Slip-slidin' away...

Slip-slidin' away...

We're buried under 3 or 4 inches of slush. Its cold and wet and yucky.

Sometime tonight I'm driving two hours east to Archbold - Arch-i-bold as we like to say it around here - to pick up #1 daughter and friend and smuggle them across the Hoosier line. Only it will probably be about 3 hours east tonight. Could be a late and slippery night.

11:45pm Update - Home again. Toll road was clear and dry. Worst part of the trip was getting in and out of my alley, and that was just get a good running start and don't stop now. Nice to have L under my roof for the night.

Close to home...

Close to home...

Sigh. Yesterday I got news from a friend that her husband was being offered voluntary severance from his job. Twenty-seven years gets you one week's notice.

I had heard over the weekend that there were layoffs at his company, and, I see in retrospect, I blocked the idea that he might be one of them.

Part of what bothers me is that his company was doing all the right things. They are even one of my customers. A good customer. I've been personally involved with them and I'm proud of the work we've done for them. We've helped them compete world wide. Most companies in their space shut down US manufacturing years ago and shipped it to China. This company was shipping their products to China and keeping the jobs here.

Up 'till now.

They are a victim of something bigger than themselves: the credit crunch hit them with a hard right to the solar plexus. It is hard not to rail against the system that allowed this to happen. The lack of regulation. The seeming failure of the $700,000,000,000 bailout. (It looks bigger when you put the actual number there, doesn't it - instead of $700B?) The greed and corruption that made it possible.

And even though my friend is also a victim of this particular brand of trickle down economics, she seems to know that one can't stay there:

We're doing okay, after the initial shock and awe. We're far better off than those with young families, trying to put kids thru college, etc. We're looking forward to new opportunities for simple living and creative wage-earning :-) .

Check out...

Check out...

Check out this post and watch the two videos. I guess sometimes I do miss something by not owning a TV.

Damn... maybe the Cubs should sign him up.

Christmas...

Christmas...

I've been wondering what to get my mother for Christmas. What do you think? Is this the cat's pj's or what?


If you don't know what you're looking at, don't feel bad.

Its a 9mm hand gun, designed for people with arthritis or other handicaps so they too can defend themselves against terrorists and gangsters.

The word is that it this handy little device will be covered by medicare. Meanwhile the gun lobby is chortling.

One can hope this is a hoax.

Sigh...

Hoax or no, you only find this in America.

Actually, I shouldn't dis my mother. She could handle the real thing if she had to.

Road trip...

Road trip...

Everyone is buzzing about the CEOs of the big three driving from Detroit to DC. Good for them, I say, even if they had to be shamed into it.

Of course we'll never know for sure if they are cynical or sincere. Do we get to judge that?

Speaking of cynical... A couple of posts caught my eye earlier today. This retelling of an old Ford/Toyota joke would be funny any other day of the week.

The comment about the oracle isn't funny. In about 1982 someone asked W. Edwards Deming which companies would be practicing his philosophy in 50 years. He responded with a growl "The ones that are left."

Then if that isn't enough, check out this list of the 10 worst companies of 2008. I'm not sure if my favorite quote is from Roche (“We are not in business to save lives, but to make money. Saving lives is not our business.”) or Chevron (“We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this.")

What do you think?

On a less cynical note...

In my own corporate life, I've launched a new blog. Check it out. A prize to anyone who reads the first posts, understands them, and doesn't fall asleep. I'm also dipping my toe in other social media like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Film maker...

Film maker...

I think of Joe as a journalist and writer, and forget sometimes that his degree was in film making. The degree shows when you see something like this post. The sound track gives me the sense that maybe his subject could change the world.

And then how could you not want to say "hey, that's my daughter."

Book recommendation...

Book recommendation...

I just finished Wendell Berry's "Life is a Miracle". Here are my notes from my post in GoodReads:

Berry continues to astonish me. This is not a fast and easy read; you have to work and pay attention. But Berry writes as a prophet of our times and has put his finger on a core - maybe the root - cause of dis-ease in our century.

He writes a critique of rationalism and scientific thought that we need to pay attention to.

A few memorable passages:

"For a while I proposed to myself that the only things really explainable are explanations. That is not quite true, but it is near enough to the truth that I am unwilling to forget it.

"What can be explained? Experiments, ideas, patterns, cause-effect relationships and connections within defined limits, anything that can be calculated, graphed or diagrammed. And yet the explanation changes whatever is explained into something explainable. Explanation is reductive, not comprehensive; most of the time, when you have explained something, you discover leftovers. An explanation is a bucket, not a well.

"What can't be explained? I don't think creatures can be explained. I don't think lives can be explained. What we know about creatures and lives must be pictured or told or sung or danced. And I don't think pictures or stories or songs or dances can be explained. The arts are indispensable precisely because they are so nearly antithetical to explanation." (p113)

"The time is past, if ever there was such a time, when you can just discover knowledge and turn it loose in the wold and assume that you have done good.

"This, to me, is a sign of the incompleteness of science in itself - which is the sign of the need for a strenuous conversation among all the branches of learning."

"In our present economic predicament, ethics, ecology, environmental law, etc. won't as specialties have much corrective force. They will be used to rationalize what is wrong." (p145)

I'd really enjoy a conversation about his book with Lew and Irregular Reflections.

42...

42...

When I was a kid everyone in our family played 42. We only played it with my Mom's side of the family, and I've never met anyone who didn't have connections to the little farming community where she grew up that had even heard of the game.

The folklore is that playing games with face cards was forbidden in their church because of the commandment not to have 'graven images'. Necessity being the mother of invention someone transposed Euchre into dominoes.

(I've always taken some comfort that, according to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the answer the question of life, the universe and everything is 42.)

This Thanksgiving gathering was hosted by a cousin on my Mom's side, so of course we got out the dominoes. Chuck and I bid high, lost big, and had fun getting set.

But it got me wondering if 42 was ever played outside of central Illinois. You can guess that the next thing I did was search using Google.

