Friday, January 30, 2004
Haplessly temporal
The subject line above is one of those random ones that have been coming lately as stealth spam, trying to get past the Bayesian filters. I quite liked it, since haplessly temporal is just how I feel much of the time.
Today was a much less fraught day. Mike is still very croupy and talking like a Chipmunk version of himself, but slowly improving, and lots less cranky today. Which means I am ditto.
Still way behind on email. But I also have a bunch of cool things saved back, so I thought I would start sharing them.
You know that map of the US where it's just the lights, as seen by satellite? Click here, and when it loads, click within the map. Then start to type your zip code. As you add numbers, lights blink off by region until just YOUR light is left!
Today was a much less fraught day. Mike is still very croupy and talking like a Chipmunk version of himself, but slowly improving, and lots less cranky today. Which means I am ditto.
Still way behind on email. But I also have a bunch of cool things saved back, so I thought I would start sharing them.
You know that map of the US where it's just the lights, as seen by satellite? Click here, and when it loads, click within the map. Then start to type your zip code. As you add numbers, lights blink off by region until just YOUR light is left!
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Sigh
Our sweet Mike is of course the dear darling of our hearts. But he has turned the corner from being pathetically sick, quietly snuggled in his little nest watching TV to whiny, bored and obnoxious but still not in shape for school sick.
The idea of running away (temporarily) to New Mexico to campaign for Dean looks better and better as the likelihood of me getting to actually do it decreases....
*double sigh* Guess I'll go to bed now.
The idea of running away (temporarily) to New Mexico to campaign for Dean looks better and better as the likelihood of me getting to actually do it decreases....
*double sigh* Guess I'll go to bed now.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Geek seeking mode
I just saw this question on a friend's blog:
"What about you? What geeky stuff do you have on your walls and/or on your desk at work?"
I had so much fun answering I thought I would share the meme! Here's me!
Well, my work desk is also my home desk, so perhaps I get more latitude. Let's see. There are little neon goldfish all over the towering pile of books to my left, plus assorted neon and glitter fish stickers all around my monitor. I also have *blush* a tiny print-out of the icon from when I won the CBFFA Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and a sticker of Mailbox from Blue's Clues. Two Stitch bobble-heads are glued to the top of my monitor, Alien Stitch and Elvis Stitch. I have a little Pinky (sans the Brain) um...metal stand-up thingie possibly intended to be a paperweight, although it's pretty small. Large brass koi with a toothbrush in its mouth. (Don't ask.) On the wall to my right, an actual neon lamp in the shape of a trout, and assorted other fish thingies. Pinky and the Brain appear again in valentines and a glitter pog. Hello Nurse makes a pog appearance too. A postcard from Pennsic, a MileHighCon badge, a holosuite pass for Quark's (heh), little printouts of Riley and Oz of Buffy, a stand-up of The Tick and Arthur, a sticker of Sulley from Monsters Inc, and assorted pop-out art of Mulan characters from a Happy Meal. Plus a bajillion pics of family members, mostly Mike and my astonishingly gorgeous and brilliant grandchildren.
Scattered around the shelf behind me (which mostly holds the clone's candlestick collection) are a few more--a Max Headroom head with no candy inside, and a Professor Xavier in his hoverchair. He is staring with much annoyance at a stuffed Sebastian from Little Mermaid. Or maybe he dislikes all the dust.
"What about you? What geeky stuff do you have on your walls and/or on your desk at work?"
I had so much fun answering I thought I would share the meme! Here's me!
Well, my work desk is also my home desk, so perhaps I get more latitude. Let's see. There are little neon goldfish all over the towering pile of books to my left, plus assorted neon and glitter fish stickers all around my monitor. I also have *blush* a tiny print-out of the icon from when I won the CBFFA Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and a sticker of Mailbox from Blue's Clues. Two Stitch bobble-heads are glued to the top of my monitor, Alien Stitch and Elvis Stitch. I have a little Pinky (sans the Brain) um...metal stand-up thingie possibly intended to be a paperweight, although it's pretty small. Large brass koi with a toothbrush in its mouth. (Don't ask.) On the wall to my right, an actual neon lamp in the shape of a trout, and assorted other fish thingies. Pinky and the Brain appear again in valentines and a glitter pog. Hello Nurse makes a pog appearance too. A postcard from Pennsic, a MileHighCon badge, a holosuite pass for Quark's (heh), little printouts of Riley and Oz of Buffy, a stand-up of The Tick and Arthur, a sticker of Sulley from Monsters Inc, and assorted pop-out art of Mulan characters from a Happy Meal. Plus a bajillion pics of family members, mostly Mike and my astonishingly gorgeous and brilliant grandchildren.
Scattered around the shelf behind me (which mostly holds the clone's candlestick collection) are a few more--a Max Headroom head with no candy inside, and a Professor Xavier in his hoverchair. He is staring with much annoyance at a stuffed Sebastian from Little Mermaid. Or maybe he dislikes all the dust.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Art, not politics
Well, not much. :)
Click here to see a guerilla art project involving an old tank and a BUNCH of pink paint! Don't forget to scroll down to see it all!
Click here to see a guerilla art project involving an old tank and a BUNCH of pink paint! Don't forget to scroll down to see it all!
Feeling activistic today, I guess
C'mon, CBS, it's all about the bux. We got 'em. Play fair.
Political wonkism
Probably my fellow Deanocrats have already seen this. So they, and those of you not in the mood for political stuff, should feel free to skip over this.
Excellent essay by Mark Sundeen comparing Howard Dean to Franklin D. Roosevelt--and yes, that DOES make Bush=Hoover
With Washington insiders yelping out reasons why your campaign can't win, and with pundits trotting out failed candidacies of the past in order to make facile comparisons, we thought it instructive to dust off the history books and look at a landslide election that might be particularly relevant this year. While a few commentators have dared to compare George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover - the only other modern president to preside over a net loss in jobs - the potential similarities between the 1932 and 2004 election are much deeper than that.
Elected in 1928, Herbert Hoover capped a three-decade reign in which the GOP won seven of nine presidential elections. Hoover inherited one of the biggest economic booms of American history. But the boom was misleading - despite a skyrocketing stock market, the gap between rich and poor was widening, and when the bubble burst in 1929, Hoover found himself presiding over the country's worst depression ever. After a decade in which the policies of Presidents Harding and Coolidge heavily favored their cronies in big business, there was no safety net to support a nation suddenly unable to make ends meet.
Hoover's undoing - and the undoing of the long era of Republican rule - was his inability to respond to the economic needs of millions who had lost jobs and wages. He took a hard ideological stand that the market would fix itself, and that government should not interfere. Though Hoover was widely considered to be a good and decent man, his rigid ideology prevented him from finding solutions to the problems of most Americans.
And thus the stage was set in 1932 when a brash and charming northern governor won the Democratic nomination for president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to use government to unite Americans and to advance social and economic justice. His message resounded across the country, and Roosevelt swept into the White House in a landslide, winning 472 electoral votes to Hoover's 59, and bringing with him large pickups in the House and Senate.
FDR's 1932 victory was just the beginning. By energizing the Democratic Party, he launched an era of progress and common purpose. Between 1932 and 1968, Democrats won six of eight presidential elections and were strong in both houses of Congress. During this era, the United States achieved great social progress - the New Deal, Social Security, Medicare, labor legislation, and civil rights laws - and established itself as a powerful moral leader in the world by defeating fascism. After the war, we helped Japan and Europe to rebuild and founded an international order based on the rule of law. It was American resolve, rooted in the rule of law, that laid the groundwork for the implosion of communism and the triumph of freedom.
Since 1968, the Republican Party has won six of nine presidential elections. Now with their control of the House and Senate, they are intent on rolling back decades of progress to the era of Hoover. But history has proven that the American people can unite to reverse this country's direction. It happened in 1932, and you can make it happen in 2004.
