Our area had a lovely day today. It started cloudy and cool, but then it cleared off and got into the low 50s. I celebrated it after work today by doing something I hadn't done for a while: I mowed the lawn.
Final rite of our rapidly disappearing summer. A cold front is supposed to blow through on Sunday. We may see snowflakes before Monday.
The grass had gotten long because I hadn't mown it for a while. Part of it is basic laziness, I suppose, but the long delay is partly due to the ankle I twisted in early September. We have a push mower, so when you mow the lawn you get some good exercise. I didn't want to push the ankle until it was feeling nearly back to normal. It is now. If I twist it the wrong way, it hurts a little. Otherwise, it's back to normal.
I had to run out for a picture this evening, and when I walked out to the car, I said to myself that the lawn is looking fairly nice. Better than it was, certainly.
The picture, by the way, was at a youth hockey practice. Yes, winter's on the way.
****
Geez, I've fallen behind on everyone's blogs lately. I've got an excuse. Maybe not a good one, but it's better than nothing.
At work, we have been working hard on our winter tourism issue. The official deadline is this weekend, and I fell behind on things last week. Suddenly it came to me--Eureka!--that nobody else is going to do the work for me. So I had to hustle my bustle. Like they say about the butcher who sat down in the meat grinder, "I'm getting a little behind in my work."
So no quiet time at the office this week. Instead, manic work to get a bunch of features written or updated. Meanwhile, I had a pair of friends I wanted to write to, and that took up my evenings at home. And I was already tired, from all the work I had done.
Also, Wednesday was my wife's birthday, and we wanted to visit my mom that evening. So we did. I got her a couple cards. Some of you may remember some of the infamous cards I get for my wife. The stock of clever ones seemed to be down this year. Still, I came up with this one.
Here is the front ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Bday08A-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
And this is inside ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Bday08B-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
****
On a recent trip to see my mom, my wife and I decided to get a scratch mat for Max. We put it out, and Max seemed to take to it ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Scratch-Max-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
So did the other two cats. Maggie decided to give it a try. She thought it was good to sit on ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Scratch-Maggie-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
And Charlie decided to give it a try. First, she worked it up with a paw to make a little tunnel out of it ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Scratch-CharlieA-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Then the little feathery toy on it got her attention, and Charlie had a great time playing with it ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Scratch-CharlieB-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Oh, she was having a great time with it ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Scratch-CharlieC-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
The cats are getting along a lot better. Still an occasional hiss or growl, but it's gotten a lot better. Last time I wrote, I wasn't sure it was going to work out. Now it's better.
Max's personality is coming out more. He likes to get petted but doesn't like to be picked up that often. But he comes around, rubbing against my legs or my hand when I put it down. He likes to get his head petted and scratched. Purr, purr.
Meanwhile, nearly every morning now, Charlie comes to visit me about 5 a.m., when I'm just waking up. I feel her walking up by my side. I try to lie on my back, with my arm to my side, so Charlie will lie down by my side, with my arm on the other side, so she can put her forepaws on my upper arm. Purr, purr. Sometimes she gets her middle rubbed. Other times, I drift back to sleep.
Did I ever tell you that Charlie likes crackers? Every cat is strange in some way, and Charlie seems to have a weakness for ordinary soda crackers. When I came out to the living room this evening with a pair crackers, Charlie hopped up by me. Meow? Meow? Urrrow? She starts sniffing the crackers and tries to lick them, so I finally break off a tiny corner and offer it to her. She sniffs and then eats it. You could hear a soft crunch, crunch. She had two pieces and was satisfied.
Ironically, my wife said she was sitting with Charlie yesterday. She had a couple crackers for herself ... and Charlie paid them no attention.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tagged like me
OK, I got tagged, by IndigoMoonArts. My mission today is to relate seven strange or little-known facts about myself.
Now I know myself. And you think you know me from what I have written here. The fact is, though, that I don't write about parts of my life.
Reasons? They are boring. They are uninteresting. Yes, even more uninteresting than the stuff I normally write about. Some hurt a little too much to write about. They are too personal. With all the stuff I've written about, too personal?
Well, we'll see. I thought of a few things that may raise an eyebrow or two. And so ...