I was surprised: 42 is very popular in Texas (read the rules here). They call it Texas 42, if you can believe the nerve. It is Illinois 42 if it is anything. You can play on-line and there is even an International Player's Association (42IPA), dedicated to "promote the game of 42."

Uncle Leo would have gotten a kick out of that.

I wonder if he would have joined.

Of course you find the answer to one question and it generates a bunch more like 'So how did it get from Texas to central Illinois?' and 'Or did it move from Illinois to Texas?' and 'Who came up with it in the first place?' and 'When was it invented?'

Today was relaxed and easy. Altogether a fine day of too much rich food including 3 different kinds of pie. After all that pie I didn't bother with supper.

New White House Blues...

New White House Blues...

Back in 1926, Charlie Poole recorded McKinley Blues, a song about the McKinley assassination. Someone rewrote that in 1932 about the election of FDR.

My brother Pete picked up the tradition and rewrote the song as the New White House Blues. We played it at Rachel's last night:

New White House Blues

Obama’s in the White House, to do his best
Bush is back in Texas, taking his rest
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Look here Mr. Bush, it’s see what you’ve done
Started that war, left this country go to ruin
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Got homeland security, my phone line is tapped
Soldiers fightin Mideast and I’m a fightin’ that
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Cheney was a bad man and we’re all glad he’s gone
Took all his privilege, won’t tell what he’s done
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Car’s are too big and gas prices soar
Now we need a bailout, tell me who’s that for?
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Work is all gone, unemployment’s high
Man without a job, feels about to die
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Tried to buy a house, it ain’t worth a dime
Now they tell me, just a matter of time
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Oh Mr. Bush, we all got the blues
Looking ‘round a thrift store for a pair of worn out shoes
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

Mr. Bush is gone and we are feeling glad
Obama’s in the White House, How can we be sad?
And he’s gone, I’m glad he’s gone

(c) 2008 by Pete Miller

Weekend music...

Weekend music...

A friend offered me tickets to hear the Brentano String Quartet this Friday evening. Then Elana and The Hot Club of Cowtown are back in town this Sunday. Be there.

I close out the weekend Sunday evening providing ambiance with the Owl's for Rachel's Open House.

CO2...

CO₂...

Since sometime last summer I've been working on a project at work that I'm very excited about. In 1992 we moved our business to the industrial park. At the time we signed a five year lease and put up an office building on a 2 acre plot. Our building and parking lot took up the front half and we figured maybe someday we'd do something with the back acre. (It is the brown square in the upper right corner of the picture. That picture is taken in early spring from Steve's 'copter.) We talked about mowing and seeding it for a soccer field, but that was mostly in jest, and for the last sixteen years that field has grown weeds and scrub brush. Pretty ugly, as you can see below.

That space has bugged me for years, and many days this summer I took my lunch out to the picnic table we have in the back of the building and I'd look at this space. It just seemed to be calling out for some trees.

I thought of going to the local tree nursery and buying a handful of good sized trees and plopping them in. But taking care of them - making sure they were kept watered and didn't get overrun with weeds - was intimidating. And I thought of getting a handful of seedlings from the Arbor Day foundation, but the same issues were there.

At some point I got to wondering if there were any state government resources that could help me figure out what to do. A few minutes in Google turned up the forestry department at Purdue. I picked a name at random from the list of professors / foresters and sent an email explaining my situation. Amazingly I heard back from him in a day or two, but he said he couldn't help me. But maybe the person he copied on his reply could... And in a day or two she wrote me back and said she couldn't help, but maybe the person she copied could help... This went on for a couple iterations until someone wrote and said "Did you know that your town has a city forester and a tree board, and they'd be delighted to help?"

Of course I didn't know that, but when I found out the forester's name, I knew him. (If you didn't know this, let me be the first to inform you that I live in a small town.) So I called Aaron up and he was out that afternoon to talk over my plan.

His advice was to mow it and plant seedlings. Seedlings require less water than big trees, and the idea is to over plant and let the best ones survive. For a while I considered planting them myself, but I found a local tree planter who will do them for me and the price is right.

So back in August we ordered 300 white pine, 100 oak, 100 black cherry and 100 tulip tree seedlings. They cost only about $38 per hundred (from the state nursery). We had the field mowed - actually bush-hogged - and the planter came in a week later and sprayed a herbicide where he will plant. The state will deliver the seedlings in March and they'll go in the ground as soon after that as we can get them in.

The whole project is costing less than $2K, plus a couple hundred for the first 5 or 10 years to keep it mowed every summer. It seems like a pretty good price for a one acre woods.

Of course part of the goal here is to do something about CO₂. It turns out that according to this article, I'm planting almost exactly the right amount of trees to offset my lifetime CO₂ generating activities.

That feels pretty good. According to this story, there are 61 trees for every human on the planet. I'm doing something to up that ratio, but we need to plant lots more.

If you know anyone with a vacant lot, talk to them about putting trees on it.

Incidentally - there seem to be no tax breaks or incentives for a small project like this on private land. I think that is a mistake.

Don't do it...

Don't do it...

I've been listening to the rumblings about bailing out GM and Ford with my tax dollars. I have a three word response: DON'T DO IT.

For the last 25 years I've been watching the American auto industry from near the inside. They don't deserve any help. They make crap. They've had all the time in the world to change that. Instead they've foisted big stupid SUVs on us and missed the whole point of quality improvement. There is a reason Toyota and Honda have been building manufacturing plants in this country while the US companies have been closing theirs.

Don't get me wrong - it will be painful. A lot of people - a lot who don't deserve it - will lose their jobs because of poor management. But the alternative - bail outs forever - will never work.

I read somewhere that the Japanese realized 30 or 40 years ago that they could take over the US auto industry in a few years. But they reasoned that they shouldn't because then nobody could afford their cars. Instead they've taken a long term view.

If there is a bail out, it has to be tied to a complete restructuring of how they do business, and that is a cultural change that has a snowball's chance in hell of happening.

So please, don't do it.

