First?

JA, what need to know most importantly, however, is whether you have cleared this with Murdoch.

SCC: "we" after what.

I have to confess I've considered a Ferris wheel. A small one, but just big enough to be seen by employees of Vast Financial Concern a mile away. (Fortunately 1.2M sq ft of office space can be obscured by trees!) But I'm concerned about maintenance.

And a carousel. That would be cool. Even if it just sits still.

"Anyway, the New Guy wants me to blog about stuff that's coming up in Outlook (my current assignment, until someone kicks my can further down the road), and so you might want to look tomorrow for a preview (if I get around to it!!) of what you can read in the paper Sunday."

So, New Guy wants coherence? And is this the place for it?

What, when Gonzo Blogging (yes, I know that's redundant) is working so well?

bc

Meant to add; I'm happy to hear that Yoki and Cassandra got the all-clear signals.

bc

Joel there is enough predictability in the world - we need more random gibberish etc.

Linda LOo, *pep talk* was tongue-in-cheek*

I agree it was all photo op.

"JoelWorld" isn't bad, but I think I like "Six Flags Over Achenbach" better. Just sayin'.

Isn't Hal the Schemer essentially an IT guy? You're taking advice from an IT guy?

And you already HAVE a gimmick: you've got the only oasis of civility and pleasant discourse (except when I'm on a rant) on the Internet. AND you've got a loyal following who generally abjure poop jokes and discussions about spontaneously expelling femine products, unlike some humorists I could name. Doesn't that count for something? (Granted, you've pretty much wrapped up the Geezer demographic, but that wasn'ty your fault; it's something that just happened. When the people on the vicious Mommyblog start buying Depends, it could all change in a hearbeat.)

Gimmicks. Jeez. Next thing ya know the Post will have a collection of Marc Fisher, Bob Woodward and Bart Gellman Bobbleheads. (Though I wouldn't object to a Dana Priest Action Figure, if you could get me one.)

I think the New Guy is missing the whole point of a blog. It's not to plug the Outlook section. Your blog is exactly right in tone, mix of topics, etc.

I'm having an anxiety attack.

The best story I ever read about the government telling people what they can/cannot do with their own trees was in the Sydney Morning Herald. When I told my dad about this story he said he thought it sounded like an urban legend and I can't find the article now, so this is just how I remember it and might be, as they say, apocryphal. But here's the story. A man had trees near his house and he was worried that one would blow over and land on his roof. He applied for a permit to cut them down. The permit was denied. He went to court, fought a lengthy legal battle, and finally got his permit. But before he had a chance to cut down the trees, one blew over, crashed through his roof and killed him.

*rapidly faxing Yoki a bottle of white zinfindel, a CP-baked rhubarb pie and putting a sounds of the sea CD in her CD player*

*and also faxing her this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=N2meOb_0qmg *

Thanks 'Mudge. I feel better now.

Here in Florida, we have the reverse problem with Australian pines (which aren't pines--they're flowering plants, just as that wind-pollinated oaks and hickories are). The things are not good for shorelines, don't attract birds, and are a bit too likely to blow over in storms. Not to mention that they spread. They're a noxious pest plant.

Anyway, people tend to love them. So park managers and such have to wait till something happens (like a hurricane), then bring out the chainsaws, fast.

The Melbourne Causeway, once lined with them, is finally getting lots of cabbage palms, salt-tolerant native trees, and such. Longboat Key has a charming park created from a former Australian pine grove--in a few years, it'll be mangroves everywhere. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (the south tip of Key Biscayne, just offshore from Miami) once was covered with Australian pines. Hurricane Andrew left the place looking as if a tornado had hit. So the park closed for quite a while and lots of native plants were installed. Today, it's become a big magnet for birds, both migrants and residents.

As for views, the grand house that's now the centerpiece of Miami's Montgomery Botanical Center (open to only to groups, and only by appointment) didn't have enough of a view to satisfy its original owner, Colonel Montgomery. So a big hole was blasted in the limestone Silver Bluff, Miami's only topography. Vandalism.

Is anyone along the Potomac planning a blast to improve the view?

important question: Will the new guy give us bold type and italics?

Yes, Joel, the New Guy is right. The Boodle is small and over the hill. You should be promoting the Achenbach Speed-Dating Party tomorrow night at some hot club in Georgetown.

So do you want to attract young lawyers or doctors?

The New Guy may ask you to blog about your Outlook column, but how's he gonna make us stay on topic? Delete any garden references? Establish filters on phrases like "sky report?" I second what Mudge said--this seems to be the only place to find civil discourse and polite exception-taking. Everything else is like the Mommy Blog ("snarking arriving in three...two...one").

*on-topic warning* I very much like the idea of being able to do whatever I want with my property. However, I also very much appreciate my HOA's ability to put the kibosh on things like the six-foot privacy fence my neighbor wanted to put in his front yard. In areas with significant human habitation, it's nice to know that there are some rules that exist for the general public good.

As for the guy's wanting to cut the trees because of his kids' nut allergies: don't nuts actually grow in some kind of protective shell? Shouldn't that prevent the tykes from nibbling on them?

Maybe if we could persuade Tyffanie to post more often, as well her friends, we'd skew a little younger?

Is "New Guy"'s first name "Effing"? I might know him; if it is, be warned - he's a complete bat-rastard.

Well, yea-ah. Like, whatever. Like, I've got this Keno parlor to run? OK? It was bad enough dealing with that old coot. You want me to hang around here? Get real, Yogi.

Is "New Guy"'s first name "Effing"? I might know him; if it is, be warned - he's a complete bat-rastard.

Is "New Guy"'s first name "Effing"? I might know him; if it is, be warned - he's a complete bat-rastard.

...but at least he doesn't post the same thing three times in two minutes.

I do have a child with off-the-meter deadly allergy problems. However, this assertion and causal claim stink. And I don't mean limberger. Very suspect. The cure is staying inside with high quality air conditioning, if the health condition is really of the deadly sort.

Wow. I am so on topic, I am.

Yoki -- talk about extreme gardening. I think that in the back you can have not only sea hollies but the even bluer Echinops ritro, with some sunflowers. You would have to start the sunflowers in a kitchen window, but they are nearly foolproof as a seed-start flower.

Ephimediums can work in dry shade, but not sure about your clime characters.......but the Chinook. I remember the Chinook Wind that scoured the top layer of skin off your face, when it started. By the time it warmed up, you would be red-raw on the cheeks, nose, and forehead. The cure then? Vaseline!

What about a zenish rock garden in the front? I think you could grow something beloved from your g-mother's Ontario days in a large pot in the sun. Treat a delphinum --tall, regal in purple robes -- to adoring petunias at her feet. They would be annuals and replaced each year.

You know the average age around here used to about 93. Then Sara got married, went on a honeymoon. Now the average age is closer to about 98.

Mathman

ps, if we leave Mudge out of the equation it prolly about 50. But I'm not an exclusionary kinda person, so 98 it stays...

Sorry, omni. It all happened because somebody told me to go skew myself.

skew the boodle, hahaha

Some weird waether here in DC: on Tuesday we had simultaneous storms to the east and weat travelling south. Yesterday a storm to the south of DC travelling east. Today it looks we'll get another storm passing by DC to the north. But I bet that tomorow DC will get swamped in the afternnon. Perfect, the one day of the week I walk home instead of taking the bus...

And the girl that got struck by lightning yesterday: I had read that she was 16. She was wating at the bus stop. It started to rain, and then she took cover under a tree. So sad.

gah, I proofed that three times fixing about four typos and yet still missed waether. There's the reason I have a lifetime SCC membership card.

Lemme see, Great Wall of China, Pyramids, Machu Pichu, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, Rideau Canal. Nope, no C&O Canal.
Look Joel, I'm sure your canal is very nice but until it acheives UN World Heritage status like The Great Wall of China or, say, the Rideau Canal here in Smith's Falls On. you shouldn't go throwing specious comparisons around. There's no need to over reach, nobody will think any less of your nice non- World Heritage status, tree denuded, canal thingy.

