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cycling / Indiana / IU / photo / television / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
14
Apr 21

To put the sun at your back and the wind in your face

It was a lovely afternoon for a bike ride. I did not dawdle, and so we set out for an hour, with the slightest chill in the shade and the perfect amount of warmth in the sun.

It could be that the wind whisked it all away. Wind is the thing that demands the most of us. It’s a cycling thing — some 30 percent of your energy, says the almost-science/sorta-old-wives-tale, is devoted to overcoming wind resistance. It’s also a regional thing. Nothing moves the seasons here like the wind. And today things were moving.

So was she. I looked down and looked up, that’s all it took, and she’d put that gap in between us. My lovely wife is up there, powering her way through some ridiculous gear. If you peer into the picture you can just make her out, small dots in the middle-distance. Sometimes you can’t blink and she’ll be gone. When she does that I have to use all the tricks I know to pull my way back up.

I can never tell her all the tricks or she’ll be up the road and it’ll just be me back here with my shadow.

Or, if you prefer the video version …

That might have actually been on the same road. This one was a different road.

Shows I should show you, include this show, which I told you about last night. There’s a comedienne interview in here, among some other fun stuff.

And you can get all of the news and then some right here.

And this, which I neglected from Monday … I don’t know what you do at a distillery, it’s not my scene, but doing it in the morning seems like a tough assignment.

I have a full day tomorrow, and an even more full day on Friday, if that’s possible, so we’ll leave it here for now. If you have some more time to kill right now, however, there’s always more on Twitter and check me out on Instagram, too.

photo / Tuesday — Comments Off
13
Apr 21

Not sure why there’s not more to this

And how was your Tuesday morning?

Mine was a bit like a Monday. By the afternoon it wore off, but the time in between a quick run and the p.m. hours it was a Monday. This was dropped. That was forgotten. This got broken and so on.

Days like that it is imperative to always, always, know where your keys are at all times.

The day’s many emails went without incident. And I started the first halting steps of a new Twitter thing I’m trying for work. (It involves work and, eventually, Twitter. There, we are caught up.)

And then there was the studio, where fun things always happen. (One of our cameras is malfunctioning, but the students persevered and actually finished slightly ahead of schedule, to their credit. Also they brought in a comedienne. I hope there are clips of her work, otherwise it’s just a conversation. We’ll see tomorrow.)

So I’m down to showing off my pocketsquare, but isn’t that what Instagram is for? (It is a good one. Go on over and check it out. We’ll wait for your return.)

Classic blue shirt, a basic Brooks Brothers shirt I like, but it’s getting a little old, sadly. And those little seasonal flowers in a little spring-time purple. That’s fun. Makes up for the jacket. I’m weary of this jacket.

Fun fact: Google has never crawled a page where the preceding sentence was written. Weird, right?

My peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch wasn’t much to write home about — weird how that same thing can vary so widely from day-to-day — but the grilled chicken this evening was tasty. Oh, and I managed to not spray water all over the kitchen when I did the dishes afterward!

I could get about 600 words out of that. Already I’m sitting at 300.

Best leave it where we are then, right? Right.

adventures / food / Monday / photo — Comments Off
12
Apr 21

And, finally, in mid-April

Well happy spring to you, too! I saw this guy at a red light on the drive back from campus last week, but didn’t share it here for whatever reason. But, since the front page went full bloom, it seems like a good time for this one.

It just appeared. One day it was all sticks, and then, this. By tomorrow it’ll be leaves. That’s what’s happening to the blooms in our yard, anyway.

One of the weather services is talking about long range freeze potential.

We had some rain and gray this weekend, but it’s all easily ignorable because, long range potential notwithstanding, it’s obvious and apparent that we’ve finally, finally shifted into a new season. We’ve made it once more.

It rained on us Saturday when we got our customary weekend takeout. It rained during parts of that afternoon, as well, and into the evening. All of this came after Friday evening sprinkles. So we worked in the exercise room.

