Gone to Carolina Archive: April 9, 2005

It was very sad yesterday morning to wake to NPR and hear the translator say (I'm paraphrasing) "...our dear Pope".

I'm not Catholic, but I did admire the Pope. I'm wishing he'd done a bit more to allow modern men and women, especially women, to feel comfortable in the church. While I personally divorce as a viable option, I've seen people's spiritual lives torn apart as they've been discarded from their church at one of the worst times of their lives. I've also seen people struggle with a church that does not condone birth control or abortion. Not being an abortion-rights advocate myself, I can see the church's point there. But no birth control seems downright irresponsible to me. Not only from the standpoint of preventing conception, but also for preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

But this pope, the only pope of my adulthood, had a special way of acknowledging everyone, even people of different faiths. He truly was "dear" to Catholics and even to many of us Protestants.

I know speculation is that the cardinals will choose someone older, who might not be a pope so long. And if they do, that pope might not travel as much as John Paul II. I hope that's not the case. In my outsider's opinion, the Catholic church needs someone who can continue to trot the globe and bring unity.

Gone to Carolina Archive: April 8, 2005

For the last two days I've just rested. Read books, walked around the neighborhood, watched movies. It's been nice. And it's made me feel a bit ambivalent about going back to the bus...even if it'd only be for 4 weeks or so.

Books:

Terminal Man by Michael Crichton. This is a pretty old book by now, and the technology Crichton writes about is no longer an issue, but it's still a fascinating read. A man suffers from epilepsy and assaults people to the point of almost killing them when he has a seizure. He undergoes an experimental procedure that wires a pacemaker-type device to his brain. When a seizure comes on, he gets a mild shock. Of course everything goes wrong. Otherwise there'd be no story. It's a good one and a quick read.

Light on Snow by Anita Shreve. I have never read anything by Shreve before. This is a really fast read and enjoyable. A father and daughter find a newborn in a sleeping bag in the woods. They take the infant to the local hospital and are subject to quite a bit of questioning from local authorities. The notoriety is disconcerting to the father, who moved himself and his daughter to this rural area after losing his wife and other daughter in a car accident. Their lives are further disrupted by the arrival of a stranger with a load of emotional baggage.

Movies:

M.A.S.H. I'm sure I've seen this before, but I hadn't remembered much about it. I definitely hadn't remembered that the theme song was "Suicide is Painless". It's fun to go back to old movies every once in a while. This movie is funny but also very much "adult content".

The movie Sideways. I can't think of a single redeeming quality about this movie. A groom-to-be and his best man embark on a week-long tour of northern California wine country, with the intention of drinking their way up and down the state with a little golf in-between. But it becomes apparent that the groom-to-be intends to sow some wild oats along the way. The movie is vulgar and uncomfortable.

Gone to Carolina Archive: April 6, 2005

I think my Dad has a new hobby in his "golden years". It appears that he is collecting store discount cards wherever he goes. So far he's gotten cards from all 3 local grocery stores and yesterday he hit a pharmacy. None of these establishments have locations in Minnesota.

It should be noted that my Dad HATES these cards.

Yesterday we went rose shopping. We'd like to plant 3 rose bushes along the west side of the house, and put Soya's ashes in there with the plants...in the container underground. We went to Lowe's and Home Depot and stopped at Walmart because we were passing by. We found some nice-looking bushes at Walmart and hope to plant them on Friday when Mensa Boy is off. Eventually we may plant more bushes all down that side to sort of screen off the utility area we have back there...the hose reel, the water valve cover, etc. The bushes should get to about 3 feet tall, so we can see them well from inside and they won't block our view of the back yard.

The next shopping bit on our agenda is to find a picture for the family room. The "theme" in there, if you could call it a theme, is sort of "northwoods cabin". So I'm looking for a photo of something that reminds me of northern Minnesota. It'll have to be a big one. I was thinking we might try to go today but we've been very busy 2 days in a row now and I'm noticing this morning I woke up tired. So I may have to lay around today and hit the pavement again tomorrow.

Gone to Carolina Archive: April 5, 2005

I've got to return a couple of books today and I need to tell you about them.