As for the New Guy tell him you'll cut and paste last week's Outlook, call it a retrospective and book some well earned time off.

Yoki, here is an online nursery in Alberta, plants are test for Zone 2!! I note I just planted a daylilly "Catherine Woodbury" that I saw listed elsewhere as OK for Zone 2.

http://www.parkland-perennials.com/h/about.php

Media is rethinking itself, due to shifting sands or tectonic plates (Hi Dooley). An early blogger, Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish at Time, found that he had to turn off the comments due to a number of distasteful, inflammatory, or coarse posts. I am not sure that what remains is a blog. Blogging, I believe, is defining itself as POST+COMMENT-STRINGS.

I think that the dynamic of what makes this comment-string series not only civil but also a kind of digital social networking merits study.

I wish that someone at the Post, say the ombudsperson, would reveal what the advert- numbers really mean. Is the Witchy Mommy blog "better" as an opinion blog because the comment strings are huge? I would love to be a fly on that wall; would like to lurk on other walls too. We are in a media revolution. Wonder where this will shake out.

Allergic to nuts, eh? How do they live with their dad?

Oh, he meant the OTHER kind of nuts.

I was going to ask why anyone would deliberately move to a plot of land filled with things to which their offspring were allergic. Then I thought of ragweed, poison ivy, etc. I suppose Nutty Developer is really just talking about mowing on a very large scale.

Wisdom of this choice aside, I have trouble applying the Americans with Disabilities Act to this situation. That prohibits discrimination based on disability. The Act covers employment, public government agency services and transportation, public accomodations and commercial facilities, and telecommunications. Most of these are clearly not relevant here. I suppose that he might be claiming a public accomodations violation, or a variation of a public agency services violation: the goverment's insistence that he keep trees on his property near a national park (a recreational activity) discriminates against his children's nut allergy disability.

Nope, I'm still having trouble seeing it. Billeverything? SonofCarl?

Another email from Son of G...

"Joel spelled Crape Myrtle wrong. Alert him as such, please. I haven't the balls to do so."

Canvass White married a Loomis, but the subject is the C&O Canal, not the Erie. Wonder what the status of the current Erie Canal is? I mean, are there issues in New York, as there appear to be with issues with the Maryland C&O?

Our local canal is such a tourist draw that city honchos are planning extensions to the north above the downtown and south as far as the missions that will take about a dozen or more years to complete--which will draw more Mexican restaurants, more trinket shops, more Mexican restaurants, bars, more Mexican restaurants, more river barges, more Mexican restaurants, high-priced hotels, more ethnic eateries, more parking lots. Did I mention more Mexican restaurants?

http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bio/canvas.htm

We are in the bull's-eye today. Rain bomb bursting overhead. Road closures and high-water rescues galore. No let up in sight.

This is from Ruth Reichl's Letter from the Editor in July's Gourmet magazine [somewhat edited for length]:

I sat down to write this letter on the day of the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards. As I sat there... part of my mind was worrying what to say in the event that the late David Halberstam won the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.

He was nominated for "The Boys of Saigon," which he wrote for our October 2006 issue. It was a stunning piece about a restaurant that he frequented while he was covering the war in Vietnam. It was one of those stories only David could have written, because it was not really about the restaurant at all. It was about the meaning of food in our lives, about the importance of breaking bread together even in the most terrible of times.

Thinking of the story, I suddenly had an image of the first time I met David...he discovered I was about to become the editor of Gourmet. "Is it true?" he asked me. And when I said yes, he said that he had a few ideas for articles and wondered if I would consider giving him an assignment.

This was sort of like having Babe Ruth call to ask if it would be OK if he joined your team. Or having Arthur Rubinstein suggest that he might like to sit in with your band.

omni | Wouldn't it be better if we used the boodlers median age. We'd get a lower result because 'Mudge could be discounted as an outliar.

Our little city is attempting to plan and build a walking/biking trail from the school on the north end of town, south to the store (approx. 1 mile) and beyond to a trailhead at the Laurentian Divide (another 4 miles). As mayor, and one of the people involved in the citizens' group that got the ball rolling to get a planning grant, I am extremely grateful that we don't have any rich people in search of owning the forest/views to deal with. We are well on our way to having easements granted by all the property owners on three different proposed routes for the whopping sum of $bupkis.

It may have been paternalistic and self serving, but I miss noblesse oblige and smothering class expectations. Do not disabuse me of the fantasy that there once was a time when someone of great social standing, if not wealth, could have looked down her nose and brought Snyder and Nut Man up short without resorting to legal action.

I've been storm tracking on AccuWeather radar and watching alternately the Capitol and Union Station on this webcam: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/dc/metrosquare/

And I've noticed two things:

1) That AccuWeather is in some kind of alternate universe. According to AccuWeather it should be raining right about now, but it isn't, and looking west I don't see anything off in the distance that looks like and approaching storm.

2) The Capitol appears to be in an alternate universe as well: The one flag in view on the east side off the building shows the wind blowing from east to west, while three flags visible on the west side of the build show the wind blowing from west to east.

???

omni... we earlier had rain in the back yard but not in the front.

It is now raining downtown at the Capitol, but Bethesda remains dry...so maybe it's Bethesda in an alternate universe

You know, if there are any of the offending trees on that guy's property, he can fence them off from his kids [sidebar--are they old enough to know better? If not, they better not be running out there by themselves anyhow]. Does he keep his kids from going to parties where (gasp) NUTS might be served as snacks? This is just carrying RHIP too far. For what he probably paid for the land and house, he could buy a whole section out in Kansas and never have to worry about any nut trees!

Loomis, last year the Erie/NY Canals waived the fees for Boats in an effort to boost travel on the system. It was such a success that the fees have been waived again this year. Finally, a topic I actually know a little something about.

http://www.nyscanals.gov/

Omni, our state Capitol building, which is an extremely large square granite block (with a lovely dome), acts as its very own wind tunnel. The winds whip continually around it, apparently from all directions. In winter, if you happen to approach it from the south, with a 25-mile per hour north wind (not infrequent here), you might, if you didn't know better, sigh with relief that you had just come in the lee of a big wind block. Nope. That north wind turns into some sort of east-west thing which keeps on whipping until you get in the door. The flags on the north and south plazas fly in apparently random directions.

>The Capitol appears to be in an alternate universe as well

omni, it took a weather report for you to figure that out?!?!?!?!

Ivansmom, the problem is that Pearson has now set the bar so low as to what someone can assert that this seems almost plausible. No expert on the ADA but would be glad to put money down that that is not a winning argument given the facts.

The guy's bluffing.

Outliar? OUTLIAR???? Moi? Are you questioning the accuracy, the honesty, indeed, the INTEGRITY of my historical reminiscences???? *Umbrage meter firewalls the peg, breaks restraint, climbs into whole new range of previously undiscovered digits predicted by Godel's Theorem and Fig's Newton)*

Outliar, indeed. Mayhaps I shall have to take my custom elsewhere, my good man. Good day to you, sir!

Raining here, too. Oops, now the sun just came out. It's been very confusing here.

Hey, after three weeks we just got our phones! Yes! It's so exciting. I just programmed speed dial numbers to home and Mrs. Mudge, plus an 800 number I'd prefer you folks didn't know about (I have a way with women. It's very expensive, but it's a way.) (OK, old Rodney Dangerfield joke, but I like it.)

dmd, you know about more than canals and boating. That nursery site is amazing. Thank you.

I love this Boodle. First Joel tries to put the fear of New Guy into us, and we respond, and then within a few minutes we're back to business as usual. Excellent.

