsoon rain and howling wind, and I mean a howlin' and a rattlin' and a shakin' like you wouldn't hardly believe, my people.
   No, I don't think the plastic bags and bucket are a real fix (also the bags didn't work) so I went wandering through the interweb and found these handy items about how to replace a missing wood shingle even with diagrams.
   And I must say, it all sounds eminently doable but for the part where you are working on a seriously pitched roof. Which pretty much tears it for me. And even Spiderman would have to wait til this south wind quits a blowin' anyway. Made the split pea soup yesterday, appropriately, given the fog.

Forgot to put this in. Coolest picture of almost realtime winds ever.

shad bloom

Like everything else, the shad bushes are blooming early and beautifully this year. Got to watch as the fog rolled in. Totally fab.

multiples

I have been working on this story about multiple wives, see, and OMG something else seems to have multiplied when I wasn't paying attention! This one is a gift from Dada to Wife #2, speaking of polygamy. Tnx! I think I better look around and see if any other multiple miracles have occurred whilst I was focused on the screen. There are definitely multiple does and fawns around (speaking, again, of polygamy), and I'm pretty sure we will be seeing multiple ducklings soon if the multiple (murder of) crows don't get them. I'll be rememorizing the multiplication tables now, if you need me.

view from the bath

this just in

 We received the following report from a faithful correspondent while the wires were down, but are now reproducing it here in full.

The National Weather Service warned early today that its most sensitive  egonomic indicators were showing a strong northeasterly shift, moving the center point of egocentric activity away from its traditional center in Manhattan and pulling it strongly toward the Rochester area.

  Scientists are puzzled by the abrupt shift.

  Dr. Myron Knowsome, director of the center, said that his instruments began to record the shift on Friday and that by Sunday all indices were showing a strong pull toward the upstate New York city.

"No one expects Rochester to show up in these readings. We see shifts during the Oscars awards away from New York toward the West coast but they don't usually last more than a day. This is significant," he said.

   Rochester Emergency Management Chief Thomas Hornblower, contacted by satellite phone because old phones--or people--no longer work in Rochester said he was surprised. "Everybody who knew anything left here a long time ago," he said. "Our ego readings have largely been in the negative numbers for the past ten years. And we don't have enough fracking sites here to explain it."

    "The only new people here in the last few days have been 10 Magnum photographers and their worshipers. I mean workers. It could be them but I couldn't tell because they barely talk to each other and won't tell me anything."

    The troubling shift of the nation's egonomic center is already causing disturbances in Nyack, a one peaceful city on the Hudson that is now the new center point."

    "Over this weekend we have seen hyper competitive barbequing disputes, lawn mowing work that went on until neighbors dropped, battles at the marina for the top dock space and much more competition for parking spaces downtown, often involving tire irons," Nyack Mayor John Friendly said from a hideout in his back yard.

   But perhaps the most terrifying event, according Police Chief Fred Dunkin, was when Mary Goodheart, former head of the Clean Up Nyack Coalition and Quaker anti-everything activist showed up at the local Toyota shop to pick up what she once described as her dream car, a new Prius.

   "Fuck the Prius," she told William Badtire, the sales manager. "That is so not me any more." She then drove off in a used 1982 Pontiac GTO muscle car.

  "We are not sure how long we can handle this," the mayor said before he hastily hung up.

Dan Rather contributed to this report

technical difficulties

The Interweb has been out, so what with that and tomorrow's deadline, I haven't been assiduously posting. I promise that will change soon. Along with my WEP password.
 PS Do computer problems and Verizon sometimes make you feel like weeping? Or is it just me?

Sunburn

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

how to make oatmeal for one

Day One
Wake up on a cold morning in Block Island.
Turn on fireplace.
Do not use Quaker Oats.
Start oatmeal and coffee water while blogging. Make sure to make twice as much as you eat so you won't have to make it tomorrow.
Grind coffee. Make coffee. Stir oatmeal.
Eat oatmeal like grits (only better for you) with a pat of butter, salt and pepper, while finishing blog. Or, if you must, cinnamon and walnuts, maple syrup and newspaper.
Day Two
Microwave leftover oatmeal.
Make a well in the hot oatmeal and crack a small egg in it. Pour a little bit of the boiling coffee water on top and cover until egg is cooked as you like it.
Serve with salt and pepper.
(Alt: Some people like to stir the egg up in the hot oatmeal. Ick. Some people prefer to poach or fry egg separately. See Martha Stewart.)
Now that's an oat meal!

