Living With Dad, 2

It's an adventure without end (well, yes there will be and end, but you know what I mean).  Sometimes he is lucid, other times he makes no sense.  Sometimes he remembers details of events from years ago, sometimes he isn't sure whether we had dinner.

It is taking a whole new way of discussing things for me.  The best way I can describe it is a spiral.  I start a subject that needs to be discussed (like "bank accounts").  Dad takes the subject in directions I can not anticipate ("checkbook" becomes "old checks from investments that he has cashed and stashed in an old checkbook cover").  The conversation may take an hour and look like this:

I start on the outside and slowly narrow the terms as he understands them until I get a little closer each few minutes.  I ask a question and see how that processes.  Then I adjust the terms in other words to get closer to the fact that I need to get from him.  It can be "difficult" sometimes. 

I sometimes succeed to some degree, sometimes entirely, but usually only in part.  Last night's discussion was about bank accounts.  He says he has many, but I can't pin him down on what kinds and what banks.  And it's not his fault; he doesn't know himself.

There IS slow progress.  I have figured out that he has 3 banks.  I haven't been able to figure out which banks have what kinds of accounts because he wont let me look through his "checkbooks" (which have no blank checks or deposit slips, just old used ones) and his actual documents are in a duffel bag of unorganized papers. 

I want to set up a file drawer of folders for him (well, for ME actually), but he thinks that is "too complicated".  I may just have to stay up after he goes to bed and sort out documents all over the living room and just DO IT!  It makes me uncomfortable to act so unilaterally, but I guess I have to stop thinking of him as a functioning adult.

Apparently, I have to become "Mom/Financial Manager/Dad" to my child-father...  I CAN, it just takes some relational adjustments.

Mom died in 2010, but she was mentally alert, so I don't even have her last days as an example.  Dad is more physically able, but is slowly failing mentally.  I have NO experience with that up close.

I'm learning fast, I'm patient, and I've lived a rather flexible lifestyle for years.  It helps that I'm retired, have no financial problems, and plenty of time to help Dad.  But dementia is a cruel thing.

The good news is that Dad eats about anything Standard American (as do I, except fish), and I enjoy cooking.  So he is eating a lot better here than at his home (hot dogs and cereal, it seems).  He is able to prepare the dinner salad while I make the rest of the meal (a meat, green veg, yellow/orange veg, and he MUST have a potato).

The bad news is that he is confused (mostly) away from the house.  Examples:

When we packed up his clothes, we missed the laundry hamper.  He only had 2 pair of "tighty-whiteys" here.  And he didn't tell me.  So I found out today and we went shopping.  He found the boy's underwear aisle and I couldn't get him out of it.  He just kept looking at the boy's stuff.  So I fund his size and brand 2 aisles over (after some effort - Walmart doesn't stock much of that "old guy underwear anymore).  He spent 10 minutes searching through boy underwear for his size.  He didn't want to stop even when I brought him the kind he wanted.  And he had been washing his only 2 pairs of underwear in the bathroom sink!

Shopping for tub attachments to help him shower, we went to Home Depot.  We found a side tub handle and a tub bench for him to sit on.  Since it was for him, he paid.  Or tried to.  He kept trying to use him AARP Membership card to pay.  He INSISTED it was a credit card (well, it DID have a mag-strip).  I knew he had a real credit card, but he would NOT let me just get it out of his wallet.  Instead, the poor clerk and I had to wait while he searched and examined every shopper card, drivers license, etc he could find.

I have been explaining to MANY people lately that Dad is "old and having problems" so that they understand...  To a person, they have all understood and been patient. 

Dad is considerate of the cats.  He warns them when he is approaching, and when they sometimes don't move, he bends over carefully and scratches them nicely.  He says he likes only dogs, but I think he just won't admit he likes cats too.  He IS kindly to pets.

So things are getting settled slowly here.  MY bedroom is a clutterred mess because everything "stored" that was in Dad's new bedroom is now in my computer room and bedroom.  I'll sort all that out later.  Half the battle is getting Dad used to some new places to keep his stuff, and the other half is getting him to remember where that is.  I know it will take time, and he IS trying his best.

I got him to a dentist today for a bad tooth.  He couldn't understand why Angie's List was better than just picking a name out of the phone book, but he DID like the dentist I found.  Next week's medical challenge is finding an internist/geriatrics doctor for him. 

Can't wait to find out what the next surprises will be...

Tom Swifties

Forgive me, I thought of one tonight.  "context"

"I'll go stop the prisoners from sending short emails said Tom, contextually".  LOL!

I kill myself sometimes...

Living With Dad

This is going to be an adventure I am barely prepared to take.

The Background:

Mom died in 2010 from old age and Parkinson's at 84.  Her body failed while her mind was still capable.  She hated that, and I understand.  I miss her.  Dad is the reverse.  He's old physically, but shuffles around just fine.  He does just fine with physical activities like setting the table for meals, personal things, dressing, etc.  It's his mind that is going.

He is lucid for periods; remembering investments, family, and events.  Then, suddenly cannot recall where he is, who I am, or where any of his investments are.  At those times, anything I tell him is forgotten immediately and asked again in a few minutes.

Now:

I and my siblings live in MD.  Dad lived in FL.  My brother Matt and I flew down May 18, packed all the documents, personal affects, and clothes into Dad's car.  Matt drove Dad's packed car to my house.  Dad transferred his car title to Matt and Matt drove home in the car.  Dad (briefly?) understood that he could drive a car safely any more.

So Dad is here now with all the stuff we could fit into the car.  And into a standard bedroom.  It can't hold all his stuff.  I have some ideas about helping with that (shallow bookcase so he can stack his folded clothes where he can see them - seemingly important to him), a shallow secretary desk with a drawer for his checkbooks and will (important to him), and a tall narrow dresser (space is limited).

My immediate concerns are to get his clothes sorted into 3 piles.  Summer wear, Winter wear, and Never wear. He has enough clothes for 5 people!  Most, he would never have any occasion to wear.  He DOESN'T need 10 pairs of golf pants, for example.

But also, because he feels cold all the time here, he sure doesn't need the 10 pairs of shorts or the short sleeve shirts.  Those have to go to Goodwill.  The hardest part is getting him to wear long sleeve pants and shirts.  He puts on 3 short sleeve shirts and complains his arms are cold!

I told him that he can put on warmer clothes, but I can't wear much less clothes than I do.  He doesn't quite grasp that concept.  Basically, he wants the thermostat at 85 (in shorts) and I want it at 70.  In between is no good because I melt into a pool of sweat at 72.  I want to buy him long sleeved knit shirts tomorrow.

The good news is that he loves my cooking.  I'm always been a "fresh-food", pork or chicken/veggie stir fry type, with baked chicken thighs, and the occasional steak type.  With salads and lots of veggies.  He seems to like that too.

Sadly, he LOVES bread.  I think he was making whole meals of bread before I got him up here.  On the good side, I make great bread and he likes it.  And he is enjoying having salad and meat with his bread.  I'm taking the meals one day at a time while I figure out what he likes that is healthier.  I did get him to agree to start taking my own regular "Men+50 multivitamin today (doctors orders).