Rather than cutting the trees the moron should teach his kids not to eat everything they find outside the house. Especially if they have a dog.
Reminds me of a crazy woman who petitioned the local and provincial guvmint for the mandatory eradication of milkweed(Asclepias) on the basis the plant is poisonous (like a million other plants I should add). The toxicity of Asclepias makes the monarch butterfly (and the hummingbird clearwing moth) which love Asclepias nectar a poor eating choice for the birds and they know it.

Boko, don't gloat too much. Unlike the C&O water drainage facility our Canal may be World Heritage worthy but we have doo-doo heads cutting the trees right down to the edge too. Unfortunately.

Ivansmom, your comment in the last kit about bloodletting, I am sorry to say, I found quite amusing. It sounded so "lawyerly", if that is a word.

Mudge, you summed it up pretty good in the last kit.

And we have a new guy, the Schemer is gone. We have to behave, and stay on topic. I don't know about that with this crowd. Sounds like a nice dream.

Ivansmom, I talked to my grandsons for two seconds, but I said the three most important words in the English language, I love you. I am hoping I will see them soon.

My grandfather never met a tree he didn't want to take an axe to. The man could not tolerate trees, and I never understood why. Sometimes tree are a hazard. There is an exceptionally large oak tree near my mobile home that will either fall on my mobile home or the house close to it. Some of the roots are on top of the ground. It's an old tree, been through many hurricanes.

bill everything, that song by Arethea Franklin, You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, is my all-time favorite. To this day, I cannot hear that song without thinking of those long ago days living in DC. That song woke me up in the mornings. I did not know Carole King wrote that song.

It's raining and the sun is shining. Thus is weather in the mountains. We're up for a long weekend. I brought the fuchsia from home and will leave it here, in the hopes it will thrive as it hasn't in the hot and humid Piedmont.

Mudge, glad to hear that your office has telephones again. We've been without at home for a week and still have a week to go. Mr. T fell for an ad pitch to change service but when I got into it, I knew it wouldn't work, so I made him go back to BellSouth. Service is not expected to be restored until July 5. I have not missed it at all. :-)

Don't worry about being an outlier. You know, your being 900 years old really does mess up our average. We'll keep it quiet till the New Guy figures out we're the best thing on the Internet and leaves us alone.

I can't believe anything thinks Joel needs a gimmick. Joel's unique talent and the boodle should be enough for any IT person. Not to say the whole Washington Post Company.

I wouldn't call staying on topic a 'nice dream', more like a waking nightmare!

Does this mean we are going to have to stay on topic? What's going to happen to Global Warming Tuesday, Science Thursday? What about cow jokes kits? Maybe if I faxed the new guy a doily? Or maybe some legumes?

When we lived in the deep south (Hanna, Alberta - as open as Brooks)a fellow retired to town, and moved into a house on our block. Nice house and the previous owners did a lot of work on the landscaping. The new guy cut down all the trees. They got in his way and he could not see anything. I can understand this from a person who grew up and lived his entire life in a place as devoid of trees as southern Alberta, not agree with it, but I do understand. He was pilloried by the community.

The rich folk are really missing the point. They choose to live in a forest but the view of the forest isn't good enough? Then why'd they move to the forest? Seems this fellow is not nearly 'short sighted' enough. The town of Hanna is always open to the 'long view'.

You want open, go to the prairies, you want trees, build in the forest. The world just doesn't need more landscapes from a can.

Yoki, we used to be neighbours. I lived in the shadow of Nose Hill, just across from the research park. There was only one small subdivision up there when we lived in Calgary. It makes me a wee bit sad to see the hill closed in on all sides now. Yeah, you will have a wind problem up there. The trees grew naturally only in the valley for a reason.

Well, dr, those rich homeowners can't see their forest for the trees!

Sorry.

It is sad to see Nose Hill surrounded (though of course, I'm guilty). But I'm delighted it exists at all, and should do for as long as can be foreseen. Without it, we wouldn't have the deer and coyotes we do, and I value them. And it is where we run the dogs, of course.

I remember once moving to a new house a couple miles away and one day we rode our bikes back to the old neighborhood to hang with our old friends. The old house had these evergreen shrubs in front of the house that were trimmed just below the windows. The new owner chopped them all down and planted grass. I said to my friends 'I can't believe I used to live in such an ugly house.' Nobody like the new neighbors because they uglified the entire block. This house was the outside corner and could be seen down either side of the block.

Kornheiser back in the news giving expert opinion Re the hot dog eating champ.

Fair use from SFGate.com

No less an expert than Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser, on his ESPN show "Pardon The Interruption," suggested Kobayashi was trying to lull Chestnut into lowering his guard.

"I think he's playing possum," Kornheiser said.

Our house is right where the E is in E White Ln. Click an Aerial Image in the upper right of the map. Then zoom in to level 14 (third button dow from the plus sign on the left of the map).

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=5200+white+lane&city=lawrence&state=in&zipcode=

It appears to me there is giant tree just south of the house than obscures its position. And that pipsqueak of a tree in the center of the back, wow. twenty some years...WOW

Is it morally acceptable to tap into somebody else's unsecured wireless router? You, know, should you encounter not just one, but, in fact, two unsecured networks in a Myrtle Beach Condo Development?

I mean, hypothetically speaking.

Hi, RD! Hypothetically, of course. I'm glad to see you took the hypothetical computer along on vacation, just in case. I tap into an unsecured link run by the OK gummint here. Oh wait, I'm probably on some sort of list now. . . good thing we can't afford black helicopters.

Good going, RD. I think you're fine unless you decide to hack into their network, too.

Yoki & CP,
Parkland Perennials' plant list is a lot like what'll grow in the milder climates of Wyoming. I had great success with asiatic hybrid lilies in Cody, and a colleague did fine with them in Fairbanks. Irises are fairly bulletproof, and I tried peonies (herbaceous, not tree). Of course some of the best Wyoming perennials were local: the yellow columbine that thrives in the Absarokas was quite happy in yards. Methinks Penstemons would be happy, too.

I figure it's okay unless I download large amount of stuff or go to inappropriate sites or anything.

Can you imagine the extent of my wife's delight at this development.

>Is it morally acceptable to tap into somebody else's unsecured wireless router?

If it's unsecured it's their problem. I'd go with "they're being good neighbors decently sharing their line".

If they give you a hard time, you send in the choppers.

RD... just tell her you're surfing porn.

Yoki -- some gardening ideas ganged together from buddies here at
http://minxterbloom.squarespace.com/journal/

Dave of the Coonties has great ideas for the sonny back forty acres...I assume, this is dog romp territory, right?

RD, do the lagomorphs travel with you? I have visions of small sunglasses, small beachside chaise longues, and small pitchers of mojitos. Matched by your own, of course.

You're just checking Net availability for the inevitable rainy day. At least it would be inevitable were you here.

CP, dmd, dr, other friends, that is an overwhelming blog post. Thank you! I'm truly touched and thrilled.

Absolutely yes to irises, and to monkshood, I see both in my neighbours beds.

"Is it morally acceptable to tap into somebody else's unsecured wireless router?"

moral scruples. sigh. yet another reason...

How about is it morally acceptable to "anticipate a death", One day, the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Bush said during a question-and-answer session at the U.S. Naval War College here.

I have to say I have never understood the US stance re Cuba & Castro - to me it always seemed terribly overblown.

One day, the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Bush said during a question-and-answer session at the U.S. Naval War College here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062801321.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Missing link above.

Oh my!

http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/06/28/news/lake_county/docacbddb4106287610862573080002ba8c.txt

Cruel, TBG, just down right cruel.

Notes for you Yoki at Minxterblooms.

dr... we killed it. *sob*

TBG -- 'twas the flower references between Yoki, DR, and me. Bloomicide in the Boodle. Or, if you prefer: DR with the Monkshood on the garden patio.

We are deeply ashamed. AND very sorry to the little man behind the curtain who wants us to behave according to blogosphere norms.

Mom always said don't eat the Monkshood!!!