1. I don't drink coffee. Or beer. Don't care for the taste of either. So I don't go to coffee houses or bars. Not that I'm an abstainer. Wine is OK, and so is liquor. But I go real easy on that stuff. How easy? Last beer I had was at the "pre-draft party" around April 1. I had a little mead (honey wine) and other kinds of wine during the neopagan camp last summer. A little. Not much.
2. I've been cutting back on some kinds of food. Soda--I've cut way back on that. Milk--I drink just 1% milk now. White bread: cut that out entirely--I get rye bread with little caraway seeds or else natural grain bread. That's what we have for breakfast. In general, I avoid sweet stuff. A little candy is OK, but I don't do that often.
2. I may be involved in a lawsuit. As a plaintiff. It involves the estate of my aunt who died in January 2007. The personal representative, who is one of 11 nieces and nephews, may have taken a lot of money from the estate. We (my cousins and I) strongly suspect he has. He has been removed, and a new personal rep is being appointed. Stay tuned.
3. I have never been out of the U.S. Midwest in my life. Never have seen a mountain. Never have seen an ocean, unless you think Lake Superior counts. Furthest west: Minneapolis-St. Paul. Furthest east: Harriston, Ontario. Furthest south: the Chicago area. Furthest north: the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P. It's not that I don't want to travel. But there just never has been enough time or money. I have been to Canada a few times; the Sault Ste. Marie area, Windsor with my son and that special trip to visit S in December 2005.
4. Never have flown in an airplane, either. Well, I'll take that back. About 20 years ago, I went up in a private plane--we flew around the county, with me taking pictures of some of the sights: the woods, the towns, the lakes. That was my only time. Commercial flights, no.
4. I met my wife on a blind date. Just after the first moon landing, in 1969. It was arranged by a high school classmate of mine with big boobs who was working with her, about a year after we graduated. We went to some park where we tried out a batting cage (I fouled off the first pitch and fanned on all the others), drove go-karts, walked along Milwaukee's Bradford Beach and then did a lot of kissing in the back seat as they drove us home. We went out the next Saturday by ourselves. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. Etc. Meanwhile, the other girl (my ex-classmate with the big boobs) broke up with her BF.
5. I love trains. I was born too late for the era of train travel, but at least I can see what it was like on many of the classic movies. I also have CDs and DVDs that featuring steam locomotives. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I put on a CD of steam locomotives roaring around. I listen, and before long I'm asleep. The stuff I put my wife through!
6. I love foreign films. Particular Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, samurai films in general and the Expressionist films (especially directed by Fritz Lang) from the post-World War I era in Germany. That's a passion that (like many of mine) I have to enjoy by myself or not at all. My dream poly lover would be someone who also loves to watch foreign films. And play around.
6. My fantasy football team, the Howlin' Wolfs (named for the classic blues singer), is undefeated and in first place seven weeks into the season. Three of the wins have been by less than two points, but a win's a win.
6. I'm a fan of cricket. Really. I understand how the game is played; in fact, I have a few cricket videos and DVDs. Want me to explain the LBW law? Or what "Bodyline" was all about? What strange thing happened in Sir Donald Bradman's final innings? Just ask me. (I got pissed during the baseball strike of 1994 and decided to learn what cricket was all about.)
7. I'm a president. For real. We have a cooperative cable TV/broadband internet corporation in town, and I have been a director for many years, as board president for the last 10 years or so. That means I get to sign the checks and preside at board meetings. We keep our rates as low as we can. Just finished a project to enhance our bandwidth and add more fiber nodes.
****
Not much else to report on. The cats are getting along better, as some of you predicted. Updates later--I want to write a friend tonight; this will be a week with very little spare time, so better take care of it now.
Now I know myself. And you think you know me from what I have written here. The fact is, though, that I don't write about parts of my life.
Reasons? They are boring. They are uninteresting. Yes, even more uninteresting than the stuff I normally write about. Some hurt a little too much to write about. They are too personal. With all the stuff I've written about, too personal?
Well, we'll see. I thought of a few things that may raise an eyebrow or two. And so ...
1. I don't drink coffee. Or beer. Don't care for the taste of either. So I don't go to coffee houses or bars. Not that I'm an abstainer. Wine is OK, and so is liquor. But I go real easy on that stuff. How easy? Last beer I had was at the "pre-draft party" around April 1. I had a little mead (honey wine) and other kinds of wine during the neopagan camp last summer. A little. Not much.