FDR's 1932 inaugural address is one of the great documents of our democracy. Read it now, or better yet, listen to the actual recording:
http://www.hpol.org/fdr/inaug/
And when you hear talk of the possibility of a landslide in 2004 - jump right in. Tell your friends that, yes, it's possible. First you have to look at history, and secondly, you gotta believe.
Excellent essay by Mark Sundeen comparing Howard Dean to Franklin D. Roosevelt--and yes, that DOES make Bush=Hoover
With Washington insiders yelping out reasons why your campaign can't win, and with pundits trotting out failed candidacies of the past in order to make facile comparisons, we thought it instructive to dust off the history books and look at a landslide election that might be particularly relevant this year. While a few commentators have dared to compare George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover - the only other modern president to preside over a net loss in jobs - the potential similarities between the 1932 and 2004 election are much deeper than that.
Elected in 1928, Herbert Hoover capped a three-decade reign in which the GOP won seven of nine presidential elections. Hoover inherited one of the biggest economic booms of American history. But the boom was misleading - despite a skyrocketing stock market, the gap between rich and poor was widening, and when the bubble burst in 1929, Hoover found himself presiding over the country's worst depression ever. After a decade in which the policies of Presidents Harding and Coolidge heavily favored their cronies in big business, there was no safety net to support a nation suddenly unable to make ends meet.
Hoover's undoing - and the undoing of the long era of Republican rule - was his inability to respond to the economic needs of millions who had lost jobs and wages. He took a hard ideological stand that the market would fix itself, and that government should not interfere. Though Hoover was widely considered to be a good and decent man, his rigid ideology prevented him from finding solutions to the problems of most Americans.
And thus the stage was set in 1932 when a brash and charming northern governor won the Democratic nomination for president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to use government to unite Americans and to advance social and economic justice. His message resounded across the country, and Roosevelt swept into the White House in a landslide, winning 472 electoral votes to Hoover's 59, and bringing with him large pickups in the House and Senate.
FDR's 1932 victory was just the beginning. By energizing the Democratic Party, he launched an era of progress and common purpose. Between 1932 and 1968, Democrats won six of eight presidential elections and were strong in both houses of Congress. During this era, the United States achieved great social progress - the New Deal, Social Security, Medicare, labor legislation, and civil rights laws - and established itself as a powerful moral leader in the world by defeating fascism. After the war, we helped Japan and Europe to rebuild and founded an international order based on the rule of law. It was American resolve, rooted in the rule of law, that laid the groundwork for the implosion of communism and the triumph of freedom.
Since 1968, the Republican Party has won six of nine presidential elections. Now with their control of the House and Senate, they are intent on rolling back decades of progress to the era of Hoover. But history has proven that the American people can unite to reverse this country's direction. It happened in 1932, and you can make it happen in 2004.
FDR's 1932 inaugural address is one of the great documents of our democracy. Read it now, or better yet, listen to the actual recording:
http://www.hpol.org/fdr/inaug/
And when you hear talk of the possibility of a landslide in 2004 - jump right in. Tell your friends that, yes, it's possible. First you have to look at history, and secondly, you gotta believe.
Sunday, January 25, 2004
White stuff falling from the sky!
Wo! Snow! This hardly ever happens! Bring on the moisture!
Got a couple of pics to share. Because of Poor Mike being sick, I let him wear a pair of my new Sponge Bob socks to keep his feet warm. The purple foot is mine. Minutes later I had to take it off because of finding a spot where the cat hacked up. (sorry about the TMI)
Here is Mike in his nest with his personal tiger, Burlington Santa Fe, and the family one, Tiger Jenny.
Finally, for grins, here are my visited states on a map from
http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates/
The site is pretty slow, so if you have the ability to download your results and load 'em from your own site, it really speeds things up.
Got a couple of pics to share. Because of Poor Mike being sick, I let him wear a pair of my new Sponge Bob socks to keep his feet warm. The purple foot is mine. Minutes later I had to take it off because of finding a spot where the cat hacked up. (sorry about the TMI)
Here is Mike in his nest with his personal tiger, Burlington Santa Fe, and the family one, Tiger Jenny.
Finally, for grins, here are my visited states on a map from
http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates/
The site is pretty slow, so if you have the ability to download your results and load 'em from your own site, it really speeds things up.
Germs!
Which I HOPE to neither pick up myself or (if I do) pass to others.
Last week when we left Denver, my poor grand-girlie Marisa was a sickie, coughing, feverish, sinus-y and miserable. I'm now attributing at least part of Mike's crankiness Friday to actually starting to get sick.
He was actually getting over a very mild cough and cold, which might be why he succumbed to the Denver bug so readily. (He is almost never sick, in general.) So he's been snugged down in his futon nest watching TV and such. We have finally switched from the 634th playing of the Schoolhouse Rock DVD to Steam Giants. Which won't do much to get "Unpack Your Adjectives" out of my head, unfortunately.
Last week when we left Denver, my poor grand-girlie Marisa was a sickie, coughing, feverish, sinus-y and miserable. I'm now attributing at least part of Mike's crankiness Friday to actually starting to get sick.
He was actually getting over a very mild cough and cold, which might be why he succumbed to the Denver bug so readily. (He is almost never sick, in general.) So he's been snugged down in his futon nest watching TV and such. We have finally switched from the 634th playing of the Schoolhouse Rock DVD to Steam Giants. Which won't do much to get "Unpack Your Adjectives" out of my head, unfortunately.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Cook WHAT?
Hi all! Hope you are having as a jolly Saturday as we are at chez de la Unruly Fish. I got my worst thing over with right away today, like a sensible person, and most of the scrambled eggs came right out of the keyboard, so onward!
To more eggs! Yes, right at this very moment I am in the final stages of making Salmon Frittata, which I had to double check to be able to spell, but is fun to say. Free tatas, yay!
Right. Being silly. Get with program. Gotcha.
When we first started the South Beach Diet program, I was kind of taken aback, because I am not really a cooking type person on a regular basis. I mean with recipes and such. More of a Microwave Mama. But there I was with a shopping list with things like arugala and capers on it! I mean, I felt like a test subject for a new Bravo spin-off, Queer Pals for the Fat Gals.
I lasted about 4 days on the fawncy regime, and then we dropped back to much more simple meals, baked or broiled meats and fish, salad, apples and veggies and my beloved Floof (sugar-free jello with non-fat powdered milk and cottage cheese blendered in, with lite topping, which is MUCH nicer than it sounds). But now and then I run across an interesting looking recipe, and I get brave and try it out.
OK, in the time it took to type this, the frittata is done, and it's...good! Now, if you want the FAWNCY recipe, with the sun-dried tomatoes and fresh asparagus, tell me and I will get you a copy. But this is the EASY Susan version.
Get out an oven-safe skillet. Put in a tablespoon of olive oil. Chop up a little bit of onion and start it cooking over medium heat. Add some veggies to taste once the onions start turning translucent. I put in half a can of asparagus, a few spoons of diced tomatoes and a little minced garlic, plus three big fat mushrooms sliced to slivers. You want your total vegetables to be maybe an inch, inch and a half deep, depending on the size of your pan and how many people are waiting to dig in. Somewhere in here, turn your broiler on to start heating up.
Next shred up a block of smoked salmon. As with the veggies, you can have something else instead, lean ham, shrimp, cheese.... Mix that in with the veggies and take it off the heat, if it's salmon or shrimp. Overcooked seafood turns all rubbery.
In another bowl, mix up eggs and milk (skim if you are making this dietary), just like you would scrambled eggs. Salt to taste, of course, and anything else you like, pepper or whatever. I used 6 medium eggs for mine just now.
Give the skillet stuff one last good mix around, then pour the egg stuff over it. Cover the skillet and wait 6-7 minutes, until it is firming up on the bottom and sides but the top is still wet. Then stick it in the oven under the broiler for another 2-3 minutes until it puffs up and starts to get golden brown. Remove and devour!
