busy weekend

We haven't really been home. Friday I took doggie to the vet. Then Gumby and I attended an end-of-school program and spent the day with the kids (family). Saturday we attended an ordination mass; we've been to several of these over the years. Then a quick lunch, then bible study class (it wasn't very good). Then home to let doggie out. Then to a birthday party. Today Gumby will be at church almost all day starting early this morning. I'll head out around noon to bring some lunch. I think there's some sort of special mass at 3 p.m. followed by a procession. I will be attending that one. update: The special mass was for confirmation; there was no procession--that's coming up but it wasn't this one.

I'm kinda tired of being photographer. They have professional photographers and video people at these events, but we typically don't have access to those. So I get to be photographer. Apparently fuzzy or otherwise not-so-fantastic photos are better than no photos.

It's impossible to get things done at home when you're not home. I did water our two trees this morning and treated the backyard for mosquitoes. With any luck, I'll knock out the pile of dishes in the sink. The photos I took required some massaging so I've spent some time doing that. It was mainly just to rotate so that they're not all crazy-tilted and then cropping to get rid of the blank spots that resulted after rotating.

So You Think You Can Dance

I like the show "So You Think You Can Dance." It's judged by pros and the winners are selected by the pros, unfettered by some popularity contest. I like Nigel. He's fair, kind, honorable, and humorous. He has that teacher/coach quality about him. The other judges are pretty cool too. I don't mean to slight them. There's something about Mia that's just fun to watch. But Nigel gets my vote; I enjoy watching him respond to the different situations. And yeah, I also enjoy watching the dancers who are really good.

Bridgestone commercial

I like Bridgestone's commercial with astronauts driving in space.

flashlight

I just bought a Streamlight KeyMate flashlight as a gift for a friend; birthday party this weekend. I hope it works well. I got it at a "cop store" -- it actually says that on their window. Since it didn't cost all that much, I might go back and get two more. One for myself and the other for Gumby.

I do have a re-chargeable pocket LED light, but it requires that you hold down the button for it to light. That means that you only have one hand left to do whatever it is you need to do. Also, I get tired of holding it down after a while.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all.

To all who serve to protect the U.S.A., THANK YOU. I cannot begin to understand the sacrifices you've made and are making, but I know it isn't a walk in the park. May God bless all good folks.

lumber

That's over $200 worth of lumber. I hope nobody steals them; we don't really have a fence. The lumber is for new fences on the front, on either side of the house. We had a walk-through gate on one side. This time I'll make a gate on both sides.

I buy the lumber and let it sit out, hoping they'd dry. The 4x4's have been there a few weeks. The 2x4's have been there a week, and I just got the pickets yesterday morning. I still need another 4x4; a slight mis-calculation on my part.

Hopefully next week I'll get the stuff to bury the poles with: gravel and concrete mix. I think I have the screws to fasten the pieces together; I'll have to check. We should have new front fences by end of June. Yeah, it's taking me a long time. I can only spend a fixed amount of $ each week. I suppose it's ok since I need to let the wood dry anyways.

dog bowl cited in fire

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Fire officials in Washington state said a sunny day and a dog's glass water bowl combined to cause a blaze that charred the back of a home.

fun wheels

The following are not new, but they're novel to me

Somewhere I stumbled on mention of the Trikke, so I checked out their website. Product looks like fun, but after viewing several of their videos, I decided that the product is severely lacking in "cool factor." However, if balancing on wheels is not really your thing, the Trikke would suit you just fine. With three spread out points of contact on the ground, handle bars and hand brakes, it should be pretty stable for those just learning. PRICING: refurb T78 ~$200 ($500 for the T8 shown)

So then I wanted to see something cool. So I went back to the website for the Flowboards. I've mentioned them somewhere before on this blog. The Flowboards are definitely cool. I want one. My knee has been giving me problems lately, so I don't know if I could ride one if I had one at this time. But hope springs eternal, so I want one. PRICING: $80 ($70 at Target, $40 at Newegg) for the 32" model
UPDATE: Aw. After seeing the reviews at Newegg, I have a change of heart. I think I'll stick to a regular skateboard. Thanks for your reviews at Newegg! (~$70)

Then I stumbled upon Newronsport skates. Definitely cool as well. If I were to buy skates, they'd be inline skates and they'd be the Newronsport design. They do a better job of mimicking skating on ice, they say. PRICING: $250 (model shown is $350)

Star Trek

We just saw Star Trek on IMAX today. Very cool! Totally enjoyable. I was concerned about whether I could like the new cast, since I so enjoyed the original cast. But to my surprise, I really did enjoy the movie and I can see that the new characters can grow on me. I like my Spock more unemotional though, so hopefully as this Spock grows, he'll start to lose more of those emotions.

What made the original Star Trek so engaging was the creativity in the story line: the obstacles they faced and what they did to resolve them. The hokey special effects added charm, but they could have done the same thing with card board box props and painted backgrounds, I still would have enjoyed Star Trek for its storyline and characters.

The new movie is entertaining and the special effects is everything you'd expect of today's movies. Go see it.

Milk

We saw the movie "Milk" the other day. Wow, I wasn't really aware of the intolerance of gays/homosexuals at that time. I was just a kid. I do remember that in school, "gay" was one the terms used for denigrating. I'm glad that we are generally not that intolerant these days. But I can see why society would resist: the public gays were very radical. I can also see why they were radical: it was a reaction to being suppressed.

It got me to thinking on the issue of whether gay men should be allowed in the priesthood. Homosexuality is a concern only because acting on it would be sinful. I'm trying to find an equivalent ... if a heterosexual man has strong urges to lay with any woman who's willing, would that be equivalent? If he controls those urges, then there is no problem. He has a propensity to sexual sin, but he doesn't act on it. So if a homosexual man is celibate, there isn't a problem, as far as I can tell.

art cars

more photos here

Mission Accomplished!

Our two elm trees have been planted in the ground. Woo hoo! I spent Friday afternoon and evening planting them. We just have to go get some mulch now to cover the ground around them. I am sore today from all that activity.

Thanks to jury duty, I have finally finished reading Mother Angelica's biography. Miracles do happen (read the book). Mother Angelica is the founder of EWTN. It took me a few year to finish reading that book, mostly done while waiting bedside in the hospital, or waiting in the car come pick up Gumby; reading is usually done in moments of "waiting" if I can stay awake. Sometimes a nap is more critical. This last moment of waiting was at jury duty.

This morning we have a vet appointment for one of the cats. Then we need to get my car from the shop (it's been there for two weeks.) And we have to go get some mulch. Then a class on the New Testament late afternoon.

Y'all have a great weekend. And Happy Mother's Day!

elm trees

We are proud owners of two Chinese Elm trees. They are each in "15 gallon" containers which I measured to be around 18 inches in diameter, 16 inches deep with the dirt being approximately 1 inch below the rim. I estimate that the tree trunk is 1 inch in diameter and the height is 10 feet.

Getting them into our minivan and getting them home was something of an adventure. Our friends with pickup trucks had other obligations, so minivan it is.

Gumby is most unhappy that I had not called before yesterday to get the go-ahead for digging. We'll have to wait for those folks to come out before we can plant the trees. They'll be planted in our front yard, which is currently devoid of any trees. We hope to have them planted (by me) before Mother's Day. We had originially hoped to have these trees in the yard by Easter, but the slew of rainy weather we've been having made that impossible. It's a little late in the season to be planting, I think, but we'll take the chance. We're so excited. These trees will give us such lovely shade when they're grown. We've already named them; they were named even before we ever decided what trees to plant.