Red-Dog-Blog

The Chrstmas Season

2011-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas Mysteries

2011-12-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
and pretend that he's a circus clown
We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman,
until the alligators knock him down.

wait, wait, wait.... who are the alligators and why are they knocking down our snowman?

UPDATE:
OK, I'm finding that there are several renditions of these lyrics, but this is the version that I put in a document of songs several years back. I don't remember where I got them and now I can't find this version on the intenets anywheres....

Green Energy Carbon Footprint

2011-12-10T07:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8943507/Parts-of-Britain-are-battered-by-gale-force-winds-and-storms.html

GPS mis-directions

2011-12-06T07:53:00.001-08:00

But if you do . . . you'll end up in Washington D.C.

wassailing

2011-12-04T16:58:00.001-08:00

So finding myself alone in the house, not counting dogs and cat, and having imbibed a few seasonally appropriate "winter ales", I find myself singing out loud many a Christmas carol, though I hardly bring to mind more than a line or two of the lyrics. But the pleasant affects of seasonal ales sends my freed and loosened cerebrum upon many a lesser road not taken journey, and so I find my myself pondering life's greater mysteries. . . such as "Just what is wassailing?"

Wikipedia: Wassailing.

A Zeta Woof Turkey

2011-11-24T08:56:00.001-08:00

Now here's an idea! A Bacon wrapped Turkey. But no... my wife has to be Traditional.

Being Thankful

2011-11-24T08:26:00.001-08:00

Always . . . Always be thankful for your wife!

The Gleanings of Sherwood

2011-11-13T12:58:00.001-08:00

54 half-pints of Applesauce.. Half-pints because they make great single-serving lunch or snack or deserts.

Happy Veteran's Day (belated)

2011-11-13T07:38:00.001-08:00

Now here's a Marine uniform I like!

My reactions to Occupy Portland

2011-11-11T07:17:00.001-08:00

I'm just waiting until they go away.

Pain in the. . .

2011-11-10T08:01:00.001-08:00

O.K. . . . the problem with this is that I used to be the young kid, now I'm the old guy, and my wife doesn't like to give back rubs.

Zeta Woof, Get well soon.

2011-11-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Gall Bladder Plush Toy at "I Heart Guts".

Stupid Daylight Saving Time

2011-11-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've tried to read about Daylight Saving Time. No matter how many times I look it up I can never remember why we do this stupid idea.

I've often heard it was for the farmers. But it's been a long time since our society was agrarian. Or that it was for the school children, or for the lighting of sports games, neither of which has ever made any sense to me when I look outside at the sunlight at those times of day. The stupidest idea is that it's about energy savings, which has either been debunked or makes so little difference it's completely negligible.

But the absolute hardest thing about this stupid idea is . . . . . .

. . . trying to explain to your dogs why it's not dinner time yet!

Counter Tops

2011-10-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

After two years delay, the kitchen remodel progresses again. We now have counter-tops! This is "Wilsonart" solid surface material. Put in by our cabinet maker.

The sink is a stainless steel under-mount. The cabinet maker mounted it, but only it. I was left to locate and drill the holes for the faucet, mount it, and re-install all the drain plumbing.

WW Leader Rookie of the Year

2011-10-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Beth is awarded Weight-Watchers "Rookie of the Year" employee award.

Recycling

2011-10-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I recently updated our television system to one of those wide-screen flat-panel led-lcd TV's. I bought a 40" Toshiba, plus a Samsung DVD/Surround-Sound system to go with it.

The question then became, "How do you dispose of an 80lb outdated piece of consumer electronics?"

No one in the family seemed to want it. Recycling centers actually charge $25 to $40 for Cathode Ray Tube disposal (depending on size). Where else do you turn? . . . Craigslist!

Not only did it not cost me money to recycle it, but it sold within 10 minutes, was hauled away within an hour, AND they paid me $25!

Quilt Shows

2011-10-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Beth and her friend ran the APQS booth at a Quilting show out at the EXPO center. This week she helped with the APQS company ran booth at the Long-Arm Quiliters show at the convention center.

For her show we had to dismantle her machine, pass it out the basement window and haul it to the show in an open trailer. I printed the banner sign for her at work (fringe benefit) on our 24" wide inkjet printer.

For Beth's Quilting business see the link to the right.

Dreaming

2011-10-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. Just been too busy with the new job. It's excellent working for a smaller company without all the bureaucracy of a large corporation.

I've been considering upgrading my laptop. But it's the old conundrum, small and lightweight, or power and features. I was considering a Netbook, but Gordon turned me on to the limitations of a 600 pixel high screen. But looking beyond netbooks, I ended up looking at the same thing I've got now, only newer. I call my current laptop "the Brick", and yet this one I'm looking at is the exact same size and weight!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1296796&CatId=4938

But it does have features:
64-bit Operating System,
4 Gbyte memory,
VGA and HDMI outputs (this is important to my job).
memory card reader built-in,
DVD-RW.
plus the "Trackpoint" joystick button I've gotten used to.

Will I get it?... I don't know yet,... I have spent a lot of money lately and should slow down...

Finally !

2011-08-17T07:44:00.001-07:00

Someone explains Congress's Financial Logic.

Squrrel update

2011-07-31T16:38:00.001-07:00

Toby would make a great Engineer. . .

He's curious to see what's . . . INSIDE . . . of things.

Squirrel Inards

2011-07-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

This... was a squirrel toy. It had four legs, a tail, and a head. Its body's interior held a red and white tennis ball.

Toby showed me what color the tennis ball was . . .

Changed My Mind...

2011-07-29T07:05:00.001-07:00

I'm now at the KOIN anchor desk.
... and now for the weather, over to you Bob.

Carreer Change

2011-07-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

Yes! That's me sitting in the anchor chair of the KGW News Desk.
Further updates at 11....

The Passing of a Legend

2011-07-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Pyro the cat passed away yesterday. He was named Pyromaniac because he liked to get close to and stare at the fire in the fireplace. He belonged to the previous owner's of our house and when we bought and they moved he refused to go. (Dogs are pack animals, Cats are territorial) The owner's had moved to temporary quarters a few blocks away and Pyro kept coming back here. He would climb the trees and get in through the second story windows. We and the owner's decided he could stay.

He was about 5 years old then, and passed away at about 16. Over the last year we saw changes in him that indicated he was nearing his last days, so this is not unexpected. He seemed to be "going senile" and his weight seemed to fluctuate and his coat lost some luster.

Beth found him passed away in the upstairs hallway. Really quite a blessing, much better than having him simply disappear or finding him weeks later. Beth was quite broken up and very teary all day. We buried him in the backyard so that he could remain with "his house" that he refused to leave. Rest in Peace Pyro, we'll miss you.

Psuedo Going Galt

2011-06-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Gonzalo Lira: The Coming Middle-Class Anarchy

Not quite a classic "going Galt" scenario, but part of going Galt is the concept of giving up on the system that has become corrupted beyond logic and reason.

I've certainly felt screwed by the recent economic depression and have many times wondered how I could screw them back. I've not stopped paying my mortgage, but I did take their money during unemployment and now I'm depriving them of tax revenue by earning less money.