Politics & Religion...

Politics & Religion...

In the last few years there has been a stream of more thoughtful conversation about the role of religion in politics and the role of politics in religion. A friend passed along this link to a speech at the Call to Renewal. An exerpt:

Because when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome - others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.

The fact that this speech was given by the new President-elect back in 2006 gives me hope that we're on the right track.

In other news, I went for a walk last night at dusk down the mill race. They've lowered the water level, presumably for some repairs. In addition to the normal clusters of ducks and a few geese, I came upon two blue herons hunting in the shallows. Thanks to the weather I was the only walker on the race, and while they kept one eye on me as I passed they didn't fly. I could learn something about patience from watching them hunt.

Then when I got to the dam I spied seven swans a swimming. I am not making this up.

Back home I found that my garden is still able to contribute some swiss chard and rosemary to an omelet for supper. Homegrown food always cheers me up.

Salvation...

Salvation...

I've been pondering a post-election post. After so many months I find it hard to believe that it is over and that my vote actually counted. (I am, after all, a blue guy in a red state.)

A friend told me about an email he got from a European friend asking him if we had elected the Messiah.

That got me thinking about the irony of all this.

Four years ago at this time I was walking around in a daze. I couldn't understand how W was re-elected. I wondered if I was in the wrong country. My daughter put a new message on our answering machine: "We can't come to the phone. We're so upset with the election that we've moved to Canada."

Could we survive another four years of W?

Why didn't everyone else see through him?

That was before Katrina.

Katrina was the first breach in W's popularity. I was in Toronto through the hurricane and I remember watching news reports where I heard reporters question and criticize W. It was the first time.

Fast forward through a prolonged wars in Iraq and Afganistan, ongoing torture and secret prisons, Guantanamo, illegal wire taps, a financial melt down unlike anything we've seen at least since the 1930s, and a whole lot more...

And it looks like the American people have finally had enough.

And when they hear a man talk about hope, and about working together they get excited.

It is as if things had to get worse before we woke up and realized that something was horribly, dreadfully wrong.

I love the irony that in our hour of crisis we - arguably the most racist nation on the planet - have elected black man to lead us out of this mess.

Can one man make a difference? Or do we expect him to walk on water?

We know that a team of cynical power brokers led by the likes of Rove and Cheney can make a difference for the worse. Can hope and hard work overcome the damage they've done?

Ben offered a link to a funny video (didn't know Obama did stand up, did you?) with a serious platform for change. I want to cut him slack and at the same time hold him accountable for keeping his promises. So lets keep track of how he does.

NPR had an interesting story about a documentary available on youtube comparing Obama's black masculinity to the rapper 50 Cent. Obama's is cerebral where 50 Cent's is very physical. He goes on to argue that W aligns himself much more with 50 Cent. Very interesting. The video is short. Watch it.

Positive thoughts...

Positive thoughts...

I've spent most of the day waiting to get on a plane from Boston. I'm at the gate now and the plane is delayed due to weather. The catch? I have a very tight connection in Cincinnati to the last flight home.

I'm hoping positive thoughts will get them to hold the plane for me and that I'll still get to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Update @ 11:23: Between positive thoughts and the fact that there were 8 of us on the delayed plane that wanted to catch the same flight, they held said flight for an extra 5 minutes. There was a run through the airport (which was only marginally necessary). So I'm home and heading for a soft landing.

Time for a change...

Time for a change...

I'm writing this a few minutes after everyone declared Ohio for Obama. Most pundits are saying it will be a rout.

They took a poll this morning at the conference I'm attending and 58% of the attendees are voting for McCain, while Obama and Homer Simpson tied at 17% each. I'm mostly keeping my mouth shut so the rest of you have to celebrate on my behalf.

Yesterday I heard two different McCain supporters offering prayer for McCain. What does it do to your theology when your prayers aren't answered?

Safe arrival...

Safe arrival...

I arrived safely and on time in Boston. Unlike my last trip to the next-door neighbor to Our Fair City this one was uneventful; I have my new driver's license.

I return late Thursday evening.

Vote!

Speaking of the election...

Speaking of the election...

I ran across this wonderful comment by David Sedaris in last week's New Yorker in a piece about undecided voters:

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

So what do you say about the Philippines?...

So what do you say about the Philippines?...

(I've added all the photos that I think I'm going to add. Scroll down to see them all.)

At the end of the trip Ben told me that a Filipino would be asking me "So what do you have to say about the Philippines?" (I thing those are the exact words - maybe he'll correct me.)

I gave him a lame answer like "I've just been here a few days and I haven't seen enough to draw any meaningful conclusions."

Ben wouldn't let me off the hook: "That's not enough. They'd want a better answer."

So here are a couple of observations:

- The land is beautiful and the people are gentle and friendly.
- I don't know when I've seen such chaotic traffic. Roads are packed with jeepneys, tricycles (motor scooters with a sidecar), motorbikes, bicycles, buses, and even a few cars. Everyone turns any direction at any time, and pass on the left or right. Lanes are an ideal that nobody pays attention to.
- Exhaust fumes are thick on the major roads.
- In spite of complete chaos on the roads I never saw anyone exhibit anything close to road rage. In fact Ben told me that expressing anger in any form was frowned on.
- A good way to stop a conversation is to explain that you are divorced.
- They have the worst bread I've ever eaten.

There are probably more, but that's a good start and after 3 days back I'm still feeling jet lag.

Besides - it is time to get back to the election...

Trip details

Trip details

I started a big honking post with a day-by-day account of my trip, but it got unwieldy. So I'm going to back date each day's entries and repopulate the blog. They'll appear as I finish them, in chronological order, interspersed with the original status reports. If you're tracking this with a reader you'll get notices when new posts go up. Otherwise you'll have to keep scrolling down to check for new additions.

Twenty-seven hours...

Twenty-seven hours...

My return flights were on time and uneventful. There is something disorienting about waking up in Manila and going to bed in Goshen, but it works.

