Well, midweek kinda got away from me, didn’t it? A burst of work and…more work, so no Wednesday blog. Also, Alan was out of town for a couple nights (fishing), and I decided to CUT LOOSE and do stuff like eat a single hot dog for dinner, standing up at the sink, then go out and see friends.
So that’s what I did. So no blog.
Now I’m lurching toward the end of the week, with still a lot to do, but the hump is passed. Alan got Shot Numero Dos today. Mine is April 8. Watch out, end of April, because I’m going OUT.
How’s everyone? Anyone else watching “Genius: Aretha” on …I guess we watch it on Hulu, one day behind its premiere on the…National Geographic channel? There’s a National Geographic channel? Who knew.
Anyway, we’re watching. I’m enjoying it at the 25 percent mark, so I’m taking that as a good sign. I normally don’t care for music biopics, because they’re all essentially a 98-minute version of “Behind the Music.” But this one is different, at least so far. I think they’re doing a nice job exploring her relationship with her father, which was…complicated, to say the least. And with several hours to fill, they can play around with those complications more than most biopics would.
The dialogue is too expository at times, though. Hate that.
But we’ll see.
Here, watch this. You’ll dig it:
Gabby fkn snapped!!!! pic.twitter.com/0nFko3LCpm
— Mike B. (@MikeB45) March 23, 2021
And the only thing I have to recommend is this amusing essay about the big ship stuck in the Suez Canal:
Let’s put it this way: When someone joked that we’re five minutes away from learning “all of our vaccines were being stored on the big ship stuck in the Suez Canal for some reason,” it took an uncomfortably long second to realize that’s fiction. The whole thing feels so absurd, so ridiculous, so perfectly on-brand for the state of the world that it crossed the bridge from “heinous” to “hilarious.”
Instead of wondering how on Earth does a boat get stuck in the canal that sees almost 20,000 ships a year, everyone just thought: Well, duh. There’s nothing the sadistic screenwriters of our current reality can throw at us to faze us anymore. Instead, we delight in the disaster. What else can we do?
Yes, what can we do? Maybe start the weekend.
alex said on March 25, 2021 at 9:32 pm
My second day after the second vaccination and I gots da trots. I hear I’m in good company.
Exhausted and plan to hit the hay early tonight.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2021 at 9:36 pm
Why do they only have that one bulldozer/earth mover working on getting that ship turned around. Seems like they should have multitudes.
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basset said on March 25, 2021 at 10:41 pm
Mrs. B and I just had slightly sore arms with the Pfizer jab, Jr. got the J&J and felt kinda weak and flu-ish that night but was fine the next morning.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering if there’s some kind of requirement that each local tv newscast include the phrases “reached out to” (usually accompanied by a shot of a reporter emailing or texting) and “what’s being done”…
Been digging through some old papers and found a business card from my first tv news job in 1977. The station logo was a silhouette of a Bell & Howell Filmo, and I’ll buy a beer at the Party Lounge in Cadillac for anyone else in our group who’s ever used one.
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Dave said on March 25, 2021 at 11:16 pm
Dorothy, from the last post, if you click on the Vuitton ad, there’s more detailed information, including the model’s name.
36 hours after our second covid shot, nothing other than sore arms to report, less sore than they were this morning.
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Dexter Friend said on March 26, 2021 at 2:19 am
It does my spirit good to read about so many nallers getting the shots. I am a big advocate of vaccines, like most. Yesterday I was walking my doggie along a fence and an old man and his wife were out slow-driving in the fine weather, and stopped to admire my dog and comment on the great day. I was tongue-tied, not knowing the old gent, so I yelled at him to get his vaccine, and he yelled back he has had his first shot, as he drive off. I was dismayed that in Minnesota Thursday a report was released stating recent “breakthrough positive Covid19 tests” among vaccinated adults. Shit and damn. But then again, we all now know what efficacy means. Current vaccines ain’t 100% by a long shot.
I watch a lot of films and last night I watched a good one that ended up being a real tearjerker, and with some great actors and great special effects. I’d hafta give it 4.5 of 5 stars. 🙂 Topic is a schizophrenic kid , and it’s a bit hard to watch his sufferings, but I thought it well done.