TBG, I saw your link just before I left work - for a brief nanosecond I felt true joy - before it was ripped cruely away :-)

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/merkin

Wow, killed pretty good there. OR maybe its the new guy conspiring to whip us into shape, make us toe the line.

He's good.

I should have just posted my comment over here, and really started something. It mihgt have been lamiumstorm of 07.

TBG, my mind went blank there for a second.

Its only mostly dead.

Hello all!!
Good afternoon/evening whatever it is. I live about 4 miles from the C&O canal as the crow flies(caw caw,where ya been sevenswans). The Paw Paw tunnel is the closest drive. The tunnel is great about 2/3 a mile long(take a flashlight when walking it). It is cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Beautiful waterfalls are at the other end.

I would love to bike from Cumberland to Georgetown someday!

The boodle's not dead yet.

In fact, I've heard it feels like dancing.

RD, I'm with Error.

I mean, if they were playing the radio loudly on the porch you could enjoy that too, right?

> In fact, I've heard it feels like dancing.

Aye, and to an Irish reel no less.

..."Conscience Of My Generation concept" has already been copyrighted by Willie Demps of the Detroit Thugs. Good try, tho.

Joel's description of his dream yard reminds me of my Maternal Grandfather. For Grandpa had a brilliantly creative mind unsullied by any sense of aesthetic restraint. (Think Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi on mild hallucinogenics.) In his backyard, Grandpa built a cunningly complicated series of synthetic streams and waterfalls culminating in a frighteningly ornate goldfish pond surrounded by little hand painted gnomes. These artificial waterways bordered a croquet course illuminated by dozens of cleverly hidden colored lights. Interspersed were various riding toys for his grandchildren, including my personal favorite, the rocking zebra. And lest one think he lacked a sense of the pragmatic, he included a telephone hidden within a tree trunk.

At one point in my life I sought to emulate this man. But I married a far, far, less tolerant woman. Plus, of course, I am burdened by a Home Owners Association with absolutely no sense of humor. The only way I snuck in the grape trellis with the innovative flying buttress construction inspired by the Cathedral of Notre Dame, (the resemblance is subtle) was through the clever strategy of "accidentally" forgetting to apply for approval.

This technique, alas, didn't work when it came time to put on a new roof. I think they were on to me. (I suspect the miniature schnauzer owned by our neighbor may, in fact, be a paid informant.) In any case, well before the first workman could set up a ladder, I received a very legal-looking document insisting I submit the contractor proposal for HOA validation. The HOA members approached their task with a seriousness normally associated with the construction of breeder reactors. (Yes, we understand your facility will be creating fissionable plutonium. But, more importantly, what color will the shingles be?)

Still, one area of my property is sacrosanct, even from the otherwise omnipotent HOA. Trees. And although I have removed one or two that had become severely damaged by lightning, I take my responsibility to the trees seriously. I would never gratuitously remove trees like some billionaire entrepreneurs I could name. For to denude the land in that way seems to be a serious insult to all of us who really bought into that whole "Lorax" guilt trip thing. And although I don't believe in Karma, I do like to think that the universe will find a way to fight back. I like to imagine that Dan Snyder will one day discover that he has inadvertently built upon an ancient burial ground containing many vengeful spirits. All with socialistic tendencies.

CP - Nah, the rabbits hate the beach. To hard to comb out the sand. They are being visited by a very nice neighbor who has promised to let them out to hop about several times this week. In return we watch his elderly dog whenever he and his wife go out of town.

We are friendly folk 'round my neighborhood. Nary a potential cannibal in sight.

And although I was gripped with momentary guilt over tapping into someones wireless router, I figure no harm no foul. I'm not costing them a dime, and the overhead in bandwidth seems pretty insignificant.

Besides, these *oh so fascinating* posts are a public service, right? Right?

Clearly I have become crazed by the sun.

(And crushin' lurker - you literally made me blush.)

RD -- your grandfather must have been part wizard. How utterly charming for children one to 99. This reminds me of a more pietical installation by a very devote Italian family from the Dolomites. Every year at Christmas we could come to the backyard grotto to see scenes from the Glorious Mysteries in the Rosary cycle: stone statuary places in complex mortered grottos, complete with plantings. Off to the side was an incomplete set of dwarves with Snow White. I believe the set was from Germany since the large stone sign read, "Schnee Witchen" or something close. We ate the seven-fish dinner there, one Christmas Eve, after my father doctored their teen grandson through a bad case of tetanus, aka lockjaw.

When Martooni is inclined we could request fairy doors
http://www.fairydoor.com/fairygallery.htm

But instead of fairy-fied words, we should request such labels as

Plutonium Storage
TinFoil Hat Factory
Mudge's Dungeon
Padouk's Grotto and Pergola
EF, Undertakers to GHogs

Public service indeed RD. That description of your grandfather's garden sounds positively magical -- and I'm not usually a fan of garden gnomes. I think I'm beguiled by the hidden colored lights and labyrinthine waterways.

Of course, around here, every ditch, path and animal trail is a waterway. Did I mention it is raining?

I'm sort of glad to hear the rabbits have the run of the place while you're gone, though it is hard to give up that picture of blissful bunny ease. They're probably at the microwave popcorn right now, figuring out what's on TV.

Grandpa G (No relation TBG) was an amazing man. Despite very little formal education, and a hard life as a Depression-era Okie, he made a good life for himself, his wife, and his four children. I still remember his backyard as a wonderfully magical place indeed.

And regarding the rabbits. I just hope they don't go and mess up all my computer bookmarks again. I just hate that.

RD,

The description of your grandfathers back yard exploits is absolutely a public service. You should consider buying my house, because I have the yard for that for sure. No homeowners association anywhere near it.

And there would still be space for a carousel.

RD's foray into Peter Ackroyd, with Shakespeare's biography, inspired me to dip into some of our Ackroyd library. After two works of (more or less) fiction, I've finally tackled his "London", which is a biography of the city of London. I'm on the chapter talking about the languages of London, and in particular East Saxon, which became Cockney, which has survived pretty much in its current form since the sixteenth century. He gives lots of fun examples and it is really good reading. The book is huge, but each chapter is relatively brief and you don't notice how much you're reading. Not good beach reading, though, as it is very hard to lift.

So I'm sittin' there about 20 minutes ago, pushing a piece of sliced peach around my plate and watching the Colbert Report when a commercial comes on for Dentyne gum. And like the vast majority of youth market ads it was geared toward teens and young 20-somethings, hip and chic and cool, and always having spontaneous fun, of course. And then right in the middle of the ad there's...a lesbian kiss. Uh-huh. Not that there's anything room with that. But I thought it was a little, yanno,...out there. Just sayin'.

That sounds like the best argument against Tivo I have ever heard.

Hey Mudge, you know, maybe they were just making a point about how really, really fresh the gum makes your breath.

Well gang, tomorrow it is back to the beach, and then prime seats to watch the Myrtle Beach Pelicans against the Potomac Nationals.

Should be a great game. Last time we went they gave out free loaves of bread.

Gotta love minor league baseball.

RD, enjoy that game. Minor league ball can be a lot of fun. Maybe this year they'll give out peanut butter. Next year -- jelly.

Hey Error, I think you should start an RD-grandpa type garden. I'm having fun picturing the groundhogs taking on various duties: tour guide, gnome stand-ins . . . they could even operate the Ferris wheel. They could pilot tiny gondolas down the waterways. This might inspire them to keep a truce, or even co-opt them to your side.

Note from the Boy: hi- pplz wuzzup? i dont feel 2 well cause of rain and crud going around- (aka:allergies) dad says it might be fatal :O but anyways gewd night pplz!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

[He speaks lovely standard English. Really.]

RD, enjoy that game. Minor league ball can be a lot of fun. Maybe this year they'll give out peanut butter. Next year -- jelly.