2. I've been cutting back on some kinds of food. Soda--I've cut way back on that. Milk--I drink just 1% milk now. White bread: cut that out entirely--I get rye bread with little caraway seeds or else natural grain bread. That's what we have for breakfast. In general, I avoid sweet stuff. A little candy is OK, but I don't do that often.
2. I may be involved in a lawsuit. As a plaintiff. It involves the estate of my aunt who died in January 2007. The personal representative, who is one of 11 nieces and nephews, may have taken a lot of money from the estate. We (my cousins and I) strongly suspect he has. He has been removed, and a new personal rep is being appointed. Stay tuned.
3. I have never been out of the U.S. Midwest in my life. Never have seen a mountain. Never have seen an ocean, unless you think Lake Superior counts. Furthest west: Minneapolis-St. Paul. Furthest east: Harriston, Ontario. Furthest south: the Chicago area. Furthest north: the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U.P. It's not that I don't want to travel. But there just never has been enough time or money. I have been to Canada a few times; the Sault Ste. Marie area, Windsor with my son and that special trip to visit S in December 2005.
4. Never have flown in an airplane, either. Well, I'll take that back. About 20 years ago, I went up in a private plane--we flew around the county, with me taking pictures of some of the sights: the woods, the towns, the lakes. That was my only time. Commercial flights, no.
4. I met my wife on a blind date. Just after the first moon landing, in 1969. It was arranged by a high school classmate of mine with big boobs who was working with her, about a year after we graduated. We went to some park where we tried out a batting cage (I fouled off the first pitch and fanned on all the others), drove go-karts, walked along Milwaukee's Bradford Beach and then did a lot of kissing in the back seat as they drove us home. We went out the next Saturday by ourselves. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. Etc. Meanwhile, the other girl (my ex-classmate with the big boobs) broke up with her BF.
5. I love trains. I was born too late for the era of train travel, but at least I can see what it was like on many of the classic movies. I also have CDs and DVDs that featuring steam locomotives. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I put on a CD of steam locomotives roaring around. I listen, and before long I'm asleep. The stuff I put my wife through!
6. I love foreign films. Particular Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, samurai films in general and the Expressionist films (especially directed by Fritz Lang) from the post-World War I era in Germany. That's a passion that (like many of mine) I have to enjoy by myself or not at all. My dream poly lover would be someone who also loves to watch foreign films. And play around.
6. My fantasy football team, the Howlin' Wolfs (named for the classic blues singer), is undefeated and in first place seven weeks into the season. Three of the wins have been by less than two points, but a win's a win.
6. I'm a fan of cricket. Really. I understand how the game is played; in fact, I have a few cricket videos and DVDs. Want me to explain the LBW law? Or what "Bodyline" was all about? What strange thing happened in Sir Donald Bradman's final innings? Just ask me. (I got pissed during the baseball strike of 1994 and decided to learn what cricket was all about.)
7. I'm a president. For real. We have a cooperative cable TV/broadband internet corporation in town, and I have been a director for many years, as board president for the last 10 years or so. That means I get to sign the checks and preside at board meetings. We keep our rates as low as we can. Just finished a project to enhance our bandwidth and add more fiber nodes.
****
Not much else to report on. The cats are getting along better, as some of you predicted. Updates later--I want to write a friend tonight; this will be a week with very little spare time, so better take care of it now.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Are you sitting comfortably?
Prepare yourself for a shock.
Are you sitting down? (Of course you are; you're at the computer, aren't you?)
The news is: I haven't been feeling particularly creative lately.
It's this, that and the other thing. Maybe my brain is seizing up. Screeech! Summer now seems to have fled the scene for good, and I'm working on articles for our annual winter issue. I can't begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Wonderful. Six months of winter, on deck.
Well, like most stuff in life, it is what you make of it. Right at the moment, I'm a bit down at the prospect of winter coming. But after winter there's spring, and then summer. Spring is only six or seven months away, depending on whether it's a late spring or not.
****
There is big news at our house. We have added another cat. May I introduce you to Max (his shelter name) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/MeetMax-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Max--that name may be changed--was acquired from the local animal shelter. He is a male cat who was already neutered. He is about 3 1/2 years old, bright orange, as you can see, and comparatively thin. He is friendly and likes to be petted. Purr, purr, purr.