Words on Bathroom Walls is a 2020 American romantic drama film directed by Thor Freudenthal and written by Nick Naveda, based on the novel of the same name by Julia Walton. The film stars Charlie Plummer, Andy García, Taylor Russell, AnnaSophia Robb, Beth Grant, Molly Parker and Walton Goggins. Last paragraph is an internet grab.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 6:16 am
I have a very sore arm this morning, couldn’t sleep on that side, had to take a Tylenol. The other arm is kinda sore too, like after exercising a little too hard.
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Dorothy said on March 26, 2021 at 8:51 am
We both got #2 yesterday and I’m the only one with a sore arm. That’s it though – no trots, no yuckiness whatsoever. The day we are considered fully vaccinated is also our son’s birthday, which made me a little bit weepy when I realized that was the date. I heard on the news today that there are something like 89 people who have caught Covid after being fully vaccinated, but they did not get SERIOUSLY sick. So yeah, we could still catch it, but I like our odds of survival. We are traveling twice this spring and summer. My family reunion is Memorial Day weekend so we booked two nights in Pittsburgh. And we’re going to San Diego in July for my nephew’s wedding. It’ll be our first time in California!
I’m enjoying the Aretha episodes. It is weird that it’s on NatGeo, though. They usually do things animal or climate-centric. Isn’t Jennifer Hudson doing an Aretha movie? I should just check IMDB but thought I’d mention it here first. (Never mind – I just looked it up. Yes she’s doing a movie and it comes out this August) Cynthia Erivo’s voice is really good. I’ve seen her in many shows and I like her a lot.
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kayak woman said on March 26, 2021 at 8:58 am
Got the J&J two days ago and NO side effects except that I am extra grumpy today. Is that a side effect? [insert pig nose emoji here]
We’re watching the story about the ship in the Suez canal with interest. A few years ago, the Paul Tregurtha, longest great lake freighter, got stuck sideways down river from the Soo Locks. We have a cabin in the area but were not there at the time. I think it was a lot easier to dislodge the Tregurtha than it will be this one.
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Colleen said on March 26, 2021 at 9:09 am
Pfizer here. Just a sore arm after the second one, but I assume that’s from the scar tissue forming around the Bill Gates microchip…
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Jenine said on March 26, 2021 at 9:29 am
Agree that Gabby and Ever Given are the internet winners this week. Just read this commentary on Suez pilot service that was eye opening.
https://twitter.com/Nature_Grrrl/status/1375168720495075338
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2021 at 9:37 am
Colleen for the thread win!
National Geographic is also available on Disney+, which our son gets as part of his phone plan. I haven’t found much to watch save Hamilton, but I am going to watch Aretha. The Jennifer Hudson version is the officially approved one, but only by part of the family, and they don’t want you to watch this one. I read that as they didn’t get paid.
We just got off the phone with our contractor and our architect/building manager. He was trying to play a fast one on us, asking an additional 7K for an area of the pool screen. I read the specs and contract carefully, and it’s his error. We’ve got it worked out to change the screen a bit and have him take the savings off our cost. Fortunately we were able to keep it pleasant and civil.
Unfortunately, it only reinforces my negative feelings about him, and about contractors in general. I’m so grateful for our friend who is managing the project for us and has caught several other mistakes so far. Pretty sure I never want to build again.
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David C said on March 26, 2021 at 10:04 am
A trusted project manager is worth their weight in gold. We’ve built two houses and it’s an experience I’ll never repeat, except with one. From day one both builders treated us as if we didn’t know anything. My dad was a builder and I worked summers with him so I knew. Mary worked side-by-side with me on every project on our first house so she knew too. My favorite was when the trim carpenter hung the kitchen cabinets. He went to put up our cove molding around them and it wouldn’t fit between the ceiling and the cabinet doors. He asked us if he could trim an inch off of our 2-1/2 in molding. He argued with us for two days telling us he couldn’t possibly just unscrew the cabinets and drop them an inch. He trotted out about three different reasons he couldn’t. The final was “it won’t meet code”. So that one was easy because the city has the building code online so I found the section. He finally gave up and moved them.