To more eggs! Yes, right at this very moment I am in the final stages of making Salmon Frittata, which I had to double check to be able to spell, but is fun to say. Free tatas, yay!
Right. Being silly. Get with program. Gotcha.
When we first started the South Beach Diet program, I was kind of taken aback, because I am not really a cooking type person on a regular basis. I mean with recipes and such. More of a Microwave Mama. But there I was with a shopping list with things like arugala and capers on it! I mean, I felt like a test subject for a new Bravo spin-off, Queer Pals for the Fat Gals.
I lasted about 4 days on the fawncy regime, and then we dropped back to much more simple meals, baked or broiled meats and fish, salad, apples and veggies and my beloved Floof (sugar-free jello with non-fat powdered milk and cottage cheese blendered in, with lite topping, which is MUCH nicer than it sounds). But now and then I run across an interesting looking recipe, and I get brave and try it out.
OK, in the time it took to type this, the frittata is done, and it's...good! Now, if you want the FAWNCY recipe, with the sun-dried tomatoes and fresh asparagus, tell me and I will get you a copy. But this is the EASY Susan version.
Get out an oven-safe skillet. Put in a tablespoon of olive oil. Chop up a little bit of onion and start it cooking over medium heat. Add some veggies to taste once the onions start turning translucent. I put in half a can of asparagus, a few spoons of diced tomatoes and a little minced garlic, plus three big fat mushrooms sliced to slivers. You want your total vegetables to be maybe an inch, inch and a half deep, depending on the size of your pan and how many people are waiting to dig in. Somewhere in here, turn your broiler on to start heating up.
Next shred up a block of smoked salmon. As with the veggies, you can have something else instead, lean ham, shrimp, cheese.... Mix that in with the veggies and take it off the heat, if it's salmon or shrimp. Overcooked seafood turns all rubbery.
In another bowl, mix up eggs and milk (skim if you are making this dietary), just like you would scrambled eggs. Salt to taste, of course, and anything else you like, pepper or whatever. I used 6 medium eggs for mine just now.
Give the skillet stuff one last good mix around, then pour the egg stuff over it. Cover the skillet and wait 6-7 minutes, until it is firming up on the bottom and sides but the top is still wet. Then stick it in the oven under the broiler for another 2-3 minutes until it puffs up and starts to get golden brown. Remove and devour!
Friday, January 23, 2004
Loot post
Today got off to a rocky start, as Our Darling Boy got up in an untimely manner as well as on the wrong side of the futon, thus getting his Adderall (The Wonder Drug!) later than normal, thus making him a Crank-meister Deluxe during the get-ready-for-school part of his morning routine. What with one thing and another, SOMEONE is off his computer until Tuesday! (Yes, I AM the meanest mom in the world, thanks for noticing. :) )
The plus side of the above is that he DID finally grasp that he was only digging his pit deeper (losing one day of computer privilege at a time) and he was eventually able to stop himself. We are striving for self-control induced by enlightened self-interest, and despite the occasional epic battle, it does seem to be slowly working.
I had to be up early anyway to go to an estate sale. It was a good one, so I came out in a MUCH better mood than I had going in. WooHoos: Nice local history and professional horse type books, a wool Pullman railroad blanket (!), chenille spread, 2 older Levi jackets and a denim cowboy hat. Too bad I didn't have that for the Stock Show last week!
The plus side of the above is that he DID finally grasp that he was only digging his pit deeper (losing one day of computer privilege at a time) and he was eventually able to stop himself. We are striving for self-control induced by enlightened self-interest, and despite the occasional epic battle, it does seem to be slowly working.
I had to be up early anyway to go to an estate sale. It was a good one, so I came out in a MUCH better mood than I had going in. WooHoos: Nice local history and professional horse type books, a wool Pullman railroad blanket (!), chenille spread, 2 older Levi jackets and a denim cowboy hat. Too bad I didn't have that for the Stock Show last week!
The Wisdom of Dave Barry
Dave Barry on the Iowa caucus:
"...And yet, somehow, out of this process emerges a winner, as the voters of Iowa -- having carefully considered all the candidates and their views on the complex issues facing the nation -- vote for the person who looks and sounds the most like he comes from Iowa."
"...And yet, somehow, out of this process emerges a winner, as the voters of Iowa -- having carefully considered all the candidates and their views on the complex issues facing the nation -- vote for the person who looks and sounds the most like he comes from Iowa."
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Home, headed bedward
Just a super quick post to mention Mike and I got home safe and sound. I skimmed through LJ and tons of email and will resume actually ANSWERING (some of) it tomorrow. In the meantime, I leave you with the astonishing duck head pic. (Now I think those are wrinkle patterns instead of eyelashes...but still wow!)
Sunday, January 18, 2004
A jolly Saturday!
Another bizarre yet productive day!
I came staggering out of the basement of my daughter Damaris's house about 9, wondering how I had managed to sleep so late with Mike waking me up every half hour starting pre-dawn to inquire as to when anyone ELSE wpuld be arising to entertain him....
I eventually got showered, dressed, etc, and headed off to my morning errand, checking to see if Best Buy had any digital cameras that were on my short list of desireable acquisitions, and also reasonably priced. That answer was yes, and I am now the happy owner of a Canon Power Shot A80. Since I am posting this from Damaris's computer, I have not yet managed to upload today's pics. But let me tell you this. I took a shot of a duck, and you can see its EYELASHES! That, my friends, is a detailed close-up.
I took the pic of the duck, of course, at Denver's historical National Western Stock Show, which my family group and I attended today with Richard M and his Sprout. We all saw and petted many farm and/or ranch type animals, and the young ones sat in the driver's seat of assorted snowplows, ditch diggers and forklifts, among many other Western ag type thrils.
We also had a surprisingly superb meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet on the premises which included Sweet Chile Chicken, fancy roasted turkey and lamb, an excellent BBQ'd brisket and a fabulous top sirloin roast. Probably the best restaurant meal I personally have had in months!
Came home, got the hyper excited kids to bed, and watched (finally, as I am always behind in these matters) Gangs of New York, which I thought was quite good.
Night-night!
I came staggering out of the basement of my daughter Damaris's house about 9, wondering how I had managed to sleep so late with Mike waking me up every half hour starting pre-dawn to inquire as to when anyone ELSE wpuld be arising to entertain him....
I eventually got showered, dressed, etc, and headed off to my morning errand, checking to see if Best Buy had any digital cameras that were on my short list of desireable acquisitions, and also reasonably priced. That answer was yes, and I am now the happy owner of a Canon Power Shot A80. Since I am posting this from Damaris's computer, I have not yet managed to upload today's pics. But let me tell you this. I took a shot of a duck, and you can see its EYELASHES! That, my friends, is a detailed close-up.
I took the pic of the duck, of course, at Denver's historical National Western Stock Show, which my family group and I attended today with Richard M and his Sprout. We all saw and petted many farm and/or ranch type animals, and the young ones sat in the driver's seat of assorted snowplows, ditch diggers and forklifts, among many other Western ag type thrils.
We also had a surprisingly superb meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet on the premises which included Sweet Chile Chicken, fancy roasted turkey and lamb, an excellent BBQ'd brisket and a fabulous top sirloin roast. Probably the best restaurant meal I personally have had in months!
Came home, got the hyper excited kids to bed, and watched (finally, as I am always behind in these matters) Gangs of New York, which I thought was quite good.
Night-night!
Friday, January 16, 2004
Made it!
Yay, we're here safe and sound in Denver!
This almost didn't happen. First, we had one of those good news/bad news deals when we went to pick Dreamcloud up from Rick the Car Doctor. His U-joint is fine and dandy, the U-joint of a vehicle half his mileage. BUT his drive line is bent or warped or something. Not enough to make him undriveable, but it puts a semi pricey repair (probably $300-400) in his future.
