Sunday, August 07, 2011

Grapevine

31 comments:

  1. Wow! Hepsters are first! 66 comments on the last thread.

    That HD fella is first too. 8-)

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  2. Neat picture, listener.

    I just composed a post about how I'm fairly certain that Howard would understand my wanting to make Brady first tonight. There was quite a bit more to the comment, and I copied it to the clipboard before clicking "post".

    But the post got eaten, and the clipboard only had the first couple lines of it for some reason. And at this point (Hi, Cat) it's not a "first" post anyway.

    Will have to reconstruct that comment in the morning.

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  3. Howard would understand, and we do too, Renee. Thank you for sharing Brady with us.

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  4. I got my old aluminum slide rule cleaned up, but when I reassembled it an aluminum machine screw that allows one to adjust the slide tension broke off in the nut. The other one is stuck in the nut and can't be tightened. I think I can get replacements, and drill out the old ones. Two good plastic rules, the American one that replaces my stolen one, and the German one, are cleaned and working well. (Being leery of attempting to adjust the tension, I lubricated each with a bit of paraffin from a candle.) Tomorrow I plan to work on a good Japanese slide rule, bamboo with engraved celluloid facing. Another of the same material should arrive on Monday. Sometime I will also probably work on reconditioning the leather cases. (Saddle soap, leather conditioner, neutral shoe polish.)

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  5. Global leaders race to stem panic over US credit rating downgrade
    Finance ministers from G7 countries hold urgent talks to try to prevent loss of confidence in world's biggest economy
    Toby Helm, Nils Pratley and Tania Branigan
    guardian.co.uk, Saturday 6 August 2011 19.12 BST

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/06/europe-g7-us-credit-rating-debt

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  6. Last night I heard this "boom boom" sound from outside, but was unable to check it out right away. Son called down and asked if I heard it, and I said yeah. I thought it sounded like a fairly regular pattern, so I guessed fireworks rather than thunder. Demetrius, who initially couldn't hear us over the air conditioner in the office, was guessing fireworks too, but shortly thereafter decided it probably was thunder, and suggested I bring the dogs in.

    They were already waiting at the bottom of the stairs by the back porch. Brady can normally handle those three stairs without help, but he tends to pace back and forth a bit first. I think he needs that "walking start", especially if he's been sleeping for a while.

    But I'm guessing Winnie heard the thunder, and the resulting commotion woke Brady up. (Winnie's presence to "tip him off" is the reason we had no idea how deaf Brady was becoming for quite a while--until a time I was staying at my brother's place with Brady, but Winnie was back home in Columbus.)

    Anyway, last night when I opened the back door, Brady tried to follow Winnie into the house, but tumbled backwards off the stairs--probably because he had not been up long enough to feel steady on his feet. Of course I helped him into the house. I ended up NOT going out anywhere last night. And Brady doesn't seem any the worse for wear this morning.

    After I let him into the yard for one more potty break last night, Brady walked back and forth several times, but had second thoughts every time he approached the stairs. Fortunately, I've gotten pretty adept at scooping up the tall, gangly collie and lifting him up those stairs when necessary.

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  7. You're building up good karma, Renee.

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  8. You're right, Renee. I should have made Brady first. Sorry for my insensitivity.

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  9. Nah, it wasn't insensitive at all. But computers are frustrating.

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  10. What a good, brave boy!!!

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  11. Bill Thomasson8/07/2011 03:38:00 PM

    I never noticed that "next" at the bottom of the page. One reason was that Penny's sister and brother-in-law were over for dinner. Nice conversation with people we only see once every other year, but they didn't leave until 10. That didn't leave a lot of time to catch up on both e-mail and blog before the witching hour, and I guess I never quite scrolled down to the bottom of the page. And by the time I was ready to post about seeing them, the 11 o'clock hour had already struck. (I continue to wish we could set the witching hour to something more in keeping with most blogsters' wake-sleep cycles.)

    On one of the topics from late yesterday: The US political system, with its strong, directly elected Chief Executives, inherently requires a two-party system. A third party may end up replacing one of the previous two, although that last happened in 1856. Or it may gain enough strength to, in efefct, capture one of the two major parties. That's what the Free Silver Party did. And that's what the Tea Party briefly looked like it may be able to do, although at the moment it looks like they have seriously overplayed their hand. Other recent third parties have either been focussed around one specific candidate or have had too diffuse support to exert much influence.

    Cat ~~ Some bloggers manage to bring in a semi-decent income from advertising. Not easy to build up traffic to the critical point, though. A couple of decades ago I would have suggested a newspaper column, but that's fading into the past.

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  12. Bill Thomasson8/07/2011 03:49:00 PM

    I think they are seriously overreacting. The action by Standard & Poor's was not entirely unexpected and it was not joined by the other two ratings agencies. (If it had been, something approaching panic might have been in order.) But reading the story it becomes clearer why the Europeans are concerned: They see this as tying into their own, still unresolved, debt problems.