I took this picture during the stopover in Hong Kong for Yogabean. Looks like I need to move my back foot back a little more.


Even with a four hour layover in Hong Kong and a three hour layover in Chicago, the longest delay seemed to be the seven minute wait inside the plane on the tarmac in South Bend waiting for them to get our luggage off so we could deplane.

Anyhow I'm back. I had a good night's sleep, followed by my first cup of coffee in nearly three weeks. I have a load of laundry in the machine and I'm raring to go. I'm sure this will pass as the day progresses.

I'm going to start downloading pictures - maybe I'll get some posted here later today.

On my way ---- almost...

On my way ---- almost...

Depending on when you count I start home tomorrow at 6:30am, or I started on Wednesday when we boarded the van for Puerto Princesa. I prefer to think I start home tomorrow.

Hiked in a bonafide jungle yesterday with birds making sounds that sent shivers down your back. Today was a guided paddle up a mangrove forest preserve. Saw wild orchids in both places, but no blooms.

We arrived back in Manila an hour ago (7:30pm local time). Ben picked up his absentee ballot and I'm violating PC rules by using a computer in the volunteer library.

My only anxiety is getting to the airport in time to catch my flight. Shouldn't be a problem since we decided to stay in Manila overnight instead of going back to B's apartment 90 minutes plus from the airport with no jeepney or cab available when I would need it.

I won't check email or post again until I'm home.

Thursday and Friday, Oct 23 & 24 - Sabang...

Thursday and Friday, Oct 23 & 24 - Sabang...

We hopped on the 7am Jeepney to Sabang (saa bong) Thursday morning. This trip was only 2 1/2 hours long, but plenty of bumps and bounces. Sabong is next to a major national park.

On arrival we checked into the St. Mary's Resort. We have a tiny cottage up on stilts. The floor is bamboo and the walls are these woven leaves - maybe palm. Thatched roof.

After a quick lunch we picked up a permit and hiked the Monkey Trail to the entry to the Underground River.


The Monkey Trail is about 4km long, and follows the shoreline, but goes up and down over 2 or 3 ridges. This is incredibly steep terrain, and the Monkey Trail is well developed with steps for the steepest parts. We had just climbed the steps to the right. Hard work!



We came on these monkeys near the entry to the park.


And a friendly neighborhood lizard...

At the start of the underground river tour:

The underground river tour mostly consisted of "And on your right you'll see the Virgin Mary, and around the next corner we'll see the three wise men." I forget what we were looking at here.

Wednesday, Oct 22 - Back to Puerto...

Wednesday, Oct 22 - Back to Puerto...

We caught the 7am air conditioned van back to Puerto Princesa. I was in the very back seat, bouncing with every chuck hole. Seven hours.

We stayed at Bwanda Pension and art house, a funky little hostel with a nice veranda and a yogic atmosphere. We went out to dinner with the PC Vols again, and ended up at a videoke bar afterwards. Ben joined in, and I screwed up my courage to try it but by the time I got my request in other tables had control of the mike and we had to go.

Monday and Tuesday, Oct 20 & 21 - Island hopping

Monday and Tuesday, Oct 20 & 21 - Island hopping

There are dozens of islands in the immediate area around El Nido. The islands have dramatic vertical rock cliffs, and are surrounded by clear blue water and choral reefs. Most have at least one sloping beach where you can easily land a boat.

Island hopping means you hire a boat like the one below. (Basically it is a big wooden canoe with a very narrow keel and outriggers. The narrow keel makes it very efficient in the water, the outriggers make it stable, and the whole thing can operate in both shallow and deep water.) There are lagoons and hidden beaches to explore.

We stopped and snorkled at several islands and saw some amazing sea life, including lots of varieties of coral and way more fish than I imagined possible. We also saw a modest-sized sea turtle and a flounder. At one point I discovered that the fish were as interested in me as I were in them. I could float suspended at the surface and be swarmed by a wide variety. They seemed very curious about what I was.

Another high point was the glimpse of the manta ray that we caught. We were in the boat out in open water when the guide suddenly slowed and pointed out an enormous white speckled creature about 20' to one side. Ben wanted to get in the water but the guide wouldn't let him: "There are sharks out here."

One of the things I learned is that these fish are exported around the world for exotic aquariums and high end restaurants. What you don't know is how they catch them. The most common method is cyanide poisoning. You can read more about it here and here.

Perhaps ironically, at lunch your guide grills fresh fish over an open fire, and serves it with rice and some kind of cole slaw or similar vegetable. Here is our cook/guide at work. I hope this is hook or net caught.

Sunday, Oct 19 - Travel to El Nido

Sunday, Oct 19 - Travel to El Nido

We got up and underestimated how long it would take to get to the bus depot, but it didn't matter that we were five minutes late: the bus left at 8:30. It took a while to figure this out - and then more time to come up with an alternate plan.

Someone suggested we should try to catch a van to Roxas, a town about one third of the way to El Nido. There was a good chance, our contact said, that we could catch up with the bus. We asked around, found a van that was leaving in a few minutes AND had enough room to stuff us in. Actually I think adding us reduced the amount of bouncing around inside for the other travelers.

I didn't really think we'd catch up with the first bus. We were more than an hour behind it, and it was such a long shot. But when we pulled into Roxas 2 hours later, there was our bus - just about to leave after a lunch break. The only problem: it was packed full. But if you'd like to ride on top, you're welcome to.

Are you kidding?

The bus already had 4 or 5 people on top wedged into some bamboo living room furniture strapped to the roof racks or sitting on top of all the baggage tied down. We crawled up and joined them.

For a while it was beautiful: sun shining, wind blowing. Just duck those tree branches and power lines!

Then we got into mountains and it started raining. The first couple were just showers, but about the 4th rain we had a major downpour. A cats and dogs kind of downpour. Of course by this time we were driving mostly on a dirt road. And of course rain means the road gets muddy and makes the chuckholes worse. A couple hours later we pulled into TayTay. Some people got off so we went below and spent the last couple hours like normal people.