I felt a little punk yesterday from the vaccine. This morning, my arm is just a bit sore but otherwise doing well.
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Icarus said on March 26, 2021 at 10:07 am
By the time I get my vaccine, it will be no big deal and not even FB-worthy. A friend posted that there is something I could exploit. Apparently, if you have high blood pressure, which my latest annual physical confirms, that counts as a vulnerable group and I can jump the line. Not sure how I feel about that.
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2021 at 10:47 am
Our project manager is especially valuable since we aren’t there in person. Our daughter takes pictures and videos for us everyday, but none of us can see the mistakes. He’s a friend too, and we know he’s on our side. Plus he designed the whole thing so he knows it intimately. We’re paying him a monthly fee, but I think a nice big check at the end will be appropriate.
Like so many other architects/building managers, he lost his position when all the commercial projects he was overseeing decided to stop building because of Covid. He’s freelancing and has given a lot of time to projects at our daughter’s church too.
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Pam said on March 26, 2021 at 11:46 am
The Gabby video made my day. What a fantastic little dog. I sent it off to 2 friends.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 11:47 am
The ailment Alex mentions starts a few days after the second shot. Trust me on this one.
I have a friend who is an infection preventionist nurse practitioner. She and her husband tested positive after the vaccination. No bad symptoms just fatigue, aches. This was about six weeks ago. She did not seem terribly suprised or concerned about it.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 11:55 am
I tried to be the project manager for the building of our cabin, I was there everyday when the foundation was dug out and poured. Two guys basically built the whole thing except for a couple of things that they had to bring others in for. I ordered all the supplies after one of the builders we called the Forman told me what to order, I arranged for the concrete truck and scheduled it and a crane operator to come out when our structural movement frames were installed. Whenever I didn’t know what to do or say I called my husband and he took over. As things got more complicated as they always do towards the end my husband was the one who was there. He did all of the construction drawings so he knew everything intimately. I brought lunch out for the guys most days, they were great. I wouldn’t want to work with strangers or from a distance that would be scary. Our cabin design is unusual so we had to trust the builders and we did. We hope to be able to work with them again on phase 2, the bath house, whenever that will be.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 12:02 pm
Make that “structural moment frames” not movement frames.
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2021 at 12:10 pm
The blockage of the Suez Canal by a mega-ship reminds us of the fragility of our infrastructure worldwide. Ships on either end of the canal now face the prospect of continuing their voyage around the southern horn of Africa, adding a week or two to the trip. I feel certain predicting prices will rise on many things as a result.
There’s another interesting shipwreck off the coast of St. Simons, Georgia. An automobile transport ship capsized with 4,200 autos bound for the Middle East aboard. There’s a fascinating article in this month’s “Car and Driver” about how the ship is being taken apart in sections. It’s turned out to be a boon for tourism to the delight of locals.
Speaking of Georgia, fuck. The photo of the white male Republicans surrounding Gov. Brian Kemp while he signs a draconian voter suppression law into effect made me nauseous, but learning that a black female Democratic senator was charged with two FELONIES for trying to get into Kemp’s office made me want to projectile vomit. I’m so over this shit. Fuck the filibuster. A federal voting rights law is desperately needed since the Roberts court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Do it, Dems, just do it. You know Moscow Mitch and his fellow reptiles would do it to you.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 12:30 pm
A strong wind can turn a ship like that sideways. The Suez Canal wasn’t built for ships that big. It ran aground at both ends of the ship. Getting that unstuck is a mind boggling project and even without a stuck mega ship sideways in the canal it’s usually backed up.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 12:35 pm
We all remember this guy and his Build the Wall non profit. NY State and NYC remember him too.
https://tinyurl.com/3edtcdz9
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susan said on March 26, 2021 at 12:39 pm
Still stuck.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 1:00 pm
Mark P and JC, is there anything going on in Georgia protest wise right now regarding the awful Jim Crow law that got signed by Kemp yesterday? It’s hard to fathom that such a law has been enacted in the 21st century in the USA.