My own diet is basically some meat, lots of veggies, a tossed salad, 2 glasses of red wine, and mixed fresh fruit for "dessert".  I haven't introduced the fresh fruit yet, but we are going grocery shopping together tomorrow and I'll see what interests him there.  Irrelevant in a way, since I will be buying a variety for myself anyway.  But I need to find what HE likes.

The cats will be a problem.  He hates cat fur around his bedroom.  I mean, he likes cats "OK" but hates fur.  So far, we are keeping his bedroom door shut all day, but that won't last.  Dad forgets about the door.  They had a cat until about 2000, but dad doesn't remember.  MY view is that cat fur isn't fatal, but it seems to bother his (oddly variable) sense of cleanliness.

We'll work that out...

There are still 5 bags of Dad's clothes down in the basement.  He thinks he has sorted through ALL his clothes.  Tomorrow will be another surprise for him.  Sorting confuses him.  So I think I will do it directly from the bags in the basement.  My idea is to present him with types of clothes (long pants, short pants, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, etc.  Then ask to him to choose the best 7 of each that fits.  He understands that some of his clothes should go to charity.  90%, actually, but I won't tell him THAT (because it would seem giving "away" too much".  I will have him fill a box of clothes that don't fit (most of them) and remove them each day.  He will forget about those each time, I think  And when I present him with a bunch of donation tax reductions, he will think that grand.

Other than that, he is doing well.  More next time...

Post Mother's Day

I couldn't say it on the day.  Missing Mom for the 2nd Mother's Day now...  I guess it won't get any worse, but it won't get any better either..

Planning For Dad

I have a new bed bought and the new guest room all cleaned out for it.  I have the travel plans all set.  I have the never-ending kibble feeder cleaned and ready.  There are normally 4 litterboxes and I have 4 more cleaned and ready for fresh litter.  There are water bowls and a big bubbler water bowl ready to be set on the floor

The cats will only be left for 2.5 days.  Sometime this month (I do not know when - depends on Dad's rehab report at the hospital), I will be gone for 2.5 days.

Dad will be here for "X" years until he needs better help than I can give.  But the exact day is not yet known.  It won't be THIS night, or tomorrow, so I will waste off tonight with playing Risk and Scrabble online.  Because I think it will be a weird week getting Dad up here with me, and I deserve a blow-off night.

I expect to get up about 2 PM tomorrow.  LOL!

I go to pick up Dad's new bed ("firm" as he likes it) on Tuesday.   It only took an hour at a local bed store to get the best combination of bedframe, foundation and mattress that matched what he is used to (and I don't want to change what he is used to).  And it wasn't terribly expensive ($700 all told) and its hard to get a decent one less than that. He will be a bit annoyed that the headboard and footboard seem "fancy and expensive", but it was the simplest one I could find in "twin" size, so he should like that.  He's miserly, and hates any spending.  But it was the simplest one I thought he would be comfortable in. 

So I am set for him at least 2 weeks ahead of arrival.

Watching the cats adjust to Dad will be interesting.  Fortunately, he only shuffles his feet, so he won't be stepping on him.  And quite frankly, if they can't stay out of his way when he shuffles his feet along, it THEIR problem.  Seriously, if they can get stepped on by Dad shuffling his feet slowly, they deserve it.

The whole group of us 3 children are participating in getting Dad from FL to MD, each doing some part with their own abilities.  That's the good thing.

Brother Matt doesn't mind driving, Sister Susan is good at emptying old houses for sale, and I am good at planning trips, arranging to shut off services, etc.  And I'll be having Dad here which will be a lot of daily personal effort.

This will be the biggest change in my life in 30 years...

Slightly Good News

The rehab hospital has been approved by Medicare to keep Dad in physical therapy for another week, so there is time to plan things better.  Yay!  I got the old guest room (recently storage room) cleaned out today.  Major work.  And I had the entire guest room closet filled with "stuff".  I got that all moved to otgher rooms and the attic.  Lots of old junk to the landfill (but a lot to the recycling center too).  I could have done that years ago, but I'm a man~ana type. when it comes to household stuff.

I figured out the logistics of the move last night as I was trying to fall  asleep.  And, nicely, it still all made sense in the morning.  So its a plan.

It's "one day at a time" now...  I don't know how things will work out with Dad living here with me.  I'll do the best I can.  We might just get along fine, we might not.  Only time will tell.

But I want to give him the best last days that I can.  That means a lot of adjustments; I'll make those adjustments.  Until I can't help him enough anymore.  Then it will have to be an "assisted living facility".  And eventually a hospice center nearby where we kids can visit him often.  We are all going there someday.  But I will do what I can in the meantime.

Elder Care For Dad

Well, Dad turned 90  in April, and he's not doing too well.  Basically healthy, for sure, but old age is getting a grip.  He has to shuffle his feet to walk, can't make turns well, and falls sometimes.

He fell and hurt his head in two places last week.  He drove himself to a hospital, which was apparently a harrowing trip.  It is very fortunate he did not injure himself or others on that trip.  He has been treated and is currently undergoing rehab treatment for balance exercises.  But he must not drive again, and he really can't take care of himself anymore.  He seems willing to stay in the rehab hospital until I can bring him here.

I will be bringing him here to live with me in the next month or so.  So I will be gone for a week at some point, though I won't specify exactly when.  I'll leave a few scheduled posts in the meantime, and let you know when I am back. 

The neighbors will all know when I am away and will be watching the house closely.  They will be advised that there are NO plans for ANYONE to visit and to call the police IMMEDIATELY if anyone shows up attempting to enter the house!

I will hate this trip.  I hate travelling.  I haven't travelled by plane since before 9-11 and worry about the restrictions.  But it has to be done.

The difficult part is that he does not want to move.  He's fighting it, but weakening as he discovers how having others provide better meals and help him get around IS rather nice.  He HAS to have someone like me to watch over him and feed him well.  Wish me the best of luck.  It is possible that I will fly back home alone, but I will drag him out of his house short of legal kidnapping.

I'm working out a step-by-step list for all the things that need to be done to get Dad here...

Doing Useful Stuff, 5

The trees drop branches, I cut down weedy saplings, I trim desirable trees, some shrubs need severe pruning each year.  It adds up to a large brushpile.  

So I finally piled all the debris into the hauling trailer and brought it to the County landfill.  It was 8 feet high in the trailer.  After tying it down tight with ropes, I crushed it down to 6' high.  And delivered it.  Not as trash, but as compostable material.  You see, the County here has a huge composting area.  They pile all the organic debris into rows 20 feet high and a football field long.

In return, County residents can obtain "mulch" (more like halfway between shredded bark and compost) for free).  They will even use a bucketloader to fill trailers or pickup trucks for residents for free on Saturdays.  Its not quite either, but it IS free. 

I usually shovel it out of the trailer into a pile, use a mulch-fork to take out the large parts to use as real mulch, then let the smaller stuff compost (covered by a tarp) to become soil amendment.  Between moisture, time, ants, worms, heat, and microbes, it is really good stuff after a full year.