Michael Crichton's State of Fear: Don't. That's it. Just Don't.

State of Fear is about environmental terrorism and global warming. The story is actually good, but the academic discussions about global warming and whether it's really a threat or not just totally bog down the book. One of our heroes is an expert on the subject and he's an arrogant jerk. You just don't even care that he's an expert. If Crichton took out the discussions about climate and the charts and graphs(!) and just had the characters give us the "skinny" on the topic, we'd still learn and not feel like it's being rammed down our throats. It would definitely make a good movie, though. In fact, I'd probably even go see the movie, even though I've slogged through the book. The story is good.

The Broker by John Grisham. Do. Definitely Do. And you don't need a lot of time to do it. Joel Backman, high-powered attorney in Washington(nicknamed "The Broker"), currently in prison serving time, is pardoned by an outgoing puppet President. The CIA wants him pardoned and secreted away in Italy for a while, where they will keep him safe for a period of time before leaking his location to some other countries in hopes that one of them will assassinate him. Apparently Backman has knowledge of some special satellite technology that could compromise the national security of these countries. This is a great book...no lagging along...clicks right along and you can finish it in about 10 hours.

Today I pick up Daniel Silva's latest, Prince of Fire. I've enjoyed every one of Silva's efforts and am looking forward to this one. I do see, however, that it's another "terrorism" novel.

Gone to Carolina Archive: April 4, 2005

Slowly

Going

Insane

The "pizza detector" outside my office door, which is also in the kitchen, started chirping at 8 am. These detectors are hard-wired into the house and have a battery backup. It's very hard to figure out how to change the batteries in these things. And with the 10 foot ceilings and the incision across my stomach, it's out of reach for me.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Taylor and the Tooth

"It's gross! I want to go to the dentist and have it pulled out NOW"
This from Taylor the other day. Yes, this is the kid that, a mere 3 years ago, wouldn't let go of a tooth that was dangling by a thread. Mensa Boy had to literally pin him on the floor and yank one out one year on Christmas Eve. Now he's begging to go to the dentist to have a solid, "unloose" tooth pulled.
Taylor is 10 1/2. He's got a new tooth coming in on the top on the side that has broken through the gum on the outside of his mouth above the baby tooth it will eventually replace. But the baby tooth isn't even loose yet. This happens with virtually all kids. I remember when Nate had it. It does look weird. There's this tooth appearing to angle out of the bright red gum, seemingly way out of whack.
When Taylor gets an idea in his head, he will not listen to any facts or opinions about it, unless the person has absolute stellar credibility on the subject. Usually the person he needs is just the other parent, or perhaps Grandpa or Grandma. But this time no one would suffice.
So, we called Dr. Aten. Deborah Aten, DDS, is our family dentist. She has Aten Family Practice on Toringdon Way in Charlotte. I'd link, but there is no website. Anyway, we called. I explained the situation to receptionist Pam. Could Dr. Aten either call Taylor, or see him for a consult for about 10 minutes? No problem. Dr. Aten called the next day and spoke with Taylor. She explained that he doesn't want that baby tooth pulled out before it's ready because then he'd have a hole there and everything might shift and then he'd be totally messed up. She asked him to check it for looseness every day and when it gets loose, start wiggling it. She explained that he has an appointment in 8 weeks and they could decide together what to do. And most of all, she told him not to worry...that big new tooth won't stay in that spot forever.
That shut the kid up.
For now.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Sabbatical Over. Scenes from Upcoming Episodes

I'm baaaaack! As you all know, I really took a sabbatical from blogging because I wasn't home.  I didn't want to say I would be gone for a month because it seemed silly to advertise that the house would be empty a lot during June. The blogging software wants $40 for EACH COPY and I didn't think my thoughts were worth a buck a day to have it on my laptop. I have many things to tell you all about our trip back to Minnesota. I'll spread it out over the next week or so.  Here are some of the topics I'll cover: Mickey, the washrag-sucking dog Soya's "summer camp" experiences Why Daimler-Chrysler's Customer Care 800 number is so great 10,000 steps Being an insurance agent in a seminar with realtors Golf bad, boat good. Even when it's only 65 degrees exploding bricks what-not-to-do when carrying a load of firewood book reviews, movie reviews Guns are banned on these premises Giant bugs Paul Bunyan and Babe are separating and probably more that I'm just not thinking of. This is the month of Le Tour de France!  So far I've missed one day due to being on the road home. But our leetle beety cable company doesn't carry OLNTV so I might be missing the entire thing. If I do miss it, it'll be the first time since 1985 that I have.  Last summer I purchased digital cable just to get the network so I could watch it.  This week I may very well be switching cable companies altogether to get the Time "Evil Empire"  Warner so I can watch.  I'll have to decide in the next day or so. Either that or become a burglar and break into Cassie's house to watch it each day. See ya tomorrow.  Write me.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Amazing Annoying Racers