I read that the optics of Kemp signing with a flank of white guys standing behind/beside him was made even worse by the painting above of a plantation, that’s hanging on the wall behind him. The plantation is a tourist destination now, complete with slave dwellings where 100 slaves were kept over the course of its operation. There was also a jail on the premises where the overlords punished slaves that they felt misbehaved or tried to escape. Makes you wonder if they picked that particular spot for the photo op on purpose or if it was cluelessness on their part.
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2021 at 1:51 pm
Does it seems like no one at the Suez canal really knows what they’re doing? The ship is too heavy for the tugs to move, so wouldn’t you start lightening the load? No, says the expert, that would take too long, maybe a week. Hello? You think those little scoopers working to remove silt and sand are going to be faster?
But there’s plenty of time for the captain and shipping company to play CYA. Captain says something on the ship malfunctioned, company says everything was perfect. Someone’s not telling the truth. As Mary says, the boat was too big.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 1:56 pm
I not read this article in the NYT a while ago about Larry McMurtry, found a link to it on Twitter today because McMurtry died recently. I used to be a big fan. Has anyone herewith ever been to his hometown of Archer City in west Texas? Is his used bookstore still there? If it is I’d like to go sometime. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/article2.html
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Sherri said on March 26, 2021 at 2:04 pm
Thanks to high blood pressure and a BMI of 30 (yay, muscles!), I will finally be eligible for the vaccine next Wednesday. Mu husband will be eligible then as well because he’s over 60. I have no idea how long it will take to actually get an appointment.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2021 at 2:15 pm
It’s illegal to give water to people standing in line to vote in Georgia. Is it okay if we give them guns? You know, to “stop the steal?”
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 2:40 pm
As the great aunt of the youngest guy ever to be licensed and certified to captain any ship of any size that is engine powered I feel a tiny investment in this issue. I hope that’s not my great nephew for one thing, and I have been on a 42 foot boat that got turned around in a narrow channel at low tide. Long time ago. We waited for the tide to come in.
And I didn’t know Larry McMurtry died. I like his books. He creates very real characters and I find myself wondering how they’re doing when I’m away from whatever book of his I’m reading. Yes, I’m that crazy. He’s one of my Mc authors I like. McPhee, McCarthy, McMurtry.
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Mark P said on March 26, 2021 at 2:53 pm
Deborah, there is a lot of stuff happening online and on TV about the gop voter suppression bill, including one ad that supports it. It has some black actors talking about how wonderful it is, and one old white guy saying how it will restore faith in the election process that was undermined by Republicans (they didn’t say that last part). One of the bullet points said it would help prevent interest groups (black people) from influencing elections (voting). It was so full of lies I could have believed it was T***p himself speaking.
The Republicans truly have no shame. Or, really, any other quality normally associated with decent people.
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Mark P said on March 26, 2021 at 2:57 pm
LAMary and Deborah, you probably already know that The Last Picture Show was filmed in McMurty’s home town.
And in other news, my wife and I just got Pfizer vaccination No. 2. I got mine in my right arm, just in case it gets sore, since I already have pain there from a torn rotator cuff.
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ROGirl said on March 26, 2021 at 3:01 pm
Just got my first vaccine dose. Pfizer. They have everyone make their second appointment then sit for 15 minutes. A very efficient operation. I felt muscle pain when the needle came out, but it feels OK now.
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David C said on March 26, 2021 at 3:32 pm
If Georgia doesn’t move Manchin and Sinema off the dime on filibusters and court reform we’re in deep shit. Even if S1 passes the Supremely right wing court will probably deep six most of it.
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David C said on March 26, 2021 at 3:51 pm
This is a different take on the Evergiven. It sounds believable to me.
https://twitter.com/Nature_Grrrl/status/1375473968140935171
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Dorothy said on March 26, 2021 at 3:57 pm
If you don’t want to watch all 8 episodes of Genius: Aretha Franklin, at least watch the fifth episode when she sings my favorite Aretha song: Rock Steady. I could listen to that on repeat all damn day.