Well... off to work, because I haven't completely thrown in the towel. I'm just waiting for 2012 to once again cast a vote for reason.

Phillip Marlowe's type.

2011-06-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

"She likes you." Randall said, like a polite FBI man in a movie, a little sad, but very manly. "Her old man was as straight a cop as ever lost a job. She had no business taking those things. She likes you."

"She's a nice girl. Not my type."

"You don't like them nice?" He had another cigarette going. The smoke was being fanned away from his face by his hand.

"I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin."

- Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

huh?

2011-04-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

The big headlines read:

Bristol Palin earned $262,500 from sex abstinence work

hhmmm.... I wonder where my wife is putting all of her money?

Tillamook Eats, and Cape Meares

2011-02-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

Went to the coast last week to do a field service call for Beth's business. A standard tune-up on an APQS Millennium. Drove by way of Hwy-26 then Hwy-6 to Tillamook, OR. The service call was a little further south closer to Pacific City actually, but Tillamook is the junction of Hwy-6 and 101. Got there plenty early so I spent some time on a couple of side trips to make the drive to the coast more worthwhile, especially since it was supposed to be my weekend.

Started with brunch at Sunseri's Dutch Mill. This is a hole in the wall place in old downtown Tillamook, right on Hwy-101. It's an absolute classic American Small Town Greasy Spoon Diner. Don't take me wrong... that's a great thing, and exactly what I was in the mood for! I hit it at peak "brunch" hour... which in the winter means that I was the only customer in the whole place. It's winter, there's no tourists, and locals eat Breakfast, not Brunch. I was torn between ordering the Biscuits and Gravy and the Chicken Fried Steak. I went with the chicken fried steak with eggs and hashbrowns AND a biscuit instead of toast. The steak was served on TOP of the gravy leaving the steak's chicken fried coating Extra Crispy, and the biscuit was definitely hand-made with fresh Tillamook dairy butter. Fantastic! Highly Recommended.

The Cape Meares Lighthouse Park. Here's the trail out to the cape/bluff.
Closeup of the light.
Take a winding trail to below and you find what strike's you as the shortest lighthouse you can imagine. (That's a standard size house door on the right.)

Baffling the illogic

2011-02-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one . . . to be totally baffled, amazed, shocked, sickened, dumbfounded, and bewildered . . . that the State of Oregon actually re-elected Kitzhaber to be governor again???

The only thing that makes me shake my head more is that our State Republican Party thought that running a sport's athlete against him would be a good idea.

Job Descriptions . . . .

2011-01-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

What doing Telephone Tech Support is really like.

To Be Continued....

2011-01-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Ohhhhh........ this is going to be bad.......

A picture for brother Woof

2010-12-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

It's A Wonderful Life

2010-12-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

Giving of Thanks Day

2010-11-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

Toby running through the fall woods a couple of weeks ago.

It was 59 degrees yesterday... inside the house. But that's what you get in an old 1929 house, without insulation, during a cold snap. Flannel lined jeans and sweatshirts, in case your wondering.

I've managed to land a "survival job" as Greg calls it. Telephone Tech-Support in a company called ACS. ACS does tech-support and customer service work for various companies, and is a worldwide company with some 80,000 employees. They're doing an expansion in Tualatin and the huge amount of hiring they are doing even made the news a few weeks back.

Newest in Children's Books

2010-11-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

None of the Above

2010-11-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

In many political elections we often here about the wish to choose None-of-the-Above.

While surfing I came across a blog post with a poll; Which candidate would you vote for: Randy Leonard or Naked Woman? Amongst the comments to the blog post was this: "Heck, I'd pick a randomly chosen fully clothed woman in that race." This got me to thinking. . .

None-of-the-Above has always seemed a futile and impractical idea, but what about "Randomly-Chosen-Citizen" as an alternative candidate to every election race?

Lately it seems we are quite often faced in the polling booth with the dilemma of choosing the lesser of two evils. Many of us also wish for some choice other than career politicians. We have the nagging thought that anybody who actually wants to be in an elected office is probably not a great choice to direct the future of our country. Sometimes 'anybody but these goons' might actually be a reasonable and logical vote to cast.

How would "Randomly-Chosen-Citizen" work? It would appear on the ballot as just that. If it wins the election, a person randomly selected from the voter registration roles is sworn into office (with their acceptance of course). The randomness could be guaranteed with the voter registration number being chosen by the throw of dice. Two die yield 2 through 12, 11 possible outcomes, making a base-11 numerical digit. Eight or nine throws of the die creates a number large enough to cover the population. Why dice? Dice have proven their randomness by the test of time (throughout the ages). They can be thoroughly examined (measured, x-ray'd) for correctness. Specify the throw standards, say the same rules as casino craps, and use an impartial thrower, say... a six year old kid, and the randomness and impartiality are guaranteed.

There's the typical lament that sending the naive to DC is a bad idea because they don't understand and can't handle the wheeling and dealings of the DC political game (insert any word you'd like for 'game'), but isn't someone who is not part of this corrupt game what we're all currently yearning for?

Bugging Out

2010-10-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

When we cleaned out Keith's in May I vacuumed up the dried remnants of a bug infestation around the windows inside the upstairs bedrooms. Well it seems they're back.
I assume they are hatching out from underneath the shingle siding. It seems to be just this East facing wall which catches the morning sun.
I'm not sure just what the little boogers are. It might be fun to surf the internet and find out.

Update: Well that didn't take long. They appear to be "Box Elder Bugs", also known as "Garage Beetles" and "Stink Bugs", although the name Stink Bugs has been applied to many different bugs.

Warm Beer

2010-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Found Keith's place without power this week. Seemed to have been out a while, there was no water pressure at all and the fridge was warm. After checking a few things I found the power meter (which is a newer style with digital display) had no display. I called PGE and while chatting with them found the cause at the power pole. The high voltage connection to the transformer... well... fell out. It's just a little old it seems. The transformer supplies only Keith's house so nobody else had reported a power outage.
It wasn't a busy day for power crews, so these guys were out within an hour.
All put back together, and the beer is saved!

Douglas Adams Day

2010-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2010

Oct 10, '10
10/10/10

101010 in binary,
which is ...
42 in decimal

42,
the answer to the great question of
the meaning of
"Life, the Universe, and Everything."

42 in base 13 is ...
54 in decimal,
and therefore is equal to ...
the actual "great question":
"what do you get when you multiply six by nine?"

smile

2010-10-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Just Some Pictures

2010-10-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Where the barn was. The new grass coming up through the old hay mulch. ( pic from a couple of weeks ago).
Where the hay barn, cattle shed, and old fiberglass shed used to be.
The pond at its lowest, late August. The creek still had puddles all the way down it, but no visibly running water.

Bad Dog!, Mr. President, Bad Dog!

2010-09-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

Pajamas Media » Productive Class Has Bloody Hands from Presidential Bites

Going John Galt

2010-09-19T10:53:00.001-07:00

In surfing for some commentary on "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, and for stories of "Going Galt" I came across the following article. It's not an exceptional article, it could use more detail and length, but it gives a good start to showing the novel's relevance to today's politics.