I've decided to take a month-long "sabbatical" from blogging. Today will be my last post until after July 4. Click on the envelope anytime to send me emails, though, to keep me posted on your doings. If you know my personal email address, of course that would be good one to use.

I watched "Amazing Race" last night. I really like this show...rooting for people I think are most deserving.  Right now I'm leaning toward the NFL wives. They got a bum rap near the beginning, with some other teams telling a bus driver not to open the doors to let them on.  I'm not sure they made the right decision using their Fast Forward on the first day, considering they had the fat & forty couple and the bimbos on their bus in last place with them. I think they could have beat them easily.

The only thing that really bugs me about the show is how they describe each team.  "Father/Son" or "NFL Wives" are okay. But the fat & forty couple were just labeled "Married Couple" and then we had the gay couple that they labeled "Married".  Considering gay marriage isn't recognized in most states, I think the show might be making a political mistake with that one.  And besides, one would think those couples would have more about them that would be more interesting to describe.  Like the "Air Traffic Controllers" (I thought fer sure they were doomed) and the bimbos, who they labeled "Models".  The "Dating 12 Years/Virgins" title was a bit off-putting too.  Maybe they just want to make a statement to Gen X that being a virgin is cool. That could be a good thing. But to point out that they've been dating 12 years? And he's on camera saying he's afraid of marriage?  Why not just tatoo "Loser" on his forehead? Or her forehead, for that matter!  At first I was worried that maybe their parents were losers...they look like they are only 22. Do the math.  But checking out the "Amazing Race" website, I see they are 28 and 29.  She's an environmental teacher at an Aquarium. That sounds like an interesting job. They could have worked that into their label.

Still on the labels...I just looked up the "Fat & Forty" couple...they have GREAT JOBS...he's a news director for a radio station and she's a director at an ARTIST'S COLONY!  Cool!  I'm sorry to see them go. They really tried hard. I thought his crying over not taking a hotel room right away was a bit weird.  He felt he'd neglected his wifey-poo.  I turned to Mensa Boy and said "sheesh! She should just tell him to get over it!" I'm not much into name calling, never would call Mensa Boy a name, but a well-placed "idiot" might have worked in that situation.

But by far the biggest disappointment to us was the couple from SoDa. All that bleeping while she's on camera...I really wish they'd get the boot soon, if only because listening to her language and the bleeping is Sooo annnnoyyyying.  The least they could do is not "bleep". Why can't they just blank out her f-words? Just leave dead space? She talks fast enough most of us middle-agers wouldn't catch it anyway. 

So that's my review of "Amazing Race".  Click on the envelope and send me an email. I won't be posting any comments, but I'd definitely love to hear from you!

While I'm sabbaticalizing (?), I'll be reading Artemis Fowl, Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel, and my "Cooking Light" and "Fine Cooking" magazines. I'm sure there will be many other items, as these will only last me until Sunday or Monday. I've decided to listen to An Hour Before Daylight and Ghost Soldiers on CD...I've read Ghost Soldiers but Mensa Boy hasn't, so that will be a good one to listen to. I'll also be watching several Netflix. I think "Antwone Fisher" is coming and so is "Amelie" and "The Prisoner, Vol 1".

Cheers! Keep in touch via email. I'll post again in early July!