One down, one to go. . .
And below, what I take to be Bill Dugan's tools of the trade. He has mostly been doing typewriters lately but seems to have branched into cameras.

people in the news

My daughter, who met the head of the NEA.

 

And my niece, a first place for the NRA. I mean, in riflery.

slow on the trigger

The coolest reflection I saw while putting up storm windows (I know, wrong time of year, but they do have screens) was of an egret in the pond and the guy fixing my septic tank, but I was not quick enough (my hands were covered with glazing compound) to get it. The septic, however is fixed, and the storms are on.
In Mainland news, the head of the National Endowment of the Arts is supposed to do a meet and greet with Hannah and Chris today on Main Street, Woonie. You can see an article about it here. The article heralds beautifications on Main Street like bike racks, and a cynical commentator styling him/herself Dead in the Water had this to say:  "Bike racks might be a good place to pitch a tent,  excellent "infrastructure" investment. I'll be able to conveniently hold out my cup for donations to the increased pedestrian traffic."

tim-brrrr

Going, going. . .

And now just a disposal problem: Five trees. And new "viewsheds."

pagan spring rites

Hippy hoppy to all!

contest

The New York Times's readers seem to be into instruction these days, whether in philosophy, drawing, or, now, writing.
I am not equipped to advise in any but the last category. However, I just read the first few blog posts in the NYT wherein commenters were instructed to send in a description of the sky.
Check it out: 279 or something comments.
I almost barfed, to paraphrase Santorum. (He wasn't talking about descriptions of the sky, but about JFK's separation of church and state speech.)
Can you do better? I mean, about descriptions of the sky. The What's in the Truck contest seems to have waned like a fingernail moon.

Hint: Adjectives and adverbs should be used really, really sparingly! Or I will make Big Fun of you!

requiem

In my yard all but two of the hundreds of Japanese black pines we planted decades ago have gone to meet their maker. Where are Flip and his chain saw when we need them? The grass, however, is doing excellently! Soon  it will be time to get out the mower Douglas gave me last year and try to crank it up.

branding

Or is this marketing? or advertising? or promotion? I never can keep it straight; need Hannah to tell me!

this morning

The view from my bedroom couldn't be further from Weegee World, where I live today.

it was in the truck

Ok, here we go!

1 down comforter (K)
4 duvet covers from IKEA (T)
1 dishrack (blk)
1 box Chemex coffee filters
2 xpensive red wastebaskets
6 storm windows
4 dormer window inserts
2 gate hinges
10 yds lilac canvas for outdoor shower
20 yds tasteless oilcloth from Mexico

3 bananas
1 dozen fuji apples
2 oven thermo- meters
1 ancient printer
10 lbs Zabar's coffee
1 bum knee
2 sound ankles
2 bags hand soap
2 eco lightbulbs
2 full size sheets
1 bale toilet paper
1 bale paper towels
1 waterpik
1 bathroom scale
8 2-litre bottles seltzer
2 whole chickens
1 multiplug
4 cans Rustoleum spray paint
2 packs Faros
2 writing assignments
5 golden rings
(not really; just checking) 

And the winner is. . .
Ivy!
Your personalized message will be in the mail real soon!
There were zero substandard chairs, for once, but good guessing by all. Need more substandard chairs for outside! Better get to the dump!
Alas, there was no room for firewood, though I wish I had brought some. I will have to order.
I apologize for this layout. Can't seem to make it do what I want.

what's in the truck?

What a difference a week makes. Today in Rhode Island it's raw and wet, and I'm headed out to the island and back to winter bearing. . .

a pork roast
a Mexican beach bag
a computer for my currently Internet-less house
and what else?
The person who has the best guesses and gets the most points will win a personal note from me, making you different from all my other friends and relations who have not heard from me for a month!