I got a number of nice Christmas gifts this year, including among other things a couple of lovely ties that have already proved to be big hits at the library, books, DVDs, a wooden model car (that I have to assemble myself) and the always-popular cash!We had a nice Christmas visit from Helen, Jay, Rebecca, Lucy, Arman and John. (Peter, of course, was here already.) After Mexican food, turtle cake (which Tom insisted was pie), roast beef, mashed potatoes, figgy pudding (hard sauce or whipped cream?) and a fistful of pistachios and chocolate, the house emptied out. Peter, all celebrated out and with nowhere he had to go, slept peacefully on.
On his way out the door, Jay mentioned to Tom what he could do to fix the kitchen sink faucet. It has been more or less frozen in position for a long time, meaning that we cannot run water into the sink with the drainboard. According to Jay, apparently this would be easily resolved.
We spent some time doing basic cleaning up: vacuuming rugs, picking up scraps of wrapping paper and tissue flowers the cats had snagged from the tree and disemboweled, loading breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and tossing linens into the washing machine. I then headed to my comfortable bed and took a long morning nap. (I hadn’t slept all that well for two nights at the motel). And while I slept …
Tom decided to fix the faucet. He took it apart so well that eventually something cracked. So off he went to one of his favorite haunts – Home Depot – to pick up another fixture and the things he needed to install a shiny new faucet.
And he set to work while Peter in his room and I in my cap snored softly along in our sweet winter’s nap.
After much grunting and forceful exclaiming -- I don't think there was any seasonal mention of Dasher and Dancer in any of this -- and a few more trips to Home Depot, Tom was making progress when I finally woke up, stretched, pushed Cassidy off my legs and went out to investigate.
After a number of trips down to the basement to find tools and a number of digs through the pile of parts scattered on the dining room table and the occasional call for me to find the crescent wrenches he had stashed under his back, Tom was nearing the end of the exploit.
There were a few false starts, but he finally had everything lined up the way he wanted and descended to the basement to turn the water on. About this time, Peter wandered out, got himself a cup of coffee and dialed up his girlfriend. At exactly the moment he greeted her on the phone, water began pouring out of everything around the sink – except for the faucet.
I shouted to Tom, he turned the water off, Niagara slowed and we all went in search of towels, Peter saying a fast and unexplained goodbye to the phone.
After getting things mopped up, Tom found the problem, fixed it and we now have a lovely working faucet.
Along the way, the kitchen floor got the mopping it so badly needed. And Peter was able to provide a credible explanation to his girlfriend for his abrupt departure earlier.
The mouse – who seems to have taken up permanent residence in Peter’s room – meanwhile stayed warm and dry throughout the adventure.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, nice dry pipes!
Cassidy was determined to get one of the flowers off the tree, and she finally dragged one down and demolished it. I had to sprinkle water on her to prevent her from taking more down.
Tom hard at work with his designer's eye ...
Close-ups of the flowers ...
And the whole thing ...
[Tom's painting of the Streewise vendor from Chicago peering out behind the tree looks strange. I think maybe it represents Santa's evil twin watching to find all those who have been naughty.]
I don't know who the dude is, but that cat could pass for Cassidy.
Seth Walsh was a sweet, intelligent boy who loved his family and did well in school. He was also gay. And for this, he endured years of relentless bullying and verbal abuse at his Tehachapi, California, school.
It is minus 4 (-20 C) at 6:30 this Monday morning, and we have survived the first blizzard of the year with relative ease. No power loss, although the DirecTV disc had to be cleaned a couple of times. No trees down, the roads got plowed and so on. It will be pretty cold all week, and Kathie and I will certainly be cold out on the Bookmobile. But we will run the heat and wear long johns. I can sport my new D&Y faux fur trapper hat that Rich and Peggy brought me back from Canada. With my red HRC scarf, it will complete my Snoopy look.
There was a professor called Dodd,
Whose name was exceedingly odd;
He spelled, if you please,
His name with three “D’s,”
When one was sufficient for God.