So it is really a "give raw material this year" and "get back a useful product the next".  And free, did I mention that?  LOL!  Free is good...

Doing Useful Stuff, 4

My back yard has a lot of mature trees, and a lot of volunteer saplings grow as a result.  Vines keep growing all the time, and I am constantly fighting wild ("mock") strawberries.   I deliberately left half of it "semi-wild".  Well, I'm not the typical suburban yard-like-a-pool-table-top with bits of shrubs and flowers type.

So there is always SOMETHING invading the more domesticated parts of the back yard.  Today, I finally got tired of the wild blackberries infesting the astilbe section of the flowerbed.  No, they aren't blackberries worth eating.  They are small, seedy, and hard as dry raisins. 

So...  I got out my poacher's shovel (a curved shovel with a blade only a few inches wide but 12" long - so named for digging up valuable wild plants with the least soilball for transport).  Its a really nice tool for digging up deep-rooted weeds among close-planted desirable plants. 

An hour later, I had a nice pile of brambles.  I had to work at getting as much of the roots as possible without killing the astilbe and baptisia.  The astilbe are well-grown, but the baptisia are just sending up shoots (they are rather like hostas shoots at emergence).  I still snapped a few baptisia shoots in the process, but was relieved to discover that each of the 6 plants had at least 6 more shoots emerging.

And there is not a briar/bramble to be found in THAT section...

I rewarded myself by standing on the deck with a beer, and classical music on the radio while I contemplated what best to do tomorrow.  And I admired the pile of brambles.  I sure wish I could have had the cats outside with me.  I miss that.  

Tinkerbelle (1982? to 1999), Skeeter (1992 to 2008), and LC (1993 to 2010) were always outside with me.  Tink and LC went over the fence routinely and sometimes stayed out for the night, but they always ran home in the morning.  Skeeter seldom left the yard (crawled through a rabbit trench under the fence a couple of times and then hated it cuz he couldn't find his way back and would moan on the other side until I removed a fence board to give him a return point).

When Ayla stayed out several nights because of "in heat" and then Marley jumped the fence, I had to stop their outside fun.  And there are owls around now at night and they didn't used to be around here.

I think I need to make the under-the-deck patio area a "catio".

That Collapsed Storm Drain

Well darn, I thought I had posted this 2 weeks ago, but I saw it was just sitting in "draft" mode...

It lasted 25 years with flood waters pounding it from almost ALL of the rainwater that ran down from the upslope neighborhood of about 1 square mile.

It finally fell apart.


Well, there it was all fallen down.  "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up".  So I called it into the County Maintenance office as a safety hazard that children might fall into.  They came RIGHT out and surrounded by this "child-proof safety fence", LOL!  Yeah, THAT will keep the kids away for SURE.

Well, better than nothing, I suppose.  More impressive, they returned in only 3 weeks to do the actual full repair.  I was expecting more like 4-6 months.  My County is not rich, and I'm sure scattered odd repairs are not their favorite ways to spend tax money.  But they did a really good job.

The first person examined the entire structure.  He decided it needed complete rebuilding.  I asked him about that and he pulled out 1 brick and broke it in half with his bare hands.  Yup, it needed new (and better) brickwork.  And he said he didn't get any extra money for recommending full rebuilds.

Here is the finished product.  I asked the guys rebuilding it if I could take a picture of them, and they said they would rather I didn't.  So OK.  Its not like taking pictures of my cats, who don't have a choice.

But they did good work!

They said the bricks were stronger and the morter more waterproof, so the storm drain might outlast me. 

Doing Useful Stuff, 3

Biannual Trash Dump:

I visit the landfill twice a year.  I recycle and compost so much that I seldom have anything for the trash collectors to haul away.  Maybe 1 bag per month.  And since I have to pay private trash collectors at least $40 per month, that's not a good deal.

And since what IS trash isn't organic, it doesn't smell.  So it can sit in bag in the garage for 6 months.

The kitty litter is the bulk of my other trash.  I can't compost THAT! But with the scoopable litter in plastic bags in the plastic tubs the litter comes in makes a good storage. I can wait on that too.  Seriously, the scoopable litter in the plastic tubs it comes in DOESNT cause any odor.  To me anyway.

So I filled up the car with the tubs of used kitty litter and the bags of  clean trash and drove to the landfill.

I can't BELIEVE I didn't take pictures of the SUV all filled up this time...  This isn't the picture from THIS year, but it is about the same amount.

The difference is that I learned that if I could put it all in the back of the car, I could pay just a flat fee of $5 for the whole load.  A trailer MUST be paid by weight (and that weight cost $10-$15)  So I do that by carload now.

Now I start another 6 months kitty litter and uncompostable, unrecyclable trash collection in the garage.  LOL!

Doing Useful Stuff 2, Planting Tomatoes

Planted tomatoes.  Heirlooms.  Can't wait for the ripe ones.

First, dug nice wide holes with a post-hole digger...  4 per box.

 The hole is deeper than it looks.  They are a foot deep.

Scatter some 2-6-6 organic slow release fertilizer and some pulverized eggshells (for calcium) in the bottom.  Lay the rootball in, add soil and some more fertilizer and eggshell.  Fill it up

Tomato seedling looks happy but floppy from the handling (yes they react to handling).

Add a short stake and a plant clip to hold it upright.

Put a 5 gallon bucket over the seedling...

Put a Wall O' Waters around the bucket...

Put the pointy nozzle on the hose...

And fill up the tubes.  1/2 at first for balance, then 2/3 to hold the teepee upright on its own after you pull the bucket up and out....

Strange as it may seem, the cooling water at night actually releases heat into the center.  The inside is 20F warmer than outside.  I've measured it!   That's great on the occasionally cool nights that drop to 40sF, but the main advantage is that it keeps the soil around the roots warm.  That really matters more.  The soil temperature stays around 60F.

Earth Day

OOPS!  I missed it yesterday somehow...

So, Happy Earth Day, Earth.  Thanks for supporting all of us another year.

It was probably not a coincidence that I saw my first hummingbird of the year Sunday morning!

Doing Useful Stuff, 1

A series of daily  stuff...

Sorted out and filed 2 years of bills and documents...  It was a pile 2 feet high.

Small Victory

I lost a frame screw from my eyeglasses 2 weeks ago.  I looked all over the area where the lens fell out.  No luck.

Fortunately, I always have 2 pairs of glasses.  So I replaced the lens and wrapped rubber bands around it to hold it in place until I passed the eyeglass shop.  But I kept not stopping (mostly because I always had food that would spoil quickly and the eyeglass place is S-L-O-W).

So today, I was typing at the computer and suddenly my attention was drawn to a tiny object...  The missing frame screw!!!  Hurray!

So I took out my set of jewelers screwdrivers and went about replacing the screw.  Damn, I just couldn't get it started.  Not by hand and not by screwdriver.  I even put a magnet on the screwdriver to hold the screw to the tip.  No luck for 15 damn minutes!  I kept thinking the starter hole OUGHT to be unthreaded and the lower one threaded to tighten the screw.