We arrived a little before sunset, got to our cabin and settled in in time to watch the sunset before going out for supper with a guy from Minnesota that we met on the bus.

Saturday, Oct 18 - Travel to Palawan

Saturday, Oct 18 - Travel to Palawan

Ben had purchased tickets for a 2:30 flight. We took our time getting going in the morning, traveling by jeepney in time to catch a 2:30 flight to Puerto Princesa. Over dinner with the Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the area we asked for suggestions on how we should use our time. They recommended two sites in the Northern part of the island: El Nido (an 7 hour bus ride) and Sabang (2 hours). They told us there was a bus to El Nido every day at 7, 9 and 11am. We decided to catch the 9am and called it a night.

Friday, Oct 17 - Visit to Das Marinas Regional High School

Friday, Oct 17 - Visit to Das Marinas Regional High School

Ben had to teach some classes the Friday morning, so in the morning we walked the half mile to his school. Here is the view outside his apartment:



Philippines does not have a middle school so high school is grades 7 - 10. There are 9000 kids on this campus, which is spread out over several acres. Buildings are arranged around courtyards, with windows wide open to the common areas. The day we were there was a little looser than normal; classes were not really in session all of the time.

I got to meet Ben's co-teachers and supervisor, and got some pictures of some of them. Here he is with some of his co-teachers.

I think he said the English Department has 29 teachers. Curiously, there is a kind of work-to-rule mindset. By mid-afternoon several teachers were back in their prep area, having long naps on benches. Only a few had classes, and they had to get their 8 hours in for the day. Odd.

My presence gave Ben an acceptable reason to skip out early, so after he met with a couple of classes and his Book Lover's Club we took a bus up to Tiegatay (I may not have the right spelling) which is on the edge of a crater lake in an old volcano.





Later in the evening, Ben's supervisor took us out for dinner with her family to a nice restaurant. She was a gracious host.


We returned to find Ben's neighbor asking us over for a beer. I managed to keep my eyes open for a little longer and we had a chance to meet the family. These people just had a baby and asked Ben to be a god father.

Wednesday & Thursday, Oct 15 - 16 - Travel to Das Marinas, Cavite

Wednesday & Thursday, Oct 15 - 16 - Travel to Das Marinas, Cavite

I left my house at about 8am local time, flew from South Bend to Chicago to Hong Kong and to Manila, arriving in Manila about midnight local time on Thursday (noon back home). Ben met me at the Manila airport and we caught cab and jeepney back to his apartment, arriving there at about 2am.

Jeepneys are one of the cool things about Philippines. They are everywhere. They are a privately-owned bus. They follow a specific route back and forth across a section of a town. You flag it down, jump in the back, pass your payment up to the driver, and jump out when you get to your destination. Each Jeepney is pimped out with horns and lights and extraneous sheet metal fins and wings. Some even have one or more windshield wipers. Each has a name. They belch a smelly diesel exhaust.

Of course after 30 hours on the road, I'm pretty much exhausted. Ben and I crash and wake up the next morning about 8am.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Twenty hours after leaving home and 15 hours on one plane I landed in Hong Kong. Local time is 7:17pm, but that is 12 hours ahead of my body. My body is telling me it is time to wake up, although I didn't sleep much on the plane. I feel a little groggy. I have a couple hours before boarding the final 2-hour leg to Manila.

The layover time in HK is too short to leave the airport, which is big and very modern and exudes wealth. The air outside, while it was still light, was quite hazy.

Monday and Tuesday, October 13 & 14 - Pre-trip trip

Monday and Tuesday, October 13 & 14 - Pre-trip trip

Part of what made this trip more difficult to prepare for was that I had agreed to speak at a conference in near Boston on Tuesday morning. I flew out the day before, gave my presentation, and left immediately after to catch a flight home. The trip became more difficult when I arrived for my outbound flight and discovered that my drivers license had expired. Fortunately I am a middle-aged white guy, and my name is not Yooseff or Manuel or Jamal and I was not above taking advantage of white privilege. I arrived home about 7:30pm Tuesday and finished packing.

Don't leave home without it...

Don't leave home without it...

I learned this week that it is ok to leave home without a visa card, but you darn well better have an unexpired driver's license and failing that your passport. Failing that it is a good idea to have a key hidden so your pastor doesn't have to break a window to get into your house to find your passport so he can fax the inside cover information to you so you can show it to TSA in hopes that they'll let you on the plane for the return flight. You don't need visa because the cabbie will accept amex since you can't rent a car without a valid driver's license.

Does it sound like I had an interesting trip to Boston?

With all that I made it home - on time - and with a minimum of hassle. All is well.

I'm packed and leaving at 8am for South Bend to Chicago to Hong Kong to Manilla. Imagine me landing Thursday at noon in Manila, except it will be midnight local time with a 1 - 2 hour jeepney ride to #1 Son's house, and I will tell you when it is all said and done whether it really is not that far, right?

Harvest...

Harvest...

In a couple days I leave until almost the end of October and I figure we will get a frost before I get home. So tonight after work I went through the garden and pulled in the obvious stuff: sweet and hot peppers, beans, a small handful of peas, basil and a couple of sorry looking tomatoes.

What you don't see in the photo are the three batches of pesto that I made for supper and the freezer. Putting a little summer in safe place. I love biting into pesto and getting bit back by the fresh garlic. A little glass of wine and everyone is happy.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to try and overwinter the rosemary plant. What I'm reading on line is that I might as well pot it and see what happens. In the weeks before dad died he was on a mission to grow a rosemary plant and keep it going. He had tried a couple of years and been unsuccessful. The weekend he died Mom, Joe, Leena and I drove out south of Bristol to a greenhouse kept by a friend of his and bought a healthy-looking plant (or tried to buy - when the woman heard why we were there she wouldn't take anything for it). L and I took it home for the winter and promptly killed it.

I'm on track to be ready to leave next week for Philippines. I'm really happy and excited about going - looking forward to seeing #1 son and this world he's been living in. I have a bunch of yard work to take care of before I go, and it looks like the weather will cooperate.