The previous owners of this house had added on a little exterior kitchen on the back so that they could make their traditional Vietnamese fare. They were going to have it torn down as part of the sell, but we asked them to keep it up, thinking we could use it, and we’ve made a great use of the space after finishing the walls and doing some general cleaning. The upside is we got a little bonus room and a basically brand new kitchen, since the regular one was seldom used.

Anyway, we’ve been using a light industrial throw carpet over plywood in there for a good long while. But some friends put down some new flooring in their pain cave and had very nice things to say about it, and so we are keeping up with the Joneses!

Now, the first thing you have to know about flooring is that it is a virtual certainty that no room is perfectly square, and your walls aren’t likely to be perfectly straight. No difference here. And the second thing is we decided we’ll just make peace with the notion that this is where we store things and, when the weather is bad, where we sweat. So if something is a little off, so be it. We aren’t making the floor of the Sistine Chapel, after all.

(We count ourselves fortunate to have seen the Sistine Chapel. It’s beautiful. The floor is a mess.)

Anyway, the flooring came in this week and we started installing it Saturday. We did the easy parts, building out two walls and leaving the tricky sections until yesterday afternoon. Yesterday there was a lot of sliding around on the floor and measuring odd angles and cutting and insisting on making things fit. And, to be honest, I am more satisfied with the outcome than, perhaps, I should be.

Here’s the tricky part, the non-corner corner. There’s a lot of stuff going on here, two angles, a threshold overhang, door trim, inserting an extra piece because of the way I put all this down. And, without too much consternation — which is how I’ve come to define progress in most any project — it just all clicked together nicely.

Because that dismay never arrived I wondered, and am still curious, about what I’ve done wrong with this stuff — and when I’ll realize it. But, for now this means we can happily put all of the things back in that room.

So, reviewing last week: we dug up a tree (and The Yankee did a lot of other things in yard, besides) and I replaced a faucet and we did that floor. This feels industrious.

The cats like the new floors, because it meant a weekend of access to a room they’re seldom allowed into. And that meant new windows to sit in, where they can see the exact same view of the yard and the woods they can from … seven or eight other windows in the house. Maybe it smells different from there, I don’t really know.

Phoebe took advantage of the clutter to try out the outdoor cushions.

We don’t leave them outside, and so they get stored in the exercise room, generally. So they are kind of new to her, and she was happy to enjoy them all weekend. If a cat can sit in a box, that’s great. If a cat can sit on a half-dozen cushions in a box, that’s better.

A few nights ago we had some potatoes for dinner and Poseidon was very interested.

He never touches the food, I’m sure because he knows we’re standing there waiting to give him grief about it. But he will reach out from time to time. I liked his toes were spread out there, ready to give it a try, if only we weren’t standing right next to him.

Tonight we got takeout Chipotle. First observation, takeout Chipotle is a smaller serving than if you’re dining in. Nice. Second, both cats were very interested in the bag of chips.

Friday / IU / photo / site / television / video — Comments Off
9
Apr 21

Easing into a springtime weekend

Here are the sports shows from last night. First, the highlights from Sports Nite. Big stories are about postseason play in soccer. And basketball. Always basketball. Basketball never ends here. The sport needs a shot clock.

And here’s The Toss Up, which is where they talked about The Masters. A fun time was had by all.

Today I gave two tours. First time I’ve had guests in the building since, I don’t know, maybe February of last year. The first was for a young man who’ll be joining us as a freshman in the fall. The other is a guy who’ll be joining us for grad school. He is also from Alabama. Two new people from home in the same week.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him about the barbecue situation.

I have made a new look for the front page. I rather like it, and I think you will too. Just click the image below and, via the magic technology of hyperlinks, you will be effortlessly transported to it. Tell me what you think.

And then effortlessly transport yourself to the weekend. I’m starting mine relaxing on the deck. How you are beginning your weekend? You’ve earned it, after all. Enjoy it!

photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
7
Apr 21

And some two hours later … the job was done

Drip, drip, drip into the sink. And so I replaced the little bit of rubber inside the kitchen faucet. And then, later, drip, drip, drip again. I replaced that little washer. And again. Now, the first time it seemed like user error. And then, after that, maybe just bad water. Or bad water and user error. I suppose it could be a faulty bit of rubber. But when the dripping started for a fourth time I knew it was definitely anything but user error.