I FINALLY got it started and screwed it in place.  Took off the rubber band...  And the frame popped right open again.  Damn, damn, damn!

Then I noticed the screw on the OTHER side went in from bottom to top.  The BOTTOM is unthreaded.  Ohhh...

15 seconds later, I had the screw tightened.  I checked the other screw; it was still tight.

But then I checked the other set of glasses (which, of course, I had been wearing).  BOTH screws were loose.

I have a reason to mix up a small amount of epoxy for another reason soon.  I guess I will loosen each frame screw just a bit and use a toothpick to add a tiny dab before I retighten then.  I've had to do that before and it works great.

Granted I have reading glasses, so I put them on and take them off frequently, but do other people have this same problem with eyeglass frame screws falling out?  Have you thought of some good solution other than epoxy?

Good Things Happening, Part 2

THE CRAZY NEIGHBORS:  This time they have actually moved away!  Even the outside stuff is gone.  The BBQ grill, the tarp covering the front of the motorcycle shed that FIG used as a minor repair shop (I had no problem with that), and the kiddie pool in the back yard is gone.  There is NOTHING about them left behind this time.

They have actually left.

They brought out the worst in me, but also some best.

The worst is that I reacted to FIG and SNG  (Fat Idiot Guy and Stupid Nutso Girl).  I almost got in trouble with the police because I yelled at THEM to stop yelling outside at 3 am.  Well, maybe I deserved that.  To be fair, I'm not even sure the police knew I yelled at them, they just asked me some questions about the neighbors.  But I felt guilty.

 ---------------------

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE CRAZY NEIGHBORS WHEN:

1.  They scream obscenely at each other every Saturday night (in warm weather) at 3 am.
2.  One drives the only car away,
3.  With the infant in it,
4.  And with the only cell phone,
5.  And the other jumps in front of the car,
6.  Until pushed forward too much,
7.  And then lays down in the middle of the street screaming for an hour,
8.  Until she comes to your door begging you to call the police,
9.  And you do,
10.  And they come when the guy gets back and haul him off to jail for a few days,
11.  And they both HATE you for doing that,
12.  And she comes over the next day to beg for a cigarette,

13.  And FIG gives you the "evil eye" while you are just mowing the lawn,
14.  And you begin to wonder who owns that rental place so that you can complain,
15.  Or maybe even buy it to get rid of them because it wouldn't be THAT bad a deal,
16. And warm weather comes again and they start the screaming raging arguments again.

 ---------------------

And then they ACUALLY move away...  Hal A Luliah!

Good Things Happening

I have to say that I am pleased this past week. 

FIRST, the storm drain on the property line collapsed last month and I called it in for a repair.  Well, I don't mean that I was pleased it collapsed, but that the Count responded in 2 days with some surrounding warning tape.  So at least they reacted fast.

Then only a couple days later, a crew of bricklayers came out.  They tore down the existing brick structure, loaded it into a pickup very cleanly, then started rebuilding the whole thing.  I was amazed and pleased!

I only went out and bothered them with questions twice.  I've learned a few things over the years.  Guys who cut down trees are daredevils and love to show of.  Guys who lay bricks carefully don't.   

They made a small dam on rocks and soil and put a sump pump in the pool.  The sump pump led across my lawn to another storm drain, so the worksite stayed dry.

I looked at the work after they left.  The brickwork wasn't very level.  But it was lower in the center where the water would drain in, so I assume that was deliberate.  But is was level on the other side where water drains in, so I'm not sure.  It is interesting trying to figure out which side was done wrong, if either was.  The level side is against a solid brick wall downward whereas the lowered center side falls into the open pipe.  There MAY be a reason for that.

Quite frankly, I don't want to attend "storm drain school" to figure it out.  LOL!

But there was wet cement on the bottom of the storm drain and they left a gas electrical engine running to keep the water away for a while.  That makes sense.  But the gas engine ran out at 7:20 PM and I went out to look.  The water was slowly topping the soil dam and reaching the storm drain.  I was wondering whether to call the County when some guys came by in a County pickup truck. 

I mentioned it had just stopped and they said they had estimated it wrong.  The water was taking away some of the concrete.  But they said they could pull it all up and do the base concrete again.  They were CLOSE, but the job won't be "the best". 

On the other hand, the previous build lasted 25 years and I won't be around to worry about it in another 25.

SECOND, The Crazy Neighbors.  More about them next time...

My Crazy Neighbors, Part 2

Oh this is even better than I hoped!  The trailer is back this morning and filled with even the recycling bins.  Who needs to take recycling bins when they leave?  They are free anywhere you move to.

Weirder yet, that may be the house heat pump in the trailer too.  Well, might as well steal everything when you are a deadbeat.  LOLOL!  I'm surprised not to see the refrigerator and stove, but then I wasn't watching all night.  Maybe they already moved those out.  Rich theft for evil renters.

This just gets worse and worse.

The high hilarity point was watching FIG and his Dad trying to haul the trailer of furniture out yesterday.  FIG put the hitch side right next to the mailbox.  DUH, ya cant attach it and get it out easily that waythat way...

FIG and Dad finally did get Dad's pickup to the trailer hitch.  That's where the fun began.  They could manage to pull the pickup forward without hitting the mailbox.  I was falling on the floor laughing.  It was SO obvious it would be easy to just back the trailer off the yard.

But I've offerred advice before and got a crashing F*** Y** reply, so I just treated it as a bad reality TV show (but one I watched). 

FIG and Dad manuvered the pickup and trailer in all the possible wrong ways to get it around the mailbox.    I coukd have moved the triler backwards and gotten around the mailbox in 2 minutes.  Their solution?  Beat the mailbox post out of the ground.


I'm sorry, you can't invent stuff like this.  At least, I couldn't.  I watched them struggle for at least 20 minutes, turning the pickup wheels the wrong way EVERY single time.  You had to see it to believe it.

They both seem to be rather mechanically competent otherwise.   Fig repaired "stuff", his Dad casually added flares to his concrete driveway and built a rather nice toolshed in the back yard.  But, oh don't I wish I had a good camcorder...  I'd have a million hits by now.  My guess is that they understand machines but failed 10th grade geometry.

I might live in the USA's weirdest neighborhood.  My next door neighbor guy had an affair with the wife the next house over.  His wife left him, her husband left her, and she killed herself in the house.  The guy abandoned the house, but comes by once a month to mow the lawn.  He busted the fence gate up one day and it remains broken a year later.  The cuckholder guy only comes to the house when his daughter has to stay with him for the weekend...   I hear her laughing with neighborhood friends, so THATS good.

I wonder what SHE thinks sometimes, though.

The neighbors on the other side were always quiet, but strange too.  The guy built a half a garage and then stopped for 10 years.  Then he finished it suddenly and they left.  The new neighbors are strange.  The woman has bright red hair and wears the same black dress every day when outside (well, maybe she has a closet full of them).  The guy only comes out once every few weeks to mow the lawn.  They have a dog that seems to get out once a week, so I can only imagine that they have a dirt basement and clean poop a lot.

I need to move!