Atlas Shrugged: Going, Going, Galt… (part 1)

The website it's posted on looks interesting also, so I've added a link to the sidebar for further investigation. The site's "About Us" page is pretty good:

New Wave Slave: About Us

History, Islam and the War . . .

2010-09-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

A Fine Article worthy of reading.

Bad Engineer, Bad!

2010-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

What should be added to a Belkin Wireless Router.

The Belkin wireless router has no power switch, no reset button, no switch or button of any kind. It has a power module (wall-wart) which plugs into it. That's it.

This implies that the only time it needs to boot and initialize is the very first day you buy it and plug it in, that somehow its electronics, functioning, and programming are so immaculately stable and self correcting that it will never need to be reset, EVER!

Personally I think some bean-counter was saving 2 cents on a switch component.

Unemployment Future

2010-09-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of vintage science fiction.

The stuff from the 1950's to 70's (pre- personal computer / internet time frame.) The sort of stuff where computational machines are actually smaller than a room, and where brilliant, space traveling scientists build an artificial intelligent computer out of vacuum tubes and relays.

Here's one which keeps popping to mind lately; "Commune 2000 A.D." by Mack Reynolds. It has three S.F. premises which struck me as significant ideas.

1. a portable hand held device which acts as telephone, connection to retail ordering, financial transactions, and information retrieval. In other words . . . the iPhone/iPod.

2. a possible future of automotive transportation in which there is no public mass transit but also no privately owned automobiles. It works a little like the taxi cabs of New York City. All automobiles are owned and maintained by the government. When you need transportation you press a key on your iPhone and a computer dispatches the nearest available cab to you, knowing where you are by locating your phones position (GPS). You decide when to release the cab (you can keep it waiting while shopping or visiting your cabin in the woods). You PAY for the time of use, it's not a free government benefit. Because nobody owns a car; garages, driveways, parking lots, etc are for the most part eliminated. Individual problems are also eliminated; payments, maintenance, updating, and disposal. What makes a system like this actually possible, practical, and affordable? Computerized robotic driving of the automobiles. When you request a cab, the nearest empty (and unmanned) vehicle starts its motor and drives itself to your location. With the coordination handled automatically by computer the cab arrives in only a couple of minutes (no waiting 20 minutes for a tri-met bus). In addition you can chose to tell the cab to drive itself to your destination or choose manual operation and drive it yourself. No traffic jams because flow of traffic (speed, route, etc) is determined by coordinated robotic drivers.

3. One of the main themes of the book is that industries, the production of all desired goods of society, has been automated by technology to the point where the entire population is provided for by the work of only 5% of the population. There is simply nothing (nothing necessary) for the rest of the population to do. All adults not working receive the UGI (Universal Guaranteed Income). The premise is that only a tiny fraction of this population devolve into mindless, sloth-like, creatures watching tv all day. The available jobs are fiercely competed for with the most menial job requiring PhD's to be in the running. The jobs are even limited to a few years so that others will have a chance at a career. Even so, the vast majority go their lives without working.

The plot is an investigator hired by the government to find out what these people are doing. What are they doing? Well that's another topic . . .

P.S. Why does this book come to mind you ask? (no I haven't read it recently) It's all the news articles about how so many of the jobs recently lost . . . will never come back.

Curent Light Reading

2010-09-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

This book has popped up in numerous places as I've surfed the web-ether over the last few years so I finally got around to reading it. I reserved a copy at the library, all copies in Portland seem to be on constant hold, and picked it up a week and a half ago. I was in the middle of another novel so it sat on my nightstand for a week before I got to it. Now I'm barely 1/5th of the way into it and I'm getting emails from the library telling me it's due in a couple of days. I can't renew it because it's already on reserve by someone else.

So far it's such a good read that I know I'll want to re-read it again in the future, so I scrambled through Powell's website and ran out and bought my own copy yesterday. The library's copy was a huge hardcover that's difficult to hold while reading in bed. The copy I found is a standard sized small paperback and was only $6.95 used.

I'm not able to post a quote from the book here . . . simply put, there are way too many good quotes to chose from.

I'm hoping for some bit of a happy ending. It will be incredibly sad if the honest and brave, hard-working, capitalist loses to the insane anti-logic of the utopian socialists.

P.S. It kept popping up on the web as relevant to current events that I was bowled over to find it was written in 1957!

Still Boldly Going at 79

2010-09-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Many Iterations of William Shatner

He’s late. He calls to explain. “A mix-up,” he says, and then, “I read all your stories.” Pause. “You. Are. A. Grrreat. Writer.” Another pause. “What’s your name?” I tell him. He says, “Of course it is.” I ask what his name is. “MY NAME? I. Am. William. Shatner!”

This is a great magazine article. It's long but worth the read for any fan of Shatner.

Bank Runs - Part II

2010-08-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

Problem banks . . .
The FDIC reported a second consecutive increase in its deposit insurance fund, -snip- but it still operates in the red, with a deficit of $15.2 billion.

Aaaaahhhh, so that's the reason to advertise with the typical government double-talk that "everything is OK folks, nothing to see here, move along . . . your deposits are safe."

Anti-Imperialists !!!

2010-08-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

"I support the right of the Jedi to build a temple, but does it have to be two blocks from the ruins of the Death Star?"

from: Cedar Posts and Barbwire Fences: Tweet of the Day!

London on a Shoestring

2010-08-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

More highway-side-little-Oregon-towns adventures.

North on I-5, south of Cottage Grove. According to the map beyond Scotts Valley is the town of "London", London Oregon that is.
From all I could see Scotts Valley consists of one little school building a short distance from I-5. I couldn't find any community center at all.
As you go up into the valley the road is intermittently pavement and gravel. Here we come across a doe and her fawn standing by the side of the road.
At a junction, one road goes south to Elkhead, and the other turns north to London. Up on the crest of a ridge you go from the gravel road of Douglas county to the much better paved road of Lane county. The road sign isn't just funny for what it says, but for the fact it's on a little road out in the country in the middle of nowhere.
Coming into London you come to a tee in the road and find yourself looking at Church at London. London seems to consist of a Grange, Church, School, and Mini-Mart. All spaced at least 1/4 mile from each other. The sign for the Grange pointed south so we didn't get to see it.
I didn't catch the name of the road that London sits on, but the road we came in on is called "Shoestring road", so seeing London on a Shoestring is possible . . . in Oregon.

AAAaaaaaiiiiiiieiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

2010-08-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

The NYC Cordoba Mosque

2010-08-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Even if:

The owners, financial backers, builders, imams, members, and patrons of the mosque are completely innocent of anything and everything you could think of, and they have complete legal rights of property ownership to build a religious facility.

You cannot deny;
That the fanatic, hard-line, Islamic terrorists around the world and those that support them will view the 13 story mosque overlooking the WTC neighborhood as a symbolic monument of triumph and victory. That these same groups, who wish the US and its citizens harm, will celebrate its construction and be emboldened, encouraged, and aided in their propaganda to continue their terrorist jihad against the US and western civilization.

Now . . .
It is the primary purpose and duty of the United States government to protect its citizens. Does that not include deterring and prohibiting aide to those that have sworn to do us harm?

The New Economy

2010-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

"The Dog Staycation"

Bank Runs?