My naive hope was that Charlie was looking for a friend, someone she can play with, since Maggie still hisses at Charlie when she goes by. Such has not been the case. We brought Max home yesterday, in the late afternoon. Once Charlie realized that the pet taxi came home with an occupant, she started hissing. And growling. Charlie knows cat words that I have never heard before. One sounds like "Oyyyyy, yoy-yoy-yoy-yoy-yoyyyyy!" (Normally, Charlie "talks" a lot as she goes around the house; some cats do, and others don't.)
One time yesterday, she put her ears down (first time I ever saw her do that) and hissed and then chased Max upstairs. They both went under our bed. I followed them and heard them hissing at each other. That's all that happened. For the most part, they have stayed apart today. But my wife said they started having a conversation just before noon. She knew what to do: She turned on the vacuum cleaner. That ended the discussion immediately: One cat went one way, and the other went another.
Another issue must be resolved: Max has not been declawed. We are hoping we won't have to do this. This evening, we tried to trim her claws with a fingernail clipper--something we hadn't done since we had Princess (that cat that preceded Frisky, who is the cat that preceded Charlie). Max must have been declawed before, but he didn't want to cooperate with us, so we let him go. He is not scratching furniture; just the carpets, and most of our carpets at home aren't much to speak of. He does that when he's happy, sort of kneading his paws on the floor. When we had lunch together today, Max went around and around the table, brushing against our legs and getting petted.
I want to tell you a little about Max's history, too. Charlie came to the shelter as a kitten. Max arrived there around New Year's--he had been at the shelter for 10 months until this week. The story is that he was found as a stray, and they discovered he had an abcess in his mouth, which was causing him pain. The vet took care of that. According to the shelter's bio, "Max wants a nice indoors home. He doesn't want to be outside any more." At one point, they told us, he got depressed and stopped eating. He is still thin. Much lighter than Charlie, who had gotten rather rotund in her time with us.
I just hope that he and Charlie will be able to get along better. I feel pretty bad about the way things have turned out. If I had known Charlie would be this way about it ...
****
Tonight, I'm upstairs, writing, with the Red Wings game on the little TV to my left. I'm up here by myself. If this were a perfect world, I would have at least a cat here to keep me company. But this is not a perfect world, is it?
Usually stuff like that doesn't bother me that much. Tonight it is.
Are you sitting down? (Of course you are; you're at the computer, aren't you?)
The news is: I haven't been feeling particularly creative lately.
It's this, that and the other thing. Maybe my brain is seizing up. Screeech! Summer now seems to have fled the scene for good, and I'm working on articles for our annual winter issue. I can't begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Wonderful. Six months of winter, on deck.
Well, like most stuff in life, it is what you make of it. Right at the moment, I'm a bit down at the prospect of winter coming. But after winter there's spring, and then summer. Spring is only six or seven months away, depending on whether it's a late spring or not.
****
There is big news at our house. We have added another cat. May I introduce you to Max (his shelter name) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/MeetMax-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Max--that name may be changed--was acquired from the local animal shelter. He is a male cat who was already neutered. He is about 3 1/2 years old, bright orange, as you can see, and comparatively thin. He is friendly and likes to be petted. Purr, purr, purr.
My naive hope was that Charlie was looking for a friend, someone she can play with, since Maggie still hisses at Charlie when she goes by. Such has not been the case. We brought Max home yesterday, in the late afternoon. Once Charlie realized that the pet taxi came home with an occupant, she started hissing. And growling. Charlie knows cat words that I have never heard before. One sounds like "Oyyyyy, yoy-yoy-yoy-yoy-yoyyyyy!" (Normally, Charlie "talks" a lot as she goes around the house; some cats do, and others don't.)
One time yesterday, she put her ears down (first time I ever saw her do that) and hissed and then chased Max upstairs. They both went under our bed. I followed them and heard them hissing at each other. That's all that happened. For the most part, they have stayed apart today. But my wife said they started having a conversation just before noon. She knew what to do: She turned on the vacuum cleaner. That ended the discussion immediately: One cat went one way, and the other went another.
Another issue must be resolved: Max has not been declawed. We are hoping we won't have to do this. This evening, we tried to trim her claws with a fingernail clipper--something we hadn't done since we had Princess (that cat that preceded Frisky, who is the cat that preceded Charlie). Max must have been declawed before, but he didn't want to cooperate with us, so we let him go. He is not scratching furniture; just the carpets, and most of our carpets at home aren't much to speak of. He does that when he's happy, sort of kneading his paws on the floor. When we had lunch together today, Max went around and around the table, brushing against our legs and getting petted.
