Saturday, July 21, 2012

3579 Flamingo!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Touching an idol tarnishes the gilt.

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This evening the Nugget discovered the garbage can full of flamingos in the back yard, and she seemed to know exactly what we're supposed to do with them.  One already had legs, and she planted that one herself.  After that, she selected a body, her mommy added the legs, and then Nugget carried them to me at the end of the yard, where several pairs are now nestled among the Japanese knotweed.

A pair of flamingos in the yard is tacky.  Thirty of them in tall weeds is pure camp.
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3578 Progress

Saturday, July 21, 2012

If we really believed in recycling, we'd sign our Christmas cards in pencil.

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The heat wave finally broke with a terrific thunderstorm mid-week.  Today it's in the 70s, so I'm taking advantage of the coolth (yeah, I made that up, like warmth, but cool) to rig up the pulley system  through the upstairs attic hatch so I can get stuff to the attic without having to carry heavy awkward boxes and containers up the little drop-down ladder.  I don't like ladders.

First I had to sweep the attic.  The floor up there is covered with the builder's debris.  Even though it's in the mid-70s outside, the attic is in full sun, and it has to be in the 90s up there.  I was a little worried that the heat would get to me and I'd collapse and wouldn't be found until I was desiccated (dessicated?  I looked it up and still don't know which to use), but amazingly I was fine.  I sweated a lot, but that was all. No dizziness or anything.  In fact, I sorta liked it.

Soon as I get some more money built up, I want to get an attic fan installed.  They really do help.  Until then I guess I have to be careful what I put in the attic.  If it's that hot up there today, what was it like when it was really hot?

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The day of the thunderstorm (Wednesday?  Thursday?  I forget) we lost power for a few hours.  Losing power at the country house is a big deal, because without power there's no cooking (electric stove), and no water (electric well pump).  That means not only no water at the tap, but no toilets!  So it was a pleasure to still have water here, and to be able to still use the stove by lighting the burner with a match.

With no computer, radio, sewing machine, or TV I decided to read, but because of the dark clouds, pouring rain, and wind, it was dark in the house.  There are at least seven pairs of candlesticks, four oil lamps, and two Coleman lanterns and a camp stove at the country house (when the power goes out there, it's out for days, so that stuff is important), but I haven't brought any of them down here yet.  I do have some tall candles, so I stuck one to a saucer in a pool of melted wax and put it on the breakfast bar in the kitchen.  When I decided to go to the bathroom I was worried about it maybe falling on the counter, so I set the saucer on the ceramic tile floor where if the candle fell it would do no damage.

Oops.

Jasper knows that a dish on the floor means a special snack for him.  He was somewhere else in the house, but I guess the sound of a plate touching the floor is like a can opener to other cats.  As I was rounding the corner leaving the kitchen, I saw him run over and sniff the saucer.  I yelled and dove for him just as he raised his head and sniffed the flame.

He seems to be ok.  Lost some whiskers, but I don't think he got burned.

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The hair.  It was a 6-12 shampoo tint, in "pale ash blond".  After the sixth shampoo, it has gone from brass doorknob to brilliant yellow goldenrod.   Daughter says if I wear a caftan with gold embroidery and chunky gold jewelry "It doesn't look so bad".  Especially if I walk with a flamboyant swish.

Oh dear.

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There's a Civil War cemetery in Hudson, NY.  A group had put flags on the graves.  The flags disappeared, a few one night, more the next night.  By the end of the week, 75 flags were missing.  Big mystery.  The police set up three cameras to catch the culprit.

It was a woodchuck (or groundhog, or marmot, depending on where you're from).

The police put a camera-on-a-snake down a woodchuck hole and found remnants of the flags.

Love it!

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

3577 Hey, this is NJ, not FL!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

There are better ways to get to the top of a tree than by sitting on an acorn.

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2pm.  103 degrees F.

There IS such a thing as too hot to put the top down.
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3576 Wednesday

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Huston Smith, on faith: "We may do things we think are wrong,
but we cannot believe things we think are false."

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It's 7 am and it's already 82 F outside and steamy.  It's going to be a hot day.   I was under the impression that living so close to the water we'd have cool refreshing breezes.

Nope.  Just steam.

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From a Meetup invitation: "Sorry, no pets are aloud to join the party." 

Maybe it means I can bring a boa constrictor?  They're quiet.

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From a weather advisory for the country house:  "Severe thunderstorms, hail up to one inch in diameter or larger."

Do they know what "up to" means?

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I had a hair accident Monday.

My natural color these days is not white or gray.  It's a very pale yellow.  Pale blond, which is pretty much what it had been when I was a baby.  In the winter it's a bit darker, and in the summer, especially since I drive with the top down a lot, it gets bleached to white in the sunlight, although still pale blond indoors.

So, since I like it blond, in the summer I shampoo in a temporary (6-12 shampoos) ash blond tint.   The stuff I use has no bleaching ingredients, so my scattered brown hairs still show through here and there.

Monday I screwed up.  The stuff is supposed to be on your hair 20 minutes.  I usually leave it on 15 minutes.  I had received an email that I wanted to respond to, and started the response after putting the tint on.  I got to thinking about what I was writing, and next thing I knew, 40 minutes had gone by.

I ran to the bathroom, jumped into the shower, lathered it  up, rinsed it off, toweled it dry, looked in the mirror, and ... my hair is the same color as the bathroom door's brass doorknob.  The EXACT same color.  I could see the doorknob in the mirror, next to my hair.  I am not exaggerating.

My hair has been washed four times in the past day and a half, and it's still flaming brass.  A long time ago I'd read that to remove temporary hair color, you should use oil, so my hair has been mayonnaised and olive oiled.  (I thought the mayonnaise would work well because it also has vinegar.)  I've been wearing scarves wrapped around my head, or hats, when I have to go out in public.

I am unhappy.
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Sunday, July 15, 2012

3575 Correction

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence,
for the evidence is sure to come to light.
-- Bertrand Russell --

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I erred yesterday in calling that section of Pennsylvania God-forsaken.  It's not.  In many ways it's blessed, exemplifying my idea of where God lives.  The correct term is man-forsaken.

I have corrected it.
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