Gone to Carolina Archive: Beef & Bok Choy

You can remove me from the running for "Dog Owner of the Year".  I pulled a real "bon-er" yesterday.  Soya wanted to go out. The neighbors cats were out, so I clipped on her tie-out and let her out the back door.  A couple minutes later the kids announced they were all greased up and ready to go to the pool. So we went. An hour later...I'm sitting at the pool, reading my book, drinking my ice water, thinking about how the sun was very hot and it dawned on me that I didn't remember letting her back in.  Tried to call the neighbor. No answer.  So I left the kids at the pool (yeah, you can remove me from "Mother of the Year" too) and ran home and there she was...curled up in the tiny spot of shade by the grill. And NO! I did not do it to pay her back for eating my lambswool duster! We had a real kickin' supper last night.  Farmer Sammy gave us a recipe for beef and bok choi that a family friend had prepared for them.  Here's the recipe: 1# ground beef 1 medium onion 1 bunch of boc choi (I used 2 bunches of baby bok choi) garlic (as much as you can get by with) 1 or 2 teaspoons of hot sauce (Texas Pete if you live in the SE) 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire 1 beef boullion (I left this out...I'm too much of a food snob to buy boullion) Brown the beef, onions, garlic. Add hot sauce and worcestershire (and boullion if using), salt and pepper to taste. Add boc choi and 1 cup water. Simmer until ready to serve.  Pour over rice and add more hot sauce to your liking. It was a family hit! Made about 8 servings, too. Mensa Boy took a bunch of it for lunch today. That's always a good sign.  He would never criticize my cooking.  But I do know there are basically 3 levels of "liking it" for him: 1. This was good, but let's not have it again. (I'd probably say it really sucked) 2. This was good, we should have it again sometime. (I'd say "it was nice for a change) 3. This was good, I'll take the leftovers for lunch and we could have it every week if possible. Today is out 21st wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Kreldar!

Gone to Carolina Archive: Food Cures

Twins 30-20  Braves 35-17

Most of you know that one of my favorite topics is food. Frequently my Mom and I begin conversations with "I had the BEST (fill in the blank) last night!"

There are a lot of people who believe in home remedies to cure ills...boiling chicken heads, making tea out of grass...I think a lot of illnesses can be helped out of our lives with good, quality food.

I've been under the weather for several days. Probably just some virus thing...sore throat, headache, tired. Today I feel a lot better. I kind of think some of it has to do with food.

I got my farm share yesterday and there were beets in there, turnips, arugula, broccoli, bok choy, lotsa lettuces.  I got home with it about 12:30 and quick sliced up some beets into a little skillet and braised them in butter slowly while I washed and packaged up the rest of the stuff.  What a magnificent lunch! For supper I took the turnips and sliced them up into a saucepan and braised them in olive oil and garlic until they got all carmelized.  They were good, but would have been better if I'd used butter, I think.

Today I'm going to have arugula tossed on hot pasta for lunch. That peppery taste of arugula just chases away viruses.  And when that kind of stuff is grown without pesticides and other junk, it just packs an even more powerful punch.

I'm still pretty amazed at the stuff I get from the farm. It's MAY for pete's sake and I already have big heads of broccoli! And fully grown carrots! 

I'm also really enjoying this little strawberry pot of herbs my Mom planted while they were here.  Last Saturday, when I felt particularly yucky, I pulled out 3 chicken carcasses I had lanquishing in my freezer. Put them in a pot of water on real low. Then I made a bouquet of Sage, Thyme, Oregano and Rosemary and tied it up with dental floss. Tossed that in the water with the carcasses and simmered until all the collagen had leeched out of those bones. I'd left a bit of meat on the carcasses when I used the chickens, and so I had probably 2 cups of meat in my soup too.  Later, after I pulled the carcasses out and strained the broth, I realized I didn't have any of the usual carrots and celery I like to put in soup. I did find some carrot "chips" left from packing school lunches...they are carrots cut like ripple potato chips. I cut them into slivers and tossed in a head of baby bok choy cut up and some kale and onion. It made a nice, mild soup. Good stuff!

Gone to Carolina Archive: On Their Own Time

Call me crazy but I just don't think that Chicago area school has the right to expell those girls for hazing.  The event did not take place on school grounds or on school time.

