David French of the National Review calls Amber Guyger’s murder of a man in his own home “the worst police shooting yet.” I don’t know about that, but it certainly has all the elements, including favoritism and the typical cover story. From Wired: How to move a million people out of a hurricane’s way. Good luck, mid-Atlantean readers! She made it through Hurricane Harvey — though not necessarily well. Now Sara Cress gives advice on how to prepare for a flood. (NPR broadcast; not sure whether transcript will be online by the time this posts, but she mentions things people…
Month: September 2018
Friends of mine have been fostering a dog, Rosie — the usual sad case of a pup whose owner “loved” her while leaving her on a chain in deplorable conditions. I haven’t fostered dogs in several years because of Ava’s habit of starting fights she can’t win. But my friends foster often and have occasionally called on me to be a backup because they travel a lot. As things have developed, I never had to serve. On Sunday they left on the first stage of a long trip to South America. They placed Rosie in an ideal backup foster home.…
I woke up grumpy after a poor night’s sleep. I was mad at myself for a couple of mistakes. I was mad at my insurance company for giving me an unreasonable quote to protect my newly upgraded house. (They want to insure it and my possessions for way more than they’re worth, and they insist on including coverage for expensive outbuildings I don’t have — all to generate a premium I can’t afford.) In desperate need of a short getaway after this summer’s push-push-push to finish Mo Saoirse’s exterior, I checked the one little beachy studio I used to be…
… the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings– And why the sea is boiling hot– And whether pigs have wings.” Erm. No, actually that’s not the time that has come. My brain just flipped Lewis Carroll-ward when I wrote the subject line. An entirely different time has come. After 5 years and 4.25 months, the exterior of Ye Olde Wreck no longer reveals any wreckage. The interior, though not cosmetically complete, is entirely livable. Plumbing and electrical are upgraded and working. The roof and foundation are in good shape. The insulation is…
The race against the clock fall rains is over. We had pleasant showers last night and the region’s most esteemed meteorologist says that’s it: Summer is officially done and we’ll be seeing a lot more such “pleasantness.” After darned near doing myself in on Wednesday, I slowed my pace of work. As a result there’s still miscellaneous trim, touch-up, and clean-up remaining. But I did finish the gutters at 2:00 yesterday afternoon, a few hours before light rain moved in. That was the last big, important thing — the last thing that couldn’t somehow be made to fit between showers.…
Tuesday I painted under the eaves. Painting, unlike most other tasks I’ve been doing, is a good activity for thinking. My random thoughts that day were circling around Nike having reignited the “take a knee” controversy, using Colin Kaepernick’s protest in the most cynically commercial way. Now, Nike may see Big Bux in buying the face of the millionaire athlete who can now make money off that greatest of all contemporary triumphs — personal oppression. But the thing that’s always mystified me about the entire “take a knee” flapdoodle is why — on the first hour of the first day…
I could barely drag myself outside to work to work this morning. Partly that’s because today’s goal was 40 feet of continuous gutter, including two downspout drops and two outside corners and two glued connectors. I was apprehensive about doing that. It’s the longest span and it’s not a one-person task. Partly it’s just that I’m ready for The Big Break, which I can’t take until Friday when the rains come. At 10:00 a.m. I finally ran out of excuses. Out to the sunny south side I went. At first the main problem was me. I had the dropsies and…
After a drizzly start on Saturday, the holiday weekend morphed into sheer perfection. I took advantage by trimming, caulking, painting, and planning the layout of gutters. Now I’m beat. I need to spend a day paying bills, catching up on email, cleaning house, and other non-building matters. But the weather gods say we have just three days of sunny skies before five days of rain. Back outside I go. Back up and down the ladder. Back into drippy paint and ooey glue and bending those nails that don’t want to be hammered into unlikely places. Back to the twisty physical…