Also, while they were puttering around today, Rick happened to notice the fuel filter looked like it had NEVER been changed out (still had original factory undercoating on it!). Hmm, 74,000 miles on one filter--is that a world's record or anything?
No matter. We loaded up, got gas, and headed out into the twilight. Got about 5 miles out of town--and the CHECK ENGINE light came on!!
Naturally I calmly pulled into the abandoned KOA and quietly freaked out. And also chickened out. I just could not bring myself to say the heck with it and go anyway. The Stock Show runs through next weekend, after all... Mike was as unhappy as I was, but he is a trooper when the chips are down. He was actually trying to console ME.
Then I had an idea. It was only about 5:15. MAYBE Rick and the guys were still at the shop!
Sure enough. The office was shut and Rick was gone, but three of the mechanics hadn't yet escaped from the garage.
Here again is where Rick et al RULE! Despite being technically closed and mentally halfway home, they insisted on hooking up the computerized monitor to find out what the little glowing light was trying to tell us.
Good news/uncertain news! It was only the emissions chip suddenly having a fit of the vapours. So THAT might need replacing next week too, BUT we felt safe in resuming our trip to Denver.
It was, apart from the odd incident of finding a cell phone in the ladies' room at Arby's, the turning in of which caused the manager and both counter persons to inexplicably ditch their duties and go pelting out into the parking lot, a blessedly uneventful trip. And in a few minutes I am going to be blissfully asleep.
This almost didn't happen. First, we had one of those good news/bad news deals when we went to pick Dreamcloud up from Rick the Car Doctor. His U-joint is fine and dandy, the U-joint of a vehicle half his mileage. BUT his drive line is bent or warped or something. Not enough to make him undriveable, but it puts a semi pricey repair (probably $300-400) in his future.
Also, while they were puttering around today, Rick happened to notice the fuel filter looked like it had NEVER been changed out (still had original factory undercoating on it!). Hmm, 74,000 miles on one filter--is that a world's record or anything?
No matter. We loaded up, got gas, and headed out into the twilight. Got about 5 miles out of town--and the CHECK ENGINE light came on!!
Naturally I calmly pulled into the abandoned KOA and quietly freaked out. And also chickened out. I just could not bring myself to say the heck with it and go anyway. The Stock Show runs through next weekend, after all... Mike was as unhappy as I was, but he is a trooper when the chips are down. He was actually trying to console ME.
Then I had an idea. It was only about 5:15. MAYBE Rick and the guys were still at the shop!
Sure enough. The office was shut and Rick was gone, but three of the mechanics hadn't yet escaped from the garage.
Here again is where Rick et al RULE! Despite being technically closed and mentally halfway home, they insisted on hooking up the computerized monitor to find out what the little glowing light was trying to tell us.
Good news/uncertain news! It was only the emissions chip suddenly having a fit of the vapours. So THAT might need replacing next week too, BUT we felt safe in resuming our trip to Denver.
It was, apart from the odd incident of finding a cell phone in the ladies' room at Arby's, the turning in of which caused the manager and both counter persons to inexplicably ditch their duties and go pelting out into the parking lot, a blessedly uneventful trip. And in a few minutes I am going to be blissfully asleep.
General madness
Going places is fun. But something about knowing I am leaving my cluttered little cocoon for a few days just makes me go mental. Instead of doing what a sensible person would do--figure out what extra tasks will be needed to get ready for the trip and slide them gently into the ongoing routine--I get all ambitious yet paranoid and try to shoehorn about a month's worth of tasks into the week before. The fact that they are tasks that have been hanging fire for possibly months already is just a nice little angst bonus....
Anyway. We are driving to Denver this evening, although I am spending the day LOADING Caro's car with trip stuff, because Dreamcloud is back in the shop.
When Rick the Car Doctor fixed the pinion seal Tuesday, he told me that thub-thub-thub noise was a broken belt in a tire. OK, fair enough, I bought Dreamcloud (used) almost a year ago and these were still the tires he came with. Time enough for baby to need new shoes.
So I bought two glossy new tires, NOT at Wal-mart. Paying a little more is not always a bad thing. Sometimes you get extra value, as in advice from the experienced. See, back in the fall when I first noticed the thub-thub-thub starting, I had gone in for an alignment, and the tire place guy HAD told me the *something* was wearing down and would need replacing in the next six months. Which had led to me suddenly deciding the week of a road trip to take my car in to Rick's.
Now Tire Place Guy told me, as he handed over DC and his keys, that although the tire had in fact needed replacing, HE could still hear that odd sound, and it was his opinion the U-joint was not long for this earth. I must have looked as uninformed as I felt, because he kindly said, "Go talk to Rick, and have him call me if he wants."
This sort of thing is why I adore living in a small town.
So Dreamcloud is, as I type, getting his U-joint...rejointed. And I am going to hop up from here now and start Doing Trip Stuff. Really.
Anyway. We are driving to Denver this evening, although I am spending the day LOADING Caro's car with trip stuff, because Dreamcloud is back in the shop.
When Rick the Car Doctor fixed the pinion seal Tuesday, he told me that thub-thub-thub noise was a broken belt in a tire. OK, fair enough, I bought Dreamcloud (used) almost a year ago and these were still the tires he came with. Time enough for baby to need new shoes.
So I bought two glossy new tires, NOT at Wal-mart. Paying a little more is not always a bad thing. Sometimes you get extra value, as in advice from the experienced. See, back in the fall when I first noticed the thub-thub-thub starting, I had gone in for an alignment, and the tire place guy HAD told me the *something* was wearing down and would need replacing in the next six months. Which had led to me suddenly deciding the week of a road trip to take my car in to Rick's.
Now Tire Place Guy told me, as he handed over DC and his keys, that although the tire had in fact needed replacing, HE could still hear that odd sound, and it was his opinion the U-joint was not long for this earth. I must have looked as uninformed as I felt, because he kindly said, "Go talk to Rick, and have him call me if he wants."
This sort of thing is why I adore living in a small town.
So Dreamcloud is, as I type, getting his U-joint...rejointed. And I am going to hop up from here now and start Doing Trip Stuff. Really.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Been a long one
I'm not wild about getting up early, but I have learned to manage it, more or less, when needful. Today I did it so I could take Dreamcloud in to the auto shop, with Caro following in Nimbus, then drop her off at school and so have a vehicle on hand.
I needed it so I could go get Mike right after school and take him to the bowling alley. The rec department and his school each have a program for kids, and he was all hot to try it. Happily, he seems to like this much better than soccer or football--at least for this first day he did. He even almost got a spare! He and the other boy he was teamed up with each won a game, so all in all a very good start.
Dreamcloud wasn't in for his *road trip injury* (that's still percolating through the insurance claim process), but an assortment of odd noises, one of which I thought was a 'hub' or something that the nice alignment man told me needed seeing to soon. Happily my super top notch mechanic Rick (aka The Car Doctor in Mikespeak) found only a leaking differential seal and a bad tire, and we got away from there for about $85. Always a pleasant surprise!
I meant to answer some email tonight, but got sidetracked to finally fixing the DVD connections (Mike accidentally unplugged some before Christmas and tried to "fix" his mistake....) and a few other projects.
Oh, and I played around with the toy at myvirtualmodel.com some more, entering all options as close to mine as possible except for the initial gender choice.
Click here if you are BRAVE!
Hmm. Note to self: remove 'look into sex change' from To Do list....
I needed it so I could go get Mike right after school and take him to the bowling alley. The rec department and his school each have a program for kids, and he was all hot to try it. Happily, he seems to like this much better than soccer or football--at least for this first day he did. He even almost got a spare! He and the other boy he was teamed up with each won a game, so all in all a very good start.
Dreamcloud wasn't in for his *road trip injury* (that's still percolating through the insurance claim process), but an assortment of odd noises, one of which I thought was a 'hub' or something that the nice alignment man told me needed seeing to soon. Happily my super top notch mechanic Rick (aka The Car Doctor in Mikespeak) found only a leaking differential seal and a bad tire, and we got away from there for about $85. Always a pleasant surprise!
