The Time Sink

Well, heck. No rain to speak of. ...but cool weather that really made for a nice weekend. ...and of course I took the opportunity to tear out the sprinkler manifold today, figuring I'd be able to hand water until next weekend. That was before I heard the forecast that says we'll be back to 90 by the weekend. Man...

...at least the crossword puzzle went quickly tonight. Yep, every so often I decide to check out the one in the local paper; today's had such an easy lead that I went for it. Not bad, but I wish I'd have timed it. Did you do that one, Mom?

A bit of an exposition on my departure from the usual daily photo over on the blog? Sure, and I have some homework for you if you are a reader or a writer: The splash page today is dedicated to John "Mike" Ford. To say Mike was a 'writer' is to say the sun is 'bright'; both are understatements that don't begin to explain the impact they've had on the lives they've touched. My acquaintance with Mike was through the pages of "Making Light", the blog of Patrick and Teresa Nielson-Hayden. Mike's presence there was of the first magnitude. Ah, heck, just go here and read what was said last year, with a mandatory read of the origin of the piece on the splash page..

...and the takeoff on Kermit's "Rainbows" song at Neil Gaiman's place. ...or the Star Trek stories, or The Dragon Waiting, or the spot-on commentaries and comments and essays and poetry and ... yeah, like that.

...and the source for today's piece on the splash page? When asked "what sort of leaf he wanted to be", by Elise Matthesen two years back (for a tattoo of hers), he replied, "Does it have to be a leaf? Might I be a small pile of gears instead?" (Thank you, Elise.) Ah, a small pile of gears, disassociated pieces of a puzzle only Mike could see, disconnected concepts placed together with the wordsmith's artifice into a whole for others to enjoy. Yes, that will do nicely. (...and yes, that Elise, on the occasion of her birthday).

Oh, the woes of homework this time of year...

Someone asked about the setup for the background I used for Tuesday's blog piece. Sure:

The kitchen table, the lighting kit, the A-2 (propped up on one of Mike's books), and the cable release (there's a fancier name, but that's what they used to be called).

It's been a long and busy week both at work and at home. I think all of us are ready for a bit of a break; the weather got back into the 90s again and the winds kicked all the pollen down this way. I think that's why we haven't been all that sure on 'is it a cold or allergies' as the sneezing has gone on this week.

...but it's cooling down some, and that bodes well for the weekend. There's the sprinkler valves to get installed (because I'm not all that into hand watering a yard each night) and maybe even some dirt moving if I can get that done. ...and a football game Saturday evening with one heck of a tailgate.

A low key day today. Everyone took the night off last night (except for a minor detail on the front yard work) and we all slept in until we woke up this morning. That may sound like a "-doh" statement, but probably 28 days out of the month there's an alarm going off for at least two people here. This morning was a pleasure...

...and tonight should be too: it's the company tailgate party before LA Tech takes the field against the local guys. I'm hoping the game is good, but the tailgate is just as much fun: Shelley especially enjoys catching up with her old coworkers and trading stories of raising teens <g>.

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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