2010-08-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Was listening to the radio today when I heard a commercial that struck me as being rather odd. It said something like "and for 75 years not one customer has lost one cent in FDIC insured accounts". I wasn't listening at first and I thought it was an ad for a bank. I snickered at the stupidity of the statement, of course an insured account didn't lose money, and then as the ad continued I realized the ad was by the FDIC itself!

Now I've heard bank ads before mentioning their FDIC insurance but I don't recall an ad directly from the FDIC. It makes me wonder two things. The first is my fiscal conservative attitude kicking in and saying 'why is the government spending money on ads to tell people something that everyone knows?' The second I guess is from a conspiracy slant, 'why the sudden need to reassure the public that their bank deposits are safe?'

Is there something happening with bank deposits that I haven't heard on the news. My understanding of the current economy was that people in fear of losing jobs are paying down debts, not spending money, and saving more money than they have in nearly a decade. So if people are putting money in the bank rather than the stores, why is the government needing to reassure depositors?

Denny's

2010-08-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

"$4 will buy you nearly half of your daily caloric needs."

- Jaya Saxena

Can't Tease the Woof

2010-08-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

He doesn't allow comments.

Patricia Neal 1926-2010

2010-08-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Actress Patricia Neal passed away a couple of days ago. I remember her most for her role of "Maggie" in "In Harm's Way" a John Wayne WWII movie. I think this is one of the best love scenes ever filmed.

Sympathy for Bacon

2010-08-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

An article at PJMedia with a few things I've thought all along.

for Islam is not merely a religious doctrine, but a comprehensive socio-economic and political system. . .

“The war is about the survival of Western civilization,

The root article the PJMedia article refers to is even better.

Presidential Media Appearance

2010-07-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

My thoughts on our president's choice of public media appearances.
(OK, so I'm no expert at paintshop (gimp actually).

Next up, the president will discuss national security with the Teletubbies . . .

A Simple Truth

2010-07-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article online and all the various politically biased comments that followed it. One reoccurring theme was how the currently elected politicians do not represent the majority of citizens. Then it hit me . . . a simple truth . . .

Politicians don't listen to the silent majority.

Now . . . whose fault is that?

Demolition week

2010-07-24T07:29:00.001-07:00

The demolition work by Tabert Excavation and Trucking is completed. Sorry, but I don't yet have any good "after" pictures. The stark sunshine and shadow of mid-day photography makes for lousy shots, I'll try again some late evening this week. In the meantime here's some "during" photos.
The 500 gallon fuel tank that was beneath the little wood shed built on the pickup trailer. Tabert took this home for use.

Here he's crushing tanks. He would flatten these out like you wouldn't believe.

Here's an "after shot" of where the barn used to be. I swept the concrete and put some new gravel at the right end so far. The brown pipe with gray cap is the water well-head. He did a great job of filling in and reshaping the area. However, Keith had brought in so much fill dirt along the road side of the field that the barn area is still a low spot with no drainage slope. It will take a dozer to shape the entire area and field to get proper water drainage, but that's the next owner's task.

A load of tires and wheels. This is just the stuff from around the house and off of scrapped trailers. The local Sherwood Les-Schwab dealer took them for recycle and actually charged less than the county dumps. This load also included 7 batteries out of the mill building that looked 20 years old.

The white piece on top is the garden shed van. The brown is an old dump truck bed that sat beside the fuel tank and had been half buried with a pile of sand/gravel.

Having Fun

2010-07-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the fields of weed seeds. This happens each time he goes to the farm. Luckily it only takes 15 minutes or so to brush it out.

Demolition started

2010-07-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday saw a lot of demolition progress. Part of the job is he has to separate the material into different piles before hauling away; wood, metal, garbage.
In addition to the big track-hoe and dump truck he brought these little toys also for going up to the mill building. His business is just down the road near Hwy99 so bringing extra equipment is not that big of a deal. That black blur in the foreground is dog-a-roo tearing around the corner of the garage. After another big day at the farm he is moving very slowly this morning.

The toyota and buick are gone, and the realtor sign is now in place. No news from the realtor on prospects (at least not to my ears).

Pirate Update and misc. . .

2010-07-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the link for the Realtor listing of the Stearn's Estate. JohnLScott.

Saw the eye-doc this morning. Everything will be fine. Although the cornea is scratched, these things not only heal completely but also very fast. He's talking healed in 2 or 3 days at the most. I'm staying home today to rest it (eye doc's always use that stuff that dilate your eyes and your pretty much useless for several hours anyway). I took some pictures but without a mono-chromatic light source it's hard to see the scratches. All that can be seen is a small red dot of bruising. My vision is much improved already though still slightly blurry. The doc did give me some anti-biotic drops to use today and tomorrow.

Pirate Day !!

2010-07-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

Aaaarrrh Matey, avast tha' look an' bring me some coffee!

While mowing lawns on the riding lawn mower, I had a tree branch whip back and smack me in the eye good and hard, and fast enough I didn't get the eyelids closed. I have a scratched cornea. I don't think it's serious, I'm given the impression these things heal OK.

I saw a doc at the Sherwood urgent care clinic who examined it well, wrote me a prescription for vicodin, and patched it up. A tetanus shot and some eye ointment also. He wanted me to check in again today, but instead of driving to Sherwood I'll go see Beth's Ophthalmologist here in Portland.

I met with Tabert Excavation yesterday about the demolition of the barn and so on. He'll be starting today and figures a few days this week and one or two next week. We're also getting a general garbage dumpster like we did before to finish out the house and mill building garbage.

Bats, Bambi, and Barrels

2010-07-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

The hydrangea is blooming at the Stearn's Estate. Summer is here.
Bats in the garage attic. I'm guessing there are 16, maybe 18 up there (see those hiding behind the stud). These guys are quite small, not much bigger than a mouse. They eat bugs, so I'm all for leaving them be.
Bambi of Brookwood Road.
Fencing completed on the first two sections. Mowing the fields around the house really does give the place a nice appearance. I met and chatted with the realtor for a few minutes last week. The realtor has placed small signs on the property and a large one should be coming soon.
The cleanup progresses slowly. Last week it seemed a lot of people were on vacation but this week things should start moving again. The guy who bought the pickup and Buick should be coming to get them now that we have titles (he has to arrange a tow-truck for the buick). I've had a guy show serious interest in the JohnDeere tractor and mower. The demolition contractor should also be out to discuss the details and let me know when he can get started. In the mean-time I've been hauling stuff out of the woods. I'd prefer he didn't have to go up into the woods with heavy equipment. If his demolition doesn't include a general garbage dumpster then I'll be arranging to get one of those and finish the cleaning of the house, garage, and woodshed.

Redwoods

2010-06-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Mowing some trails through the fields. Big-tongue dog really enjoys romping through the forest and fields. (82 degrees yesterday).
Fence is ready for wire from the northwest corner to the barn driveway. From there to the old wood fence is weed city and I'm having trouble getting the old gas weed eater to stay lit. I've removed and cleaned the carburetor as best I could but it acts like the high mixture jet is still faulty.
In addition to the pile of metal on the concrete pad that we built there was some more this side of the pad. I started clearing it from the road end, so far I've hauled 5000 lbs and haven't reached the pad yet. The white piece is the pile of wood; behind it is a small pile of rubber/plastic; the red piece is the old dozer blade from dad's John-Deere tractor.
There were two redwood trees in plastic pots stuck in the ground of the garden. I've transplanted them to the site of Keith's ashes. I'll soak them throughout the summer with 5-gallon buckets with small holes drilled in the bottom.