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  13. This is interesting and possibly relevant:

    http://beta.wosu.org/capturecolumbus/wheelchair-gives-local-dog-a-new-lease-on-life/

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  14. Oops, sorry about that. The little green dragon is back now.

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  15. Bill, unfortunately you're right about the newspapers.

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  16. That's neat! There were a couple of dogs with wheel "carts" in DC near where I worked in the 80's ~~ but they didn't look near as comfy as that one.

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  17. Hallo all. My heart goes out to Brady even as our Emma-cat is slowly becoming more unstable with her walking. =Sigh= A blessing on all elderly pets tonight. =^. .^=

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  18. So, we're home from our dinner with the Bride's parents. We feel it went very well indeed. Nice food, nice conversation, lots of laughter.

    But, hey, do you recall my frustration last week when I picked up my dress for the wedding? Well, the plot thickens. Turns out the Bride's dress is not yet ready. Turns out she's using the same seamstress I did. Uh oh.

    Remember how I waited many months to choose my dress for the wedding until the Bride's mother chose first, so I'd know what length dress and what colour she'd first chosen? Well, last week she decided to get a different dress in a different colour.

    And, she too is waiting for her dress alterations to be done...by the very same seamstress...!

    It's gonna be an interesting week. Ha!

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  19. Long mild day. Bit of rain near noon. Nice, but not enough. We need days of rain by now. A hurricane tail or sumpin.

    Rick's off to his daughter's in Montana, so no call. Boo, hiss.

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  20. Awww, the Groom just asked his Mom if she'd be willing to do a Mother-Son dance at the wedding. The Mom definitely said Yes. :-)

    Check this out. The song we'll be dancing to is "If I had a Balloon"
    Go to:
    http://www.joshuapanda.com/music/what-we-have-sewn/
    and click on the first song.

    The person who wrote it is Josh Panda, and since he is a very close friend of the Groom, he and his band are playing the wedding (before they leave for their European tour), and Josh is going to be singing this as we dance. I listened to the song and, sap that I am, I cried! My youngest is getting married this Saturday and it's starting to settle in with me very sweetly. ♥♥

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  21. Brady is always first! And he's gorgeous!

    {{{ Renee! }}}

    How, oh how, did you imbed the photo of Brady into our post on the last thread?!

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  22. Thanks, Cat. Didn't get a chance to check the link yet, but on sites about degenerative myelopathy, I've read about all sorts of solutions people turn to. Demetrius and I have both been of the mind that Brady would be freaked out by any sort of cart. There's something called the "Bottoms Up" leash that my mom got for us. I tried it once for walking him up the steps to our deck--probably didn't have it on him just right--and it didn't go too well. I may try it again at some point, but so far what seems to work best is just to tune in and see what sort of help he needs from me at a given time.


    Thankfully, Brady's physical decline in this area has been slow enough that it's not really keeping him from doing stuff he wants to do. He's my old man (13 years is getting up there for a collie) who likes to take long naps. Lately, I'm just making extra sure those naps happen indoors, where there's air conditioning. Once he's asleep he doesn't necessarily notice that it's too hot outside.

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  23. Under the row of smileys there are two links--one for "add images" and one for "follow". I clicked the add images one, browsed my computer for what I wanted, typed my commment and clicked "post".

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  24. Good grief! Let's hope, if nothing else, the seamstress doesn't make the bride flatchested!

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  25. Be brave, Puddle. I know it's gonna be lonesome. *hug*

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  26. I've seen the doggy "wheelchairs." There was a dog on our street that needed one for a while, a while back. All better now, getting around the normal way.

    We got a lot done today--weeding, spraying aphids and residual weeds, shopping, printing disc labels, cleaning swimming pool, haircut for me, laundry, made bed, had pizza, etc. Etc. included managing to get the old broken/frozen nuts and bolts out of my old aluminum slide rule. One I could just punch out; the other I worried a slot into the very low rounded head of the nut with a coping saw (without any collateral damage!). then got the two apart with a pair of screwdrivers--a close thing it was--and punched out the nut. A fellow in Ohio will fix me up with replacements gratis if he has them--can't be sure until he sees them because the manufacturer used two different sizes. Now for a little work on a side job, a touch of a certain famous alpine herbal remedy (from Montana, as it happens), and some further relaxation.

    And listener, YOU HAVE A GREAT TIME AT THE WEDDING!!!

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  27. Awh, listener. *hug*

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  28. Wouldyoubelieve I've used that at other blogs but NEVER NOTICED we have that capability here?!!

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  29. ROFLMEO!!!!!! LOLOLOL!!!

    Thanks, Cat. I needed that.

    But, YEAH, let's hope!!

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  30. Turns out that when my Mac shows me our page it often doesn't show the bottom of the screen. I have to scroll down to see it. Never realised that before.

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