Also I have a headache and feel cold and can’t get warm this afternoon. Hope this is just one day. Grooving’ to Rock Steady helped actually.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2021 at 4:12 pm
I don’t see how anyone can look at the response to the pandemic and vaccine distribution and ever again argue that turning things over to the states to run things is the best idea. We need a robust federal government; some problems just can not be handled at the state level, not to mention handled equitably (because some states are invested in not solving problems equitably.)
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2021 at 5:39 pm
I have no reason to visit Georgia, but a chance to offer water and snacks to those waiting hours in line to vote could change my mind.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 5:48 pm
I had no reaction to the second shot until two days later when I got diarrhea. Also chills. This is not rare. Just giving you the heads up.
On a more fragrant note, I have discovered that Le Labo, a company that makes nice perfumes that are stupidly expensive, sells samples. Not huge, but ok. Six bucks each. I was already a Rose 31 and Santal 13 fan. Now I have discovered The Noir and Bergamote. Highly recommended.
One other recommendation: Blue Diamond dark chocolate almonds. They are not coated with chocolate candy, just a nice not too sweet powder. Not many more calories than a plain almond and they’ll fix a chocolate jones.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 26, 2021 at 6:03 pm
Sorry to hear of Beverly Cleary’s passing, but at 104 we will have to be willing to let her go:
https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/press-releases/harpercollins-mourns-the-loss-of-beloved-children-s-book-author-beverly-cleary
And this is a fascinating look at some technical issues of ships in canals:
https://www.ft.com/content/171c92ec-0a44-4dc5-acab-81ee2620d3c1
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 6:18 pm
My arm feels fine now, no chills, no trots, keeping my fingers crossed I don’t get that last one. We took a long walk this afternoon and I had no problems keeping a fast-ish pace. I did feel a little brain fogged this morning but that could have been because of the bottle of wine we had with our scrumptious dinner last night.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 8:30 pm
I loved the Beverly Cleary books as a kid, could totally relate to the characters. I read them to LB when she was a kid, she loved them too. RIP.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2021 at 9:00 pm
https://tinyurl.com/bnttk3w4
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alex said on March 26, 2021 at 10:45 pm
I had no idea Beverly Cleary was still alive. I remember Henry Huggins and Ramona the Pest. My second-grade teacher had a story time where she read us books and they were well-written, every chapter a cliffhanger. It made a good book last a week. Pippi Longstocking and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlotte’s Web were some of the others.
Tonight just watched a documentary on Twyla Tharp. I’d known absolutely nothing about her, including that she was from Indiana. It drew me in and was quite an impressive show.
Tomorrow a tree service is taking out a big lovely tree. I hate to see it go. It’s perfectly healthy. It’s also extremely close to the house and branches out high above a portion of the roof where a gas line runs through the ridge. Much as I hate to get rid of it, I know that leaving it there is just tempting fate.
Post-vaccine day #3 was one of fatigue more than anything. Yesterday emptied my bowels to such an extent that I was totally dry today. Came home from work and napped through the evening news on TV, awakening to later programming. Time to go crash again.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2021 at 11:36 pm
I saw Twyla Tharp in a performance in the late 80s or early 90s, she already was no spring chicken then but she was amazing. I’ve always said that if I could do my life all over again I’d come back as a dancer instead of a designer. I can’t dance to save my life, never have been able to, but always, always wished I could dance.
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Dexter Friend said on March 26, 2021 at 11:40 pm
I was thinking how Big Oil will surely use the Suez shutdown to drastically jack up pump prices, so I filled the sedan with $45 worth of regular. On the drive to the Sunoco, I heard of something I never had heard of. Here’s an introduction from think.ing dot com:
— “So, what exactly is a supercycle? It is an extended period of time where you see above-trend movements across large parts of the complex. A supercycle can last for decades, and the last one was back in the early 2000s, with rapid growth in China driving strong demand for commodities.” Back… they had a scrap metal seller on with them, and he said in the past 3 months, scrap metal has doubled in value. The projection is we are to experience radical price jumps in everything, just everything. Oh, for joy. 🙁
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Julie Robinson said on March 27, 2021 at 8:58 am
Dexter, oil futures have already gone up, on top of gas prices rising even before this. Groceries never went down after a rise at the start of the pandemic. Inflation, here we come, whee!