Back to Fencing

2010-06-24T07:53:00.001-07:00

The weather is finally warming, so it's back to fencing. Here's the NorthWest corner. Here to the first driveway is ready for wire. This corner is on the property line on the west side, but set back about 4 feet from the property line on the road side to get beyond the county ditch. The property line seems to be right at the brink of the ditch bank.

The mower trailer was a garden hand cart I found in a shed. I cut off the handle bars and the front legs, then bolted on a tongue. This one has bicycle wheels. The one we were using during the clean-out has motorcycle wheels. This one has an open back like the other, but the front of this one is set up like a pickup tailgate to be let down for longer loads.

A few things at Keith's

2010-06-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

I spent some time going through the brakes of the backhoe. There are three brake pedals; the main pedal has a master hydralic cylinder which runs two little external cylinders; and then there are the two "steering brakes" at your left heel position (shown here). These are purely mechanical. I've adjusted the brakes to just short of engaging, but even adjusted there is little braking power. I assume the pads are so worn as to be glazed and gone, or they were "dry" brakes which have been oiled by a leaking seal. The pad discs are either side of the differential and are a major operation to replace.
Here's the right side brake cylinder. It's missing its rubber protective boot and has totally rusted out both externally and internally. How it worked at all surprised me, but when I filled the master cylinder with fluid (totally dry), both cylinders actually worked and engaged what little brakes there are.
Rather than burning the scrap wood, I've been cutting it up for firewood. I expect to have a much larger stack when all is done, if anyone is interested in firewood.
These were some gates that Joyce had craigslisted. I think we could've gotten more, but they sold for $60.
Here's a trailer for you! Two pickup beds welded together. A tailgate at both ends for those long loads.
Keith had the John-Deere hay mower and a little tiny electric mower AND Nothing in between! Here is his roto-tiller tractor with the tiller removed and a sickle-bar attachment I found in a hay shed. Unfortunately the more I tried to get it to work the more it fell apart. With both the mower and tiller it might sell to an antique hobbyist for a good price. It's a 1950's Montgomery-Wards "Chor-Trac" garden tractor. They made dozens of implements that attached to them. ( I think the motor is not original though ).
This is my trailer. I got it free from my brother-in-law. The plywood box was all rotted out, so I've rebuilt it using some of Keith's rough-sawn lumber. The headboard and tailgate are some 1-1/8" plywood that I found up in the mill building. The frame of this thing is very heavy and stout. I've started to haul away the scrap metal. So far I've done three loads for a total of 3,100 lbs and $240 dollars.
I turned around and spent $260 dollars on this riding mower. I was looking for a couple of days and only saw junk, then happen to catch this just 20 minutes after the guy posted it on craigslist. It's also from an estate clearing, sold by a auto mechanic who fixed it and got it running for the lady and helped her sell it. This thing is great! Easily a $500 tractor.
It has a V-Twin, Briggs & Stratton, 20 HP engine that runs great, and he had put a new battery in it. I sharpened the blades which looked to have the original factory grinding marks on them (never been sharpened). I've mowed all the area around the house and garden and the driveways. It really makes the place look better to have mowed lawns rather than fields. I'm also going to mow some trails through the fields and woods so that the realtors can show the acreage easily.

Bonnie update

2010-06-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Bonnie is less bitchy. Cost me a new starter motor but luckily that was all it was. Tracing out problems in automotive electrical wiring is a place I didn't want to go.

Bonnie the Bitch

2010-06-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Bonnie, Pontiac Bonneville that is. . . , is being a bitch.

She's now twelve years old, and in car years that's 72 and everything is beginning to give out. She recently crapped out on me and after putting in new plugs I limped it down to the mechanic where they replaced the "upper intake plenum (manifold)". On a Bonnie this piece is plastic and is prone to cracking. It's the second time it's been replaced. Both times I've forgotten to ask to see the old part to see this mysterious crack that causes so much problems. Well $600 some dollars later I was driving again but still having several problems.

First there's the bucking and hesitation when accelerating. I haven't figure out what that is yet, but I'm currently leaning toward transmission and a shift switch of some sort hesitating or bouncing on and off.

Second there was the loss of coolant. The replacing of the manifold didn't change that, but yesterday I finally saw a significant puddle under the car and was able to see enough of a leak to determine that the water pump was giving out.

Well to save myself $600 dollars again I tackled the job myself. Napa Auto parts had a new pump for only $42 and after figuring a few things out which the "Chiltons" manual neglect to tell you I successfully replaced the pump and had everything put together. I started the car three times to circulate coolant and refill the radiator, but then things went downhill.

The belt was squeaking and either the tensioner pulley or alternater bearings were making some noise. I happen to have a can of spray "belt dressing" in the trunk from the fan belt episode of a couple years ago, so I sprayed that liberally on the belt as it was running. Ok so I may have over did it, but it shouldn't have hurt anything, though maybe some got sucked into the alternator. Anyway it was still running.

I came back to start it again a short while later and . . . nothing.

Nothing. Everything comes on, a relay under the dash clicks, but no solenoid click, no starter motor. I've charged the battery, rechecked the cables, checked the fuses, tapped on the solenoid, monitored the battery voltage while turning the key, nothing. She sits. She sits there being a bitch.

If the belt dressing ruined the alternator, it would still start, just not charge, or blow a fuse or something. The battery operates the power windows and everything else shows normal. The computer does it's turn on diagnostics and so on.

Unfortunately there's not a simple wire from the key to the starter solenoid on today's cars. There's computers and security crap and God knows what else to getting a car to start now days.

Today is Day Two . . . .

wow

2010-05-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, . . . I haven't posted in a long time.

Reasons I haven't posted;

I've been unemployed for so long that I'm fighting depression. If you've never experienced classic clinical depression then I don't want to hear your comments or advice. I could rant about depression, . . . but I'm too depressed.

Politics. Politics is the same old B.S. that's been going on for a hundred years, just with new names and buzz-words. Being a stout member of the silent majority, my only involvement in politics is bitching and voting. Wake me up when we get closer to the next election.

Too Busy. Hey, it's hard and time-consuming work procrastinating and watching my career and life spiral down the toilet. No really, my uncle Keith passed away and being both living nearby and with nothing to do, I've been quite busy helping to clean and prepare the estate for sale. I've been out there practically every day for three weeks.

I'd think up more reasons but my mind is currently thinking more about dinner. . . .

Haaaaaarrrrrrrrooooooooo.......

2010-05-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

The things you find on NetFlix.
( lmao )

career status

2010-04-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Grading Kulongoski

2010-04-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

Kulongoski, . . . jus' Effing along with the libs/dems/koombas.

health update

2010-03-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

sorry I haven't posted, just have felt lousy enough not to, and somehow at home it was easier to ignore.

