Diverse Voices And Blazing Visitors

    

Tucson Weather Today

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I finally got around to watching the movie Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

Didn't like it.

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For the last couple of nights, as Eva enjoyed her final 8 P.M. nightly run around the pool deck before retiring to her sleeping pillow for the night, she cooperatively joined the barking brotherhood of dogs for a mile or so around that were loudly protesting the chorus of yelps and howls from an assembled pack of yowling coyotes performing out in the scrubland.

Just a part of the simple life out here in the relative wilds of Southern Arizona.

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Yesterday I read that space rock enthusiasts across the Northern Hemisphere should get a pretty good show from the Geminid meteor shower Friday night, the shower being at its best overnight from Friday, December 13 into early Saturday, December 14. So last night I put on my jacket and cap and took Eva outside a little after darkness fell.

If I'm Lucky I Might See Something Like This

The meteor shower’s prime viewing time is supposed to run from 13:00 UT December 13 to 10:00 UT December 14 with its peak to come at some time around 2:00 UT (7 P.M. Tuscon Time) with meteors falling at a rate of 1 to 2 per minute.

At around 7 P.M. Tucson Time Eva and I went out and I looked up into the night sky but saw nothing, nothing but a lot of stars and about a three-quarter bright white moon that washed out the Southern view. Then we went out again and again every fifteen minutes or so but saw no movement up there.

None at all.

But Eva was in her glory, trotting around the pool in the semi-darkness and pausing each time she neared the North gate to gather in all the night sounds and smells from out there in the scrubland.

It was after eight o'clock that I saw my first meteor. And it was a good one. High in the Northern sky it seemed to just appear all at once, to just leap into existence and burn brightly as it streaked from East to West across the blackness above. The strangest thing about it though was that in mid-streak it seemed to ease apart and become three separate meteors burning and traveling side-by-side. Too soon, of course, it just disappeared... winked out, burned up in the Earth's dense atmosphere.

We lingered out there for some twenty more minutes but it was too cold for an extended stay, then went back inside where it was warm. Eva conked out and went to sleep for the night. I sat and watched some TV for a while, occasionally looking out the window into the starry sky.

Eventually I went to bed, read a few pages from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy on my kindle for a few minutes, then gave in to a deep sleep.

I woke up at four A.M. and decided to stay up and write this and get it ready for uploading. Right now -- right this moment -- at 4:29, I am contemplating the wisdom of fixing a cup of instant Folgers and then bundling up for another trip outdoors.

. . .

I did it; good coffee; no sightings.

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Did You Know . . .?

The names of all continents both start and end with the same letter.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 2012, a 20-year-old man shot and killed his mother at their Newtown, Connecticut, home then drove to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he killed 20 first graders and six school employees before turning a gun on himself. The Sandy Hook tragedy was the second-deadliest mass-shooting in the United States, following the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, in which a gunman killed 32 students and teachers before committing suicide.

The community of Newtown, which has some 27,000 residents and is located about 45 miles southwest of Connecticut’s capital, Hartford, eventually decided to tear down Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was razed in the fall of 2013; a new school will be built on the same site.

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WORD FOR TODAY

reconcile
verb
1. to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).
2. to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent.
3. to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired.
4. to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.
5. to cause to become friendly or peaceable again: to reconcile hostile persons.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Anna Marie "Patty" Duke
(born December 14, 1946)

Patty Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom The Patty Duke Show for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely O'Hara in the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls. She was later elected president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988.

Morey Amsterdam
(December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996)

Morey Amsterdam was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on CBS's The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966.

Lee Ann Remick
(Dec 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991)

Lee Remick was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and The Omen (1976).

Ginger Lynn
(born December 14, 1962)

Ginger Lynn is an American pornographic model, prominent in 1980s videos. She also had occasional roles in low-budget B-movies. AVN has ranked her at #7 in a list of the 50 greatest porn stars of all time.

