Friday, October 15, 2010

Silky Dogwood


































The birds love the berries and this bush is a native species. :-)

19 comments:

  1. What'a ya know? Howard's first.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Sort of into comfort books just now. You know, like comfort food only with fewer calories." Catreona

    --LOL. I'm working on a really interesting religious history book--"Triumph of the Moon." So far it is really helping to tie some things together for me. Really interesting approach to certain topics--measuring changes in frequencies of particular words in poetry during the 19th century, for instance. Outstanding information density, which makes it extra fun. Written by an English scholar, and darned if he doesn't mix up singular and plural--e.g., plural verbs with singular subjects--just like the BBC.

    Antifreeze is also anti-boil, which also makes sense in a heating system. It could also have anti-corrosion stuff in it. Should think they wouldn't use something toxic; glycerine is the very old-fashioned high-quality antifreeze. No wood stove for a backup, llstener? I remember the huge wood-fired heating furnace in the hall where I had my accordion lessons--Kalavela Hall, it was; we had a lot of Finns thereabouts. As I recall the heater must have been at least six feet in diameter and a good ten feet tall, with a big woodbox alongside. No insulation in the walls, I'm sure--you were expected to wear your insulation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. early voting trends in Ohio and Iowa:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-p-mcdonald/early-voting-off-to-a-fas_b_763074.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, Lordy--Vote Nekkid Illinois!

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/illinois-votes-naked-nude_n_733277.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found the linked site confusing until I followed an additional link and discovered that they had indeed mixed up two different changes in the law. One change allows anyone to vote absentee -- by mail if they prefer -- without having to give a reason why they will not be able to go to the polls on election day. The other requires establishment of in-person early voting sites at public universities. In-person early voting -- which is distinct from absentee voting -- has been the law for four years.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When you say "singular subjects" I presume you mean subjects that are singular in form but plural in meaning. "Congress," for example, is 535 people -- rather more than one.

    Wikepedia lists the three most common types of antifreeze as methanol (typical in windshield washer fluids), ethylene glycol (typical in automotive cooling systems), and propylene glycol (perhaps most common in buildings). Both methanol and ethylene glycol are poisonous when engested, although I wouldn't be particularly worried about breathing enough to cause a problem.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alan, thank you so much for both of those links!!

    Drab cool day here. Have had the heat on since I got up, and am still cold. . . .brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alan, having lived in England and reading a lot of English books,I always get confused about that. Is it, for instance, the class goes or the class go? One is correct in Britain, one in America, but for my life I couldn't tell you which is which. So, my own usage is probably inconsistent.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Our heat hasn't come on, and I'm COLD!!!

    For those not on FaceBook, Jess got two jobs, one at Penny's and one at the Vermont Country Store.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I want to hear more about you having lived in England! Where? When? Did you like it?
    Why were you there? I'm envious! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! I got my Complete Idiot's guide to Arranging and Orchestration. That was fast.

    ReplyDelete
  12. At the Library they figured out how to turn off the flow to the leaky pipe. So one large room will not be heated, but the rest of the space is fine. Fortunately the one large space has a gas fireplace. :-)

    So I'm off to work tomorrow. Would have been nice to have it off with the granddaughters here, but it's good that the Library is okay.

    Gotta get back to cleaning. They arrive in a couple hours. XOXOXXX

    ReplyDelete
  13. BTW, we have a wild nor'easter ensuing up here! I don't mind, generally speaking,
    except that my peeps will be driving over from Maine all evening.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Traveling mercies on those you love, listener.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What Puddle said.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Cat~

    I never had any trouble remembering that collective nouns are treated as singular in the US, as plural in Britain. What confused me for a long time was "which" and "that." In the US there is a strict rule that "which" is preceded by a comma and "that" is not, while in Britain the two words are effectively interchangeable. To this day I have to explicitly recall the rule to follow it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Appripos of something Bill said on the last thread: Our furnace doesn't work without electricity. So, when the power goes out during the winter, it gets pretty nippy around here.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm not sure how to translate "pretty nippy," but it can easily be below zero around here. An Eskimo I'm not, nor do I have Eskimo clothing handy.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Part three of my ongoing wish to have heat backup is coming soon: the wood stove. Have electric heaters, propane, and. . . I've had the double insulated pipe and the stove for years, but the room they go in has pretty much been a storage room till this summer. Doubt it's going to be in this winter, but soon. . . She sez. . . . The stove is OLD, but I'm fond of it. Doesn't stop me flirting with the Jøtul fairy, lol!

    ReplyDelete