Gave up the pain meds on saturday afternoon. a trade off between pain and side effects. the sweats and chills diminished, and the intestines woke up.

sunday morning had a BM, not pretty but at least things are working.

my pancreas is still beat-up and painful and my intestines feel like somebody made hamburger out of them. Things are slowly getting better. Food is a problem, on the one hand I need the energy to get healthy and the bowels need to have some healthy food coming in to flush out the toxic debris of what got left in there, however at the same time the the pancreas is a prime supplier of digestive juices and insulin and glucagon and food intake is a trigger to make it and the intestines work, but they need to rest and recover not work.

Sunday night, I was rethinking the pain meds, just to get to sleep. Mistake. I took half a tablet. An hour later I woke up dripping in sweat. An hour later the same thing again. The bed and pajamas were so wet I stripped, put on my heavy terry cloth bathrobe and slept in my lounge chair in the office.

Monday, again things are slowly getting better. every tiny meal and rest is less painful than the last. I seem to move from resting in one place to another, from couch to couch, to bed, to chair, back to couch.

From the looks of it, I probably will spend the rest of the week in recovery.

Still no real clue as to how this all started, but I'm tired of having the bad luck healthwise.

On a Curiosity Side note: although it comes and goes, my sense of smell seems 10 times as powerful and sensitive, bizarre??

Day 5 snag

2010-02-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

In the transition to regular food and non-intravenous painkillers we've run into what I would have thought was an easily foreseeable problem of extreme constipation. Also showing up is that little nagging infection or whatever has been causing my sweats, chills and tremors every so often throughout the week.

Anyway it's been a thoroughly bad day and I'm spending another night. I am sick and tired of being sick and in pain and I am 100% old-man-grumpy about it.

02:00 in the morning Update:
To leave out a long explanation, the essential points are my bowels have been blasted back into operation, although leaving them painfully irritated. I'm again using the I.V. pain killers, but I suspect it's mostly for the convenience of the nurses as it is very strong, effective, and quickly shuts up the grumpy old bastard.

I've sorted out all that has happened and the most reasonable explanations of why (too long to post right now), and I'm fairly satisfied that I can be discharged today (It's now Friday). I'm sure the doctors will agree in the morning.

Day 5 morning Dr. Visit

2010-02-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

Things are looking good, will be progressing to more solid food throughout today. I will need to switch to an oral pain med before being discharged. We also agreed seeing a bowel movement without complications or setbacks would be a good thing. I could possibly be discharged tonight, but more than likely tomorrow morning. All lab tests are looking fine.

No BM yet, but a successful flatulence event (and no I'm not broken hearted).

Hospital Day 5 morning

2010-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

Breakfast from the cafeteria kitchens today: Herbal Lemon Tea (no thank you), Hot Broth (mix it yourself from a little packet), "Jello, Red", "Jello, Yellow", Cranberry juice cocktail cup (saving for later).

Eating is causing the bowels to try and move, but what's in there hasn't moved since Sunday and doesn't want to. Cramping pain and gas with some belching for relief. Finally got my pain med I rang for an hour ago.

The Pancreatitis pain is gone, replaced the a pain throughout the bowels. I had this sort of pain before and my internet diagnosis was "Irritable Bowel Syndrome". Not to be mixed up with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In the few times I've had it over the last5 years I found the best treatment was mild diet, rest, and Pepto-Bismol.

The Nurse says the "Lipase" levels are back to normal. This is the primary blood test indicator of Pancreatitis.

Dagwood

2010-02-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

Since the clear liquid diet is out of the nurse's station I don't have to stick to meal times. I just "Raided the Refrigerator at Midnight" by asking for some jello while my nurse was giving me a scheduled injection.

If you've never been hungry and just finished a large meal, even the most amazingly prepared dish from the world's best chef won't make any real impression. But be actually hungry, days without food, the simplest cracker becomes a taste sensation worthy of a critic's review.

Yes, the Orange flavored sugar-free Smart-Gels by "Kozy Shack" was awesome!

Our Daily Bread

2010-02-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

Dinner was a styrofoam cup of thin broth. It had a slight taste of chicken and a pinch of salt and pepper. The pepper sank to the bottom. I assume it was mixed at the nurse's station because Adventist Medical Center is vegetarian cafeteria. This wonderful dinner was, surprise, followed by a dessert. A tablespoon of mint flavored malloxx.

The Joke? . . . The Punchline? . . . None here.

It really did taste good, I was grateful for it, and so far it's stayed down pain free, and for that I give my honest thanks to God.

Oh, and my I.V. is now water AND sugar not just water.

Hospital Day 4 dinner

2010-02-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

Just had an exam and consult with a Doctor (third one so far, but I'm working with what they're calling "hospitalists"). A good chat, still no definite cause discovered but a lot of cases of pancreatitis go that way.

The good news is he thinks it's time to start a liquid diet tonight and if it doesn't increase the pain then we're on our way. Being discharged tomorrow is a narrow outside chance, more likely Friday or Saturday.

Had my usual visit from my mother-in-law and then both Sue and Barb showed up. We had a good chat for a few hours.

Hospital Day 4 noon

2010-02-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

Still have some pain, but also some bloating and pain from the stomach acid and reflux. With the acid crawling into my throat and I'm not allowed to eat anything and only allowed to suck on ice. I'm having to deal with dual compounded problems.

Anyway in the overall view I'm slightly better than yesterday. Took a shower this morning. With the plastic sweat inducing bed I was getting a little greasy and grimy. Then took a stroll around the ward pushing the IV stand. I have a Student Nurse also this morning. A gal named Liz from Walla Walla University.

The drugs make it difficult to concentrate, so I've done very little reading. Mostly napping and staring into space. The IV's and the Pancreatitis keep me from being hungry

... more vital signs back moment

Hospital 5

2010-02-24T03:55:00.000-08:00

Woke up at 2:00am here pretty much soaking in sweat. The cause is the plastic covered mattress and pillows. I'm trying to pad here and there with towels and blankets.

Sat up for a bit. In the hallway they had the sound system playing some very mellow harp music. It wasn't on the room speakers so I got up and went to the hall . . . No . . . it actually is a harp being played by one of the staff.

While I was up I waved to my nurse and got another pain medication shot. For some reason the pain med shot is always followed by a kind of cramping pain

Hospital 4

2010-02-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've had plenty of visitors so don't feel bad if you haven't made it. Sunday, my mother-in-law, Patricia got to the emergency room about 9:00pm and stayed til about 1:00am. After that my memory is fuzzy. Monday Joe and Lynette, Patricia, Sue?, and Nancy. Nancy stayed the night on a pull out chair. Today (Tues) Patricia, Joe, Nancy, and then Sue. Since my remedy is just rest and things are beginning to improve somewhat, we decided it wasn't necessary to stay the night.

Joe and Lynnette drove my car back to the house Monday.

Sunday was bad for pain and I hardly slept at all. Monday was a bad day since I had not just the pancreatic pain, but then the ulcer acid reflex. I managed some naps. Tuesday was much better. The pain has decreased slightly the acid tummy is mostly under control. I've even gotten out of the room. Pushing an IV stand and going up and down the ward past the nurses stations.