Hey Error, I think you should start an RD-grandpa type garden. I'm having fun picturing the groundhogs taking on various duties: tour guide, gnome stand-ins . . . they could even operate the Ferris wheel. They could pilot tiny gondolas down the waterways. This might inspire them to keep a truce, or even co-opt them to your side.

Note from the Boy: hi- pplz wuzzup? i dont feel 2 well cause of rain and crud going around- (aka:allergies) dad says it might be fatal :O but anyways gewd night pplz!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

[He speaks lovely standard English. Really.]

RD, thanks for the description of your grandfather's creation. It sounds truly magical.

Apologies. The Boy posted the second time. Boya culpa.

>boya culpa

That's Good. :-)

I'm not sure I'd trust them with the Ferris wheel. But they'd make great gnomes. The tiny gondolas would be way cool. But given the difficulty of getting a groundhog to sit still for anything I'd have to go audio-animatronic.

Think groundhog version of the Pirates of the Carribeean ride.

Oh sure, blame the Boy. My husband still blames our kid for the empty ice cube trays in the freezer, even though the kid has been gone for years.

When I saw "crepe" myrtle, I thought, oh it's spelled correctly. Doh!

RD, nice to see you. Free wifi is everywhere, I tell you (not that I ever venture out of the house). It's magic.

The usual, lucid view from Fred Kaplan on Iraq and American politics:

http://www.slate.com/id/2169346/

Vaya con queso, y'all. Fondue.

RD you memories of your Grandfathers backyard are wonderful, it must have been an enchanting place for a child.

My father made some fun places my kids adored, just a little less whimsical than your Grandfather. The kids loved playing in the wishing well he built over the old well, on the side of the well were two cast iron horse heads, they had been when I was young bookends and something before he turned them into bookends. Dad had run a small hose through the heads so the horse had streams of water coming out of their mouths into the water of the well (about 6"), it amused the kids for quite long stretches of time.

In the years to come I hope my kids look back at that well with the same found memories you have of your Grandfathers garden.

I note that JA is not blogging on the debate tonight; deference to "The Fix" or is he busy lobbying the New Guy to show that his upcoming Friday post on backyard gardening is, in fact, related to this weekend's Outlook article?

deja vu all over again

Debate? What debate?

I'm not hopeful that the subpoenas or details about what Cheney has been up to will have any effect on the administration. They don't care what anyone thinks. They have perfected stonewalling. TBG, I would be every bit as happy as you if Bush and/or Cheney got chased from office. Talk about a Snoopy dance! (And did everyone see Grover and Elmo on the Paul Simon award show?)

My favorite Billy Joel song is You May Be Right:
You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for
It's too late to fight
It's too late to change me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

Ivansmom, re ADA. You're right, unless the children in question are primarily employees...

Before I head off to bed just wanted to note that I was reminded while listening to the radio tonight, that today is the anniversary of Terry Fox's death. He was a remarkable young man and as the announcer mention his legacy has raised over 400 million for Cancer research.

Terry died the summer I was eighteen, I remember driving down the escarpment in Hamilton right after his death and noticing all the flags at half staff, as they were from coast to coast, it was a tribute to the way his efforts to raise money, and his dream inspired a nation.

Have a good night all

Yes, Terry Fox was a wonderful young man. Goodnight, dmd.

Mostlylurking, I love that song. Be careful though. everything might not be well.

I'm going to try to remain on topic (if not simply referential) relative to Joel's Kit for this comment:

My mom used to take my brothers and I down to Swain's Lock for hiking and canoeing when we were young. I remember walking along the donkey track one summer's evening not long after the canal was designated a historical park ('71, I guess), and noticing Mars in the sky. Schiaparelli and Lowell believed they saw extensive networks of canals on Mars, presumably to facilitate Martian agriculture, such as groves of Far Out Space Nut trees, which would eventually be cut down and converted into planks for boardwalks, wooden rollercoasters, huge homes for the Martian rich and newspapers like the Olympus Mons Post, the Barsoom Times, and Helium Today.

Someday, I'd hoped to read those papers when I traveled to Mars as an adult, the Sunday editions spread out on my kitchen table as I pored through those Editorial Sections, "Look, there's a New Guy in the Olympus Mons Outlook with a piece on Global Cooling."

These days, I doubt that will ever happen.

*****************************************

See, I can stay on topic if I really try.

bc

Yoki, glad you are doing well.

David Brown's story on self-domesticating cats is a wonderful job. Instead of just copying a press release or summarizing the paper, he did a great job of talking to the grad student who did the work and other relevant experts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062802343.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Crepes for breakfast?

Good morning,friends. I'm up, not moving much. I was the pitcher for our kick ball game at the beginning of the week, and I'm feeling the pain now. Those little guys ran circles around me. I hung in there, but one could tell I was hanging by a thread, a slim one at that.

I know somewhere someone saw me out there and is probably still laughing at the sight. Why do old people try to do that stuff they did as kids, knowing those parts don't work anymore? Can you imagine an old woman playing kick ball with eight and nine year olds? The kids were probably laughing themselves, just had the decency not to do it out loud. In fact one little boy just zoomed by and snatched the ball out my hand, and laughed as he sailed on by. I had to laugh too. And imagine this, trying to catch a rolling ball. Eyes and hands don't have that thing were the event is coordinated, just does not work. And this morning I am paying dearly for that game. Oh well, at least I got a good laugh out of it. What are we if we can't laugh at ourselves?

Can't find Eugene Robinson's piece this morning. It is advertised on the home page but something about Vietnam is under his name and another author. Hope someone gets that straightened out.

I see the opponents of trying to make schools available to everyone are still trying to go back to the past. These folks never give up. What does that decision mean for the schools? Would someone enlighten me? I'm not sure, but it doesn't sound good considering our history in that area.

Morning, Mudge, Slyness, Scotty, and all.*waving*

The g-girl isn't here, and I can tell the difference. She has her mess all over the place, but she went to the aunt's house yesterday. I have a break.

Have a great day, folks. And what will my friends be doing for the Fourth? Cooking out, the beach, vacation, just taking it easy? I have the week off. The whole week to do absolutely nothing. I know I'm going to feel lost.

RD, hope your vacation is going fantastic at Myrtle Beach. I love the ocean, but not the crowd. And can't swim at all.

Need coffee, and something to help get these hands back to their natural size. They look so big.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ. Peace.

Good Morning Cassandra
I hope you feel a little better as the day goes on. I think that is great that you played kick ball with the kids. I did that a couple of years ago and like you I was so sore afterwards. But it sure made the kids happy and that is all that really matters.

I figure I will keep trying and be a kid till I am old and grey, well older cause I am already pretty grey.

Enjoy your week off and remember, It is very healthy to be able to laugh at yourself on a daily basis.

'Morning, Cassandra. Here's the Robinson piece; haven't read it myself, yet. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062801789.html

Ooops, you're right, Cassandra! I thought you meant the link was bad, but the link is OK. It's just that they posted somebody's column under Robinson's logo and header and byline. What's posted there is Melvin Laird's piece, which is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062801790.html (curiously the same code as above, but with a different header).

Very strange, and very embarrassing for the WaPo, if/when they get around to apologizing for it.

SCC: No, I see it. One code is 1790, the other is 1789. But both have Laird's text under different heads.

And Laird's piece, while it seems to exist under it's own proper header, isn't linked or referenced anywhere in the Opinions section. Ooooooo, somebody's gonna get a stern talking-to!

Michael Gerson (former Bush speechwriter, need we add) has a piece about Obama's speech to the UCC church, and as usual Gerson has his own head pretty much up his own...well, let us just say it is typically self-serving. Seems Obama didn't appease evangelicals by coming out against abortion. Tsk tsk. What's worse, he appealed to religious liberals, it seems, in Gerson's view. What a dastardly thing to do. I'm shocked.

*raising periscope above massive piles of e-mail and other annoyances*

Ahoy Boodle!!! I'll be catching up from three days of travel (which went well) for awhile, but I'm safe home.

