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WEEK 47 2010

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First Post, 17 March 2002

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One Year Ago, This Week, 2009

Saturday 27 November 2010

Saturday - The weather continues bitterly cold, down in the teens at night. The leaves being completely gone from the tree in the front yard I took the opportunity to mow/leaf collect. Mowing is hard enough, raking is nearly impossible with my back.

Leftovers for dinner!

The battery was dead again in the Probe, or at least too weak to turn the engine over. There have been extended periods of no use, but it's probably not even three weeks since I last started it. Perhaps it needs a new battery, but it seems like I just replaced that. Perhaps it was the Explorer, I'll have to check when I recharge it tomorrow.

Friday 26 November 2010

Friday - A friend has asked to borrow my old Sony Reader, a PRS-505, to check out ebooks from the library. I've never done that, but I've collected the reader and manuals, and looked over the process. It's unclear as to whether you can download stuff from two different computers, so I'm waiting to put the s/w on their computer. The selection is rather anemic, to tell the truth.

I think this might be the year that ebooks and ereaders take off - I've had several inquiries/conversations with people about the subject, Kindle, Nook, Sony. I think the idea is beginning to percolate into the general populace. It may turn out to be quite a sleeper item for Christmas. I see that Amazon was selling their previous generation Kindle for $89 on Black Friday.

Thursday morning, when I let the cats out, it sounded like it was raining. It was, actually, the sound of leaves falling from the trees. It's remarkable, that I can have lived this long and not seen/heard leaves falling so fast. Life never stops with the surprises!

Here is a small tree in the side yard, showing what happened between morning and afternoon on Thursday. Note the cats, who were somewhat freaked out by the falling leaves in the morning. They don't mind a solitary leaf - indeed, it would be pouncing fodder - but the constant fall and racket sent them running off for safety.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Thursday - Thanksgiving dinner was at friends. It was kind of them to invite me, and the meal was excellent. I made some blueberry muffins, and brought over some ice cream for the pie deserts. Sadly I had an upset stomach and couldn't do the meal true justice. I was gifted some leftovers, and will devour as the whim strikes!

It was a bit cool in the house - the central heat for the east side wasn't working, but after dinner the pellet stove was put into service, and we all enjoyed sitting around the fireplace and talking. The womenfolk were excited about "Black Friday" shopping, something I'd pay real money to avoid myself, but it takes all types. They were going through the ads, seeing what they wanted, generating a plan of attach for Friday...

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Wednesday - generally just doing little things about the house. Bought some groceries - the larder was looking rather bare. The crowds at Von's were not too bad.

Book #79 was All Clear, by Connie Willis. This is the sequel to Blackout (#31,2010), and was another excellent read. The general plot is of time travelers stranded in England during the Blitz, their portals back to 2060 no longer working - have they changed future history to the point where "their" future no longer exists? The characterization is very well done; the plot (as befits a time travel book) somewhat convoluted. Recommended.

A great deal of the plot involves St. Paul's Cathedral (1711-present day), and it's near brush with destruction during the Blitz.

St. Paul's Cathedral, rising above smoke and flames, after the near firestorm of December 29, 1940

St. Paul's was designed by Christopher Wren, in the late 1600's, after the devastating fire in London. Wren also designed dozens of other churches, but according the the biography of Robert Hooke that I read a few week's ago (#68,2010), Hooke probably designed at least a few of these. Both were appointed Surveyor's in London, and tasked with generating and implementing the rebuilding plan. Hooke was by far the junior of the two, but he kept very busy at it, and it seems likely that a well known architect with his connections and fame would indeed be the architect of at least a few of the smaller and less important, churches that are now attributed to Wren.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Tuesday - pretty tired. I did a bit of work on the spreadsheet, and looked at the bosses drawing & design for a slip liner project, made some suggestions, and talked about work in December. Right now it looks as though there might be quite a bit of that. I had expected a slow month, but apparently not!

Well, money is always appreciated.

Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold!
~Thomas Hood

I emailed my brother, suggesting that he turn on the heat in the Grandview house. It was warm enough while I was there, but is expected to get down to freezing in the next few days.

Here in Lancaster it is expected to be well below freezing, 18F, in the next couple of nights! The cats are noticeably unwilling to stay out for long in the morning.

It has also been blowing hard - not a real storm, not for Lancaster, but it adds to the chill.

In the last few evenings in Lancaster, laying in bed, I've woken up late at night to see Orion sparkling above. Nice.

Monday 22 November 2010

Monday - a few more hours of minor cleaning and rearranging, putting the tables of tools and remodeling equipment back in the dining room, now that the paint is completely dry. It's a pity to cover up my work, but it's the most conveniently accessible place for the tools. I did the household linen and wash - my brothers are apparently under the impression that there is a linen fairy that does these things...

It was a slow trip back, towing the now empty trailer, but incident free. I had a book on tape to keep me company, and the traffic was only moderate.

Sunday 21 November_2010

Sunday - Cold and windy, clouds. There was just a little bit of rain, but I did not see any leaks. So, the roof is probably good.

The dining room is looking better. I painted the trim white, using the satin Swiss Coffee. It was a bit cold, and even with a foam roller the finish wasn't great. But much better than it was, and acceptable from a distance. The interior door, that one that I was able to remove from it's hinge and lay flat to paint, looks great. The brown exterior door, which was painted in place, not as good. Well, I expected it'd take two coats (white over brown, after all), and it will. I'm still cleaning the floor, which is plywood and grossly stained.

Then I painted a bit of trim in the master bedroom, again it's really a base coat, since it was never painted. I had painted the room's walls fifteen or twenty years ago, but my parents refused to let me finish the trim at that time, for some reason. And they never did it themselves. It was always covered by drapes, so I suppose they didn't care.

Then I mostly just cleaned and picked things up, did my own laundry, tomorrow I have to head back to Lancaster.

And I did a few hours work, on updates to the work tracking project.

Picture of the Week

Photo Notes: Channel Islands Harbor sunrise, June 2010.

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