Hospital 3

2010-02-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

Almost all AMC rooms are private rooms with their own bathrooms. The bed is a funny thing. It has an air mattress with various different areas. It automatically adjusts to relieve pressure points and prevent bed sores. Although ever time you move and settle in to another position it fires up its compressor moters, which can be annoying every 10 minutes at night.

The nurse call button is also a funny thing. According to Pat it connects you with an operator in the basement who then contacts the appropriate person at the nurses station. Sometimes when I push the button it's a good 5-7 minutes before the operator responds and then there's time for all the rest of it.

Monday morning the doc reviewed the ultrasound. It showed the kidneys and gall bladder to be fine with no stones in the bladder, but where the gall duct meets up with pancreatic duct and flows to the intestine was not showed, so he scheduled a CT-scan. For contrast I had to drink a big-gulp sized contrast medium. It actually was ok, like lemonade, no grit, and after not having the slightest sip of water went down very good. Although the CT looks like an MRI, it's very quiet and was very fast.

However once the contrast emptied from my tummy, my past history of stomach ulcers led to having some acid reflux which got bad enough to make me So I request some

Medications;
IV fluids with potassium (which showed low in some blood test)
Dilaudid, this is the pain killer stronger than morphine they say.. 2mg twice a day.
Protonix, an acid reducer, once a day.
Phenergan, an anti-nausea, if needed

Monday's CT-SCAN Results;
No gall stones anywhere. The pancreas is enlarged but shows no signs of damage (calcifications, absesses, etc.). Without a definitive cause the only remedy plan is to rest the pancreas by not working it, that is not feeding it, not triggering it's secretions. That meant no food, no water, not even a sip. That was changed Tuesday afternoon to allow ice.

Hospital 2

2010-02-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

After being in the Emergency room for a little while I called my mother law Pat Turner. They took blood and did a urinalysis. The blood showed an increase in liponase indicating Pancreatitus. I had an ultrasound done looking over the gal bladders, kidneys and other things. It didn't show any gall stones.

I was moved up to the wade about 1:30am.

I keep nodding off. More later

Hospital stay

2010-02-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

After getting up today (Tuesday), having a pain med shot, and then walking around the nurses stations and local corridor, I'm actually feeling good enough to blog.

Where to begin.

Saturday I had been feeling bloated and a little constipated, so I took a Ducolax pill. Ducolax is a very mild drug. Sunday morning I had a regular BM and was feeling fine.

Sunday morning I took Beth to the airport. She's going to a Rep' Rally at the APQS, and will be their til Thursday afternoon. I had the usual microwave burritoes for lunch ( I know what you're thinking), and felt fine after lunch.

Dinner time, around 6:30, I had some leftovers, some hamburger-noodle-cream cheese casserole that we make every now and then. I had made it Saturday night so it probably was not food poisoning.

About 7:30pm it hit me fairly sudden. Feeling just like an intestinal gas bubble. The pain was getting worse to the point of doubling over and moaning loudly over and over again. But the gas bubble didn't want to move. The pain area all across the front just below the stomach, but above the belly button. By 8:00pm the pain was really bad and showed no signs of lessening. I through some shoes on and drove to the hospital emergency room. Yeah I'm one of those people who figures it'll be faster to not call 911 and just drive.

(the pain med's have reached their peak effectiveness and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. . . more in a bit)

The "Harry Potter" Bottle Puzzle.

2010-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

In the first "Harry Potter" book there is a logic puzzle toward the end of the book. They are trying to get safely through a door in front of them (Forward) or they can give up and go Backwards through the door behind them. The doors are closed by fire until they choose and drink from one of the 7 bottles in a line on a table in front of them. Also on the table is a parchment with the following written statements:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

So one bottle is forward F, one is backwards B, two are nettle wine W, and three are Poison P. They are all different sizes and the sight of the liquid doesn't mean they're different.

I start with the fourth clue that positions 2 and 6 are the same. Forward and Backward have no twins so 2 and 6 must be either Wine or Poison. If wine then 1 and 5 are Poison by the first clue that to the left of Wine will always be Poison. This yields two possibilities.

Possibility "A" : P W # # P W #
Possibility "B" : # P # # # P #

Next, further develop possibility "A". By the second clue the two ends are different and neither is Forward, therefore position 7 is not Poison like position 1, and is not Forward. The only thing left is for position 7 to be is Backwards.

Possibility "A" : P W # # P W B

The two positions left are either Forward and Poison or Poison and Forward, yielding two possibilities.

Possibility "A1" : P W F P P W B
Possibility "A2" : P W P F P W B

Now back to possibility "B". By the second clue neither end is Forward leaving Forward to be in Position 3, 4, or 5.

Possibility "B1" : # P F # # P #
Possibility "B2" : # P # F # P #
Possibility "B3" : # P # # F P #

Now we fill in the remaining three positions of each possibility. The first clue says that Wine will always have a Poison to it's left. Position 1 has no left, therefore it cannot be a Wine. I start with finding which two of the three remaining positions are Wine.

Possibility "B1", Wine can't be in position 4 since that requires 3 to not be Forward. The two Wines fill positions 5 and 7. Position 4 must be a Poison to the left of Wine, leaving position 1 to be Backward.

Possibility "B1" : B P F P W P W

Possibility "B2", Wine can't be in position 5 since that requires 4 to not be Forward. The two Wines fill positions 3 and 7. Positions 1 and 5 can be either Backward or Poison, yielding two more possibilities.

Possibility "B2a" : B P W F P P W
Possibility "B2b" : P P W F B P W

Possibility "B3", Wine can't be in both position 3 and 4 because that would require 3 to be Poison (to the left of 4). If position 1 can't be Wine and only one Wine can fit in 3 and 4, then position 7 is the only place where the second Wine can fit. The first Wine can be in either 3 or 4, yielding two further possibilities.

Possibility "B3a" : # P # W F P W
Possibility "B3b" : # P W # F P W

Further developing possibility "B3a", the first Wine must have a Poison to the left, leaving position 1 to be Backwards.

Possibility "B3a" : B P P W F P W

Further developing possibility "B3b", positions 1 and 3 are either Backwards and Poison or Poison and Backwards respectively, yielding two further possibilities.

Possibility "B3b1" : B P W P F P W
Possibility "B3b2" : P P W B F P W

This ends us with eight possibilities. Which position/bottle is the smallest and which is the largest (neither dwarf nor giant) is not stated in the book (though the characters could obviously see this). I don't believe it can be further reduced without knowing which positions are the Smallest and Largest bottles.

Possibility "A1" : P W F P P W B
Possibility "A2" : P W P F P W B
Possibility "B1" : B P F P W P W
Possibility "B2a" : B P W F P P W
Possibility "B2b" : P P W F B P W
Possibility "B3a" : B P P W F P W
Possibility "B3b1" : B P W P F P W
Possibility "B3b2" : P P W B F P W

The question now comes: "Can the puzzle be solved if we knew the missing information that the characters of the book would have had?"

It is revealed in the book that the Smallest bottle turns out to be the way Forward, and that the bottle in position 7 is Backward. The reveal that 7 is Backward indicates it is an "A" possibility. However, these are reveals and not clues or data known to the characters.

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death. It doesn't seem to matter which is which, so here goes.