My Crazy Neighbors

I know I wrote about thinking my crazy neighbors across the street were moving out last December (and it turned out to be only the Mother of the crazy guy), but I have real hope now!  I call the crazy guy FIG (Fat Idiot Guy).  He seems to be married or otherwise "attached to" SNG (Stupid Nutso Girl).  There are also1 or two other guys and/or gals living there at various times.  FIG is the son of the guy next door.

FIG and SNG have raging screaming relationship arguments outside late at night.  One time he pushed her off the street with his car when she tried to stop him from leaving.  Another time, she asked me to call the police because he had taken the only telephone.  She's not quite normal either; she drags furniture into the street when she is angry and throws clothes into the drainage easement.  Just last week, she dragged some piece of furniture to the Dad's yard (where he burns brush) and set it on fire.  The laughing was a bit scary.

They are the only problems though.  The few times I've talked to the others living there, it's fine, even if they seem to change every few months.

Last December, it was a pickup truck of furniture being removed.  And then the house was dark a week, so I really thought they had left.  But as I said above, it was just FIG's Mom fleeing the insanity.

But TODAY!!!  Ah, it is more serious moving.  And better yet, it involves FIG's stuff.  I have great hopes this time.

1.  The previous renter built a motorcycle shed at the end of the driveway.  It is about  6' wide and deep, but with a front overhang and no front.  A bit odd, but I guess it protected his motorcycle sufficiently for him.  Well, the first thing FIG did was attach a heavy tarp across the front.  It seems he did appliance repairs in there.  Today, he took it down!

2.  He loaded up his trailer a week ago.  Bedframe, mattress, easy chair, tire, tools, trashcans, and (of all things) a kiddie pool I've seen him lay in. 

3.  His Dad came over to help, and no one else did.

4.  Several different cars were there during the day and different people loaded boxes into different cars.  None of the cars seemed filled, so I don'r think it was a group effort to move everyone together to the same place.  Looks like Splitsville to me!

5.  Both FIG and SNG dragged some small pieces of furniture over to FIG's Dad's driveway.  Not enough to move in with, but maybe a few things he could use that they couldn't in some new place.

6.  In the past couple of months, I've seen some well-dressed middle-aged guy banging on the front door (and none of their friends use the front door).  I think he is the owner looking for rent money.

7.  If the stuff in Fig's trailer was going to the landfill (he did leave the furniture in the trailer out in the rain for a few days (see 2), he sure spent a lot of time dumping it.  I know where the landfill is and how long it would take to get there, unload, and return.  He took an extra hour, which suggests he was moving it to a new residence.  Maybe the stuff was all plastic.  I didn't go look.

8.  Even in the dark (as I type) cars are pulling up, loading only a few boxes, and driving away.  Maybe there were a lot more people living there than I realized.  Or maybe they are taking stuff away as fast as it is packed.

I normally do not concern myself overly with my neighbors.  Oh, I'm "the helpful guy next door" when anyone needs any help.  I bring over my extension ladder when someone needs to clean their gutters, I'll lend my lawnmower when someone's breaks, help with advice on planting flowers for novices, help kids get a ball out of the stormdrain, collect the newspapers when some is on vacation, etc.  But I'm not the "hey, c'mon over for a BBQ tomorrow" type.

So these odd folks across the street are the only people I have had the least bit of trouble with in the 25 years I've lived here.

But I REALLY hope this time they are moving away.

Planting Peas

My technique is to soak the peas a day, drain the water, and let them sprout.  The ones that sprout after several days are the ones that get planted!  It works great.  100% germination. 

Only 2 days later, the 1st stems are emerging from the soil.  I can't wait to pick the first snow peas of the year.  They are stringless and SO sweet.

I'll toss them with some thinly cut pork, some pineapple, and some chile peppers.  Oh man are those gonna be GREAT!

Those Winter Weeds

I have awful winter weeds.  I can never get them pulled up in time to stop the new seeds setting in the soil.

I almost got them this year.  I got about half of them pulled up before the seeds were falling off the flowerheads.  So half the flowerbed should be clear next Spring.  I hope to get THOSE next year. 

I AM slowly catching up with them.  One whole 3rd of the flowerbed has none this year.  I got another 3rd before the seeds developed.  Next year, the last, I hope.

Those Spring Peepers

I got them good this year!  Last year, I put plastic sheeting over the small pond.  Well, the pond is close to my bedroom window, and the few peepers call enough to keep me up at night.  1,000 peepers is OK, but 5 aren't.  The 5 peep randomly but distinctly.  So I cover the pond.

This year, I covered it with row cower fabric.  It lets air to the pond, but keeps the peepers out.  HURRAY!

The peepers are all screaming their throats off across the street in the swamp, and that is just fine.  Doesn't bother me.  But none can get in the pond under my window and that is good too.

The Sky

I took the recycling bins out tonight.  And looked up into the sky.  There isn't usually much to see there around here.  Too much light pollution...

But I was surprised to SEE better than I have in years.  Orion was at midpoint, and clearer than usual.  Ursa Major was obvious, Cassiopeia was clear.  So I stood and looked, shielding my eyes from neighbors floodlights as best I could.

I could even see the rabbit below Orion!  Lookin further, I found the Pleiedes.  I havent seen them in years.  What REALLY surprised me were the 2 bright spots in the West.   I KNOW there arent bright stars there.  I guessed at Venus, but it seemed too far off the ecliptic.   And that red spot over to the East HAD to be Mars.

It was Venus.  And next to it was Jupiter.  And that WAS Mars.  I checked the sky map.
 
Best "seeing" I've had in years.  I sat outside for an hour...  Damn, I better learn how to use those lenses on the telescope!

The Big Flowerbed

About 15 years ago, I started a major flowerbed in the backyard.  I started out with roses and annuals, but switched to perennials after a few years.  I had a job, and house to maintain, and other yard areas to clear (it was virgin property - still left semi-natural, but the brambles and scrub saplings were slowly cleared).  I liked the idea of a perennial flowerbed, no replanting every year.  Weeding among them became worse than planting new annuals.

The flowerbed is an "Ell".  60" on the long side and 30" on the short.  The short side is against the back house foundation and faces south.  I get 1/2 to 3/4 sunlight, never full sunlight.  Too many mature neighbor's trees.  There is a 6'x4' pond offset in the long side toward the short side, which makes perfect symmetry impossible.

I still like the idea of mostly perennials, but, quite frankly, they don't bloom much or for long.  And most don't live as long as you would think.  "Perennial" does not mean forever or even 3 years sometimes.  And perennials from the best quality nursery have suddenly become more expensive.

So, I'm concentrating on those that have "lived long and prospered" (apologies to Star Trek), those that are individual plants that don't slowly spread, and those that are individual plants but can be divided.

I'm planning a major redesign of the entire flowerbed.  Essentially, I will dig up every single useful plant, divide those that are happy to be divided, move them around to where they might be happier, and move the more invasive spreading ones (like lysimachia firecracker and cultivated goldenrod) to a new area where they are welcome to spread all they want (because I can mow around the area).