One may say this would be no different than if basketball players went out drinking and carousing the night before the state basketball tournament. I disagree.  I think that would have to do with whether students agreed to refrain from drinking while on the basketball team. If so, they should be kicked off the team.  But not expelled from school.  Unless....

Say the students rode a bus from Little Falls to St. Paul for the hockey tournament. Say arrangements were made through the school for the bus ride and there were parent sponsors on the bus and they all stayed together in the same hotel for the tournament.  And students snuck out the night before to hang out in a bar.  THEN it seems to me they could be expelled.  That sounds like a school-sponsored outing.

I don't think the school has any more jurisdiction over this hazing event than an employer would have over a bunch of employees who go paint the town red on Thirsty Thursday.  Seems like the employer could only hold sway over the employees if they had difficulty showing up for work or performing their jobs adequately the next day.

And I kind of wonder if the school, deep down, recognizes that.  They are expelling the students and keeping them from attending classes, but they are going to award them their diplomas on time.  So basically, a bunch of girls go out, drink while underage, sling some poop and guts and then get to take the rest of the year off from school and still get their diplomas. 

Doesn't sound like much of a deterrent to me.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Belair Library

Thanks be to God and the Mc family for helping me get the church library done! We are now open for business.  When I ever-so-blithely offered to perhaps do a tiny bit of organizing in there, I had no idea how hard it would be to get it all done!  It wasn't really hard work, but there were illnesses and visitors and things to do and somehow it just was hard to schedule time. But it's open now, all 180 volumes.  Thanks to Faith United Methodist in Farmington, MN and Minnehaha United Methodist in Minneapolis for their gifts of books and advice. And to Jack, Peggy, Harold, Cassie, Margaret and Laura for the time they spent gluing and labeling and alphabetizing.    5:38:06 PM

Gone to Carolina Archive: Marathon Training

I didn't write yesterday because I was in training for the marathon. The Alton Brown marathon was on FoodTV today from 2-8pm. I was a bit worried that I couldn't make it that long. So yesterday I practiced by watching 5 hours of FoodTV yesterday. I'm proud to say I stayed with the pack today from start to finish. The Nyquil helped me stay put.

Gone to Carolina Archive: First Day of Summer Speech

Twins 27-19  Braves 32-15 5 inches of rain yesterday.  We woke up in the rain and went to bed in the rain.  We've got great drainage on our property and it looks like most of the houses in our neighborhood don't have standing water problems.  So flooding isn't really a concern for us here in our neighborhood. But our county has been under flood warnings and watches for the better part of the last week. Yesterday they postponed the NASCAR races because of the rain. I guess that doesn't happen very often.  The guys are helping with housework this summer. Yesterday Taylor cleaned the downstairs bathroom and dusted the family room and living room. Nate vacuumed the entire lower floor so I could wash the tile floors.  They were fairly cheerful about helping.  I had my "first day of summer" speech with them Wednesday afternoon...'you help me with my work, I spend more time helping you do what you want to do...yada yada yada.' How about that Annika Sorenstam? I'm not really a golf fan. But I might have to tune in for a while today.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Sleeping Late

Twins 26-19  Braves 31-15

Comment from yesterday:

From Tony: I agree with Taylor. Tell her she is dumb. It works for me. (Ha, Ha)

Well, summer vacation started yesterday afternoon. I'm glad.  All winter I've been looking forward to summer vacation so I wouldn't have to get up before 6 to get Taylor ready for the bus.

Settled in to bed last night, looking forward to sleeping late this morning.

Woke up at 6:10.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Just Tell Her She's Dumb

Twins 25-19  Braves 31-14

Overheard in the car yesterday:

Nate: "So, you think I should just try to keep blowing her off?"

Ryan: "huh, yeah, but that's not likely to work. She's pretty hard to shake off."

Nate: "Yeah, she'll probably just say something like 'Every relationship has it's ups and downs.'"

Tayor: "Why don't you just tell her she's dumb?"

Gone to Carolina Archive: Girl Magnet

Twins 25-18  Braves 31-13

Nate's friend Ryan is a girl-magnet.  Looking at him, I can see why. He has this great, dark curly hair. He's tall and skinny like Nate and just exudes confidence.