Early beddy-bye for me last night, but I’ll watch the Twyla Tharp special in the next couple of days. Her work remains fresh and radical even today. Years ago she wrote a book on creativity, and her technique is to eliminate all distractions. She starts in a white room, wearing white clothes, with no music or other sound. She does NOT believe in multitasking.
Has anyone seen Movin’ Out? It’s a hybrid musical/dance that Tharp choreographed to Billy Joel songs. The band is on stage with a piano man singing Joel’s songs, and the story is told through dance. Absolutely fabulous.
Deborah, I wanted to be a dancer too; alas eight years of lessons proved I had neither the body nor the aptitude.
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David C said on March 27, 2021 at 12:13 pm
Everything I see says inflation will spike at 2.5% and recede from there. Historically, that a pretty modest rate. For the past few decades, any time we started to approach full employment the Federal Reserve took away the punch bowl. The worst thing they could think of was people’s wages going up due to labor shortages. They’re now concerning themselves with returning the economy to full employment and tolerating a short-term rise in inflation, as they should. The Rs will keep banging the drum on inflation which will turn out to be as common and dangerous as voter fraud.
https://www.kiplinger.com/economic-forecasts/inflation
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alex said on March 27, 2021 at 2:16 pm
Julie, the Billy Joel collaboration is among the projects discussed in the Tharp documentary. She essentially created a new class of Broadway show centered around dance and this was a prime example. I won’t be too much of a spoiler here, but I must say I was impressed with how she reinvented dance and made her mark in both the worlds of art and showbiz.
Speaking of reinvention, the tree guys are here and removed the most problematic branches from the ginormous oak next to the house. The weight is no longer above the house and the tree would be most likely to fall the other way, so I’ve decided to keep it. It can survive the pruning. And now I can have them trim some other problematic trees, which hadn’t been in the budget. Win win.
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LAMary said on March 27, 2021 at 3:09 pm
I was on the set of Hair when it was filming Queens. Twyla Tharp was doing the Electric Blues scene,redoing it many times until it was perfect.
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alex said on March 27, 2021 at 3:38 pm
Well, the tree victory was short-lived. Or rather hollow. Another tree that needed some dead limbs trimmed off high up is sounding hollow when they hit the trunk with a hammer. This tree also has a big burl on it at the bottom which has become rotten recently. It looks like we may be losing that one instead.
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Julie Robinson said on March 27, 2021 at 4:08 pm
Oh, the Twyla Tharp documentary was glorious! I had forgotten that she often choreographed to Philip Glass, whose music I adore. Also that she was the first in this country to choreograph for Mikhail Baryshnikov after he defected (and what a god he was, Lord what a body). I’d forgotten that she was the choreographer for Hair. On and on and on.
While I watched I soaked my feet and gave myself a pedicure, reminding me that I possess something most dancers lack–toenails.
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Deborah said on March 27, 2021 at 4:25 pm
Speaking of losing trees, the property on the east side of ours in Santa Fe used to be a boys & girls club that was established in 1945, it recently moved to another location and it’s an incredibly valuable piece of property that the city owns now. They sent out a crew to clean up the large field last week and they were horrible. They butchered a bunch of trees on our property with branches that hang over theirs. They cleared out nice small trees along our fence on their side that made shade and added greenery for us. The workers did a shitty job, left a lot of tall jagged stumps and generally made it dismal looking. There’s a giant dumpster in the middle of the cleared field now with hunks of concrete in it that they dug up and all the trimmings etc that they cut off. We don’t know what the city’s goal is for the property. It would be lovely if they would turn it into a park but my guess is that’s not going to happen. Maybe they’re going to turn it into a housing development, that would be ok too. It’s the not knowing that is uncomfortable.
I haven’t seen any of this in person yet, only photos LB has sent me. I’ll find out in early May when I get back there.