I meant to answer some email tonight, but got sidetracked to finally fixing the DVD connections (Mike accidentally unplugged some before Christmas and tried to "fix" his mistake....) and a few other projects.
Oh, and I played around with the toy at myvirtualmodel.com some more, entering all options as close to mine as possible except for the initial gender choice.
Click here if you are BRAVE!
Hmm. Note to self: remove 'look into sex change' from To Do list....
Stage 3
Sorry for the long delay between trip posts. I ran into a snag when I found out Mapquest no longer lets you enter multiple destinations for a map. It has to be done point to point. I didn't want to swamp people with too many maps--then I got the brilliant idea of merging them with Photoshop. It's a bit fuzzy, but should do for the purpose of giving a general idea of our itinerary!
261-490 miles
Lots of unusual sights to visit on this leg! In case you can't tell, we are wandering up near the Nebraska border in this stage.
From Norton, east on 36 to Phillipsburg, which has a railroad museum and is also the home of my friend Darlene!
Continuing east on 36, to US-281 and then a few miles north, we come to Lebanon, Kansas (kind of between the 'r' and 'g' of Phillipsburg). Just a bit outside of town there is a marker denoting the geographic center of the 48 contiguous US states. Gotta see THAT!
Going SE from Lebanon (281 to 181 to 24) we head for Cawker City. This is the home of ONE of the largest balls of twine in the world.
(This link details the various arguments of the three contenders, in case you GOTTA know!) They also have a church with an extremely old pipe organ, and a nice recreational lake area.
By doubling back a little (24 to 281 to 18), we will get to Lucas, Kansas, home of the Garden of Eden , a huge eccentric art/political commentary project from the early part of last century. Another sight not to be missed!
From Lucas we will head back east on 18 until we get to US 81, and ride that highway until we get to Minneapolis. Minneapolis, Kansas. From there it's a short hop to the defunct town of Lamar, Kansas. I have decided to collect Lamars, or at least photos of them.
261-490 miles
Lots of unusual sights to visit on this leg! In case you can't tell, we are wandering up near the Nebraska border in this stage.
From Norton, east on 36 to Phillipsburg, which has a railroad museum and is also the home of my friend Darlene!
Continuing east on 36, to US-281 and then a few miles north, we come to Lebanon, Kansas (kind of between the 'r' and 'g' of Phillipsburg). Just a bit outside of town there is a marker denoting the geographic center of the 48 contiguous US states. Gotta see THAT!
Going SE from Lebanon (281 to 181 to 24) we head for Cawker City. This is the home of ONE of the largest balls of twine in the world.
(This link details the various arguments of the three contenders, in case you GOTTA know!) They also have a church with an extremely old pipe organ, and a nice recreational lake area.
By doubling back a little (24 to 281 to 18), we will get to Lucas, Kansas, home of the Garden of Eden , a huge eccentric art/political commentary project from the early part of last century. Another sight not to be missed!
From Lucas we will head back east on 18 until we get to US 81, and ride that highway until we get to Minneapolis. Minneapolis, Kansas. From there it's a short hop to the defunct town of Lamar, Kansas. I have decided to collect Lamars, or at least photos of them.
Assortment
I'm not sure what I was thinking when I taught Mike the chorus to YMCA the other day. Yes, with the hand motions. With the result that this morning he "couldn't" get dressed for school because the song was stuck in his head. It's hard to pull on a t-shirt when you are dancing and singing "Y-C-A"....
This quiz on my Gorey predicted death is even spookier because...how did it know my name???"
You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself:
"Things can work out even if I don't get
my way. Things can work out even...."
What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla
This nifty bit of software is from myvirtualmodel.com. You go through picking the variables that are closest to you in real life. I think the idea is to sell you clothes, but I just made two for my own fun, one of my current body and one the approximate goal I am shooting for with the South Beach diet.
I probably don't need to say so, but this isn't meant in any way as a criticism of anyone's food or body preferences. I just want to be able to do some of the things I used to, before I got smacked with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome stick. Or at least not have my leg joints hurt all the time. :/ That's all.
This quiz on my Gorey predicted death is even spookier because...how did it know my name???"
You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself:
"Things can work out even if I don't get
my way. Things can work out even...."
What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla
This nifty bit of software is from myvirtualmodel.com. You go through picking the variables that are closest to you in real life. I think the idea is to sell you clothes, but I just made two for my own fun, one of my current body and one the approximate goal I am shooting for with the South Beach diet.
I probably don't need to say so, but this isn't meant in any way as a criticism of anyone's food or body preferences. I just want to be able to do some of the things I used to, before I got smacked with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome stick. Or at least not have my leg joints hurt all the time. :/ That's all.
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Forgot to say....
Another thing about RotK. I don't think I have EVER sat through a movie with more *Meaningful Looks*. I mean, is it me, or is at least an hour of that movie MLs?
I can tell you it's contagious, whatever caused it, because ever since we walked out of the theater, Caro and I have been turning to each other at times both appropriate and in- and saying, "Meaningful Look!" while making one of same.
I'm doing it at the monitor RIGHT NOW.
I can tell you it's contagious, whatever caused it, because ever since we walked out of the theater, Caro and I have been turning to each other at times both appropriate and in- and saying, "Meaningful Look!" while making one of same.
I'm doing it at the monitor RIGHT NOW.
FINALLY!
Last night Caro and I went to see RotK.
It was good.
That's not intended to be damning with faint praise, either. It's an astonishing spectacle, beautifully filmed and acted, and I'm happy I got to see such a marvel in my lifetime.
Thing is, and probably this makes me a fogey or something, I do still like the books better....
It was good.
That's not intended to be damning with faint praise, either. It's an astonishing spectacle, beautifully filmed and acted, and I'm happy I got to see such a marvel in my lifetime.
Thing is, and probably this makes me a fogey or something, I do still like the books better....
Mouse Complaint Dept.
Yesterday was one of those annoying days where nothing goes quite the way you want it to.
Like for instance, my mouse. (Logitech, not live.) It had been acting weird for a couple weeks and getting steadily worse. I'd thought the light-up kind didn't HAVE to be cleaned like the old ball kind, but I took it apart anyway, and sure enough, it was cloggy with crud and fuzz and cat hair.
Unfortunately, once I got it apart I was unable to make it go back together. Which would be annoying even on an otherwise fab day, because I am not accustomed to being unable to assemble something that unfortunate wage slave factory workers seem very capable of whipping out by the thousand.
The funny part was that the bottom half still worked fine. If you concentrated hard on clicking a tiny little white bar with your fingernail. No more wheel action sans wheel, logically enough. So when I started getting a cramp in my hand, I went to bed.
Upon arising all refreshed and stuff, I searched around until I found my spare, which I got basically free from Amazon after the rebate. (Making it even more ridiculous that I spent an hour of my time the day before on the old one! That I of course kept all the pieces of because I'm anal like that.) After moving a three foot high stack of books and videos to be listed for sale off my computer case, I plugged in the new mouse, and all was again well in Susan's Computer World.
Like for instance, my mouse. (Logitech, not live.) It had been acting weird for a couple weeks and getting steadily worse. I'd thought the light-up kind didn't HAVE to be cleaned like the old ball kind, but I took it apart anyway, and sure enough, it was cloggy with crud and fuzz and cat hair.
Unfortunately, once I got it apart I was unable to make it go back together. Which would be annoying even on an otherwise fab day, because I am not accustomed to being unable to assemble something that unfortunate wage slave factory workers seem very capable of whipping out by the thousand.
The funny part was that the bottom half still worked fine. If you concentrated hard on clicking a tiny little white bar with your fingernail. No more wheel action sans wheel, logically enough. So when I started getting a cramp in my hand, I went to bed.
