Category: Life

Emergency Lighting

At the grocery store today, I saw a display of these GE Emergency Lanterns on sale for $10 a piece.  I bought two of them, because the package said they would give 16 hours of lighting on 4 “D” batteries.  I was hoping they would be bright enough to read by.  They are if you keep the lantern fairly close to the book.  The light quality is much better than candlelight.

Of course, now that we have emergency lighting by which we can read, I feel certain we won’t lose power the rest of summer.  We already had several hand pump flashlights, but although they are good for making sure we don’t kill ourselves in the dark, and are safer to use than candles, they aren’t good for reading.

The Daily Storm

I am starting to feel that our valley is like poor little Joe Btfsplk: it has a permanent thunder storm overhead. Yesterday we had a storm for hours, and lost electricity for a large part of that time as well. I didn’t feed the horses until 8:00 because I kept hoping the storm would move off before I went out. I’ve lost count of how many times we have lost electricity in the past week. The more expensive electronic gear is all on uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) outlets, and I trot through the house shutting down systems when UPS boxes starts beeping.

It is getting very old.

Guest

August 14, 2007 – Click on image for higher resolution version.

We are kitten sitting for the next two weeks. I am used to the “bring cat to new place and not see it for a week” variety of cat. Sheila (pronounced “Shayla”) is of the “get into everything and be apparently fearless” model. Mia, the Dalmatian, is fascinated by her. Lody, the Collie, wants to know where we put her food and litter box. Both dogs have obviously been nailed by a cat during a formative stage. It was hysterical to watch two dogs, the smaller of which is forty pounds, ooze out of the way of a three pound adolescent cat.

Changes

Last week, I expanded my hours slightly at the part-time job I started in June.  I am now working 24 hours a week, six hours a day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I like having one less commute a week, as well as a chance to ride Lily on Wednesdays.  This time of year it is difficult to plan on riding in the afternoon, since thunderstorms are likely to occur about the time I get off from work. 

Scarcity of Blood Donors

I was shocked the other day to read the other day that only 38% of Americans could give blood if they wanted to. The CBS article Number Of Americans Eligible To Give Blood Overestimated By 60 Percent  explains why.  When I started donating in college, I think they asked potential donors about seven questions, including about how the donor was feeling that day.  I think there were several dozen questions that I answered to today before I donated.  Without working at a place with a regular visit by a blood bank, I hadn’t donated in four or five years.  With my new job, I now drive past a hospital with a blood bank four days a week, so I decided to schedule an appointment there.  I am pleased to report that the juice and chocolate chip cookies were very good.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago today I started a web log called “Coffee and Oranges.” Blog software was still quite primitive or seemed difficult to install on a web host, so I created my own using a handful of Perl scripts. In July of 2003, I volunteered to be a beta tester of the new TypePad service and started a web log called “Five Acres with a View.” I decided to install Movable Type when the beta was over a few weeks later and kept the name of my TypePad blog which seemed more appropriate than a Wallace Stevens quote. I moved to WordPress when forced to stop running Movable Type by my web host in May 2004. I have been running some version of self-hosted WordPress since then.

If my web log was a child, it would be old enough for kindergarten in the fall. Where do the years go?

Five and Dime

July 13, 2007 – Click on image for higher resolution version.

Over three decades ago, I worked my first job in this Rehobeth Beach Five and Dime store. Oddly enough, it doesn’t look any seedier now than it did then. The merchandise is the same: just the prices have changed. And the flooring looks identical to that I remember sweeping when I was seventeen. Time stands still?

Courtesy of Davis Community Library in Bethesda, Maryland

I apparently never forget the location of a library. I may not even remember where all the roads go, but I seem to be able to find libraries I used to patronise by remote control. Davis Community Library is a medium sized branch of the Montgomery Country Library system. And when I asked if there was any way I could use the computers even though I am no longer a patron, the librarian pulled a stash of cards kept for that reason out of drawer.

Thursday’s airline connections were perfect. On Wednesday we decided to bail after waiting in the Colorado Springs terminal for almost four hours. We discovered that our plane was suffering from mechanical difficulties and the mechanic wasn’t on site yet. Our bags were sent on ahead Wednesday while we arranged to take an 8:30 am flight Thursday morning. (Somewhat miraculously, our bags were actually sitting in the airline luggage office when we got to Baltimore-Washinton International.)

We had arranged to stay with friends who live in Silver Spring, and were there by 7:00 pm, exactly on time according to the revised plan. They had arranged for some other old friends to come by the house, and prepared a very good dinner. We were up fairly late except it wasn’t late for me since I am still on Colorado time.

Jack is off with one of his siblings at the ATT Golf Tournament (hosted by Tiger Woods.) I am driving the PT Cruiser that we rented at the airport, and trying not to get too lost. I do best when I don’t try to overthink where I am going. Things have changed a lot in the past 17 years when we left, and a lot of landmarks have been obscured by more recent buildings. I’ve already performed my solitary pilgrimage to G Street Fabrics, and had a nice lunch at Madeleine’s Bakery and Cafe. The Quiche Lorraine was only okay, but the cup of Tomato Basil soup was to die for.

Tonight we are going to a meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association of which Jack and I were members for many years. I don’t know how many people we will still know, except for some of the people we already saw last night.

Tomorrow we head for Bethany Beach. The forecasters say the temperatures will be 100F by Monday, so I will be glad to be at the beach by then. It hasn’t been too hot so far, but the humidity is very draining when one is used to the relative dryness of Colorado.