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Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
--William Safire

This Is Who I Am

    

Liberty And Justice For All

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

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From CNN:
To the families of the victims, Ethan Couch was a killer on the road, a drunken teenage driver who caused a crash that left four people dead.

To the defense, the youth is himself a victim -- of "affluenza," according to one psychologist -- the product of wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits for the boy.

To a judge, who sentenced Couch to 10 years' probation but no jail time, he's a defendant in need of treatment.

Complete Story From CNN

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There is no good reason why I took a series of pictures as the sun rose up over the Rincon Mountains, especially since I knew the sun was way too bright for my camera to capture it.

I took several shots but only one of them was recorded in the camera's memory.

Bright Morning Sun As Seen From Front Porch

 

Tucson Sunrise Over The Rincons

All the reds and oranges and deep blues my eyes saw were somehow missing in the photo.

I am so disappointed.

OH well . . .  that's life, I suppose.

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Did You Know . . .?

The longest recorded flight of a chicken was 13 seconds.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 2003 after spending nine months on the run, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured. Saddam's downfall began on March 20, 2003, when the United States led an invasion force into Iraq to topple his government, which was reported to be hiding weapons of mass destruction, and which had controlled the country for more than 20 years.

At trial in November 5 2006, he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. After an unsuccessful appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006. Despite a prolonged search, weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq.

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WORD FOR TODAY

justice
noun
1. The quality of being just; fairness.
2.
 a. The principle of moral rightness; equity.
 b. Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness.
3.
 a. The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
 b. Law The administration and procedure of law.
4. Conformity to truth, fact, or sound reason: The overcharged customer was angry, and with justice.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke
(born December 13, 1925)

Dick Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, singer, dancer, and producer with a career spanning seven decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke. Van Dyke starred in the films Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. Van Dyke received The Life Achievement Award at the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony on January 27, 2013.

Wendie Malick
(born December 13, 1950)

Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On (1990–1996), Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! (1997–2003) and Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier (2003–2004). Malick plays Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland.

Herman Cain
(born December 13, 1945)

Herman Cain is an American author, business executive, radio host, syndicated columnist, and Tea Party activist from Georgia. He was a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.

Taylor Alison Swift
(born December 13, 1989)

 Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter. The release of Swift's eponymous debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

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It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
--James A. Baldwin

This Is Who I Am

    

WHY . . . ?

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

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I was browsing the Words and Language blogs, as I often do, when I once again encountered the clever quotation by George Bernard Shaw: "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." And, as usual, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly.

Some British words and phrases, in good ol' American English, "simply drive me up the wall."

One of those horrible-sounding words is whinge, which is supposedly British for the American "whine." I don't know why whinge should affect me as adversely as it does... but it does -- IT DOES!

In fact, I hate that word so much that I once wrote a limerick about it.

Whenever a Brit says, "whinge"
I shudder, I quake, and I cringe.
In the States, we say, "whine"
Which is perfectly fine --
A Yank would never say, "whinge"

Sometimes I shake my head in perplexed confusion and wonder why the hell I am that I am.

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Did You Know . . .?

'Topolino' is the name for Mickey Mouse in Italy.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1901 Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less.

The message -- simply the Morse-code signal for the letter "s" -- traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada.

In 1909, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics with the German radio innovator Ferdinand Braun. After successfully sending radio transmissions from points as far away as England and Australia, Marconi turned his energy to experimenting with shorter, more powerful radio waves. He died in 1937, and on the day of his funeral all British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stations were silent for two minutes in tribute to his contributions to the development of radio.

Note: The Morse Code signal for the letter 's' is three short 'dits.'

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WORD FOR TODAY

bloody
adjective
1. Stained with blood.
2. Of, characteristic of, or containing blood.
3. Accompanied by or giving rise to bloodshed: a bloody fight.
4. Bloodthirsty.
5. Suggesting the color of blood; blood-red.
6. Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive: "Everyone wants to have a convict in his bloody family tree"
adv.
Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive: bloody well right.
1. To stain, spot, or color with or as if with blood.
2. To make bleed, as by injuring or wounding: The troops were bloodied in the skirmish.