My dilemma is the new flowerbed design.  I can design it with large areas of individual plants for impact (as recommended by some professional gardening magazine designers) or repetitive with smaller clumps of the same plants in several places spaced far apart (as recommended by other professional gardening magazine designers.

I like both ideas, but of course, I can't do both at the same time.  So, the dilemma...

I'm been laying out possibilities of both for days on graph paper (got to do it true to scale or I won't really know what it might look like).  Fortunately, I have a month to keep playing around with both ideas.

Any thoughts? 

Another Fine Night

Well, I've been trying to play fewer games on line late at night, but I still do.  And I had a great night of Scrabble.  I started playing Hearts, Risk, and Backgammon online at Pogo.com many many months ago.  I'm "competitive" at all of those, but each has problems.  I can honestly say that "dice hate me", which makes Risk and Backgammon miserable sometimes.  And I can't keep track of cards well enough to break past the mid rank of Hearts.

So I've been playing Scrabble for a few months, about one night per week.  No dice, no cards.  There is still the luck of the draw of the letters in Scrabble, but it seems random enough with so many letters that I'm not having a problem with that.  Plus, you get to use the good letters the other player uses. And I have a good vocabulary from reading lots of books...

Still, I got killed at first.  Scrabble uses a lot of specialty words.  Short ones like ZA and QI, and 7 letter words are bonuses.  It helped that I did Sunday crossword puzzles in ink for a couple decades.  While no crossword puzzles use ZA or QI, few scrabble players come across "sten" and "nene", so it works out.

So I guess I finally learned most of the 2-letter scrabble words (after being beaten to death with them at first).  And I was forced to start thinking of 7-letter words after being killed by the 50 point bonuses for using them (by my opponents).

Last night, I broke through the learning curve.  I won 12 games in a row!  Most were against real players, a couple were against the computer when no real players were available.  It may seem odd to any of you who play online games, because  computer players are generally considered easy to beat.  They drive ME nuts!  I can't beat the simplest chess program.  The Risk bots kill me routinely.  I can only beat real people!!!

I have no idea why.

It may be that when people think left/right, I think up/down. 

In Scrabble, I find it easy to make multiple word combinations.  Think of "ME", "LETS, and "EGG"  in a square of words.

Anyway, I beat players with 100 times my score. I have 140,000 points.   I asked one player who has 8 million points how she got them (after I crushed her in 3 games in a row).  She said she had been playing for 12 years.

Um,OK...

I don't plan to play Scrabble for 12 years...

I think I might try Clue next...  Achieving compentency at Scrabble has rendered the game boring.  Time to move on...

Planting Again!

Well, the best day of seed planting has occurred!  I planted the heirloom tomatoes and the hybrid sweet bell peppers 2 days ago.  If I could grow only 2 crops, those would be it.

Fortunately, I can grow a lot of other stuff.

For veggies, my list is nearly as long as the index list in a catalog.  I've even grown celery.

Right now, I have cabbage, broccoli. pay choy, brussels sprouts. lettuces of various types, tomatoes, bell peppers, and leeks.  Soon, I will have spinach, parsnips, beets. carrots, snow peas,  flat italian pole beans, squash, melons, pumpkins, radishes etc.

I have some blue potatoes this year.  I found them in the organic section of the grocery store, and they are sending out small shoots from the eyes.  4 blue potatoes will turn into 40 when planted in my containers.  And with luck, I will get 2 harvests by planting a few eyes in July.

I have been planting a LOT of annual flowers this year.  I spent 10 years on perennials and the short blooms are just not worth it.  So I've going back to annuals that bloom all Late Spring, Summer and Fall.  Salvias, Forget-Me-Nots, Carnations, Wave Petunias, Impatiens, Coleus, Cardinal Vines,

That needs a lot of indoors growing space.  Fortunately, I adapted a large storage rack to a light stand last year.  It is paying off now!

Each shelf has 4 fluorescent bulbs hanging below.  Each shelf has 2 daylight bulbs and 2 grow-light bulbs.  I really can't give the plants better lighting than that!

I keep the trays of seedlings close to the lights.  But the shelves are fixed in place.  So I do the adjustments by having wood stands of various heights.

Mesclun in a window box

Top view to show color.

Chinese cabbage.

Salvia, rudbecckia, and forget-me-nots...

Carnations and celery.

Rescued plants from last year.  Stokesia, clumping blue fescue, and catnip.

Bell peppers.  Lipstick is the best sweet bell pepper for me!

The heirloom tomatoes:  Aunt Gerties Gold, Brandywine, Prudens Purple, Cherokee Purple, Tennessee Britches, and hybrid suncherry.

An example of the stands I built to raise the trays as close to the lights as possible.  And to lower them as needed.  Best results are 1" away from the lights.  As they grow, they get put on lower stand.

Two stands before assembly.  They are just glued.

Here is a stand glued and with a weight on top.  The container is full of clean kitty litter.

After an hour, I can add a new glued stand.  They aren't attached, just stacked.

This is the seedling soil I used this year.  It wasn't perfect sterile soil, but it was "good enough" and it was on sale.

I've learned that the more expensive "seed starter soil" isn't required.  I got almost 100% germination with this stuff.  I DID have to pick out a few bits of bark and hand-crush some clumps of topsoil, but it was worth the cost.

BTW, when planting flats of 6 pack cels, I trowel lots of soil on top, scrape the excess away and tp down the cells with other 6 packs.  Then I plant the seeds, cover them with soil  using a flour sifter and tsmp them down again with a 6 pack.

That is all working great so far.

Planting Seeds

I planted flower and veggie seeds today.  I love doing that.  It signals the start of a new gardening season.  And I got to start using the light stand I adapted from storage shelves last April.

I bought 4 large bags of potting soil last week.  They were on sale, and I have storage space for the extra for next year.  A single bag almost filled up a large trash can.  The stuff isn't perfect.  It is designed for large containers and established houseplants.  There are bits bark and some clumps that have to be hand crushed into fine soil.  But it works with a little effort.  Really fine starting soil costs 3 times as much, so I am willing to put a little labor into improving it.

So, I pulled out my planting trays and the 6-cell-packs that fit them from last year.  They are clean, of course.  Each Fall, I fill up the basement laundry tub and add ammonia and soap to the water.  I let the trays and 6-cells soak overnight and rinse them a few times.  So today was my first major scheduled planting (10 weeks before last likely frost date).

The light stand is GREAT!  Each shelf has a combination of "daylight" and "plant-grow" fluorescent bulbs, and I made supports of various heights so that I can easily keep the growing seedlings close to the lights.  And I built the stand so that the shelves are all 2" lower than the shelf above (i.e. shelves are 10", 12", 14" and 16" apart). 

Today (week minus 10 to last frost date here), I planted mostly annuals; 35 salvia, 6 wave petunias, 12 perennial ruddbeckia, 35 impatiens, 12 forget-me-nots, and 11 leeks.

Why the odd numbers on some?  Because I want to water the trays from the bottom and that requires an open spot..  Six 6-packs fit in each tray.  I cut one cell out to leave an easy watering spot.  You don't want to water from above.