I want to tell you a little about Max's history, too. Charlie came to the shelter as a kitten. Max arrived there around New Year's--he had been at the shelter for 10 months until this week. The story is that he was found as a stray, and they discovered he had an abcess in his mouth, which was causing him pain. The vet took care of that. According to the shelter's bio, "Max wants a nice indoors home. He doesn't want to be outside any more." At one point, they told us, he got depressed and stopped eating. He is still thin. Much lighter than Charlie, who had gotten rather rotund in her time with us.
I just hope that he and Charlie will be able to get along better. I feel pretty bad about the way things have turned out. If I had known Charlie would be this way about it ...
****
Tonight, I'm upstairs, writing, with the Red Wings game on the little TV to my left. I'm up here by myself. If this were a perfect world, I would have at least a cat here to keep me company. But this is not a perfect world, is it?
Usually stuff like that doesn't bother me that much. Tonight it is.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Indian summer
Checking in ...
The last week or so went by in a bit of a daze. Mega amounts of baseball, at least compared to the rest of the season, when there frankly wasn't a lot on TV. Not the teams I was interested in, anyway.
But this year the Milwaukee Brewers made it into the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, so I was honor-bound to watch as much of them as I could (notwithstanding the fact that I'm not as much into baseball as I used to be. Hockey has taken over ... but the Brewers in the playoffs change all that temporarily).
How long has it been since the Brewers were in the baseball post-season? So long ago that I missed most of that World Series for two reasons. (1) My wife and I were taking childbirth classes at a local hospital, because she was pregnant with David. (2) We didn't have a VCR yet. It was the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. This was back in the days of Betamax vs. VHS. You don't know what a Betamax is?
Anyway, this year, the Brewers were eliminated by Philadelphia in four games, with the final game on Sunday. I didn't expect them to win; they faced very long odds. I only wanted one thing: for them to last longer than the media darling Chicago Cubs. And they did--the Cubs were defeated by the L.A. Dodgers in three straight, the night before. So I was happy about that.
I'll probably watch more of the baseball playoffs. But hockey season starts on Thursday night, and that's my No. 1 now. So let's just say I will be greatly distracted.
****
Meanwhile, I'm wondering about how long the high school football season will go. Long-time readers know I have gone to the state championship game for the last four games--and our team won the Michigan state title last year. This year, I thought I wouldn't have to do that. Too many star players had graduated.
But guess what? It's six games into the season, and the team really hasn't been challenged so far. Last Friday, as temperatures dipped into the upper 20s, they played their biggest rival, in a town 30 miles away--and won 46-6. It wasn't close.
It's getting colder now, and the players' breath was steaming late in the game ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Grid-steamy-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Earlier, I expected them to make the playoffs and last a few games. Now I have to adjust that projection. They are looking mighty strong, and my post-season may last longer than I first expected. Will I really have to make that 500+-mile drive down to visit my son over Thanksgiving and then the state title game on Friday morning?
Three weeks are left in the regular season and then the playoffs start. I won't worry about it. It's completely out of my hands. It's just that I would like to spend Thanksgiving at home for once. After all, it's been five years since I last could.
****
I have had a writing project in mind, which would have appeared here, this week. But I think I'm going to put it on hold until next year. It had to do with that trip to the pagan equinox ritual recently. During the trip, I visited a small city that was the site of a major disaster, the most deadly fire in U.S. history. And I bet you have never heard about it.
But time is tight this week--we are working on one of our many special editions each year, and I need to get some stories written. Also, I don't have all the photos I want to help tell the story. I got a few during my visit, but just some of them. This story, I think, has to wait for another day. Or another year. Long enough for me to write it up right.
****
I covered a cross-country meet on Monday. It rained for most of the day, and while the rain had stopped an hour before the race, it was still cool and damp and breezy. The seasons are definitely a-changing up here.
But then a front went through, with rain, and temperatures are now forecast to be well above normal for the rest of the week. Highs in the upper 60s. Beautiful mild autumn days. Indian summer.