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alex said on March 27, 2021 at 5:37 pm
Deborah, at least Santa Fe is stricter than most municipalities when it comes to keeping things architecturally harmonious. I hope whatever becomes your new neighbor is in keeping with the surroundings.
Well, one big tree saved but another that will have to go. It’s full of carpenter ants and water. And very close to the house. And it wasn’t even under my consideration for removal, only a trim.
I think I’ll replace trees from now on with tulip trees. I have one and it’s beautiful. They’re fast-growing and get quite tall.
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Deborah said on March 27, 2021 at 6:48 pm
After more google searches I found out the city put the Boys and Girls property up for sale in December, so this is either a result of a new owner getting ready to do what they’re going to do or the city finally getting the property ready for sale. I kind of think the latter because the landscape crew was so inept it seems like something the city did for as little cost as possible. In any case it will be interesting to see what happens to the property.
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LAMary said on March 27, 2021 at 8:09 pm
Tulip trees are so beautiful. There was one on an empty lot behind the house where I grew up. It was very tall. Easily the tallest tree in town. It would get lovely yellow and orange flowers in the spring.
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Sherri said on March 28, 2021 at 12:30 am
Somebody in Greenville, SC doesn’t like me.
Two years ago in March, I got an anonymous hate letter postmarked Greenville, SC. It wasn’t threatening, just obnoxious, and I shrugged it off. Today, I opened the mailbox, and there was another another anonymous hate letter from Greenville. Still nothing threatening, but this one is longer and angrier. Nothing in the two years in between, nothing really specific to indicate that he (I assume it’s a man) knows me in particular.
It’s a bit unsettling, but not clear that there’s anything to do about it. I don’t know anybody in Greenville, SC, that I’m aware of. I don’t know why I’ve been selected as a target. I don’t know why two letters in two years, and nothing else. It’s all very strange.
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Dexter Friend said on March 28, 2021 at 2:02 am
I see “Hair” came up on the page. I saw the San Francisco production at the Geary Theater. To refresh your memory, part of the theme is sadness when Claude gets drafted into the military and gets wasted in Vietnam. I thought about all that when a couple months later I was flying across the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Also, the controversial ending nude scene…well, hell, it wasn’t controversial in San Francisco!—anyway, the audience could tell the actors were nude, but there was a lighting expert on duty that made sure you really couldn’t “see” anything much. A little, not much. 🙂
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 8:33 am
Sherri, wow that’s creepy. Are these letters in reference to your baseball theories?
Alex, there’s a controversy in Santa Fe right now about a house that was painted green, five years after they had painted, after they had been told they couldn’t the city is now raising a stink. Whenever you do improvements, additions or new construction you have to get a permit from the city and they inspect whether it meets historical aesthetics. We’re getting new windows for our building and we have to go through this laborious process. The green of the house in the controversy isn’t even an offensive green, it blends quite nicely with the pinons surrounding it.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 28, 2021 at 9:47 am
The great thing about the internet is how it makes it possible to have friends and also enemies you’ve never met . . . and in many cases you might well hope you never do. My newspaper email gets really interesting some weeks, especially now that Gannett throws out my column as general filler nationwide. The problem is the person is usually ranting about something first run weeks ago, often written months ago, and I can’t figure out from their incoherent context what topic even I was on that set them off.
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 10:09 am
I’m going to make a Dutch baby for breakfast this morning, never made one before. I don’t have any white sugar, but I do have brown sugar, it only takes a tablespoon so I hope the brown works. Is this a big faux pas?
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 10:12 am
Basset are you having flooding problems again? I see that Nashville is being hit hard. Hope you’re OK.
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Suzanne said on March 28, 2021 at 10:40 am
I spent time yesterday with my 86 yr old mother and her 3 sisters and the 2 husbands that are left. Besides discussions of stents, heart valve replacements, blood clots, and general aches and pains, I was treated to a discourse of the truth about the ship stuck in the Suez Canal, which is, of course, intentional, done to drive up oil prices because with Biden putting the pipeline on hold, the US is now at the mercy of nefarious players and they are taking advantage of it since our hero, DJT, is no longer in power.
Pretty sure the Chinese commies were mentioned in there somewhere, too, because of course they were.
