Happy Saturday morning all:

“We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know” ~ W. H. Auden

The coffee is so good this morning so that I’m already on #2 – which also means it’s more difficult to get started on the Ramblings. The other part of being slow to get started is that’s a bit difficult to really know where to begin.

A loss – Yesterday our lake family lost a dear member of that family – Dennis Callahan. Marcia said it so well on her Facebook page; “Cumming Lake will never be the same..we will miss our dear friend and neighbor Denny. The Master fisherman and Fish fryer. There will be a void in our sunrises and sunsets. Sail on Denny.”

Some people have a love for life and Denny had that in abundance. He loved people, his lake, his island cabin, and the fish which seemed to leap into his boat.

Some people one draws to instinctively, Dennis was one of those.
We’ll remember his ability to connect, his willingness to share, and his unending desire to help. You’ll be missed my friend; it’s been a privilege to have had you in our life these few short years.

Plastering – My role as “plasterer-in-chief” has come to an end. I’ve never really had great success with past projects where some plastering was part of the program. So, it was with a degree of trepidation that I embarked on tackling all that was necessary in our new condo.

Study does help and with a little gained familiarity of the tools and feel for mixing the wet compound properly I am actually somewhat saddened that this chapter is finished. Not!

However, I am proud of the way things look and how solid the end result appears. Only some vacuuming of the dust and pick-up of a few spilt globs remain. Then, for Marcia, it’s on to the paint. I’ve offered to assist; I’m being excluded and I don’t know why.

I’m not unique – in my appreciation for on-line shopping. This year, as for the past several, I’ve not made an appearance in a mall, nor had to do battle for a parking space at same. This morning, opening up my system the first mail downloaded was from Amazon showing the status of my order and a delivery for Monday. Most of the action for the shopping experience was doing research, followed by a couple of mouse clicks.

Reading the Amazon update I, once again, found myself smiling at the stunning incompetence displayed with the Healthcare.gov website fiasco. Just so sad to watch peoples hard earned incomes being piddled and trifled away by politicians and bureaucrats who are seemingly not bound to any standard.

Animal Planet – As most of you know, I have never bought into this whole Global Warming hoopla. Way to much trumped up “science” with “adjusted” numbers. The CO2 greenhouse business also makes little sense when observed against CO2 levels and corresponding temperatures from past millennia. But, a lot of people have made a lot of money with this business.

Now, this week, NASA released satellite temperatures recorded over an area of the Antarctic which are lower than ever recorded – slightly more than -135 degrees Fahrenheit.

All I want to say is that the NASA data corresponds nicely with this past week’s temperatures which we experienced here in the ‘Nati. Damn, it was cold!

Fini – Later today there is an event at our main downtown library; crafts and storytelling. I suspect you do know where I will be with young ones in tow. As always, make it a great week.

Cheers.
Dirk

From the Archives
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Morning all:
Quote Of The Week:

” The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive.” — John Sladek

Even while brilliant minds are deliriously busy discussing weather at luxury resorts in Bali, for us, without the panache of a resort setting, it is the immediacy of the approaching White Death that concerns us —or so it should, say television’s “Doppler” gang – AKA the weather weenies.

While I am sitting here enjoying my morning coffee our “Doppler” gangs are battling each other for prime corner locations from which to broadcast. The one thing they all have in common is the identical weather advisory phrase, which, in an oral tradition dating back to the Sassanians, goes something like: “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!”

It is Cincinnati’s first winter storm and we are ready!

This was an eventful week in our little household. Marcia had cataract surgery. Against her objections, I took the day off. The phrase I used to describe my reason for staying home for the day was to be at her “beck-n-call”. “Beck-n-call” is an important little phrase, one which generates enormous amounts of good will. Every attentive husband needs to grasp on to this phrase tightly and use it freely.

In military 24 hour clock format we showed up at the outpatient surgery center at 0710 hours. With a brand spanking new implanted lens Marcia and I were home at 0930 hours. Marcia started doing needlepoint, I went to bed.

I suspect that I should explain what happened. Marcia’s surgery was, in her words, “a snap.” No anesthesia other than local to her eye. I, on the other hand, had come down with a death of a cold.

I am happy to report that Marcia is 100%. After ½ a bottle of Equate, nearly a box of Alka Seltzer Cold Plus, a container of Zicam, and mega amounts of sleep, I too, am climbing the ladder towards total health.

Last night I spent two hours on Citizens on Patrol and the fresh air was part of the magic cure. Tomorrow evening our neighborhood has the annual Luminaria Walk. Walking block after block following the long trails of glowing candles, all the while greeting neighbors, is truly magical (and also a cure for a cold). I hope that our annual carbon emitting Luminaria pastime stays off the radar of the brilliant minds in Bali.

Make it a great week. Next Saturday we’ll be traveling. If interested, expect to read a post on Sunday morning instead.

Cheers,

Dirk

12/15/2007 08:22:00 AM