There's a famous old cartoon by John T. McCutcheon, [URL="http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Chicago/InjunSummer/"]"Injun Summer,"[/URL] that appeared in the Chicago Tribune over a hundred years ago. About an old codger spinning tall tales to a boy while they are raking leaves in the fall. I always think about that this time of year.
Have you ever seen it? Click the link and you will.
****
One other thing to mention: Last Saturday, we went to the local animal shelter, to look at the cats. We saw several that we liked. We have been talking about them since. Maybe we will make a return visit fairly soon.
The last week or so went by in a bit of a daze. Mega amounts of baseball, at least compared to the rest of the season, when there frankly wasn't a lot on TV. Not the teams I was interested in, anyway.
But this year the Milwaukee Brewers made it into the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, so I was honor-bound to watch as much of them as I could (notwithstanding the fact that I'm not as much into baseball as I used to be. Hockey has taken over ... but the Brewers in the playoffs change all that temporarily).
How long has it been since the Brewers were in the baseball post-season? So long ago that I missed most of that World Series for two reasons. (1) My wife and I were taking childbirth classes at a local hospital, because she was pregnant with David. (2) We didn't have a VCR yet. It was the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. This was back in the days of Betamax vs. VHS. You don't know what a Betamax is?
Anyway, this year, the Brewers were eliminated by Philadelphia in four games, with the final game on Sunday. I didn't expect them to win; they faced very long odds. I only wanted one thing: for them to last longer than the media darling Chicago Cubs. And they did--the Cubs were defeated by the L.A. Dodgers in three straight, the night before. So I was happy about that.
I'll probably watch more of the baseball playoffs. But hockey season starts on Thursday night, and that's my No. 1 now. So let's just say I will be greatly distracted.
****
Meanwhile, I'm wondering about how long the high school football season will go. Long-time readers know I have gone to the state championship game for the last four games--and our team won the Michigan state title last year. This year, I thought I wouldn't have to do that. Too many star players had graduated.
But guess what? It's six games into the season, and the team really hasn't been challenged so far. Last Friday, as temperatures dipped into the upper 20s, they played their biggest rival, in a town 30 miles away--and won 46-6. It wasn't close.
It's getting colder now, and the players' breath was steaming late in the game ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Grid-steamy-10-08.jpg[/IMG]
Earlier, I expected them to make the playoffs and last a few games. Now I have to adjust that projection. They are looking mighty strong, and my post-season may last longer than I first expected. Will I really have to make that 500+-mile drive down to visit my son over Thanksgiving and then the state title game on Friday morning?
Three weeks are left in the regular season and then the playoffs start. I won't worry about it. It's completely out of my hands. It's just that I would like to spend Thanksgiving at home for once. After all, it's been five years since I last could.
****
I have had a writing project in mind, which would have appeared here, this week. But I think I'm going to put it on hold until next year. It had to do with that trip to the pagan equinox ritual recently. During the trip, I visited a small city that was the site of a major disaster, the most deadly fire in U.S. history. And I bet you have never heard about it.
But time is tight this week--we are working on one of our many special editions each year, and I need to get some stories written. Also, I don't have all the photos I want to help tell the story. I got a few during my visit, but just some of them. This story, I think, has to wait for another day. Or another year. Long enough for me to write it up right.
****
I covered a cross-country meet on Monday. It rained for most of the day, and while the rain had stopped an hour before the race, it was still cool and damp and breezy. The seasons are definitely a-changing up here.
But then a front went through, with rain, and temperatures are now forecast to be well above normal for the rest of the week. Highs in the upper 60s. Beautiful mild autumn days. Indian summer.
There's a famous old cartoon by John T. McCutcheon, [URL="http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Chicago/InjunSummer/"]"Injun Summer,"[/URL] that appeared in the Chicago Tribune over a hundred years ago. About an old codger spinning tall tales to a boy while they are raking leaves in the fall. I always think about that this time of year.
Have you ever seen it? Click the link and you will.
****
One other thing to mention: Last Saturday, we went to the local animal shelter, to look at the cats. We saw several that we liked. We have been talking about them since. Maybe we will make a return visit fairly soon.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Turning into October
We flipped the calendar page today. We also seem to have flipped the weather page. Yesterday, it was fairly nice. Today, it was cool and windy. Word is that the weather will get cooler as the week goes on. They are predicting lows in the upper 20s Friday night. (Note to self: Be sure to take the fingerless gloves to the football game that night.)