:-)

Morning, folks. I'm here WAY too early, but I was the subject of a sleep apnea session last night. The facility was near the office, so I had little choice but to grab some breakfast and get with it. I'm amazed I could sleep at all, with as many wires as they had stuck to me, almost literally from head to toe.

I hope the folks out there beyond the Beltway are paying attention to what's been happening this session in the Supreme Court. Not just with the desegregation decision, but the whole body of decisions. Who you elect does have consequences that extend well beyond the end of the President's term. Thank goodness for Kennedy, or we would be right back to 1954 again in a few years.

Thanks, Mudge. Eugene Robinson sees it as a setback for racial integration in the school system. I see this as the work of those that opposed integration of the school systems in the first place, and their offsprings keeping up the work of turning back the clock. They finally got their wish with the election of Bush and company at the expense of killing their children.

Robinson states that Clarence Thomas had the nerve to cite the very decision that opened up schools to integration as the reason for his vote in this decision.

Are we surprised? I doubt it. Should we be surprised? Very much so.

>Can you imagine an old woman playing kick ball with eight and nine year olds?

Cassandra that's just too cool. You're cracking me up.

EF -- I could imagine a boodle kickball game on your country estate. I think that if Lady Cassandra/Jock Cassandra visited for two weeks, she would vanquish the groundlings.

You are younger than I am Cassandra and I do not consider myself an "old woman" so I think you shouldn't either. It's a state of mind, after all, and one I know I don't want to give in to. Please don't think of yourself that way.

I don't think I'd risk Cassandra in the War on Groundhogs (WOG tm).

She's too nice and they're too mean. And BIG.

Rainforest! This is for you! Would you believe a rose that is pale pink/tinged with lime and named for you?

http://www.sequoianursery.biz/rainforest.html

To the others: You may be interested in knowing that the creator of this rose marks his 100 B-day this year. I lived for a year or so, down the street from him my last year of high school. I never wandered into his nursery, because as a typical teen obsersive, my focus was "is my hair feathered just right?" or "do these pants make me look fat?"

In the boodle-garden -- very imaginary!-- shall go several specimens of Rainforest. Hey, 'Mudge! Can you shoe-horn in another rose brush?

Obsessive + subversive? I resembled that typo, long away. Got in trouble with the principal for helping to run an underground newspaper...does anyone remember mimeo machines?

CP: Yeah, I spent some time in my wasted youth cutting stencils for mimeo copies. Now, do YOU remember Ditto machines? They were only good for about 20 copies. As I recall, you typed on a master that had a blue backing. Then you put the master in the machine. I recall a tank of fluid (probably some kind of alcohol) that I assume dissolved the blue a bit so it would transfer to the printed paper. The copies smelled of the fluid when fresh and were cool to the touch. I think Mudge probably invented it back when he was a young 'un.

AH, the smell of miemograph copy in the morning.

Here's a quote from Bill Bryson:'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid':

"Of all the tragic losses since the 1960s, mimeograph paper may be the greatest. With its rapturously fragrant, sweetly aromatic pale blue ink, mimeograph paper was literally intoxicating. Two deep drafts of a freshly run-off mimeograph worksheet and I would be the education system's willing slave for up to seven hours."

Good morning, Boodle.
Welcome home, Scotty. I hope all went well on your trip.

Hmm, haven't played kickball in awhile, though that *is* a good idea.

Threw the football around in the yard with the girls the other night (yes, they can all throw spirals), then we did cartwheels. Mine aren't pretty, but I can land 'em without ending up on my gluteus maximus. They're rough on my wrists, though.

bc

Rose BRUSH? ^%$#&

As in a pink-toned hair brush. I am so ashamed. However, there is a cerise-pink shrub called bottle brush and I could pretend that I meant that..many Crepe/Crape Myrtles. Kit connect! (are you noting this, little man with strings)

We could take up a collection for JA's treeless estate. Like reverse thieves in the night, the A-clan could wake up to a checkerboard of trees......

Yes, I remember mimeo and ditto, and the smells...

And getting that blue ink all over my hands in college while copying highly questionable poetry (my own, of course).

bc

BC -- good for you on the cartwheel biz. I don't know what is heartier: your trick or Cassandra's. We SHALL not go stuck-in-chairs into that good night.

Mimeo memories/days of ditto! So, we all were a bit buzzed on the fluid as it changed to gas...thanks for the memories.

But the mimeo/ditto text will not help JA with the coveted demographic of 15-35.

Now there's some memories for first thing in the morning, the smell of freshly mimeod (sp) tests and struggling to have the perfect feather, a difficult for me when I was young (wavy hair).

bc, good for you for teaching the perfect spiral, my brother taught me and the skill was quite handy when you wanted to impress the boys, Dad also taught me the drop kick (his position in University football) but unfortunately never had much call for it.

Cassandra you are wonderful.

Question for the teachers out there last night our little one showed us a game she learned at school. Similar to making the steeple with your fingers but the opposite. You start with all fingers together and then fold down your pinkies, saying "Did you kill your sister/brother", then the next fingers with "Did you kill your Mother", the next set is "Did you kill your father", that leaves the index and thumbs and you say "Now all you have is a gun". My husband and I were very upset by this and this morning I spoke to the Principal and asked that she and the teacher speak to the class (Grade 1).

Anyone heard of this and are we making too big a deal of it? Thanks

CP, I also did a brief stint with mimeographing an underground newspaper! I believe the headline was "Free the Ex-Lax Seven." (A story for another time.)

omni, much as I love Bryson's work, I think he's confused. The real aroma came from the ditto machine--a real sweet, alcohol-ish smell IIRC. Mimeograph smelled more industrial, like used motor oil.

Scotty, welcome back!

Mornin', all! Cassandra, I bet that was one hilarious game of kickball. I hope the kids had as good a time as you did!

Mountains are warm and muggy; we had three storms come through in the afternoon and evening. Good rain, so we aren't complaining. Mr. T wishes to purchase locust fence posts and rails to replace the board fence at the end of the driveway, so we'll be off in a few to do so.

Loomis, hope you haven't floated away. This is quite the change from last year, isn't it? I hope Texas will recover quickly.

Allowing emoticons would certainly attract the 12-25 demographics. My daughters' e-mails look like someone shook a Christmas tree over them.

A murderous raving lunatic allowed to represent himself in court in Texas:

"Proclaiming himself healed by God as "a born-again April fool," he refused further antipsychotic medication, dismissed his lawyers and won approval from the trial judge, Stephen B. Ables, **my note: nominated by Governor Bush** to represent himself in court in 1995. He appeared with a Tom Mix cowboy hat slung over his back, wearing purple western shirts and Proclaiming himself healed by God as "a born-again April fool," he refused further antipsychotic medication, dismissed his lawyers and won approval from the trial judge, Stephen B. Ables, to represent himself in court in 1995. e the murders in graphic detail, that clearly terrified the jurors, who convicted him in 90 minutes and sentenced him to death."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/washington/29execution.html

What kind of Justice system would allow that? Oh wait I get it now. Another Arbusto & Torqueberto special.

Ah, Ditto machines, connecting with my aborted career in journalism! When I was in 9th grade I was the editor of the school paper and that included the honor of typing the thing up every week on Ditto paper. To correct an error, you had to scroll up the paper, separate the sheets and scrape off the ink with a razor blade.

One of the innovations of my tenure was *justified columns*--we achieved that by writing the stories out by hand on graph paper, one letter per square, and then adjusting the spacing as necessary. Did someone say "obsessive?"

