Coming home from Grayslake, IL.

Got the cool seat with no one in front of me!  Everyone is soooooooo jealous.  Excellent. 

An El Marko works even better than a pastry brush

And who was El Marko, anyway? A Spanish nobleman who freed the peasants from the tyranny of erasable markers? Cause El Marko's ain't erasable.  You draw a penis on a passed-out drunk guy with one of those,  that s--- is on for good: tattoo in a stick. 

Pinkie driving me insane today

Yes. It's a pastry brush.  What of it? 

Returning from Wisconsin to a scarily deserted airport

Yes. I'm in Wisconsin

In Winnecone en route to Steven's Point. Woo!

TW being mad

He hates being caught with his own row. On to Milwaukee! 

Out with the old; In with the new

Old

New

Carol bought this place in 2003; the place was built in 1989.  As far as we know, the refrigerator was the original.  It had been dying for some time.  It's made of lead, probably laced with radium, radon, and asbestos, didn't seal tightly at all, and --as you can see from this picture-- would only stay shut, in the loosest sense, if you propped a heavy stool against it.  This is a little too trailer even for me.

So we went shopping and picked up a floor model KitchenAide frig, almost exactly the same size, stainless steel (brushed satin), french doors with lower freezer drawer, ice-maker, water filtration, blah, blah, blah.  The price seemed excellent (perhaps too good, as my dickering on another appliance was met with a stoic resistance and I left unsatisfied and desiring a new stovetop) the delivery was prompt, and I have never felt so sorry in my life as I felt for the two guys trying to get the old, neutronium-constructed fridge, down the stairs and out.  They were young men, and strong.  But I'm sure at one point I heard them cry.  On the other hand, they whisked the new, slightly larger one UP the stairs with nary a problem.  It seems they make refrigerators lightweight and energy efficient anymore.  I'm thinking our electric bill should go down significantly 'cause, let's face it, a stool holding the door shut is not your best first line of defense against expensive oozing cold air. 

The first piece in the eventual replacement of all 1989-era appliances in the kitchen is now in place.  Cause we can't climb these stairs forever.  :)

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Death and the Capitol Steps

A sad weekend.  Former Capitol Step Dave Werner was found dead in a Maryland hotel room not far from his home in nearby Virginia. Facts are sketchy but it seems on the surface he checked in for the sole purpose of being found dead there.  Sad.  He was one of the funniest Steps ever; the best Bush Sr. impression I've ever seen; a gentle, warm, funny, generous, closeted, mysterious man. Very, very sad.

The same night -Saturday- Brian's father gave up his long struggle with polio.

Things come in threes: I'm driving cautiously the next few days.  Love you guys.  Take care. 

Crabbing. And looking haughty doing it.

Off Solomon's Island with C and Danny Paolucci.

Screen window woes (or: "If I'm so smart, why can't I get my F'n screen windows out?")

This is the window in question from the exterior.  Even less accessible to me than it looks like it is.

Same window - interior.  Note the two peg-like screen locks visible at the top of the screen.

Close-up of the peg. Seems a standard feature of screens.  Spring-loaded, it holds the screen in place. Pulling down on it releases it and the screen can then fall inward.

The top window: fixed, immovable, with no releases or anything holding it in.  An inherent, fixed part of the window.

Showing the upper window being fixed and non-adjustable again.

When the window is opened from the inside, it only goes up this far; the pegs to loosen the screen are barely accessible.

Another view.

Another view, featuring my giant ham-sized hand.  Even if both pegs are loosed and the screen tips forward at the top, it is blocked from coming inward (its natural directional inclination) by the interior window itself.

I thought perhaps that I could push it outward and collect it on the ground below, but the corners seem fixed and inextricable, as this frustrated photo demonstrates..

I can't tell you how much I hate not being handy. It was cute for a while in my youth, but I am seriously over it now.

I am contemplating disposals at Home Depot

Which can only lead to a far more amusing post at some point in the future. 

Tulsa, OK from room 915, the Tulsa Renaissance

Been here the last day and a half. Wasn't supposed to be,  but Brian's dad's polio took a bad turn.

Took this picture at night cause it makes Tulsa look better. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

If I were there, Mom, I would want to make you a cake.

A cake that looked like this:

Or like this:

Or maybe this:

Or this:

 Or maybe even this! Yeah!

 But tragically, it would probably end up looking like this:

So I guess it's just as well that I'm not there to make you a cake. I wish I was, though! 

Love you, Mom.  Love you so much.  Have a great day and make Dad do all the work.

Window fixed Monday, long, long drive Tuesday.

Took hours longer than it should have.   Made it though. 'Just follow the Slush Puppie,' I kept telling myself. 

Vandalism in the Berkshires

Driving home Thursday night,  my passenger side window  shattered inward, spraying tempered glass all over my car. One lane road; no cars around on either side of the road; no rocks on the highway. I think someone threw a rock at my car. Fortunately it's covered -both with plastic and insurance- repairing it Monday,  the insanely loud plastic taped over it the biggest drawback.  Do I have terrible luck or what? 

Seiji Ozawa - famous conductor, oft-appearing at hoity-toity Tanglewood, a Wolf Trap-like performing arts place nearby

...and appearing in urinals at the Cranwell as well.   How honored he must feel. 

Last two days have been actually golfing on actual golf course

Even got to drive a cart! Did horrible,  naturally,  but not as horribly as I expected.  Wrists,  ankles,  feet, sore as hell. 

Second in an ongoing series: pointless and gratuitous quotation marks

I think the first in this series was five years ago or so, but never mind.  I eventually remembered to do another.

Oh, plus I got a haircut

Also, took the Taconic Parkway up this time

A touch longer but pretty and relaxing.  With colorful,  friendly bridges. 

Back to the Berkshires

And back over this stupid bridge again.  You know, a truck just like this knocked a young woman in her car off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge just two days ago. She lived somehow, but still...damn. And I'm not even scared of that one.  Stupid bridges.  

Detroit airport

There is definitely WAY more of this airport. This is like a nanoparticle of it. 

Detroit having gone bankrupt yesterday,  we were glad to get out before they started auctioning off the seats and gates. On the plane back to Baltimore now. Our first plane's air conditioning didn't work. Consequently I now resemble a used Kleenex.

The Traverse City airport.

This is entirety of it beyond security.  I love airports like this.  Still a slight amount of Barney Fife-ism at small airports but not nearly as bad as it used to be. 

The view from Room 203, the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, Michigan

Have definitely had worse. 

Off to Travers City, via Detroit...except. ..

...this is sorta where my plane should be.  Hmmmm.