I bowed to the inevitable at about 10:30 this morning: I reached for my sweater to pulled it on over my short-sleeved shirt. It was the first time I had done that since last spring. Outside, it was 45 at about noon with no sign it will be getting warmer for a while.
So fall is here. The color change is now well along, but it's been cloudy most of the time so conditions for fall color photos have been very limited.
Time to report on my adventures over the weekend. I went to a fall solstice ritual conducted by a neopagan group near Menominee, Mich. I spent the night there; I left home (by myself) at about 2 p.m. Saturday and arrived back home at about noon Sunday. Things went pretty well.
I was there at the invitation of a couple I had met at the gathering held every summer, around the Fourth of July, in southwestern Wisconsin. They also travel long distances to get there. I drove first to their home. They helped carry my stuff downstairs to their "pagan guest room," which is a spare room equipped with a couch, several bookcases with pagan-related books in them, candles on top of them and posters on the wall. The room also featured lots of clutter. They had set up an air mattress on the floor, and I put my sleeping bag and pillow on it. I was all set.
We had a light dinner there, and I got to meet the two resident cats. Another older woman arrived; she went to the event with us. It took place in Wisconsin, about 10 miles to the south, near a home and a large garage. It was just after sunset when we arrived. Outside, next to the garage, they had a large cauldron set up and were starting a fire. The cauldron had moons and stars cut out on the sides, which I thought was very cool (for a burning cauldron) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-cauldron-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
Temperatures were about 55 to 60. Not overly cool. Once everyone had assembled (about a dozen people), the ritual took place in the garage. It was centered on a table decorated with several candles and some normal fall/harvesttime decorations ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-table-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
My hosts led the ceremony, which lasted maybe 20 minutes. I had a minor part, speaking to the element Air. (There are four elements, Air, Water, Fire and Earth--their spirits are invited to take part in the ritual.)
Once the ceremony ended, it was time for Act Two: Everyone moved over to a nearby table, where a variety of goodies were out for a pot luck. They had mead (honey wine), several other kinds of wine and a crockpot full of hot cider. That's what I went for; hot cider is one of my favorites. There were cornbread muffins, along with your typical Doritos and blue corn chips and dip and a few other things.
Part three of the evening consisted of drumming. Maybe about half the people had come mainly for the drumming, and now was the time they were waiting for. Originally the drumming was to have been outside, around the cauldron, but some light rain passed through for about a minute or so, and the drummers were worried about their drumheads. So the drumming moved inside the largish garage. I played a small drum--I'm just a beginner, you know, but I know rhythm and syncopation, so I was able to figure out the rhythms part of the time.
I took this shot by just the light of the candles ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-drumcandle-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
But if you want to see the drums and the drummers ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-drumflash-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
It lasted till about 10:15 p.m., when the group started saying good-bye. We drove back to Menominee, dropped off the older woman at her place and then went back to the house. Before long, I was in the pagan guest room, stretched out on my sleeping bag. It took a while to fall asleep, but I finally did. I headed for home at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
****
Outside of that, life has been fairly ordinary lately. The other notable thing to happen was our visit to my mom last Thursday. My wife came along. For the first time since spring, my mom expressed an interest in going for a ride. So we did. Between then and now, however, she has gotten a different wheelchair, and this one won't fold up and go into the trunk, like her old one could. Bottom line is that she couldn't get out until we were back at the nursing home.
Our first stop was the cemetery where my dad and brother are buried. I pulled up so she could look out her window at the gravestone (about 15 feet away). She looked at it and before long she was crying. Crying for her son (my only brother), who took his life 23 years ago.
The last time we were there, the stone was dirty with moss, lichens and other dirt. We came back there around Memorial Day (end of May) with our cleaning supplies. It looks nice now.
The rest of the trip was better and predictable. We visited the rural area where she was raised (which looks nothing like it used to, even when I was a kid) and the farm where my dad lived (which still looks much like it did way back when). They are just a mile or two from each other.
We wrapped up the drive by getting her a chicken sandwich at Subway on our way back to the nursing home. It was a six-incher. She ate about a third of it, and my wife and I polished off the rest of it. After that she was tired, so we headed for home.
Lucky that we did it when we did. It was a nice day--temperatures in the mid 70s. Today, it's not even 50. It's October, after all.