Nate is getting caught in the web by association.  So far, we are not getting a lot of phone calls from girls. I guess Ryan's family had to tell the girls they could call only once each day and they've put a limit on how long the conversation can go. 

But Ryan's most ardent admirers live in OUR neighborhood.  Ryan does not.  Ryan comes over most weekends for a few hours, and the girls come over here for him.  If he's not here, they will talk to Nate. For quite a while.

It's going to be an interesting summer. I have a feeling I'm going to be sitting at the pool a lot, rolling my eyes over the top of whatever the book of the moment is.  And I'm going to need to find little guys to take to the pool so Taylor isn't ditched.

It'll be fun.

Gone to Carolina Archive: Fixed Or Repaired Daily

This will be short. More of a confession, actually.

I have a FORD parked in my driveway. Yes Dad, I tried to explain to the dealer that I really wasn't sure I could drive a FORD rental, but they didn't have any Chysler rentals left.  I drove the 10 miles home and didn't have to get out and push...not even once.

My trusty Dodge should be back this afternoon.  It's in for it's 60,000 mile service. I can't believe it's already been 60k. I remember when it was just a baby of 13 miles...seems like only yesterday.

A Mighty Wind

Twins 23-18  Braves 29-13

I just finished reading The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee.  It was kind of a struggle to get through. A lot of the book is devoted to Mr. Frank's work with publishers to get the diary translated and published, then a play was done and there were efforts to do a movie.  The author never deviates from the notion that Mr. Frank's motives were totally pure. He took very little money from the proceeds of the work, leaving  most of the money to non-profits that he founded to preserve the house in Amsterdam, etc. 

The other on-going theme of the book is about who betrayed the Frank family. There was always one person that most people thought had done it, and the book talks a lot about that person's life.

Last night Mensa Boy and I went to dinner at "Firebirds" in South Charlotte and then to see the movie "A Mighty Wind". We met Cassie and Randy at the theatre for the movie. "Firebirds" was excellent, if loud. The portions were way too large, too.  I'm a person that would just as soon pay half as much and get half as much food. I had a pecan-crusted trout with tortilla slaw. Mensa Boy had pork loin. Dinner and a movie is expensive now, with a $60+ dinner bill...and neither of us have alcohol and then $16 for movie tix.

"A Mighty Wind" was absolutely hilarious. Definitely a movie that would be worth owning...and we aren't even movie buyers. Aside from the requisite Disney movies we buy for the kids and a few Alton Brown "Good Eats" videos, the only adult movie we own is "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

"Wind" is about 3 folk groups that are brought together for a reunion concert in honor of a dead promoter.  If you were ever a fan of folk music, as my mom and I always were, this movie will bring you to nirvana as it reminisces about those kinds of performers and provides ample opportunity for the moviegoer to enjoy that special kind of sound again.  I just know my mom is going go home after this movie and pull out her old "Smothers Brothers",  "New Christy Minstrels", and "Peter, Paul and Mary" albums and play them turned up loud!

Twins 22-18  Braves 28-13

So...it took KC 14 innings to beat the Twins last night. Huh.

Comments from yesterday:

Julia writes about the two half days we have of school next week-2 half days? Moline goes to school for 1 hour on the first and last day of school. How stoopid is that? (Julia and I spell stupid that way when something seems REALLY stupid...and we usually say 'that was really stoooopid...s-t-o-o-p-i-d".)Kristen B says-In NY, the school districts got money for a full day if the kids were there until lunch. The last two days are worthless anyway, so they'd make 'em half days. They still got the dough, and they only had expenses for a half day.

I kind of doubt our county is doing half days to collect lunch money. The elementary kids dismiss at 10:30 and the middle school kids go at 11:30.  I still don't have an answer to this question.

Mensa boy and I, and Cassie and spouse Randy are all going to see "A Mighty Wind" tonight, after a meal out.  I'm glad my mom released us from an obligation to see it with her in June.  She was worried it might not be around that long, and I'm thinking she's right. As it is, it's already not available at one of the two theatres we frequent.

I'm about half-way done with The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee. Otto Frank was the father of Anne Frank.  It's not a bad book, but the title kind of leads one to think there might be some explosive revelations about him. There aren't really any.