Interesting explanation of the British term: 'bloody'

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra
(Dec 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998)

Frank Sinatra was an American singer and film actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra found unprecedented success as a solo artist. He released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1946.

Sinatra won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity. He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy.

Sarah Douglas
(born 12 December 1952)

Sarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980). Her other prominent roles include that of the evil Queen Taramis in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer, and Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest (1983–85).

Edward Goldenberg Robinson
(Dec 12, 1893 – Jan 26, 1973)

Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo. Other memorable roles include insurance investigator Barton Keyes in the film noir Double Indemnity, Dathan (adversary of Moses) in The Ten Commandments, and his final performance as Sol Roth in the science-fiction story Soylent Green.

Sheree Julienne Wilson
(born December 12, 1958)

Sheree Wilson is an American actress, producer and former model. She is best known for her role as April Stevens on the American prime-time television series Dallas (a role she played from 1986 to 1991), and as Alexandra "Alex" Cahill-Walker, on television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993-2001.

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Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone.
--Paul Tillich

This Is Who I Am

Clouds Over The Mountains

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

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I managed to get a couple of snapshots yesterday morning that pretty well illustrate my impression of a typical Tucson December day.

Here is one of them . . .

Eva Surveying The Scrubland At 8:10 A.M.

 

Tuesday Morning, December 10, 2013

 

Here's another one . . .

 

Storm Clouds Again Drifting Northeast

 

 Tuesday Morning, December 10, 2013

 

Note: As always, the picture does not do justice to the real thing.

 

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Did You Know . . .?

A lobsters blood is colorless but when exposed to oxygen it turns blue.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 2008, financier Bernard Madoff was arrested at his New York City apartment and charged with masterminding a long-running Ponzi scheme later estimated to involve around $65 billion, making it one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history.

The fallout from Madoff’s scam was widespread: The victims included everyone from his wealthy country-club acquaintances, Hollywood celebrities, banks and hedge funds to universities, charities and ordinary individual investors, some of whom lost their life savings.

On June 29 of that year, a federal district court judge in Manhattan sentenced Madoff to 150 years behind bars, calling his actions “extraordinary evil.”

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WORD FOR TODAY

fraud
noun
1.  a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.
2.  any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
3.  a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.
4.  deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Terry Ann "Teri" Garr
(born December 11, 1944)

Teri Garr is an American actress and dancer best known for her film roles in Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Tootsie, Oh, God!. Mr. Mom, After Hours, The Black Stallion and One from the Heart, and television's Friends.

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson
(born December 11, 1954)

Jermaine Jackson is an American singer, bass guitarist, composer, member of The Jackson 5, and occasional film director. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist and was a producer for Bobby DeBarge's band Switch.

Lynda Day George
(born December 11, 1944)

Linda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was a cast member on Mission: Impossible (1971–1973). She was also the wife of actor Christopher George.

Rita Moreno
(born December 11, 1931)

Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers to have won all four major annual American entertainment awards, which include an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.

In 1961, Moreno landed the role of Anita in Broadway musical, West Side Story, which had been played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Besides appearing in Singin' in the Rain, The King and I, Summer and Smoke (1961), West Side Story, The Night of the Following Day (1968) and Carnal Knowledge (1971), and she made other guest appearances on television series such as The Rockford Files, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, George Lopez, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice.

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Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them.
--Linus Pauling

     

This Is Who I Am

Achievemant, Praise, Recognition

    

Tucson Weather Today

 

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It might just be a manifestation of old age, but I am finding myself more and more prone to dredging up long forgotten events from my early years, mostly minor incidents of seemingly minuscule import.

One such happening from my memory is from my Boy Scout years and concerns our troop's Kite Flying Contest.

Now, my father was by no means a social man, preferring to keep to himself and always out of the limelight. So I was quite surprised when he announced that he intended to help me build and fly a kite in the contest. But surprised or not I hastily accepted the unexpected offer.