Upon arising all refreshed and stuff, I searched around until I found my spare, which I got basically free from Amazon after the rebate. (Making it even more ridiculous that I spent an hour of my time the day before on the old one! That I of course kept all the pieces of because I'm anal like that.) After moving a three foot high stack of books and videos to be listed for sale off my computer case, I plugged in the new mouse, and all was again well in Susan's Computer World.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Susan Ginger Soup
Decades ago, when I was a student at a very small and peculiar kung fu school, I picked up a few alternative medicine type remedies, some of which I am still toting today.
We were taught then when you have SEVERE muscle soreness all over (which seemed to happen to us a lot...), a great thing to do was get someone to grate up fresh ginger root for you (since you were probably way too sore to do it yourself) and dump it and you into a nice hot bath. And if at all possible, your grating friend might wait around to be sure you were able to activate your nicely jellied muscles and crawl out of the tub when you felt done.
I got out of the habit of the ginger (though I remained a big fan of hot baths/tubs) because it was haarrrrddd. But then one day I discovered you can BUY fresh-in-a-jar pureed ginger at the Wal-mart! So I am now sitting here typing, very relaxed, very ginger-y smelling, a bit damp but feeling about 57 times better than I did an hour and a half ago.
See, I don't know if I mentioned it, but I ended up selling 90 things out of that 191 I listed on the big marathon eBay Free Listing Day. Which is way cool, but I have been driving myself until I staggered trying to get the things shipped. (People are so silly about wanting to receive the items they paid for!) At this point I think about half have gone out, and I have about 10 paid for things to ship tomorrow. So the crest of the wave has passed, yet I have not passed on. Which is cool.
But I am not at all displeased that after tomorrow I can do something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT over the weekend, sans guilt.
Which MIGHT include another batch of Susan Ginger Soup. Because I still have a whole unopened jar, and I'm not afraid to use it!
We were taught then when you have SEVERE muscle soreness all over (which seemed to happen to us a lot...), a great thing to do was get someone to grate up fresh ginger root for you (since you were probably way too sore to do it yourself) and dump it and you into a nice hot bath. And if at all possible, your grating friend might wait around to be sure you were able to activate your nicely jellied muscles and crawl out of the tub when you felt done.
I got out of the habit of the ginger (though I remained a big fan of hot baths/tubs) because it was haarrrrddd. But then one day I discovered you can BUY fresh-in-a-jar pureed ginger at the Wal-mart! So I am now sitting here typing, very relaxed, very ginger-y smelling, a bit damp but feeling about 57 times better than I did an hour and a half ago.
See, I don't know if I mentioned it, but I ended up selling 90 things out of that 191 I listed on the big marathon eBay Free Listing Day. Which is way cool, but I have been driving myself until I staggered trying to get the things shipped. (People are so silly about wanting to receive the items they paid for!) At this point I think about half have gone out, and I have about 10 paid for things to ship tomorrow. So the crest of the wave has passed, yet I have not passed on. Which is cool.
But I am not at all displeased that after tomorrow I can do something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT over the weekend, sans guilt.
Which MIGHT include another batch of Susan Ginger Soup. Because I still have a whole unopened jar, and I'm not afraid to use it!
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Mmmm, soupy!
OK, I know I'm a dork for posting about soup just because I made it. But there's just something about taking a lot of mysterious bits that have been sitting around and making something tasty--I don't know, it makes me feel a teeny tad magical. :)
So...this soup is part of a can of leftover broth, and the goop from baking three chicken breasts in the cheap parmesan italian salad dressing we didn't like (not even in the same UNIVERSE as Paul Newman's Garlic Parmesan!), and the part of one of the breasts Mike did not finish, and an onion chunk I found, and some celery chunks I froze last time I cut up a big old...is it a celery head? Or a leg? Or what?
Anyway. Also two aging tomatoes that were still GOOD, but getting wrinkled and dry so not salad-worthy anymore and a teaspoon of garlic bits and a little salt. Simmered all up, and now I'm going to eat it! Yum!
So...this soup is part of a can of leftover broth, and the goop from baking three chicken breasts in the cheap parmesan italian salad dressing we didn't like (not even in the same UNIVERSE as Paul Newman's Garlic Parmesan!), and the part of one of the breasts Mike did not finish, and an onion chunk I found, and some celery chunks I froze last time I cut up a big old...is it a celery head? Or a leg? Or what?
Anyway. Also two aging tomatoes that were still GOOD, but getting wrinkled and dry so not salad-worthy anymore and a teaspoon of garlic bits and a little salt. Simmered all up, and now I'm going to eat it! Yum!
Dog Disaster Day
(Well, not REAL disasters, but Dog Accident Day is not as alliterative.)
It is cold here. Very cold. Minus seven cold, with a wind chill rating of -20. So the dogs have not been outdoors in their run much. Even Sheila the Certifiable, who HATES to come inside, slunk in with the rest about 4 o'clock. She may be crazy but she's not STUPID.
The one wearing the Stupid Sign would be me. Around 7, poor Cowboy came over to sit near me, and gradually started making a VERY faint whining noise. I thought it was because I had the little foot warming space heater going and it was making him uncomfortable. How sweet and loyal, I thought, for him to come keep me company anyway....
Getting no useful response from me, he went over to Caro's side of the computer desks. That was the point where even a very brave and determined dog could hold out no longer. Um, yeah. So that was KIND of a disaster, or at least a major accident. And he was so EMBARRASSED, because you know Good Dogs just DON'T....
Ok, so with Mike's help Caro turned all the dogs out while I did the emergency clean-up routine. After I figured they'd had time to empty out, but before they could turn to little dog-cicles, I let them all back in again.
We have six dogs. The two oldest, Duke and Cowboy, are ultra-reliable about all house rules except the one against illicit trash-digging. So the other four have crates (and we put the trash can in the sink at night.) Climber, the baby of the pack, is the spriest, so her little crate is stacked on top of Buddy's big one. When she comes in, she always leaps up and in for a quick check, because Mike often leaves his sandwich crusts for her. (Mike Never Eats Crusts. He is, in fact, the Anti-Crust.)
Tonight, for some reason, after helping let the dogs out, Mike neatly CLOSED THE CRATE DOORS. So when Climber bounded up, with her usual long elegant leap from about 4 feet away, she saw too late that the No Admittance sign was well and truly out. Her only choices were to somehow levitate for a split second and do a magical 180 in mid-air, or smack into the crate door and rebound, like a furry soccer ball deflected by a galvanized goalie grid.
Of course, being half Border Collie and half Blue Heeler, she did the mid-air evasion thing as though she'd been practicing the move since she got her milk teeth. I wish you could have seen it!
It is cold here. Very cold. Minus seven cold, with a wind chill rating of -20. So the dogs have not been outdoors in their run much. Even Sheila the Certifiable, who HATES to come inside, slunk in with the rest about 4 o'clock. She may be crazy but she's not STUPID.
The one wearing the Stupid Sign would be me. Around 7, poor Cowboy came over to sit near me, and gradually started making a VERY faint whining noise. I thought it was because I had the little foot warming space heater going and it was making him uncomfortable. How sweet and loyal, I thought, for him to come keep me company anyway....
Getting no useful response from me, he went over to Caro's side of the computer desks. That was the point where even a very brave and determined dog could hold out no longer. Um, yeah. So that was KIND of a disaster, or at least a major accident. And he was so EMBARRASSED, because you know Good Dogs just DON'T....
Ok, so with Mike's help Caro turned all the dogs out while I did the emergency clean-up routine. After I figured they'd had time to empty out, but before they could turn to little dog-cicles, I let them all back in again.
We have six dogs. The two oldest, Duke and Cowboy, are ultra-reliable about all house rules except the one against illicit trash-digging. So the other four have crates (and we put the trash can in the sink at night.) Climber, the baby of the pack, is the spriest, so her little crate is stacked on top of Buddy's big one. When she comes in, she always leaps up and in for a quick check, because Mike often leaves his sandwich crusts for her. (Mike Never Eats Crusts. He is, in fact, the Anti-Crust.)