A BLIZZARD WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN FOR TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. A MIXTURE OF WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL QUICKLY CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW EARLY THIS EVENING... BUT NOT UNTIL MIDNIGHT IN THE FAR SOUTHEAST. MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED WITH SOME AREAS NORTH OF A MILWAUKEE TO MADISON LINE LIKELY RECEIVING 12 TO 16 INCHES OF SNOW.I know Sunny likes snow, but this is going to be a bit much. At any rate, Tom went out and stocked up on various supplies, including fuel for the generator. The odds are we will lose power, and we don't want to be without heat with sub-zero weather. We will huddle up with the cats and see what happens.
OUR BIGGEST CONCERN IS THE POWERFUL NORTH WIND THAT WILL ARRIVE BY MIDNIGHT NORTHWEST OF MADISON... AND TOWARD MORNING IN THE SOUTHEAST. SUSTAINED NORTH WINDS OF 30 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH WILL CAUSE CRIPPLING WIDESPREAD BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WHITEOUT CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY WITH MANY ROADS BECOMING IMPASSABLE. EAST TO WEST ORIENTED ROADS WILL BE MOST IMPACTED.
BITTERLY COLD AIR... WITH WIND CHILLS DOWN TO 15 TO 25 BELOW ZERO... WILL FOLLOW THE STORM SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. THE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY NIGHT.
A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE FROM IOWA... ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS TONIGHT... WHICH IS A FAVORED TRACK FOR HEAVY SNOW. AS THE LOW PASSES TO THE EAST... A VERY STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL GENERATE THE SUSTAINED WINDS.
THE COMBINATION OF HEAVY SNOW... STRONG WINDS... BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW... AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES... WILL MAKE FOR EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS FOR ANYONE TRAVELING LATER TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY... ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS.
We met with the lawyer yesterday afternoon about the wills and so on. It went well and will cost us significantly less than originally anticipated.
Norman Vincent Peale used to tell a story about a missionary in Africa who received a beautiful seashell as a gift from a student. He had walked a long way -- to the coast of Africa to get the special shell for his teacher.
"You've traveled so far to bring me such a wonderful present," the missionary teacher told him.
""Oh, teacher," the boy replied, "long walk part of gift!"
On the bookmobile, Kathie and I entertain (?) ourselves by making up lyrics to songs or composing silly little ditties. The other day she came up with one -- I don't recall what it was, but most of our efforts are noteworthy mainly for being instantly forgettable -- that reminded me of Emily Dickinson because it was an instance of slant rhyme, i.e., not a perfect rhyme but one in which the consonants or vowels of the stressed word are identical. You might think of it as almost-but-not-quite a rhyme.Crumbling is not an instant's Act
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation's processes
Are organized Decays.
'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul
A Cuticle of Dust
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust --
Ruin is formal -- Devil's work
Consecutive and slow --
Fail in an instant, no man did
Slipping -- is Crash's law.
I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
It has a lovely body
With legs so short and thin
And when my dreidel's tired
It drops and then I win!
Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
My dreidel's always playful
It loves to dance and spin
A happy game of dreidel
Come play now, let's begin!
Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
The Temple of Vesta was one of the earliest structures located in the Roman Forum although its present reincarnation is the result of subsequent rebuilding. Instead of a cult statue in the inner chamber, there was a hearth which held the sacred flame. The temple was the storehouse for the legal wills and documents of Roman Senators and cult objects such as the Palladium, a statue of Athena (Roman Minerva) believed to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Romans believed that the Sacred fire of Vesta was closely tied to the fortunes of the city and viewed its extinction as a portent of disaster.
Next Monday afternoon we meet with an attorney about estate planning. As I have said before, my estate is pretty much non-existent -- a couple of bank accounts, a few certificates of deposit, a roomful of stuff not worth a drive from Texas. Tom's will be more complex, of course. My main concerns have to do with a simple will and the power-of-attorney papers for health care and such.