Sorry to derail all the derailment, but I am so confused by the original post. The guy wants to cut down trees because his kids are allergic to nuts. Does this mean they are allergic to the pollen coming from the trees, or just the nuts themselves? If it's the pollen coming from the trees, how do they survive in the world when they leave their treeless property? If it's the nuts themselves, why are they eating nuts off a tree in the yard in the first place? Who does that? I mean, really. I am not allergic to nuts and I never ate nuts off a tree. How hard is it to tell these stupid kids not to eat them? "If you eat these nuts, you will die." Problem solved. It's not like one of those situations you hear about where they are accidentally eating a cookie that has nuts in it, either. These are nuts on a tree, which I presume have some sort of shell that would involve a certain amount of effort to get open. The effort it would require to inadvertently eat a nut off a tree seems more than enough to preclude any accidental nut ingestion. Oh, but nevermind, I forgot people don't tell their children not to do things anymore.

I miss mimeograph machines for the same reason I miss typewriters. Sure, modern printers are fast and efficient, but compared to the duplicating machinery of my youth, they are sterile and have no soul.

Mimeographs machines were a glorious multisensory experience. On those days in fourth grade when it was my turn to be Sister Gabriel's classroom helper, running the mimeograph was the undisputed highpoint. I would attach the offset master coated with rich, thick, raised purplish blue inverse text to the rotating drum, pour in the solvent, load the paper, and turn the drum. Accompanied by a profoundly satisfying clickity clack sound I would produce endless worksheets on things like the great painters of the Renaissance. And then there was the smell. That rich aroma of highly-volatile petrochemicals doubtless containing many soon-to-be-banned carcinogens. Oh how I loved it.

Took me until Junior High to get that monkey off my back.

Most of you will like this; it's office safe (but you need sound) and is about 5 minutes long. It's a two-tissue piece (3 for the ladies, most likely). http://mfile.akamai.com/21772/wmv/gannett.download.akamai.com/21772/streaming/wmv/hancockportraits.asx

Anybody in the DC area know anybody looking for a part-time job answering phones and pulling files in a dentist's office downtown? The place where my daughter works is desperate for somebody. Hours 8 to 2 p.m., pays $10/hour or better. Lemme know.

I'm not familiar with Ditto machines, but I do have many many fond memories of the Gestetner.

http://kitchener.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=10472712&img=http://kijiji.ebayimg.com/i22/04/i/000/8e/40/36fd_18.JPG

Our school secretary was a tiny woman, 4 foot nothing if she was an inch. She did all the copying on that machine. I wonder if anyone kept track of all the copies over the years?

Cassandra that sounds like a lot of fun. Try some aspirin if it won't interfere with other meds or ibubrofen.

Thanks Raysmom, always good to come home! :-)

dmd, I would DEFINITELY be concerned if she learned that at school, no matter who from!!! :-O

And the only fumes I get to deal with these days are copier toner. Bummer.

:-)

How ridiculous is Fox News. The car bomb found at Piccadilly was fortunately defused, found ahead of time by vigilant police work. But Fox News and their ridiculosity keep filling air time by squawking about the IRA as possible culprit.

The IRA?

You got to be kidding me. Young Willie McBride gave up on car bombs long ago - it's clearly a Muslim fundamentalist left it who's fast away on a bullett train right now...During these days of no Bill Maher, America turns to Fox News for her comedy fix.

Raysmom, if Bryson is confused he's got a lot of company, including me. Maybe when I was in elementary school we had Ditto machines, and the teachers just called them mimeographs. I've never heard of Ditto copiers till just now.

Mmmm, ditto machines. Back before there were blogs, a friend and I published nine issues of a phony newspaper (we didn't even know enough to call it a zine) which we called "The Frequently Irregular." I can still smell the ditto fluid from the copies we ran off in my friend's mother's accounting office.

Our best line came from a story that the recently-deceased Leonid Brezhnev was actually still alive and living in Tierra del Fuego. We "quoted" a "witness" as saying that "a large, gruff man, possibly a Communist, was seen parachuting from a Tu-144."

omni, probably just local terminology at work.
ditto=blue/purple ink
mimeograph=black ink

But then, we called soda "pop" too. And ate "white hots."

Also in Fake News, the Toronto Star's Linwood Barclay writes:

"It's not clear at this point what sort of crisis this may precipitate in the U.S. government, but Vice-President Dick Cheney's declaration that he is not subject to the laws of gravity is expected to have some far-reaching repercussions.

"Cheney's move to flout the laws of gravity is seen as the boldest move yet by a U.S. vice-president to consolidate power and make himself immune to prosecution of any kind....

"'The problem,' said one U.S. constitutional expert, 'is that our forefathers never envisaged a situation where the vice-president would feel that he could ignore the basic laws of physics.

"'So, he can float around all over the place and it would appear there's not a damn thing we can do about it.'"

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/230604

Mudge 5 tissues, and 3 back of the hand swpies, plus a really big blow at the end. What a woman.

Kerfuddled, you are not at all confused.

Just got back from a tai chi class. I get to play with a stick. It's quite fun.

Thank you very much CP! They are absolutely beautiful! I love roses. When I was going to school in Missouri, I use to visit a rose garden near by to admire and smell the roses.

Mudge all I can say is I am glad I am the only one in the office, so I can sob without explanations - what a beautiful lady - thanks for posting.

byoolin, I love Linwood Barclay.

It's not that Cheney is not subject to the laws of physics, it's just that he is one of those who believe that Newton's gravitational theory is after all just a theory, and they give preference to the idea of "Intelligent Falling."

Good morning. It is not actually raining here right this second, but that will change. We have a 20% chance that it won't rain today.

Ah, mimeo or ditto machines (what have you). The smells of youth.

Cassandra, you once again earn my undying respect -- kickball with the kids! After I turned 40, I learned to rollerblade and throw balls and all kinds of stuff to play with the Boy, and enjoyed it too. Except for skateboarding; that side-to-side thing was just more than I could take.

Cassandra, a bea c, bayou self, other teachers: I am impressed by your ability to be with little kids all day on a sustained basis. The last two weeks Ivansdad has helped run a children's theater camp. Yesterday he got a break and called to say that four little girls (all 2nd or third grade, mind you) had cut their own hair with the scissors instead of the construction paper. They also dumped paint on the girl's bathroom floor. As he said, we don't pay teachers near enough.

dmd, I would be very alarmed by the "steeple gun" game, and we might have talked to the principal about it, but I admit I probably wouldn't have carried it much farther. The Boy would have been forced to participate in a stern discussion, though.

k-guy - It's scary when The Onion and Linwood Barclay stories sound entirely plausible, isn't it?

Just finished some googling and wikiing. And sounds like Raysmom is right. Mimeo used an oil based ink, so industrial smell it is. Ditto used solvents (50/50 mix of isopropanol and methanol) to dissolve wax, there is no ink used in Ditto machines.

It wasn't the purple 'ink' that smelled, it was the paper.

dmd, you're not over-reacting at all. And I'm not someone who's hypersensitive to stuff like this. What could that teacher have been thinking?

Rest assured Ivansmom we spoke to the little one, explaining why it is an inappropriate game, sadly there were some awful events that took place in Toronto with a result along the same lines - hence part of the reason for not taking it lightly.

And we called the ditto copiers "roneograph" in my corner of the world. The alcoholic solvent smell is certainly the give away.

Did I say it wasn't raining here? Silly me. That's what I get for not looking out a window. There is none in my office and I was too lazy to seek one out. Of course it is raining. Ark ark glug glug.

"Intelligent falling" ha kurosawaguy. Apropos your name, what do you think of Miyazaki?

Splendid effort to stay on topic bc, and I envy rainforest getting to do tai chi with a stick.

Raysmom, sorry she learned it from other kids, we checked with our older child to see if maybe it came from a show or movie but she hasn't seen it before either.

dmd, I found the trick to teaching a spiral was to have them keep the elbow on the throwing arm up, and to follow through on the throw.

bc

It's a marvel that Congressional districts must be gerrymandered so minorities can be elected to office, while school districts "can't" take race into consideration in school assignments. Then again, would it be possible to gerrymander school district boundaries to assure a degree of socioeconomic mixing?