Tonight, for some reason, after helping let the dogs out, Mike neatly CLOSED THE CRATE DOORS. So when Climber bounded up, with her usual long elegant leap from about 4 feet away, she saw too late that the No Admittance sign was well and truly out. Her only choices were to somehow levitate for a split second and do a magical 180 in mid-air, or smack into the crate door and rebound, like a furry soccer ball deflected by a galvanized goalie grid.
Of course, being half Border Collie and half Blue Heeler, she did the mid-air evasion thing as though she'd been practicing the move since she got her milk teeth. I wish you could have seen it!
Monday, January 05, 2004
Oh no. Monday.
School is back in session for Caro and Mike as of today. Getting Mike up and dressed was easy and simple. Compared to, say, threading a needle with a glob of Silly Putty. Whiny, cranky Silly Putty.
In other Monday-what-else-did-you-expect news, the water system flashing thingie went to red alert, which means it wants new filters NOW, a package I sent to Belgium before Christmas STILL has not arrived, and someones e-check to me bounced. For the second time. Sigh.
Oh, well, the day can't help but get better after this unimpressive start. Although it would get better a lot faster if I listened to the tempting siren song coming from my bedroom and crawled back under the covers for a few hours. Which I guess I'm not going to, but it's a nice fantasy....
In other Monday-what-else-did-you-expect news, the water system flashing thingie went to red alert, which means it wants new filters NOW, a package I sent to Belgium before Christmas STILL has not arrived, and someones e-check to me bounced. For the second time. Sigh.
Oh, well, the day can't help but get better after this unimpressive start. Although it would get better a lot faster if I listened to the tempting siren song coming from my bedroom and crawled back under the covers for a few hours. Which I guess I'm not going to, but it's a nice fantasy....
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Stage 2
Just FYI, these aren't meant to be daily goals or anything. I just thought roughly 100-150 miles was a good size for a post.
Also, you will be noting a LOT of train related stops. Trains are one of Mike's passions, so we'll be seeing a lot of railroad museums and such. We probably won't stop at ALL of them (or all the other attractions I mention either), but we have noted them on our list in a hopeful fashion.
116-260 miles
From Burlington, east on US-24 (the older highway, more interesting than I-70, which it parallels) to Kanorado, Kansas (train museum & caboose)
Continuing east on 24 to Goodland (museum), Colby (museum), to US-83 N and then to 383 East. That leads to Dresden (thrift shop), and on to Jennings (museum & old train station). Continuing on 383 until we join US-36 East, which takes us to what will likely be our first stop, Norton KS.
Near Norton is the Prairie Dog State Park and Reservoir, which might be good for camping. In Norton itself we can see an old stagecoach station and ANOTHER museum!
Also, you will be noting a LOT of train related stops. Trains are one of Mike's passions, so we'll be seeing a lot of railroad museums and such. We probably won't stop at ALL of them (or all the other attractions I mention either), but we have noted them on our list in a hopeful fashion.
116-260 miles
From Burlington, east on US-24 (the older highway, more interesting than I-70, which it parallels) to Kanorado, Kansas (train museum & caboose)
Continuing east on 24 to Goodland (museum), Colby (museum), to US-83 N and then to 383 East. That leads to Dresden (thrift shop), and on to Jennings (museum & old train station). Continuing on 383 until we join US-36 East, which takes us to what will likely be our first stop, Norton KS.
Near Norton is the Prairie Dog State Park and Reservoir, which might be good for camping. In Norton itself we can see an old stagecoach station and ANOTHER museum!
More eBay nonsense
The rest of my FLD auctions will be ending tomorrow, so if I want to show you guys some of these goofy ones, I need to get on the stick!
Old Meat Grinder Lamp This one only has a regular lampshade. Caro says she saw one with an aluminum colander as the shade, which I think would be even cooler!
Cool retro hanging lamp! I hope I don't sound TOO sad about parting with this beauty. But Caro says absolutely no way will it be hanging over her in the bathroom, so really, I might as well sell it.
Magic 8 ball for tech support types This thing is a scream!
No Queer Eye for the Strait Guy This is a Wrangler poster featuring George Strait the country singer, and yes, the joke is lame. What I am wondering is why THIS poster has only one bid, and the other one from the same ad campaign has 9. Is it the dog? The horse? The lack of a lame joke?
Westercon 37 program book, signed by Ed Bryant This one is kind of an experiment. Sometimes there are collectors haunting eBay, sometimes not....
Older CPR Half Guy Another one I wouldn't mind keeping for the fun of it, except I don't seem to get used to him and continually jump to see him sitting in my living room.
Old Meat Grinder Lamp This one only has a regular lampshade. Caro says she saw one with an aluminum colander as the shade, which I think would be even cooler!
Cool retro hanging lamp! I hope I don't sound TOO sad about parting with this beauty. But Caro says absolutely no way will it be hanging over her in the bathroom, so really, I might as well sell it.
Magic 8 ball for tech support types This thing is a scream!
No Queer Eye for the Strait Guy This is a Wrangler poster featuring George Strait the country singer, and yes, the joke is lame. What I am wondering is why THIS poster has only one bid, and the other one from the same ad campaign has 9. Is it the dog? The horse? The lack of a lame joke?
Westercon 37 program book, signed by Ed Bryant This one is kind of an experiment. Sometimes there are collectors haunting eBay, sometimes not....
Older CPR Half Guy Another one I wouldn't mind keeping for the fun of it, except I don't seem to get used to him and continually jump to see him sitting in my living room.
Mental posts
Does anyone else do this? Find yourself mentally making blog posts, then being terribly surprised when you check your journal and they aren't actually there?
No? Just me? okay....
Right then, the Last Weekend of the Holiday Report.
We had planned to go to Pueblo Friday for a bit of shopping, but the regular Emergency Weather Bulletins about high winds there coming off the big snow storm in the mountains made us weenie out. So instead I packed up 18 things to mail, and generally just sulked around the house.
Saturday there was an auction scheduled in Cheyenne Wells, about 75 miles from here. There was also one lonely tag sale, where I bought one lamp I will hopefully sell (an old kerosene one wired up for electricity) and two things for me, a cobalt blue sun tea jug and a COOL HAT that looks like a TURTLE.
But that apparently used up our buyer's luck for the day. The auction was a washout, way too many bored locals, other E-vile Dealers, and only a few actual goodies buried in loads of ordinary Stuff. Although I did like the chandelliers....
We decided to switch over to holiday drive mode, and jumped back in Dreamcloud, heading west to Kit Carson (after a little Exploring Like Cats in Cheyenne Wells. Eccentrically decorated yards are a real art form there. I am humbled by my meager-in-comparison accomplishments.)
Everything interesting was closed in Kit Carson too. Since it was lunch time, we opted to try a cafe we'd never been in before. On the plus side, they had creatively turned a number of their booths and tables into displays for new and used Stuff. Mike very much admired some super giant pine cones. Sadly, we soon found that the place had lots of spare booths because they probably don't get too many repeat customers for the food....
It was just like my grandma used to make. Horrid. I'd ordered the homemade vegetable beef soup, but would have been better off with the giant pine cones. I swear the recipe for it was:
Boil leftover pasta for an hour or so. Add the juice off any canned vegetables you've used lately. Make sure it's good and watery and don't add ANY salt. Instead, find some strange unpleasant tasting spice to throw in there for that all important gross aftertaste. Add scraps of pale sad leftover vegetables and little odd shaped gobbets of something that might be beef. Or pencil erasers. Fob off on unsuspecting customers.