Here is a photo of my traveling companions last weekend in Dubuque, visiting my aunt.

Old news...

Old news...

A friend sent me the following flow chart from Aden Nak's blog. It is just about the funniest thing I've seen in a while.



I'm relieved that I'm not the only person on the planet on a rant about Sarah Palin. Buried in today's post, and referring to last night's debate, is this comment:

To be blunt, this debate really didn’t matter all that much. The debate that mattered took place last Thursday. That was the true referendum on John McCain as a candidate and what sort of judgment he would exercise if given free reign. The crap-tastrophe that is Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will weigh more heavily around McCain’s neck than anything he could have said tonight, or anything he could have gotten Obama to say.

In other news, I spent last weekend in Dubuque visiting my aunt. I forget how pretty that part of the country is until I get there. Of course it didn't hurt that it was one of those gorgeous fall days where there is no place you'd rather be than in the midwest.

I'm busy preparing for my next big trip. Monday I fly to Boston to give a presentation at a conference. I return Tuesday night, then hop a plane for Minila on Wednesday morning. I'll be gone for nearly 2 weeks. I'll try to post while I'm gone, but I expect Internet connections will be sparse.

Voter education...

Voter education...

Tonight I'm completing my absentee ballot.

I should have poured a glass of wine.

A large glass.

The top offices are easy. My mind was made up a long time ago.

But then you get down to State Representative District 49, and County Council At-Large (vote for no more than three), and should Justice Randall T. Shepard be retained in office?

Of course I do what I always do: Google.

I found links to a couple of videos for Justice Randall T. Shepard. In the first, Justice Separd seemed a little clueless facing an Earnest Interviewer. In this one, I decided anybody with this sense of humor should stay in his job. Shepard is the guy asking for help. How they can stretch this out for four and a half minutes is remarkable.

Bull shit tracker...

Bull shit tracker...

I can't stand watching the debates, but there are some great resources on line. Check out this live fact checker from the WP. And then, if you are watching the debate, you ought to at least have fun with it. Check out this innovative bingo game. Don't these people have anything better to do?

Hmmmm...

Hmmmm...

How should I vote?

McBush?

I'm planning to be out of town on November 4, so I requested an absentee ballot. It arrived today.

Maybe I should pour a glass of wine and ponder my choices.

It will need to either be a very small glass of wine, or I will need to drink it very fast.

Dusting off Roosevelt...

Dusting off Roosevelt...

With all the turmoil in the financial and political markets these days, I'm not surprised to see FDR dusted off and quoted.

Comments from his 1932 campaign are being trotted out, presumably as justification for ramming through the $700 Billion bail out.

The "mirage" of American economic invulnerability has vanished, along with "much of the savings of thrifty and prudent men and women...

We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer...

The country needs and - unless I mistake its temper - the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

I once heard it said that FDR's genius was not that he got it right, but that he was willing (based on the advice of a broad, diverse group of experts) to try. And if that failed, to try something else.

What a contrast to what we've had the last 8 years: get advice from a diverse group of experts, and readily admit to failure and try something else. We've had 'My way or the highway' and 'If you question me you're not a true american' and 'Leadership is persevering with your original vision because it is right, even when everyone else says it is wrong.'

I also want to point out that this speech was made in May 1932, three years into the Great Depression, not prior to the 1929 crash.

The Barn Owls have been doing a little of their own dusting off, reviving a song that came out a week after the 1936 election:

Just hand me my old Martin for soon I will be startin'
Back to dear old Charleston far away
Since Roosevelt's been re-elected, we'll not be neglected
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Since Roosevelt's been re-elected
  Moon liquor's been corrected
  We've got legal wine, whiskey, beer and gin

I'll take a drink of brandy and let myself be handy
Good old times are coming back again
You can laugh and tell a joke, you can dance and drink and smoke
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  We'll have money in our jeans
  We can travel with the queen
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again

No more breadlines, we're happy to say the donkey won election day
No more standing in the blowing, snowing rain
He's got things in full swing, we're all working and getting our pay
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Since Roosevelt's been re-elected
  Moon liquor's been corrected
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again

Bev usually introduces it with "Go Dems!"

Probably for the best...

Probably for the best...

It is probably for the best that I'll be out of town Saturday morning. According to this report of the county commissioner's meeting:

Joe Guerrero, Goshen Republican secretary, asked for permission to hold a Sarah Palin rally Saturday, from 10 to 11 a.m., at the county courthouse. He explained a group of 20 to 30 people are expected to walk from city Republican headquarters at 115 E. Lincoln Ave., to the courthouse, where speakers will give addresses. He said a Palin “look-alike” is scheduled to appear.

The commissioners approved the Saturday rally and asked the sponsor to notify the sheriff’s office.

Where in America but my hometown could this happen?

More...

More...

Since I don't own a TV, I hear about stuff like the Couric / Palin interview second hand. Thanks to Google, however, it is no great feat to get a live transcript and get the primary source.

Can you believe this?

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin:That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

Trade missions = negotations? Hell, I've been on a trade mission. The difference is that I actually left the US, but regardless I can tell you there was very little negotiation going on.

Rears his head? As Joe asked, what is he, a serpent?

Comes into US airspace? Huh...?

Are we sending people out across the Bering Strait to keep an eye on the Ruskies?

I, too, am tempted to mock - except this is so scary.

Or this...

Couric: But he's (McCain) been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Thank you, Governor. We're waiting to hear from you.

Surprisingly, it isn't just the liberal press that is after her. Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker says it this way:

"Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

Or this line:

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

At this point I'm hoping that she pulls herself out, or, better yet, she stays in, and scares those in the center even a little to the left. Hope dies hard.

Do we still really have five weeks to the election?

By the way...

By the way...

Great quote from a friend: "You can draw your own conclusions, but I'd like to point out that Jesus was a community organizer, and Pilate was a Governor."

Remember...

Remember...

