Today has been pretty quiet, but I got some laundry done and even got on the exercise bike and did some yoga -- something I haven't gotten my butt around to doing for a few weeks. Time once again to get back into that routine. It rained off and on this morning and afternoon, so I just hung around the house, surfing the Web, watching some TV and finishing the sheep mystery (it was pretty, goo, too. Maybe more on that later).
Yesterday, it was much hotter, but I spent part of the day at the Habitat for Humanity house under construction here. I hadn't been there since the first time -- I had to work one week and had some lousy headaches the other weeks. Since I'd been there, they'd finished up framing the exterior walls and two of the upstairs bedrooms, put on the trusses, had plywood sheeting and that plastic-type stuff (moisture barrier?) on the exterior walls, and then Saturday were starting on the roof. There were more people there this time, too, even a couple of guys who do construction for a living, so I'm sure that helped. A few guys were on the roof, putting on plywood sheets and I joined a couple who were working on the soffit. Again, I'm not sure I was all that much help since I can't seem to pound a nail straight, so I ended up holding a lot things, helping measure, etc. The impressive thing is I spent most of the time on scaffolding, and I have a fear of heights (although it's not so much the height I'm afraid of -- it's the landing!). I was there about four hours before it just started getting too hot for me. I don't know if I'll go next week. If they're going to be doing roofing stuff, I'd rather avoid that, but maybe if there's some work going on inside the house I could help out. We'll see.
That's about all the excitement from here. Try not to be envious of me.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
What I'm reading
Wow, didn't realize how long it had been since my last post. I have some things going on, but not really something I care to put out on the Web right now. Maybe later.
I have been doing a lot reading, so maybe I'll discuss that. One of the recent books I read was Flesh and Bone. Not a good book to read on your lunch hour. It's actually written by two guys, one of whom is the founder of the (real) Body Farm, a research facility in Tennesse where they study the decomposition of bodies. The forensics in this was VERY desecriptive (hence the warning about lunch) and that stuff was interesting. The rest of the book was just kind of *eh*. I really didn't care for the relationship stuff and, really, did we need a detailed descripton and/or the history of EVERY street the main character drove on?
I've also read the two books in Jasper Fforde's "Nursery Crimes" series, The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear. These were great, if you like a mystery with some humor in it. Or if you just like something a bit absurd, a bit along the lines of Douglas Adams' Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy series (hmmm ... Jasper Fforde ... Ford Prefect?). If you don't remember much about nursery rhymes, though, a lot of the books will be over your head.
Right now, I'm reading a mystery that is also a bit unusual. Three Bags Full is about the murder of an Irish shepherd, told from the point of view of the detectives ... his sheep. Very smart sheep. So far it's very entetaining, and the sheep are already putting the clues together. Even if they don't necessarily know what a "clue" is.
That's about it for now. Later.
I have been doing a lot reading, so maybe I'll discuss that. One of the recent books I read was Flesh and Bone. Not a good book to read on your lunch hour. It's actually written by two guys, one of whom is the founder of the (real) Body Farm, a research facility in Tennesse where they study the decomposition of bodies. The forensics in this was VERY desecriptive (hence the warning about lunch) and that stuff was interesting. The rest of the book was just kind of *eh*. I really didn't care for the relationship stuff and, really, did we need a detailed descripton and/or the history of EVERY street the main character drove on?
I've also read the two books in Jasper Fforde's "Nursery Crimes" series, The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear. These were great, if you like a mystery with some humor in it. Or if you just like something a bit absurd, a bit along the lines of Douglas Adams' Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy series (hmmm ... Jasper Fforde ... Ford Prefect?). If you don't remember much about nursery rhymes, though, a lot of the books will be over your head.
Right now, I'm reading a mystery that is also a bit unusual. Three Bags Full is about the murder of an Irish shepherd, told from the point of view of the detectives ... his sheep. Very smart sheep. So far it's very entetaining, and the sheep are already putting the clues together. Even if they don't necessarily know what a "clue" is.
That's about it for now. Later.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
A new look
So you can see what I've been busy with today.
It was a rainy afternoon, so I started messing around on the computer, and finally got around to finishing a redesign I started awhile back. The maze symbol is a Hopi symbol representing the rebirth from one world to another. I first came across it about 15 years ago, reading Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon, his account of a cross-country trip where he avoided major highways, following those roads that appeared on the maps as blue lines. In Utah, he met a Hopi college student, and explains the maze like this:
I guess it just struck me at the time because I was trying to figure out who I was and realizing what a twisted journey life can be. So when the book jacket slipped off and I saw the embossed maze on the cover underneath, I grabbed a piece of paper and made a pencil rubbing. I've kept that all these years, pinned to a bulletin board, and thought it would make a great symbol to go along with the blog title. A little bit of Photoshop work, and it's a nice graphic element.
Anyway, that's the new look.
Today is Independence Day in the U.S., and I've just been relishing my independence from work today, doing not much of anything. Well, I did throw in a load of laundry, and worked a bit in the garden before it started raining. Dad was going to come over for grilled hot dogs and then a trip into town to see the big fireworks show, but he wasn't feeling well this afternoon. So I made myself a hotdog dinner, worked on the blog some more and listened to all the fireworks going off around the neighborhood. I'm not sure I'll go into town for the show. There's a heck of a lot of traffic to deal with, and I do have to work tomorrow. Sounds like there will be quite a show here anyway, so I'll probably just sit out in the yard and watch.
Happy Fourth, everyone!
It was a rainy afternoon, so I started messing around on the computer, and finally got around to finishing a redesign I started awhile back. The maze symbol is a Hopi symbol representing the rebirth from one world to another. I first came across it about 15 years ago, reading Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon, his account of a cross-country trip where he avoided major highways, following those roads that appeared on the maps as blue lines. In Utah, he met a Hopi college student, and explains the maze like this:
It's lines represent the course a person follows on his "road of life" as he passes through birth, death, rebirth. Human existence is essentially a series of journeys, and the emergence symbol is a kind of map of the wandering soul, an image in process; but is also, like most Hopi symbols and ceremonies, a reminder of cosmic patterns that all human beings move in.
I guess it just struck me at the time because I was trying to figure out who I was and realizing what a twisted journey life can be. So when the book jacket slipped off and I saw the embossed maze on the cover underneath, I grabbed a piece of paper and made a pencil rubbing. I've kept that all these years, pinned to a bulletin board, and thought it would make a great symbol to go along with the blog title. A little bit of Photoshop work, and it's a nice graphic element.
Anyway, that's the new look.
Today is Independence Day in the U.S., and I've just been relishing my independence from work today, doing not much of anything. Well, I did throw in a load of laundry, and worked a bit in the garden before it started raining. Dad was going to come over for grilled hot dogs and then a trip into town to see the big fireworks show, but he wasn't feeling well this afternoon. So I made myself a hotdog dinner, worked on the blog some more and listened to all the fireworks going off around the neighborhood. I'm not sure I'll go into town for the show. There's a heck of a lot of traffic to deal with, and I do have to work tomorrow. Sounds like there will be quite a show here anyway, so I'll probably just sit out in the yard and watch.
Happy Fourth, everyone!
Butterfly weed
butterflywd.JPG
Originally uploaded by junogle.
After about five years of trying, I finally got some butterfly weed to grow. It's a native prairie plant, so you wouldn't think it would be that hard to do. Ironically, it's growing under a tree instead of under the hot prairie sun. I'll take it.
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