Caro had the chicken-fried steak (I know. We've been on holiday. Back to the diet tomorrow.) which was also just plain weird and bad. I have a theory (no, not bunnies) that they are secretly palming off their version of health food, partly because 3/4 of the menu is a catalog for a quack-y VIBE Machine they sell. (And no, not THAT kind of vibe machine.) So maybe it's a secret mission to spread Health or something. But Caro invited me to try her order, which momentarily made me glad I'd picked the soup. The meat was a pattie formed from the Beef Gobbets, but with something else chopped and blended in. I swear I think it might have been turnips. The pattie had been dipped in batter and fried on the flat grill, but the batter didn't QUITE get cooked all the way through. I sure HOPE the meat product was pre-boiled or something!
You are probably wondering how they stay in business. I think being one of two choices in this rather isolated little town helps. Also it's likely the locals know what to order. Mike's grilled cheese and obviously from a commercial supplier fries were fine.
This place, by the way, is called just Shepp's on the outside. Inside on the menu it is The Good Sheppard (presumably their last name, not bad spelling). Caro says they don't use that name on the outside sign because they fear the religious implication might discourage tourists. I say it's because it would be a LIE.
No? Just me? okay....
Right then, the Last Weekend of the Holiday Report.
We had planned to go to Pueblo Friday for a bit of shopping, but the regular Emergency Weather Bulletins about high winds there coming off the big snow storm in the mountains made us weenie out. So instead I packed up 18 things to mail, and generally just sulked around the house.
Saturday there was an auction scheduled in Cheyenne Wells, about 75 miles from here. There was also one lonely tag sale, where I bought one lamp I will hopefully sell (an old kerosene one wired up for electricity) and two things for me, a cobalt blue sun tea jug and a COOL HAT that looks like a TURTLE.
But that apparently used up our buyer's luck for the day. The auction was a washout, way too many bored locals, other E-vile Dealers, and only a few actual goodies buried in loads of ordinary Stuff. Although I did like the chandelliers....
We decided to switch over to holiday drive mode, and jumped back in Dreamcloud, heading west to Kit Carson (after a little Exploring Like Cats in Cheyenne Wells. Eccentrically decorated yards are a real art form there. I am humbled by my meager-in-comparison accomplishments.)
Everything interesting was closed in Kit Carson too. Since it was lunch time, we opted to try a cafe we'd never been in before. On the plus side, they had creatively turned a number of their booths and tables into displays for new and used Stuff. Mike very much admired some super giant pine cones. Sadly, we soon found that the place had lots of spare booths because they probably don't get too many repeat customers for the food....
It was just like my grandma used to make. Horrid. I'd ordered the homemade vegetable beef soup, but would have been better off with the giant pine cones. I swear the recipe for it was:
Boil leftover pasta for an hour or so. Add the juice off any canned vegetables you've used lately. Make sure it's good and watery and don't add ANY salt. Instead, find some strange unpleasant tasting spice to throw in there for that all important gross aftertaste. Add scraps of pale sad leftover vegetables and little odd shaped gobbets of something that might be beef. Or pencil erasers. Fob off on unsuspecting customers.
Caro had the chicken-fried steak (I know. We've been on holiday. Back to the diet tomorrow.) which was also just plain weird and bad. I have a theory (no, not bunnies) that they are secretly palming off their version of health food, partly because 3/4 of the menu is a catalog for a quack-y VIBE Machine they sell. (And no, not THAT kind of vibe machine.) So maybe it's a secret mission to spread Health or something. But Caro invited me to try her order, which momentarily made me glad I'd picked the soup. The meat was a pattie formed from the Beef Gobbets, but with something else chopped and blended in. I swear I think it might have been turnips. The pattie had been dipped in batter and fried on the flat grill, but the batter didn't QUITE get cooked all the way through. I sure HOPE the meat product was pre-boiled or something!
You are probably wondering how they stay in business. I think being one of two choices in this rather isolated little town helps. Also it's likely the locals know what to order. Mike's grilled cheese and obviously from a commercial supplier fries were fine.
This place, by the way, is called just Shepp's on the outside. Inside on the menu it is The Good Sheppard (presumably their last name, not bad spelling). Caro says they don't use that name on the outside sign because they fear the religious implication might discourage tourists. I say it's because it would be a LIE.
Come on a virtual ride with us!
As some of you already know, this summer Mike and I are going on a Big Adventure. We are going to head out, hauling Tae the Trailer behind Dreamcloud the Explorer (no relation to Dora the E), drive to Chicago, then follow old Route 66 to Los Angeles.
I am hoping to acquire a laptop by then so I can share this experience via the wonders of the WWW. But all that is part of the planning. Which I am also intending to share! Fun as a trip like this is all by itself, it can only be more so if we get to drop in and see family and friends along the way!
Please feel free to email me or make comments or suggestions on any of this!
C'mon, jump in! Let's motor!
0-115 miles
Leave Lamar and drive to Granada, Colorado, eastbound on US 50.
Turn north onto US 385, passing through Sheridan Lake, to Cheyenne Wells. (Visit museum?)
Continue north to Burlington, Colorado. **Visit antique Carousel and museum.**
I am hoping to acquire a laptop by then so I can share this experience via the wonders of the WWW. But all that is part of the planning. Which I am also intending to share! Fun as a trip like this is all by itself, it can only be more so if we get to drop in and see family and friends along the way!
Please feel free to email me or make comments or suggestions on any of this!
C'mon, jump in! Let's motor!
0-115 miles
Leave Lamar and drive to Granada, Colorado, eastbound on US 50.
Turn north onto US 385, passing through Sheridan Lake, to Cheyenne Wells. (Visit museum?)
Continue north to Burlington, Colorado. **Visit antique Carousel and museum.**
Thursday, January 01, 2004
I like it when the quizzes get me right!
And these so do!
If one is of a certain age, shouldn't this be what kind WERE you? Although Caro the clone says she was only a wannabe hippie, and I myself was a Square....
You are a Mod. Yeah baby.
What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
find your queer
as folk personality!
If one is of a certain age, shouldn't this be what kind WERE you? Although Caro the clone says she was only a wannabe hippie, and I myself was a Square....
You are a Mod. Yeah baby.
What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
find your queer
as folk personality!
Nice peaceful holiday
I'm mostly puttering around today, a little email, a little LJ, a little actual work. Mike hung his Santa Fe train calendar in the kitchen, and I hung our Queer Eye calendar in the bathroom. Here's hoping all things WILL just keep getting better in 2004!
Right now I am putting off doing the much needed tasks of cleaning the catbox and the guinea pig cages.
How about a few more links to my amazing or amusing eBay auctions?
Still have a few Quidditch Mom Bumper Stickers
Robot Elephant Kit
1948 Canadian **ALMANAC**!!! Just the thing for Time Traveling Terrorists!
VERY gorgeous floofy sweaters, new with tags, 2X size, in red with black marabou trim OR white with white marabou trim.
(Actually I have multiples of these, and at least one of the white in 1X, I think. LJ friends should email me to work out a deal. :) )
Maybe can tell me if there is a story behind this Air Force Academy Star Trek mug?
You have to jump through hoops to see these, as they are in the ADULT section. Porn novel re-writings of Frankenstein and The Three Musketeers. So bad they are hilarious!
OK, that's enough for now.
Right now I am putting off doing the much needed tasks of cleaning the catbox and the guinea pig cages.
How about a few more links to my amazing or amusing eBay auctions?
Still have a few Quidditch Mom Bumper Stickers
Robot Elephant Kit
1948 Canadian **ALMANAC**!!! Just the thing for Time Traveling Terrorists!
VERY gorgeous floofy sweaters, new with tags, 2X size, in red with black marabou trim OR white with white marabou trim.
(Actually I have multiples of these, and at least one of the white in 1X, I think. LJ friends should email me to work out a deal. :) )
Maybe
You have to jump through hoops to see these, as they are in the ADULT section. Porn novel re-writings of Frankenstein and The Three Musketeers. So bad they are hilarious!
OK, that's enough for now.