My schedule has nothing to plant in week -9.  But week -8 is the BIG ONE!  Tomatoes, peppers. 4 flowers, cole crops.  I can hardly wait!!!

Pictures later when the seedlings start to grow...

Planting Seeds

I planted flower and veggie seeds today.  I love doing that.  It signals the start of a new gardening season.  And I got to start using the light stand I adapted from storage shelves last April.

I bought 4 large bags of potting soil last week.  They were on sale, and I have storage space for the extra for next year.  A single bag almost filled up a large trash can.  The stuff isn't perfect.  It is designed for large containers and established houseplants.  There are bits bark and some clumps that have to be hand crushed into fine soil.  But it works with a little effort.  Really fine starting soil costs 3 times as much, so I am willing to put a little labor into improving it.

So, I pulled out my planting trays and the 6-cell-packs that fit them from last year.  They are clean, of course.  Each Fall, I fill up the basement laundry tub and add ammonia and soap to the water.  I let the trays and 6-cells soak overnight and rinse them a few times.  So today was my first major scheduled planting (10 weeks before last likely frost date).

The light stand is GREAT!  Each shelf has a combination of "daylight" and "plant-grow" fluorescent bulbs, and I made supports of various heights so that I can easily keep the growing seedlings close to the lights.  And I built the stand so that the shelves are all 2" lower than the shelf above (i.e. shelves are 10", 12", 14" and 16" apart). 

Today (week minus 10 to last frost date here), I planted mostly annuals; 35 salvia, 6 wave petunias, 12 perennial ruddbeckia, 35 impatiens, 12 forget-me-nots, and 11 leeks.

Why the odd numbers on some?  Because I want to water the trays from the bottom and that requires an open spot..  Six 6-packs fit in each tray.  I cut one cell out to leave an easy watering spot.  You don't want to water from above.

My schedule has nothing to plant in week -9.  But week -8 is the BIG ONE!  Tomatoes, peppers. 4 flowers, cole crops.  I can hardly wait!!!

Pictures later when the seedlings start to grow...

Football

I don't care much for football, per se.  I don't really think violent contact should be a part of skilled sports.  OK, boxing, wrestling, you have to contact or there isn't the sport at all.  If you like that the game is to beat the opponent unconscious, boxing is well-designed for that purpose.  But I don't consider that "sport".

"Sports" started to go wrong for me when pro basketball changed from a skilled shooting game to a "flying elbows cage fight" gradually in the 70s and 80s.  Football was no better; at least it STARTED with the idea of violence tackles and such.  So I watched College basketball for a while, until the violence was taught there.  I don't watch any of those these days.  I expect to see a video clip of some Middle School basketball coach exhorting his players to "throw those elbows around" and"trip that guy" any day now.

I played high school soccer in the mid 60s.  Like baseball, it isn't inherently a contact sport.  Yes, injuries can happen.  Mine was when an opponent and I reached the ball at the same time to kick it.  I got there just first.  HIS attempted kick landed in the top of my ankle.  It separated the joint.  My forward momentum made me land on that foot and popped the joint back into place.  I couldn't run for a month.  But at least it wasn't an intentional part of the game.  And I've never had any problems with the ankle since.

Speaking of high school soccer, when I joined the team, it was the first year it had been offered.  I played tennis, golf, and was on the long distance running team.  Most of us had general athletic backgrounds.  But the funny part was all the football players who got cut from the varsity team.  They thought they would just take over.  Not a single one made the soccer team. 

We wore them out fast.  They couldn't keep up with the constant play.  No huddles, no bench time, no alternating between offense and defense, hardly any padding, no helmets, no lackeys to run out and squirt water in their mouths.  After 2 weeks, they didn't get "cut" from the team, they just QUIT!

But I digress...

I watch football sometimes when my local team (The Washington Redskins) plays, when they are playing well.  I'm no diehard fan.  But when the local team is exciting, I may as well watch a good team.  Unfortunately, it has been years since they were any good.  But leads me to mention why I started writing this post.  The Superbowl game this year was pretty good (and not overly violent).  I checked in on it a few times and watched the last 5 minutes.

I decided I was rooting for the Giants to win the game. 

Why?  Because "we" beat them both games this year.  LOLOLOL!

Strange Weather

The next couple of days are routinely the coldest days of the year, usually down to the teens at night (F).


Tomorrow is expected to reach 64F and Feb 1st 69F!  That's not proof of global warming, of course, strange things can happen in any given year.  And this is a strangely warm Winter by any accounting.  Heck, 50 F would be unusual.  But the 10 day forecast says it will not drop TO freezing here and that approaches the normal high.

Don't get me wrong on this, I agree that global warming is occurring, and by human actions of burning fossil fuels.  What most people don't understand is that "global warming" really means that while the average global temperature is rising, weather can become more extreme in both directions.  I can have a warmer than average Winter this year and a colder and snowier than average Winter next year (as I did 2 Winters ago).  It means weather will fluctuate to extremes because a warmer planet means larger and greater weather changes.

On the other hand, I like to think (in humor) that I haven't had any serious snowfall here for 2 Winters because I bought a snowblower machine.  ;)

Garden Season is here!

1.  I ordered new seeds.  Not many because most of my seeds are recent (and refrigerated).  But some are only good for a year and some are 4 years old and needed to be replaced. 

Also, I started lettuces in a windowsill planter (inside).  I should get some mesclun harvest in a month.  YAY!

2.  Also, I turned on my seedling light stand yesterday.   Mostly for some perennial seedlings from last year I am trying to recover, but also some early "greens".

3.  The light stand works.  Each shelf has two 4' fluorescent grow-lights and two "daylight" bulbs,  I can't control the light outside, but at least I can give all the plants a good start inside.

Changed ISPs

It was a little bit of a fight.  I changed my cable and internet from Comcast to Verizon FiOS.  And my telephone from regular telephone to FiOS telephone.  Turned in my Comcast equipment today.  Know what?  They didn't even care.

This brings my total bill down to $140 from $210 per month.  And gives me free long distance domestic calling for free.  I think I'll call my Dad in Florida tomorrow. 

I'm not thrilled with the Verizon remote control.  Its fussy about aiming.  The old Comcast one worked anywhere in the room.  But the Verizon folks say it is a matter of pressing the buttons fast and not holding them down.  We'll see about that, but I'll admit I am getting better about that..

If you are getting a blank on the emails you try to send me, the new one is:

cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net...
If its about the cats, it is:  marksmews2118 AT verizon DOT com.  You know to replace the words with the symbols, right?

I've emailed everyone who has contacted me in the past 2 years with the new address, so I hope that includes everyone I should tell.  I've updated my emails (with new fancier passwords) for all my existing commercial accounts.  I've copied the old emails into new folders.

If there is anything else I should do, a suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

They're BAACCKKK!

My crazy neighbors didn't leave after all.  There was the guy, his wife, his mother and some unrelated guy,

But it seems the bedroom furniture I saw being moved out was only the Mother's.  She was the sane one...The IDIOTS are still there.  In spite of the house being dark for about a week...  Curiously, I haven't seen the wife carrying the baby since early December...  Something is still odd.  But it is January and they are still here,

Sad start to the New Year...

