life analogy

I was doing some household chores the other day and this thought ran through my head: Daily life is a bit like a litter box. You scoop out the --- "bad" stuff, and try to put in a bit more "good" stuff. Then, the next day, you do it again. Hopefully, in the long run, the good outweighs the bad.

Go West, Go Home

We had a wonderful trip west. Thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone and made it home with no rain. (The drive out was MOSTLY rain. No Fun.) Decided to document a little of "Beautiful Interstate 80" in Iowa.

This is pretty much what we look at all across Iowa.

In this next picture you'll see what we thought might be Bigfoot. Right there, near the bottom of the picture, Just above the road.

Photo forensics revealed it is not Bigfoot - just a big rock.

We did, however, get to see the Statue of Liberty. Did not realize she got out of New York City.

Silly, Self-Entertainment

Something I've been doing lately to amuse myself.

car shopping

ok, so I found a car (and so did K) but I also noticed an interesting quirk with used-auto sales types. To wit: They OFTEN choose to tell you how long they've been selling cars. And this is true even when the kid in question looks 22-years-old. (and by that I mean even when the number of years in question is less-than-impressive.) I spoke to maybe eight different sales people and six of them mentioned, directly or indirectly, how long they had been selling cars.

I always say when you start telling people how long you've been doing something, you automatically qualify for the "old farts" club.

Forty-second Fireworks Finale

Just for fun...
Turn up the volume and hit Play
It's almost like being there

Rockets Red Glare

We were not thrilled with the "Parade"
this year but did enjoy watching the fireworks
with MC as is the sacred tradition.
Here is a small sampling.

So long, Sweet Ride

June 11, 2009 - East 20th Street and Hamilton. A quiet, tree-lined city street ... maybe a little too quiet. It seemed like a good place to park a car for a day at the office. Seemed. And for almost seven years everything was fine, until...

THEY STOLE MY CAR!!! THOSE BASTARDS!!!

Officer Friendly called Thursday the 18th to say he had "recovered" it. I'm not sure "recovered" is the word I'd use, but he did find where it had been discarded. East 155th street. I went to see what might have been left inside the car for me, hoping at least to get my prescription sunglasses back. It was not to be.

They left me a milk crate and my registration papers... and a couple of parking tickets. They took EVERYTHING ELSE, from the seat covers to the floor mats. Anyway, The old Corsica was a good, reliable car for 16 plus years. And yes, I did call it a "Sweet Ride.

Anybody got a good, used car to sell? :)

Garden Update

Another shot of the little garden spot.

Taken June 20, 2009

:-)

Fridays-Part 2-June 5

Trimmed the trees. They are too big for my little lot. Borrowed the neighbor's sawzall and bought a pruning blade for it. Much better than my dull, dinky, hand saw.

A shot of our little garden too. Looks nice. Veggies growing.

Fridays-part 1-May 29

Seems I'll have some time on my hands this summer... I shall attempt to make the most of it...

I scraped and painted the back porch for the first time in about six years.

shelvage salvage - part three

submitted mainly for completeness (which I rarely experience) here are some idea sketches I made and a pic of the finished shelves - which you mostly cannot see, as they are full of books. :)

newest acquisition: let's make some noise!

It's amazing what bargains you find when you keep your eyes open. This venerable keyboard (circa 1994) was recently revived. It must have languished in a basement or garage for some time but it cleaned up very nicely. Some "nostalgic" sounds just waiting for the perfect musical setting. "100 sounds - 100 rhythms" 100% Cheesy and I Love It!

shelvage salvage - part 2

Acquired this maple bedframe sometime last winter. The first picture shows (kind of) what it looked like before I cut it up. The other pictures show it in it's new incarnation as a set of bookshelves for the playroom. Support pieces are glued together and the shelf rails are notched but no hardware is used so the whole thing breaks down completely.

shelvage salvage

Picked up a couple of water-damaged sets of bookshelves a month or two ago. I cut off the damaged parts and combined them for KLR.