Which was when I stripped the little screw that holds the whole faucet together. And, after a day of trying to overcome that difficulty, decided to hang the whole thing and start anew.

So my lovely bride bought a new faucet this week, which she’s been hoping to do for some time.

Home ownership, by the way, is just an exercise in doing something you are asked, and learning some skill that gives you a bit of confidence, but really genuinely sincerely hope you never have to use again.

This is where I was this evening, going through the stages of self-confidence and doubt.

She picked up the faucet on Monday. We did outdoors work that day. Last night I didn’t get in until late. All of this, and the paragraphs above, have left me plenty of time to psyche myself up for the chore. And so, this evening, when I got to the house at a regular hour, I was ready to take on the task.

Super excited! Pep rally ready! Let’s rip out the old! Drop in the new! Make it appear as if nothing ever happened here!

That’s the self-confidence part.

Getting the old faucet out was the hard part. Well, maybe just reaching it. This is the kind of space I’m working in.

Oh that’s pretty standard, you say. Two sinks, sure, one larger than the other and both a fair size. Sure. Nothing but the best, right? And also the garbage disposal, who’s inner workings are in no way inconvenient to the cause. To say nothing of that random PVC vent in the center, which is precisely where I need to go.

And if you think I pondered trying to remove one of the sink tubs or uncoupling the disposal, you’re right.

The thing about the countertop is that the hole cut out of it is precisely as large as it needs to be and not a micron wider. The thing about the old faucet is that there are some copper components to it. And the thing about that vent in the back is that it took some considerable and destructive ingenuity to get out the old stuff. And the old equipment
is starting to get a bit of rust to it.

And somewhere in there, in that already tiny and almost unworkable space, is where the doubt part starts crowding in.

Things got destroyed. Well, it was all going away anyway, so that was the point of no return. The new stuff was just fine. So long as it worked when it got installed.

And if you’ve ever worked on more than any one thing on a house before you’ve come to realize that there is nothing standard about standard sizes or techniques or anything. I mean, the plumber could have been having a bad day the day he was in this house. And seeing some of the other stuff in here, it wouldn’t surprise.

Well, the old stuff got out, and once you get into the cabinet, under the sink and immediately beneath the not-at-all obstructive disposal unit and reminded yourself that you don’t have claustrophobia issues, it looks like this.

Seriously, what’s up with that vent? Does anyone here know what that does?

That bit of orange is from the new faucet install. It dropped in without a problem because the new sink uses rubber components and not copper. Once it was in place there was just the matter of reaching two hands, a screwdriver and a custom spanner into a space big enough for precisely one hand to tighten it down to the counter. And then you connect the supply lines, and pet the cat.

Poseidon was an excellent helper. And we are a safety first house.

Here he is looking over the tools and instructions.

Connect the faucet head. Imagine in your mind the part of the instructions that Moen just got too lazy to write and figure out the final parts with some trial and error.

And congratulate the cat on being very helpful.

Now, because of the difficulty of removing the old one, and the time that took, both cats were interested in the box and the plastic inside. But it took so long they both lost interest in the plastic and the box. They went somewhere else. And then Poseidon remembered it anew.

Really, looking back on it even now I’m not sure why it took so long. It’s a fairly simple procedure, a faucet installation. A faucet extraction, however, might be its own specialty.

Anyway, we have a new faucet:

And it works and everything! Water comes out of it! Hot and cold! And it stops coming out when you ask it to stop! We better love this faucet for a long time.

Most importantly, no injuries, save the wrench I dropped on my face. No wicked oaths uttered under my breath. Times I had to move a cat out of the way, uncountable. A successful new skill learned. Basic plumber 101 skill achieved. Hopefully I won’t have to do this again for a good long while.