In a world where there are probably already too many mottoes, one of my all time favorites is "Remember - to the bee it is all about the honey."

That came to mind tonight as I ate dinner on my patio. I have a large flowering something - I would say it is cornflower, but it is pink, not blue, and it is about 4' + tall - that is crawling with bees. Tonight, in the middle of this beautiful shrub, I saw this wonderful Monarch doing whatever Monarchs do in the middle of a bunch of flowers.

I love that motto because it captures such an enormous truth about life. A bee has no idea of the importance he plays in the entire life cycle of our little planet. Maybe it is the same for us humans who oscillate between believing we are the center of the universe and wondering if our individual lives have any significance at all.

The other photo is a celebration of simple pleasures. I figure if friends making exotic trips across the continent can post photos of a dinner they eat in, say, Reno, Nevada, I can post my home made pesto, with the home grown tomato and green beans, with a salad decorated with a home grown black pepper with a class of Cab Sauv from Pelee Island.

Changing Skyline...

Changing Skyline...

In the last post I mentioned that I'm working on a new project. My home's prior owner seemed to like straight lines. The yard was defined by 3' wide flowerbeds that circumnavigate the entire back yard and edged with paving bricks.

Everything looked like it had been laid out with a ruler and a straight edge. It was OK, but besides being too much to keep up with I did not like the rigid, right angle boundaries.

One centerpiece was a little windmill set due East of my patio. (Top photo - taken earlier this summer.) It had a gorgeous clematis over-running it, but I felt like it was more of a barrier than a invitation. But over the last year I've become quite fond of it - rust and all.

So yesterday I finally bit the bullet and moved it. It now resides (temporarily) on the south side of my yard. I transplanted the clematis as best as I could (severely reduced in size). That was the big step.

I laid paving brick in a little sidewalk leading into the yard, and my next step is to redefine the little flowerbed to the south of the brick. There are some great lilies in it and I want to add some other stuff from some of the other flowerbeds - or maybe even buy some new stuff. The bottom photo shows the new view out into the yard. If you look closely you'll see I took out the weeping cherry in the background, and you can see the brickwork in the front.

Ultimately I'm wanting to cut all the beds by at least a third, and have the rest of it stuff I can more easily care for.

Signs of our times...

Signs of our times...

Yesterday I ran out to Menards to pick up a few things for a project I'm working on in my back yard. More on the project later. As I pulled away I passed the payday loan store on 33 and was astonished at their sign: "Bring in your unemployment check to arrange your loan".

I guess these people have to do what they can to keep their business going, but hello? should you really be loaning money to people who have been laid off? And if you've been laid off is now the time to be taking out a loan?

OK - maybe they're offering debt consolidation or something like that. But I doubt it. We're entitled to that big screen tv and we have the keep the economy moving.

Is anybody home? I'm going to get saddled with my share of a half a trillion - TRILLION - dollars in bad debt from stupid loans made by greedy bankers. And the payday loan sharks want to loan money to people who are out of work.

Minutes later I stopped at the Save-A-Lot to pick up some milk. On the way out I noticed this sign jammed in the median a couple of places around the entry like an election sign: "There's a fish stick dinner in your gas tank".

Huh?

And speaking of election signs, my neighbor has an "Eight is Enough/Obama - Biden 2008" sign. I find myself wanting to deface it with a can of spray paint: cross out "enough" and paint "too much".

What a great country.

Another perspective...

Another perspective...

My brother forwarded this essay with the comment that "we all know this stuff but it is still pretty tough when you see it in print."

If you follow that link you'll find that it has generated heated debate since it was first posted. Interesting stuff, and the discussion doesn't degenerate into name calling nearly as fast as one normally finds on discussion boards.

More...

More...

SomeBird posted an extensive OpEd piece from Eve Ensler on Palin. Read it now.

If you're getting sick of me posting about Sarah Palin stop reading my blog until after November 5. The more I read about her the more frightened I am. If you are an American citizen, I want you to get out and vote and send this woman packing.

Have you been following TrooperGate? Or the accounts of her First Dude's involvement in Alaskan government business? Or her lawsuit to stop federal protection of Polar Bears under the endangered species act? I love the quote from this article: "The lawsuit puts the state of Alaska, and particularly the Palin administration, to the political right of the Bush-Cheney administration, and that’s a rarified land where few venture."

Last year I followed John Niremberg's walk to Washington to demand impeachment of Bush and Cheney. John's website is still up, and you can follow links on the sidebar about the case for impeachment and what's at stake. (John has turned cynical and seems to have opted completely out of the political process, to which I say 'Yeah, but the world would be a different place if cynics hadn't split Gore / Nadar votes in 2000. The upcoming election does matter.)

Take time now to this video of Bill Moyer's Journal.

And then watch this video:


Then watch Sarah Palin and realize that she can finish what Bush, Cheney and Rove have started.

Cynical...?

Cynical...?

This week's New Yorker TOTT lead bashes Palin and McCain and references a supposed-to-be off-mic comment by Mike Murphy, once McCain's top political aide. You can hear the comment here.

Of course, without a TV I missed SNL, but thanks to the wonder of You Tube I was able to watch this great spoof:

[Update - YouTube pulled the link.]

Copyright violation?...

Copyright violation?...

Posting this is probably a violation of copyright, but it has such a great opening paragraph that I'm posting it anyhow. The rest of it is worth reading too. It comes from Salon.com via a friend in NY.

George Bush with big hair

The hustling Evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder could be our first woman president.
By Garrison Keillor

Sep. 10, 2008 | So the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And Mayor Giuliani is an advocate for small-town America. Bravo.

They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie and Freddie, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend 20 or 50 (or pick a number) billion go floating out the Treasury door. Hello? Do you see us out here? We are not fruit flies, we are voters, we can read and write, we didn't just fall off the coal truck.

