Archive for August, 2009

Eagle lighthouse

Monday, August 31st, 2009


Here’s a twofer – the Ketchikan, Alaska lighthouse with a bald eagle sitting on top of it. We took a boat tour of the harbor there and saw lots of bald eagles. Pleasant little tour, too. Part of my famous Bird series.

Blogger’s refusing to add pictures to blogs via FTP again, so I have to do it by hand. Stupid Blogger.

No post Friday. No excuse. Fortunately, not even good old Anon noticed, so no harm done.

Nice weekend – it was quite hot and we spent a lot of time in the pool. LRN2 and LRN4 got back from dropping LRN1 off at school on Saturday afternoon, a few hours earlier than expected, which was nice. It was pretty quiet around here while they were gone. I like quiet, but too much of a good thing can be bad. So I’m glad they’re back.

Not much else new. LRN1 reports that it’s great to be back into his routine. He likes his house and his roommates and his classes and his job, so there’s not much to complain about. He’s run into several friends from last year – says it happens like that for the first week of the semester and then you never seem to see them again. I wonder why.

I’ve found an excellent opportunity for any Loyal Readers who might be looking for work – be a carny! The possibilities are limitless. I know I’m applying.

See you tomorrow.

Haines

Thursday, August 27th, 2009


Here’s part of the pretty little village of Haines, Alaska. At least I think that’s what it is. Anybody recognize it?

Anyway. I’m home alone today. LRN1 is back to school as of this morning, and LRN2 and LRN4 went with him to help him get settled. Also to drop him off. They’ll be back on Saturday evening. The Suburban ran well for them and their trip was uneventful, except for having to turn back to retrieve LRN1’s computer. Dang. I would have enjoyed that thing.

Quiet evening. I went for dinner to the Chinese buffet restaurant we’ve been thinking of trying. It was actually pretty good, which is about a 50/50 chance for Chinese buffets, in my vast experience. Not necessarily gourmet, but a pretty good meal. And the price was reasonable.

No posts Tuesday and Wednesday. I had meetings and just couldn’t get to the computer. I need to get serious about my blogging again. Sorry about that, Loyal Readers.

I’ve been listening to a couple of new podcasts. The first is Everything Creative, part of the Mormon Radio channel. It’s supposed to be a podcast about creative people – artist types. I started out with low expectations, not being too much of an art lover (other than Great Art, of course).

It turns out to be very interesting, though, because of its unique twist: the person interviewed this week has to find and interview next week’s subject. Kind of like an interviewing chain letter.

If I remember it right, they started with a painter, who interviewed an architect, who interviewed an Egyptologist, who interviewed an NBA basketball player, who interviewed a professional organizer. Or something like that. I have no idea where it’s going next, but I love it. Very creative.

I’ve also been listening to the Biography Podcast. Another good one. This one has the same host every week. He interviews writers of interesting biographies. They talk about both the subject of the biographies and the process of researching and writing the books. Fascinating and recommended.

And there’s not much else to talk about. So we’ll end with today’s food violence news: They’re cracking down on lunchboxes. Those things have been known to kill people!

Floating village

Monday, August 24th, 2009


Here’s a floating village in Alaska. Loggers used to live there. Looks like fun, as long as you’re not subject to motion sickness. Which I am. So it doesn’t look like fun after all.

Extreme Short Shrift. It’s Monday night, I couldn’t get home until 7:30, and it’s getting late. My loss is your gain, Loyal Readers.

Thanks to Anon for noticing a missing word in Wednesday’s post. I’ve been writing the blog on my iPhone, and I’m still getting the hang of typing on a virtual keyboard. It must be my phone’s fault. Yeah, that’s it.

Great campout over the weekend. The campground itself was a parking lot (literally), but the park was very pretty, we had hookups, and there was a free performance of Richard III. The one by Shakespeare, that is. It was better than you would expect for free. Several of the actors were very good, in fact. All in all, it was great to get away and we enjoyed it.

I’ll leave you with yet more food violence. The Ding Dong Dang Dairy has been robbed! How low can they go?

See you tomorrow.

Alaskan boat

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009


Here’s a boat. In Alaska. I have no idea what that chimney looking thing is for. Maybe for heat. Part of my famous Machinery series.

Another day, another Extreme Short Shrift post. I need to get up shortly before 4:00 tomorrow morning and we have company tonight. So no time for thoughtful blogging. Not that ever do that anyway.

Our company? Why, it’s none other than brother-in-law Ken! We’re delighted to see him, as always. Also, LRN1’s friend Leah, who it was very nice to meet.

So today’s post is necessarily short. Pretty good day, though, I must say. I worked and LRN4 canned a bunch of peaches, apparently. I say “apparently” because I’m writing this on the train and I haven’t actually seen the bottles, so I have no idea whether there’s a bunch, a mess, or merely a passel. Probably a bunch, though.

We’re leaving early tomorrow afternoon for a weekend camping trip. Going to a Santa Clara County park near Los Gatos, I believe. I’ll try to get some Great Art while we’re out. Maybe a geocache or two to boot.

Unfortunately for my Loyal Readers, though, that means there will be no blog posts on Thursday or Friday. Unless they shock me by having wifi in the park. Hardly seems likely, does it?

So I’ll leave you with today’s food violence news: What’s even lower than a banana burglar? A cucumber thief.

See you on Monday.

Haines sign

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009


Here’s LRN4 pausing for a moment on her way into beautiful downtown Haines, Alaska. That’s not a third arm growing out of her neck, fortunately. Some annoying tourist wouldn’t move away from the sign long enough for me to take a picture, so I tried to hide him/her. Turns out it didn’t work quite perfectly. We loved Haines. Not enough to move there, but it was a great little town. In the summer, at least. No opinion on wintertime.

It’s post number 777! Too bad it’s Extreme Short Shrift Tuesday.

Busy day. I came home at the regular time and went directly to the church for a Branch Elders Quorum Presidency meeting, but nobody else showed up, so I went home. Made it in time for dinner.

Got spinfo dot info rehosted on Blogger last night, which kept me up a little late. So I want to go to bed a little early tonight. Have a look at the new website. There’s tons of work left to do, including fixing the template to eliminate all the nonsense on the right and add my own nonsense. Plus some ads. Gotta feed the Juggernaut. I also need to add LRN2 as a contributor – that I’ll do tonight.

I’ll leave you with some more shocking food violence news: What’s worse than pizza assault? Banana burglary!

See you tomorrow.