I bowed to the inevitable at about 10:30 this morning: I reached for my sweater to pulled it on over my short-sleeved shirt. It was the first time I had done that since last spring. Outside, it was 45 at about noon with no sign it will be getting warmer for a while.
So fall is here. The color change is now well along, but it's been cloudy most of the time so conditions for fall color photos have been very limited.
Time to report on my adventures over the weekend. I went to a fall solstice ritual conducted by a neopagan group near Menominee, Mich. I spent the night there; I left home (by myself) at about 2 p.m. Saturday and arrived back home at about noon Sunday. Things went pretty well.
I was there at the invitation of a couple I had met at the gathering held every summer, around the Fourth of July, in southwestern Wisconsin. They also travel long distances to get there. I drove first to their home. They helped carry my stuff downstairs to their "pagan guest room," which is a spare room equipped with a couch, several bookcases with pagan-related books in them, candles on top of them and posters on the wall. The room also featured lots of clutter. They had set up an air mattress on the floor, and I put my sleeping bag and pillow on it. I was all set.
We had a light dinner there, and I got to meet the two resident cats. Another older woman arrived; she went to the event with us. It took place in Wisconsin, about 10 miles to the south, near a home and a large garage. It was just after sunset when we arrived. Outside, next to the garage, they had a large cauldron set up and were starting a fire. The cauldron had moons and stars cut out on the sides, which I thought was very cool (for a burning cauldron) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-cauldron-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
Temperatures were about 55 to 60. Not overly cool. Once everyone had assembled (about a dozen people), the ritual took place in the garage. It was centered on a table decorated with several candles and some normal fall/harvesttime decorations ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-table-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
My hosts led the ceremony, which lasted maybe 20 minutes. I had a minor part, speaking to the element Air. (There are four elements, Air, Water, Fire and Earth--their spirits are invited to take part in the ritual.)
Once the ceremony ended, it was time for Act Two: Everyone moved over to a nearby table, where a variety of goodies were out for a pot luck. They had mead (honey wine), several other kinds of wine and a crockpot full of hot cider. That's what I went for; hot cider is one of my favorites. There were cornbread muffins, along with your typical Doritos and blue corn chips and dip and a few other things.
Part three of the evening consisted of drumming. Maybe about half the people had come mainly for the drumming, and now was the time they were waiting for. Originally the drumming was to have been outside, around the cauldron, but some light rain passed through for about a minute or so, and the drummers were worried about their drumheads. So the drumming moved inside the largish garage. I played a small drum--I'm just a beginner, you know, but I know rhythm and syncopation, so I was able to figure out the rhythms part of the time.
I took this shot by just the light of the candles ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-drumcandle-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
But if you want to see the drums and the drummers ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Solst-drumflash-9-08.jpg[/IMG]
It lasted till about 10:15 p.m., when the group started saying good-bye. We drove back to Menominee, dropped off the older woman at her place and then went back to the house. Before long, I was in the pagan guest room, stretched out on my sleeping bag. It took a while to fall asleep, but I finally did. I headed for home at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
****
Outside of that, life has been fairly ordinary lately. The other notable thing to happen was our visit to my mom last Thursday. My wife came along. For the first time since spring, my mom expressed an interest in going for a ride. So we did. Between then and now, however, she has gotten a different wheelchair, and this one won't fold up and go into the trunk, like her old one could. Bottom line is that she couldn't get out until we were back at the nursing home.
Our first stop was the cemetery where my dad and brother are buried. I pulled up so she could look out her window at the gravestone (about 15 feet away). She looked at it and before long she was crying. Crying for her son (my only brother), who took his life 23 years ago.
The last time we were there, the stone was dirty with moss, lichens and other dirt. We came back there around Memorial Day (end of May) with our cleaning supplies. It looks nice now.
The rest of the trip was better and predictable. We visited the rural area where she was raised (which looks nothing like it used to, even when I was a kid) and the farm where my dad lived (which still looks much like it did way back when). They are just a mile or two from each other.
We wrapped up the drive by getting her a chicken sandwich at Subway on our way back to the nursing home. It was a six-incher. She ate about a third of it, and my wife and I polished off the rest of it. After that she was tired, so we headed for home.
Lucky that we did it when we did. It was a nice day--temperatures in the mid 70s. Today, it's not even 50. It's October, after all.
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