It is a bold move on the Republicans' part -- forget about the past, it's only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be -- and if they succeed, I think I might declare myself a 24-year-old virgin named Lance and see what that might lead to. Paste a new face on my Facebook page, maybe become the Dauphin Louie the Thirty-Second, the rightful heir to the Throne of France, put on silk tights and pantaloons and a plumed hat and go on the sawdust circuit and sell souvenir hankies imprinted with the royal fleur-de-lis. They will cure neuralgia and gout and restore marital vigor.

Mr. McCain has decided to run as a former POW and a maverick, a maverick's maverick, rather than Mr. Bush's best friend, and that's understandable, but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It's real money, it could've paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious R&D. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We're wasting our chances. The Republican culture of corruption in Washington hasn't helped.

And a former mayor of a town of 7,000 who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she could keep taxes low in Wasilla. Stunning. And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, "I am a Christian and when you gave me a D, you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly hardworking people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battle ax you."

In school, you couldn't get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don't uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers lest they gain power and hurt us, but in politics we bring forth phonies and love them to death.

I must say, it was fun having the Republicans in St. Paul and to see it all up close and firsthand. Security was, as one might expect, thin-lipped and gimlet-eyed, but once you got through it, you found the folks you went to high school with -- farm kids, jocks, the townies who ran the student council, the cheerleaders, some of the bullies -- and they are as cohesive now as they were back then, dedicated to school spirit, intolerant of outsiders, able to jump up and down and holler for something they don't actually believe. But oh Lord, what they brought forth this year. When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who's had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first woman president, a hustling Evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once -- a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed service. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She's like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices.

(Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.)

© 2008 by Garrison Keillor

I'll sleep better tonight...

I'll sleep better tonight...

It is such a relief to know that global warming is a sham and that once america starts extracting oil from the continental shelf, all our problems will be solved.

I know this because my barber told me.

Sigh.

He learned it from Fox News.

It is also such a relief to know that there is still one remaining bastion of truth in the news media.

Catch that knee!

Drat - I couldn't stop it.

So now I have no one to blame but myself if I have a streak of bad hair days for the next few weeks. Never argue with your barber until you're out of the chair.

He conceded that there are gas guzzling cars out there and that we could do more to conserve what we have. I told him that I'd agree to off-shore drilling when the new car standard was 40 mpg. He couldn't go there: "We'll just have to agree to disagree because I'm not going to change my mind."

Which is, I guess, the same thing I said.

What I don't get is his theology. He says "He" won't let us destroy the earth.

What happened to man's free will? Isn't that the cornerstone of the religious right ...er wrong? (I saw a button on a liberal's hat tonight that read 'The religious right is neither'.) Aren't we free to choose sin or morality? Life or Death? Salvation or Damnation? Isn't it possible ....

S#*$ - don't get me started.

Cedar Creek Luthiers...

Cedar Creek Luthiers...

Check out my cousin in this news story, or read the transcript here.

Actually Charlie has been building guitars for 33 years. I know because he and I built the first one together in my basement at 15 Hilda Place in the winter of 1975. He's gone on and actually gotten quite good at it.

Fridge art...

Fridge art...

I don't own a TV, so when I'm worn out at the end of a stressful week and it is drizzling rain, the closest thing I have to sitting blankly in front of the TV is to sit on my porch swing and watch the world go by.

Eventually that wears thin and I figure I can handle a little more excitement, so I go inside and warm up some left overs - and return to the porch swing and watch some more cars.

After an hour or so of this kind of behavior I'm ready to turn it up another notch. So I drag my fiddle and a chair out and play quietly with the practice mute on so I don't draw neighborhood ire.

After a while, my neighbor returns to her house, spots me on the front porch, and the next thing I know, Sophie Comet is running up. "I didn't know you play the violin!" So I play a little for her and then ask her if she played. "I'm not old enough yet," she informs me. I had to ask her again how old she is. "I turned six on May 30."

OK. Now we have that straight.

Anyhow, Lizzie Comet isn't far behind. She shows up with the cool art work at the top of this page. "This is for you," she says. I ask her to tell me about it, and I hear all about how this part was cut out of this other piece, and her friend gave this part to her, and this yellow thing goes in here... I'm very excited to have it and say I'll put it right up on my fridge.

The Comets are troubled by my status in life. They want to know if I'm lonely living by myself, and they don't know what to make of the idea that I'm not married. They want to know why I'm not married any more. "Its a long story," I explain. "Tell me the long story." Oh my.

Fortunately they don't stay on any one topic too long. They are surprised to hear I have kids and when I show them a picture of me with B&L they think L looks sort of familiar. But that other boy - they think maybe I am just a year or two older than him. Sorry B - I'm just telling you what they said.

Meanwhile, Lizzie is using my porch railing as a balance beam and I'm a little nervous but she can reach the porch ceiling and uses it to steady herself.

And Sophie is ready to try out the violin, so we play Twinkle Twinkle. Both of them say they are going to start violin when they get to second grade. (I'm really not trying to corrupt them - it just happens.)

And then it is almost 7:30 and they realize they had better get home because 7:30 is bed time, and they're gone almost as fast as they showed up.

Front porches beat TV every time because you never get Fridge Art from a TV.

7 1/2 hrs...

7 1/2 hrs...

Home was right where I left it. The drive was long and uneventful, if a little dull.

Be it ever so humble...

Safe arrival...

Safe arrival...

I made good time from Goshen to Waterloo yesterday, arriving shortly after 7pm.

Campaign...

Campaign...

I've been thinking about how to comment on McCain's choice for a vice president. As usual, Angry Black Bitch found the words I was looking for when she said that Palin's track record is "...enough to make this bitch wonder whether Phyllis fucking Schlafly got a face lift and moved her hateful ass to Alaska. Read the whole post.

In other news I leave in a couple hours with a van load of stuff for a college student's apartment. I'll be back late Sunday - maybe with some 6 year old cheddar from the Waterloo Farmer's Market.

Eat your heart out, pests...

Eat your heart out, pests...

My chicken wire solution is working. There aren't many, but they sure are good fresh off the cane on top of ice cream on top of a brownie.