The Constitution says the Executive Branch will be run by the President. Law provides for a Cabinet to run the various agencies (plus administrators for the independent non-Cabinet agencies like EPA). The Constitution says the President can ask for written opinions of the administrators of the departments of the government (I'm working from memory, so not providing the quote). President Andrew Johnson was impeached, I think, for dismissing a Cabinet officer without Congress's permission. You'd think this would have established a strong Congressional right to meddle in the Executive Branch.

Anyway, Bush's allowing Cheney to call underlings in various departments, bypassing Cabinet members and the EPA Administrator, seems arguably unconstitutional. I assume some constitutional law classes are having fun developing impeachment scenarios. And maybe reading the Toronto Star's Linwood Barclay.

dmd, I'm in the your not overreacting camp on that. very disturbing.

bc, I once taught my sister how to throw a frisbee. Everytime she would throw it would turn up side down. I told her the secret was to keep the side opposite the hold slightly lower when releasing. After teaching her that, she was throwing better than some of the boys in the neighborhood. But no one was ever better than me. I mastered the double skip on black top getting the disk to my partner everytime. I was also the only one in the neighborhood who ever mastered the art of skipping on grass.

I learned to throw a spiral when the Boy was little, bc, and it was very satisfying.

Here's heartening news. Emanuel's proposal to de-fund Veep "not the Executive Branch" Cheney failed -- 217 to 209.

and spiralling: me and a friend, the two best spirallers in the 'hood invented a game once. We would start out about twenty-five feet apart and toss the ball back and forth a couple times without moving anything but our arm, feet firmly plant shoulder width apart. Perfectly placing dead center chest. Then we'd each take a step back after every throw. We'd eventually get to opposite ends of the front yard. Everyone else thought it was the most boring idea they ever heard of. Friend and I knew it was just jealousy.

So, Omni, would you say that we were all huffing Ditto masters? None were Memeo-addicts? I think now, that mimeo product did not smell very, well, interesting.

Second grade was next door to the Ditto Room. So, in that class, the worksheets went right from the machine to our little hands on our desks. One "rule" from Sister Rosalie Maria was to NOT pick them up and inhale before we starting working on them. Perhaps she was preventing us from harm. Perhaps 'twas just a general deportment rule.

Just saw an article on this photographer who creates rock sculptures, the stones are not fixed in anyway - quite amazing, a little Zen like beauty for a Friday,

Pictures: http://web.mac.com/prphotography/iWeb/Peter%20Riedel%20asks%20.../Rock%20Balancing%20Gallery.html

The article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070629.wstatues29/BNStory/Entertainment/home

Sorry day before long weekend ( have a Happy Canada Day fellow Canucks) and it is very quiet in the office).

Oh, don't get me started on frisbees and skateboards, I'm still way ahead of my kids on both.

Trying desperately to stay on topic, it's a darn shame I couldn't skateboard the 184.5 miles of the C&O canal, I might even consider buying a new pair of Vans for that.

bc

Pedant alert: when I said above that the little girls had cut their own hair with the scissors instead of the construction paper, what I of course meant was that they had cut their hair, rather than the construction paper, with the scissors. Cutting hair with construction paper is beyond the skill level of a 2nd grader.

"Cutting hair with construction paper is beyond the skill level of a 2nd grader."

It's a little beyond the skill level of a normal adult.

I wonder what kind of specialized training is required? Is there a course that you can take at most local colleges?

/rhetoric tangeant finish/

Continuing my long standing tradition of going way off topic,

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=b504f308-e155-473a-a25c-d63fcb5090d3&k=97157

Cool.

Of course it would help if I said who I was.

dr and dmd, what I liked most about that painter lady was how she kept up a running conversation with the paintings and the soldiers in the paintings, and saying things like, "OK, you can go home now," when she packed them up for shipment.

>it's a darn shame I couldn't skateboard the 184.5 miles of the C&O canal

bc, I couldn't skateboard down a driveway without cracking my skull. Even WITH my Vans.

dr, that dig in Edmonton is only about 250km from the Creation Museum in Big Valley. One wonders if anyone at the latter saw God placing the fossils at the former.

Good morning all. Grover waving to welcome Scotty Nuke home.

I used to love everything about the ditto machines at school. The clacking of the drum handle, the smell (of course) but perhaps even more, picking up a pile of still damp sheets to take back to the classroom; so slippery and cool from the evaporating solvents. A complete sensory experience.

Kerric, it is a subspeciality of a certain occult martial art; once initiated, you are taught the special folding technique and subtle arm movements that turn a piece of ordinary green construction paper into a useful tool. I believe this branch of the discipline originated in Edmonton!

Edmonton Shaolin Origami school of cosmetology?

Shiloh, I didn't know you were an initiate! *secret handshake*

*hoping Yoki and Shiloh count fingers after that handshake*

:-)

I'm a graduate of the Etaoin Shrdlu Hibachi School of Origami myself. Instead of folding things we just put 'em on the grill, slather 'em with marinade, and smoke them for 6 or 8 hours. It's much more tedious than traditional origami, but worth it.

Raysom -- do I go out on a limb to say that you and I with our personas now look LEAST LIKELY to have mimeo-ed an underground newspaper?

Mine (ours -- two other deeply nerdy, bashful, do-gooding caped crusaders) was called, THE DIVIDING LINE.

I believe we earned the ire of Principal A. when we wrote something bold about donating uneaten cafeteria food to Sr. Ursula's Soup Kitchen or the farm worker-migrant camp where C. Chavez showed up monthly. I believe we blamed the adminstration as blind and deaf to the starvation of children in the community. (oh, the power of rhetoric. We needed sad eye puppies on the cover but alas, no pictures through mimeo.)

Mr. A. called our parents in, telling us that we would be suspended for two days and then barred from distributing the paper. All the parents stood up for us. It was a great day. We served our one-day suspension gladly. I think the parents understood that we had "earned" the joy of that civil disobedience. Viva la movement!

Getting ready to leave the office for vacation - yea.

Warning to Shriek and boko, my family and I are headed in your general direction, can't say I didn't warn you. Any advice we are having a one day trip into the Capital, what Museum do you think best for a 6 year old? I remember the Science and Tech museum from that age and liked it but that was way long ago. Civilization first?

Have a great vacation, dmd. My kids *loved* the science museum a few years ago.

"I thought you meant the link was bad, but the link is OK. It's just that they posted somebody's column under Robinson's logo and header and byline....
Very strange, and very embarrassing for the WaPo, if/when they get around to apologizing for it."

Mudge, the WaPo.com front page is a graphical interface to a database of articles and accumulators of user comments. That's not a newspaper, although they probably don't mind if the readers think of it as one. The magnitude of the occasional lack of synch between GUI and database, or simple mistake, should be judged in that context, IMHO.

BTW, I was in or near Boodleland (Bawlmer) for a few days early this week and if boodlers there have to endure several months of weather like that every year, you have my sympathy. I was surprised to learn that roses basically don't grow there, or not without a lot of difficulty.

As a sign of how badly I need a vacation, the Ottawa trip is a month away, this coming week is at home and then up in cottage country. In my defense I have been booking hotels for the latter trip and well got ahead of myself.

fyi, new kit

I think those printing machines that produced copies with the lovely fumes were spirit duplicators, not mimeographs.

I think I need to include a few art museums on my vacation, whenever that is...

http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_260/art_quiz_II_quiz.html?GT1=10056

4/10

:-)

//Raysom -- do I go out on a limb to say that you and I with our personas now look LEAST LIKELY to have mimeo-ed an underground newspaper?//

CP, I really haven't changed that much, persona-wise. Back then it meant that I was able to get away with quite a lot as long as it was infrequent and out-of-character enough.

If only our paper had had as noble a purpose as yours. Ours was more like sheltered, small-town kids doing our best at impersonating people rebelling against authority.

All my spirit duplicator made was 30 clones of Harry Houdini that I really didn't need.

New Kit!