Pieces to hold them steady as they sit stacked.
Extra "legs" on the bottom shelf for HEAVY books.

Don't tell anybody where they came from ... apparently there is a city ordinance against picking up items from tree-lawns. Whatever ...

broken guitars

I put a notice in the Cleveland West Side Freecycle pages a couple weeks back for Broken Guitars ... Picked up this poor thing the first week in. Worst fret positioning I ever saw and the youngster who thought he was gonna fix it apparently just tore it apart and lost most of the pieces.

However, the tuners alone were worth the drive to Berea (to pick it up). They're quite nice. Just need some cleanup. No idea whether the pickup will work. All the wiring is gone. Anyway, you got to rob a few graves to build yourself a Frankenstein monster. We'll see where this idea leads...

Lakewood deer sighting!

Credit to My Darling and her steady hand on the phone camera...
Last Thursday driving down Larchmont Avenue in Lakewood she spotted these little guys! The deer were slightly less clue-less than the knuckleheaded drivers honking at them and being generally obnoxious to the poor frightened Bambis.

16-year-old gas line

I could smell gas last Tuesday when I got home from work. Did nothing about it. Smelled gas again when I got home on Wednesday and so looked under the car.
Drip, drip, drip.

After supper I backed the old reliable Corsica onto my car ramps and had a look. The last 14-inch section of original gas line was seeping gas nice and steady.
Ran out and bought some neoprene hose, some clamps, and couplings and spent about an hour wrestling with all these old and new parts in a small puddle of gasoline. (Fragrant!)


Here's the entire piece I replaced.

Here's a close-up.
It doesn't leak anymore but I'm keeping the extra hose and clamps in the trunk just to be sure.

since 1994 - hobby documentation

a happy Saturday

Had a very nice lunch in Kent on Saturday to honor K and her fellow honors students as they graduate this year. And Gramma got to have a little look at part of the campus and K's dorm room.






The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was offering free admission Saturday, too.
So we stopped there on our way home. Saw the Bruce Springsteen exhibit and wandered around for about an hour or so. Lots of people but not so bad that we couldn't move around fairly freely. Fun.

Look closely and you'll see my darling at the
base of the pillar here.

"well, I can't just call you 'man'"

I took the long way home last week, driving down Lorain Road with my eyes peeled for resale or music shops. I spotted a hole-in-the-wall music shop at about the 120th block and I quickly made a right-hand-turn at the next street. As I slowed down more and more, looking for a parking space I was vaguely aware of a car that had turned the corner behind me.

Suddenly the car pulled out to pass and I noticed it was full of young girls. The driver yelled, "what the (bleep) ya doin,' Old Man!?!"

I busted up laughing but now that I think about it, who could she have been yelling at?
ha ha

St. Paddy's Day review

So, beautiful March weather and St. Patrick's Day combined to bring the wearin' o' the green to downtown Cleveland. There was quite a crowd.

It was immed-
iately obvious that
"dressing up" means different things to different folks.

It also seems that many young girls adhere to the traditional "Green (or Patterned) Boxers Over Tights."

The street vendors were out in force, no doubt trying to make up for several years in a row of less-than-perfect weather. "Green crap for Sale!"
Sadly, I must add that the parade was dissappointing despite two groups of bagpipers. I began looking through the crowd, thinking I would surely see someone I know.

I did not.

Still, the weather was great and I enjoyed watching the knuckleheads for a while.

facing west...? a response

Try not to chop off the head in your photos...

how to vacuum

find mythical creature..part 2

zoom, zoom, test

as it says, digital zoom to the max

no digital, full optical zoom

the women from the first two shots are circle here in yellow

more photo tests

some more test pics...

panoramic 1: The lake causes a little confusion

about where the 3 images overlap.

panoramic 2: This one seems a little better.
3 pix yields about a 135 degree panorama.

gull, on the wing - optical zoom all the way.

black and white