Saturday, August 29, 2020
And here we are at Saturday again! Packages came in the mail since I last wrote here: Books by our own Blogit neighbors, Kabu and Pat! I found them through Barnes & Noble. Kabu writes a sweet tale, and I'm delighted to have in my collection: Gifts The Legend of the Oak: Circle of Life Chumpet which is her edit of another of our Blogiteer's accumulated story telling. Her Tom Ugly I've had a while, another one also available through B&N, online. Pat's book is Bloody Hell and a Slice of Pie, which... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Beautiful day in the neighborhood...!
After rain showers overnight, and some good stiff breezes, the Springs is out from under the cowl of smoke--for a while! Air Quality Index is at 40, which is a good number, down from the highest I've seen here--154 a few days ago. Temps are cooler today, too, and that's also very welcome! This doesn't mean the fires are finished, or the fire-fighters out of work, out of danger. This is one of several 'fires' burning America right now, and we can afford to forget about none of them. And all the... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Wednesday dawns with the lowest Air Quality Index numbers this week, and we can see the mountains, even with some detail. And we are promised rain later this afternoon. It's a good day! It will still be hot, in the 90s, but it will only be around 80 next to the a/c. This morning I read a play Charlie has been working at off and on for some years, called DAHAK. It is based on a mythic epic out of the Middle-east about a king corrupted by Evil... not just evil, but EVIL! He wants to organize a... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
and now, this...
The Winston Featherbill War has gone international https://twitter.com/breakfastnews/status/1298050422377082880?s=21&fbclid=IwAR1sBNG74qpRHaUQ4JUnucDJwxXGpO8bhQQC82nUuQP8ME56anPLx10Lplw and this: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-25/npr-emu-story-prompts-pronunciation-debate/12592060?fbclid=IwAR1RfwdHpKNSSUPequVbHO6Rk8sBr_0QE_54zogzI9oYM5miixW7dUqCqaU Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, August 24, 2020
My family starts a war
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/22/905015278/maryland-community-rallies-to-find-escaped-emu?fbclid=IwAR05ljhdk3j0gQneWtOdupWPf5VeNH0Alh1It_L32iJwpdrcQvccHC6Fa1M So, what makes this especially entertaining is that Winston Charles Featherbill, the emu mentioned in the article, is a member of my niece's household. And then there's this... https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2020/08/emus-pronunciation-is-starting-a-new-emu-war/amp/?fbclid=IwAR3VgHu_O8G15VL13ikG8ZTIuLc4sYiKqiphn6Dt94KD00ojCPwE-bHMgDE Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Fire Zone
Well, it is no better today, just cooler--for the moment. It will be in the mid 90s later today. The mountains remain obscured by the smoke of all the wildfires from California eastwards. The smoke map this morning shows this grey veil touching St Louis at its leading edge. Kansas City is several more degrees into it. All my windows are closed, the air purifier in my bedroom is on high, and so will be the little a/c unit in the living room when the temps get into the 80s. I don't tolerate heat... Sign in to see full entry.
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Where have all the mountains gone...?
The hills of the Front Range and Ramparts are almost lost in the smoke today. People with sensitive eyes and lungs can feel it. There is even a slight but noticeable haze looking at the houses across the street. And there is no rain in the forecast until next week. The smoke map shows it's worse just east of here, and still worse farther east and north. Yesterday I swung by a little curbside library I know of, with a bag of donations, and found one I have lately been wanting to read again: James... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, August 21, 2020
Miss Jean
Last night I switched off the AMAZING RACE re-runs--good word for them!--and watched a film that I've heard of for years (it came out in 1969), and first noticed probably because of the Rod McKuen theme song, wistful and romantic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZQz5U0el0 THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE was nothing like what I expected. It is wistful, it is devastating to watch the story unfold, and realize that it is not a romance so much as a study of a particular kind of authoritarian/cult... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Surprise!
A cool morning before a hot afternoon... But the sky is clearer than it has been for days. There is a great deal of room for improvement there. There was a knock on the door late this morning: Rob, who is one of Charlie's housemates next door. He brought me a present! It's a calendar/planner that runs Sept 2020 through 2021, and has dog cartoons and quotes all through. They are all from a series called Thoughts of Dog by Matt Nelson. Very cute! And very cool, to get an unexpected gift before... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, August 17, 2020
And here we go again...
Yep, it's Monday. So far, cool and clear in the springs with only a slight wildfire haze drifting in from almost 100 miles to the northwest. It will be hot later, but with a vague promise of possible scattered thunderstorms. The fridge has been subtly hinting for some time now that it would like a clearing-out and a cleaning-up. I got some of the first done, and found some cloves of garlic with viable roots--so into the garden they went! We'll see how they do. It has been very dry out lately,... Sign in to see full entry.