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Dave said on March 28, 2021 at 11:02 am
Wow, I had never considered that the Suez Canal container ship was a plot. Is Newsmax or one of those lying garbage sites pushing this theory? Tucker Carlson?
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Mark P said on March 28, 2021 at 11:48 am
Sherri, I know you said there was nothing threatening, but if there was anything even vaguely threatening then you should report it to the appropriate authorities, either the FBI or the Postal Service. I would be surprised if much came from it, but at least it would be on record.
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 12:01 pm
My Dutch baby is still in the oven but it doesn’t look at all like the photos, it looks like a pancake with 2 volcanos rising out of the middle. So maybe it needed the granulated sugar instead of brown. Oh well, it smells good. It has 2 or 3 minutes to go in the oven.
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Suzanne said on March 28, 2021 at 12:39 pm
Inspired by Deborah, I made a Dutch Baby today. Mine didn’t seem to rise in the middle then fall like it was supposed to but boy was it good! I will definitely make it again.
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Sherri said on March 28, 2021 at 12:50 pm
Deborah, it’s not related to baseball. The letter rants about blacks and gays and illegals, political stuff. Jeff(tmmo), it would make more sense if I had a column being printed somewhere, but I don’t. My social media isn’t that high profile, and I don’t get much engagement on it. My best guess is that it’s related to my political donations. That’s the easiest way to link my political leanings to my name and home address, and it’s all public info. I’m probably not being singled out, but part of a group of women this guy has decided to target with his ire. A letter, a list, a printer, and a bunch of stamps, and off he goes.
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Jakash said on March 28, 2021 at 1:17 pm
Thumbs up for tulip trees. Nice shade, big, distinctive leaves that turn a fine yellow in fall. I must have been in my 40s before I realized that they had those swell flowers in the spring. Tulips, indeed, they’re a delight.
Finally, signs of spring are arriving apace. In the last few days the forsythia have begun popping even in the chilly Chicago clime. The little red buds or leaves of maple trees are brightening the canopies of assorted streets.
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Julie Robinson said on March 28, 2021 at 1:40 pm
All this Dutch baby talk is making me hungry for one, though I’ve never had one, I’ve seen recipes. We just ate tomato soup and BLT’s, except the B was turkey. Oh well, at least it smelled like the real thing.
Tulip trees are really beautiful, but if they’re fast growing, are they also more vulnerable to high wind?
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 2:54 pm
My Dutch baby was delicious too even though it didn’t look right. I will definitely try it again, except next time with the correct type of sugar, although the brown sugar tasted just fine. They’re very easy to make, although I always get a little stressed out the first time I make something. Also the recipe I used was supposed to be enough for 2 to 4 people, but my husband and I alone could have eaten another one after we finished the one I made.
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basset said on March 28, 2021 at 3:27 pm
Deborah@60, thanks for asking. The Harpeth River about fifty yards behind the house is in flood stage with the water just a few feet downhill from our house, and I stayed up all night hitting refresh on the river gauges online. We had seven inches of rain in two days, that caused a lot of flash flooding but thankfully it was some distance from us. The big flood of 2010 happened after thirteen-plus inches in two days)
Right now our main concern is the higher water upstream of us and how much it’ll affect our level when it gets here. The rain moved out overnight and we are optimistic, but this is not over.
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basset said on March 28, 2021 at 6:51 pm
The water is starting back down. Now I can get some sleep.
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Kim said on March 28, 2021 at 10:11 pm
We have many tulip poplars, aka tulip trees, and used to have many more. Because they grow so fast they’re often the tallest trees, which may explain why they were struck by lightning or susceptible to high winds during hurricanes or nor’easters. So far they’ve missed the house when they’ve fallen.
That’s the thing about nature: She will always have her way. Bassett, glad to hear your waters haven’t risen too high. It is a terrifying, humbling thing to experience weather like that.
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basset said on March 28, 2021 at 10:55 pm
Sure is, and you only need to see it once.
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Deborah said on March 28, 2021 at 11:11 pm
Glad to hear it, Basset. Hope it keeps receding.
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