Victory!

If you know the game of Risk, you know there are many nations to capture.  I have a sad fate of always coming in 2nd of 2-5 players.  And tonight I was down to 3 nations of (something like 70).  I nudged my way into NA, and got control of it while the others fought elsewhere.  Then I got SA!

If you know the game, you that means you get 2 continents with only 3 defense spots (Brazil. Alaska, and Greenland).

The 4 opponents worked together to kill me, but I survived.  I eliminated 3 (1surrenderred) and I was left with 1 opponent who had most of Asia, Africa,  and Europe.   And they were very good high-ranked players.

It took 2 hours to win the game.  I'm thrilled.  Risk is a hard game to win online.  The players are very skilled.  I win maybe 1 of 20 games.  I come in 2nd usually.  So a real win was SO GREAT!

The point is that we all have barriers, and I beat one of mine tonight. 

Cheers!

Politics

This was originally a political blog in 2008.  I got my college degree in Political Science and it remains an interest of mine.  I watch science, history, and nature shows most of the time, but when the political season comes around, I watch the political discussions and primary/caucus voting results all night.

The Iowa caucus voting is fascinating tonight.  In 2008, the Republican winner was clear 30 minutes after the voting ended. Tonight, it is not clear after 2.5 hours and maybe not until tomorrow!  And likely, it won't matter much.  It appears that there will be a virtual 3-way tie among Romney, Santorum, and Paul. 

They say "Iowa never chooses, but it winnows the field".  Maybe not this time.  The top 3 certainly go on when it is so close.  But the others can too.  Gingrich can because he has been running a "free media" campaign all along and South Carolina is a neighboring state.  Bachman and Perry can fight in South Carolina, too.  Huntsman has planted his flag in New Hampshire, where his views seem to match up well with New Hampshire voters.

After New Hampshire and South Carolina come Florida.  That state is so demographically diverse that anything could happen.  After Florida, primaries get spread out geographically and into other large states.

Here's my predictions:

1.  Huntsman makes a better than predicted showing in New Hampshire, but Romney wins big.  Huntsman withdraws.

2.  South Carolina gives Santorum a win, but Romney and Gingrich are "close".  Perry and Bachman withdraw.

3.  Florida?  Flip a coin!  Maybe the old folks in Florida vote "for a best chance against Obama" or the rest of the populations goes for Santorum as "the most Republican".  That's IF Santorum has any money to spend.  IF Santorum does well in Florida (as in, gets 33% of the vote), Gingrich withdraws and endorses Santorum.

4.  After that, it is between Romney and Santorum, with Ron Paul pulling a routine 10-15% of the vote on average in later primaries, with Romney getting 45-50% of the vote and Santorum getting 30% overall.  It will vary state to state.  Romney will do best on the coasts, Santorum will do best in the midwest and South.

5.  Southern voters will not be comfortable that Romney is a Mormon.

6.  Gingrich will push hard to be the Vice-Presidential nominee for either of them.  He will not be chosen.

7.  If Romney is the nominee, he will choose a western politician as Vice President.  If Santorum is the nominee, he will choose someone like Chris Christie of New Jersey or Bob McDonnell of Virginia for the "more moderate" but still very Republican reputation..  Geo-demographics still matter to Republicans.

8.  Barrack Obama will win the 2012 election.  Aside from the fact that it is difficult to unseat an incumbent president, there are particular reasons.  Mostly, all of the Republican candidates have VERY exploitable flaws. Romney flip-flops more than MOST politicians, Santorum is to the right of about 75% of voters,  and while I do have some agreement with Libertarians on some ideas, most people don't feel comfortable with the total package, so Ron Paul is just a protest vote.. 

And there is the job numbers.  The job growth has been positive for 22 months in a row.  Not as high as one would like, but compared to the negative numbers in the Bush administration, its a good thing. 

Its hard for the Republicans to attack Obama on wars, too, which is usually a strong advantage for them.  Obama got Bin Laden, Ghaddafi, and top Al Queda leaders killed.

Its hard for the Republicans to attack President Obama on the financial economy too.  The stock market is strong,  It was up 5% this past year.  The money lent to the US auto industry has been paid back in full  (and at a profit by some accounts) and Ford, and General Motors are thriving US companies again! 

The Obamacare legislation is harder to judge.  Mostly because it hasn't gone fully into effect yet. But the earliest results seem to show it is both reducing costs and improving health services.

We will have to see what the eventual Replican nominee proposes to do as President in the general election campaign.   He/She may have some great ideas they have been keeping under their hat during the Republican nomination process. 


So, for those reasons, it is probably going to be very difficult for a Republican nominee to replace President Obama this year in the general election.

The next 10 months will be great!

New Year's Fire

I hope you are ready for a LOT of pictures, LOL!

Well, I like a fire each New Year's Eve, and managed one again.  Mostly paper, cardboard, and flimsy boxes that clementines came in.  But you use what you have.

First, I had to clear out the area in front of the fireplace.  The basement is really my woodworking shop, and I cant have those machines heated by a fire.  There was my tablesaw there too, but I moved it before I thought to take a picture.  And it was really awkward to maneuver it out of the way even on its mobile base, so I wasn't going to put it back just for the sake of a photo!

Before...

After...

Stuff I had to move...



I had various "stuff to burn":

Wood scraps...

Packing paper, Clementine tangerine boxes, cardboard... BTW, that wood box was built for me by my dad.  Its really for kindling storage.  I liked it so much I built one like it for a friend.  Good ideas should be passed forwards.

Then I set up the fire.  As I said, it wasn't a "proper" fire, just accumulated burnable stuff from 2011, so it really did look trashy.  But fire makes all look the same afterwards.

 The set up...

The initial lighting...  Of course I lit a sheet of newspaper in there first to establish the draft (and make sure the damper was open).

The  initial burn...

 The first good burning...


The funny part was the "old oak board".  It was left over since when I had oak floors installed about 15 years ago.  It got left out on the patio and deteriorated before I brought it inside again.  So I decided it was time to use it up.

The tradition is "yule logs".  Yule logs were long and were slowly pushed into the main fire as they burned.  I think there used to be some importance as to how long they lasted.  Like years of good luck, or something like that.  Well, I guess this was a "yule board" and it only lasted an hour.  So I hope the "good luck gods" will take that into account.  :)


Once I had some good embers and heat, I introduced old Mr Oak Board into the fireplace.  You can see it fed slowly into the small fireplace fire here...

The start...

Slowly...

Fed...

In...

 As the tip burns!

Almost gone...

It burns nicely. 

 Oak is great in a fireplace!

The last bit of it!

 

I even swept up loose bark and tossed that in...

And the finale about 1 am New Year's Day! That gray spot above the ashes?  That's actually where the soot on the back of the fireplace was burned off.  Looks strange though, like "the ghost of the fire".

BTW, I used to have such hot fires that my grate has sagged.  You can see the curve in that last photo.  I think I should turn it over and have another hot fire to sag it back to "straight".  LOL!