I have to admit that it was Dad who designed, rounded up all the materials, and constructed the kite. After all, everything that he attempted was always done to perfection, never thrown together slapdash and slipshod as were most of my projects.

On the day of the contest, which took place at the high school football field in Brookside Park, my dad and I joined the twenty or so other contestants with our kites and began the contest. The few rules were simple. We were to launch our home made kites, feed out as much string as possible, and keep the kites in the air as high as possible and for as long as possible.

Well, of course we won, my dad and I.

The winner was to receive the prize, a large, brand new U.S.Army surplus boxkite made of hollow aluminum rods and bright orange nylon (I think) material. And the prize was to be presented at an evening gathering of the Boy Scout Troop in the Junior High School meeting room; the prize was to be presented to the winner (me and my dad) by the school principal, Mr. A. Garland Hardy.

Everything went perfectly that evening. At the end of the presentation we received a long and loud round of applause... my dad and me.

And I happily flew that boxkite out over the cornfield across the street from my home for many years, back then in the early 1950s.

In a way, it's kind of sad, you know?

That is the only memory I have of my dad and I ever doing anything together.

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Did You Know . . .?

John Milton lost his eyesight, and he spent the end of his life blind, living in seclusion in the countryside, where he dictated his epic poem Paradise Lost to his assistants, line by line.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1901 the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives.

In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.

The Nobel Prizes are still presented annually on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. In 2006, each Nobel Prize carried a cash prize of nearly $1,400,000 and recipients also received a gold medal, as is the tradition.

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WORD FOR TODAY

laud  [lawd]
noun
praise; glorification.
verb
to give praise to; glorify.
praise (a person or their achievements) highly, esp. in a public context.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Michael Clarke Duncan
(Dec 10, 1957 - Sept 3, 2012)

Michael Duncan was an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. He was also recognized for his appearances in motion pictures such as Armageddon, The Whole Nine Yards, The Scorpion King and Daredevil, as well as voice acting roles in works such as Brother Bear and Kung Fu Panda.

Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman
(born December 10, 1985)

Raven-Symoné, or simply Raven, is an American actress and singer. Raven-Symoné launched her career in 1989 after appearing in The Cosby Show as Olivia Kendall. She released her debut album, Here's to New Dreams in 1993; the single, "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" charted number 68 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The next album, Undeniable, was released on May 4, 1999.

Dan Blocker
(Dec 10, 1928 - May 13, 1972)

Dan Blocker was an American television actor and Korean War veteran. He is best remembered for his role as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in the NBC western television series Bonanza.

Susan Dey
(born December 10, 1952)

Susan Dey is an American actress, known primarily for her roles in film and television. Her more prominent parts came as elder daughter, Laurie Partridge, on the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, and as Grace Van Owen, a California assistant district attorney and judge on the dramatic series, L.A. Law, a role she played from 1986 to 1992.

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The Nobel Prize is run by a self-perpetuated committee. They vote for themselves and get the world's publishing industry to jump to their tune.
--Doris Lessing

If I found a cure for a huge disease, while I was hobbling up onstage to accept the Nobel Prize they'd be playing the theme song from 'Three's Company'.
--John Ritter

This Is Who I Am

    

Reasons For Walking

    
Tucson Weather Today

 

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There are some hidden benefits to those who walk for their health for exercise, to lose weight, of for whatever other reason.

Below are three of them:

Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

The 1995 National Personal Transportation Survey found that approximately 40% of all car trips are less than 2 miles in length -- which represents a 10-minute bike ride or less than 40-minutes of walking.

The cost of operating a car for one year is approximately $5,170. The cost of operating a bicycle for a year is only $120. Walking is free!

Remember this one?

I've got no time for talkin'
I've got to keep on walkin'
New Orleans is my home
That's the reason while I'm gone
Yes, I'm walkin' to New Orleans

Don't remember it?

Hear it HERE

Cool, huh?

Here's another WALKING hit

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

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Did You Know . . .?