Either the Smallest or Largest (s/l) is in one of the seven positions and the other is in one of the remaining six positions. This yields 42 possibilities of where they are. If s/l is in position 2 or 6 then the other s/l cannot be in 1 or 5. If s/l is in either 1 or 5 then the other cannot be in 1 or 6. This eliminates 8 possibilities leaving 34 variations.

If either 2 or 6 are either Smallest or Largest (s/l) then it must be a Possibility "A", and if either 3 or 4 is s/l then the puzzle is solved. So if the book situation is any of these 4 variations then we and the characters could solve the puzzle and the solution would be either A1 or A2.

Do any of the other 30 variations of s/l positions solve the puzzle?

If s/l are in both positions 1 and 7 then the puzzle can NOT be solved. If s/l are in both positions 2 and 6 then the puzzle can NOT be solved. This eliminates four more variations since the characters DO solve the puzzle.

Do any of the other 26 variations of s/l positions solve the puzzle?

I'll leave it at that for now since my brain is going dead.

Grrrrr . . . . . Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh ! ! !

2010-01-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

Tax season again, and one of the things I have to deal with is putting together the annual report of Beth's home business.

. . . I'm not a bookkeeper.

. . . BETH IS CERTAINLY NOT A BOOKKEEPER ! ! !

I'm now struggling through the mess once again, and wondering how to get her to do it right from the get-go so that it's not a total cluster-#$&% at this time of year.

She originally started with a paper 3 column register. Then we spent big bucks on QuickBooks (way too complicated). Now we're currently using Quicken Home & Business. This is what I use for keeping our home accounts and paying the bills etc. She keeps a seperate file on her computer for the business and uses the "business" features of "Home & Business".

Aaaarrrghhh . . . what a mess.

The trouble comes from several flaws. All operater error of course, but that doesn't make the software any less aggravating. One flaw is it lets you put in negative numbers. Accounting doesn't have negative numbers ( it's a positive number in the debit column or in an expense category). Another flaw is it lets you choose an expense category in a place/situation where there should ONLY be income categories, and vice-versa.

She can't possibly have over $10,000 in invoices in a primarily service business and yet have a profit/loss report show a yearly profit of $650. Good for taxes you say, but that can't possibly be right. God help us if the IRS audits.

Never give up.

2010-01-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is an actual product. For those people who feel something missing when they drop their traditional land-line phone service. It also comes in a cord free Bluetooth version. But unless you were one of those people who could cradle it between your ear and shoulder, I don't think it meets the new hands-free cell phone laws.

Portland Oregon carpenter going to work.

2010-01-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Cratchet's Greatest Success

2009-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Pudding, cannon ball shaped and served with flaming brandy and a sprig of holly.

It was ball shaped because it was cooked not in a baking dish but in a tied up piece of cloth like a sack and was boiled in water, not steamed or baked. In reading several Dicken's books you learn that cooking facilities of the common people was the fireplace. This hearth may have had small surface of iron like a small griddle but that is the extent of the kitchen. The Cratchet's dinner included potatoes cooked in a pan on this hearth and applesauce. Yes, the goose was baked, but the only available ovens were the town bakeries, hence the passage in 'A Christmas Carol' describing people carrying home their dinners through the streets. As I said the pudding was boiled, but the only pot large enough was the "copper", being the laundry tub in the backyard.

Christmas Pudding History and Recipes

I KNEW IT!!!

2009-12-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Chemical In Beer May Prevent Prostate Cancer

9:01am UK, Wednesday December 09, 2009
Lewis Dean, Sky News Online

Beer-drinking men may be reducing their chances of developing prostate cancer with every pint, tests by scientists have revealed.

Beer contains a compound that may fight cancer.

Experiments have shown that xanthohumol, a compund derived from the hops in beer, blocks a chemical reaction that can lead to the development of cancer.

The disease is usually treated with drugs that act in a similar way.

Study leader Dr Clarissa Gerhausa, from the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, said: "We hope that one day we can demonstrate that xanthohumol prevents prostate cancer development, first in animal models and then in humans, but we are just at the beginning."

Xanthohumol is a powerful antioxidant, known to have anti-cancer properties. It is also found in fruits and spices.

It was previously suggested that the compound could reduce the chances of females getting breast cancer.

Scientists now believe a similar reaction could affect men.

Further research involving rats showed that xanthohumol reduced the effects of hormone signalling in prostate tissue.

Gotta love VDH

2009-12-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

An analogy to make you go . . . "huh?" and start reaching for the dictionary.

It is sort of like the retiarius throwing his net every which way while stabbing with trident—only to cry foul and “how dare you!” when nicked back by the sica of the Thracian.

-Victor Davis Hanson, from a recent political commentary article.

================================================

retiarius (plural retiari or retiarii)

A type of gladiator, who uses a casting net (a rete or iaculum) as a weapon.

sīca (genitive sīcae); f, first declension

a poniard, a curved dagger

Thracian

an inhabitant of Thrace, regardless of ethnicity (plural Thracians).

Thrace

A region in northeastern Greece, much of southern Bulgaria, and parts of northwestern Turkey.

Porky Politician

2009-12-05T07:07:00.001-08:00

I was reading an article which at one point talked about the Fed. Just to brush up my knowledge I wiki'd it and skimmed through it a bit. In doing so I came across this little chart in the sidelines and this little tidbit in it's explanation. I found it poignant because I totally agree with the last part.

The generally agreed upon reason independence leads to lower inflation is that politicians have a tendency to create too much money if given the opportunity to do it.

Reefer madness

2009-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

You know those keyless remote entry fobs that come with cars nowadays. The ones that you thought were a silly idea until you actually started using one and now your opinion is "how did we ever do without them". Well, automatic ice and water in the refrigerator door has become the same way.

This is the water supply connection that comes with the standard kit. It's made for homeowners who want to connect up fast and easy without calling a plumber. They work by puncturing a little hole in the water pipe with a sharp needle and are made water tight with a rubber gasket. However since installation the water flow has always seemed very slow when waiting to fill up your glass, so I went down the other day and ran the needle in (and out) again attempting to make the hole larger and guess what, that's right, no water flow at all. Apparently the rubber gasket has now been squished to the point of cutting off the flow no matter what, even with completely dismantling and reinstalling it.

Here's my solution. Luckily I already owned the blow torch plumbing kit from a previous project and this roughly only cost the price of a new valve.

Apostrophe's test in link

2009-12-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is a test. If this were a real notice, please proceed to the bomb shelter of your choice.

Update:
Test unsuccessful. Blogger removed the apostrophe from the actual link/page URL. Also Blogger eliminated the space and question marks of the post below also (when viewing the individual post as a separate page).

Hmmmmm, how to test...

Another Article Censored ??

2009-12-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

http://frontpagemag.com/2009/12/03/what%E2%80%99s-liberating-about-islam-by-rita-karlsen/

Another article on FrontPageMag, About Islam, From Norway, Translated (I think by the same person). Different original Author. Again the founding link was on Lucianne.

Still the apostrophe in the title, but I don't think that's the problem.

When on FrontPage website I used their google search to search the site; the author and the title show up several places (the search returns several results). But when I go to the listing or reference pages the very phrases that google found are not to found on the page as displayed. They seem to be scrubbed. The search results of the actual article again return a 404.