The longest walk around the world was completed by a former neon-sign salesman, Jean Beliveau.  He walked 46,600 miles around 64 countries. The trip took him 11 years.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1950, Harry Gold -- who had confessed to serving as a courier between Klaus Fuchs, a British scientist who stole top-secret information on the atomic bomb, and Soviet agents -- was sentenced to 30 years in jail for his crime.

Gold's arrest was part of a massive investigation into Soviet espionage, particularly the theft of atomic secrets. Questioning of Gold led him to implicate David Greenglass.

Greenglass then informed on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, claiming that both of them actively spied for the Soviet Union during World War II and after.

The Rosenbergs were later convicted and executed for espionage.

 

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WORD FOR TODAY

perambulate
verb
1.  To walk through.
2.  To inspect (an area) on foot.
3.  To walk about; roam or stroll.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Simon Helberg
(born December 9, 1980)

Simon Helberg is an American actor, voice actor and comedian best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, currently in its seventh season, for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He has appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv and is also known for his role as Moist in the Joss Whedon-led web miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench
(born December 9, 1934)

Judi Dench is an English film, stage and television actress, and author. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Over the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
 

In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By. Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she continued to play in James Bond films through to Skyfall (2012).

Michael Dorn
(born December 9, 1952)

Michael Dorn is an American actor and voice artist who is best known for his role as the Klingon Worf from the Star Trek franchise.

Margaret Brainard Hamilton
(Dec 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985)

Margaret Hamilton was an American film character actress best known for her portrayal of the malevolent Miss Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's musical film The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.
--Thomas Jefferson

This Is Who I Am

    

Eclectic Expansion by Guest Blogger

    

Eclectic Expansion

Construction hasn't moved for several days. I think they were waiting for an inspection. To date, we have a foundation, cross beams in the subfloor, plumbing for the half-bath (not totally attached yet), and a stack of insulation in the backyard.

Bounty is learning that he is now to go outside via the side door, and there is less dirt inside the house. While it's less, it's still quite a bit; dusting one day doesn't do much good as the next day there's another layer of dust on everything. Someone wise told me it will stay that way until the construction workers wave goodbye to me.

The water poltergeist is unhappy. H-2-Uh-Oh is still around, yes. We know this because in the last week the filtration stopped in the aquarium, the plumbing has air in it, and when I tried to take a shower tonight, the water was brown. Well, until it stopped flowing completely it was brown. Oh, and Harry's new coffeepot is leaking all over the counter, but only when it's unplugged. Bizarre.

The dominoes continue and we've added stuff to our construction. Now we're involving our existing bathrooms, too. We came home one day to see the bottom corner of our bathtub through the side wall, where construction/destruction had peeled away the stucco. It didn't take us long to make the obvious connection -- if they're already that far into the wall, they can fix the plumbing to that tub. The bathtub hasn't truly worked in years. When our friend was staying here in '97/'98, we had a garden hose hooked up to run water into the tub via the sink. Not convenient when you want to trickle in just a bit more hot water. I'm not sure I can imagine what it'd be like to have a tub again.

And while they're at it, the shower, which backs against the tub, using one "wet wall" (sounds kinky, don't you think?) is having some issues, too, so why not fix it at the same time?

The quote I got for the bathrooms also contains new sinks and tile inserts. Meanwhile, we battle with the boxes from our move out and in for the floors and we've gradually realized we just don't have enough storage space. So...

... we got a quote for cabinets in the computer room, too, from a different guy. (And Harry wants a pathway to the shop for when it rains and we're going to need some kind of covering for the window seat and we need carpet in the new room before the pool table comes home and and and.)

We realized we didn't have enough money as well as enough cabinets. So back to the bank we went. Two hours worth of paperwork, fifteen signatures (each), and today I looked online and we have a brand new equity line of credit.

The amount is more money than I've ever been responsible for in my life. It's exciting. It's invigorating. And it's terrifying.

It's also, apparently, HexHouse's year.

 

Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/