Just have to see this one more time:
It’s a beautiful day here. Still a little hot, but cooler than it has been. We just got a new grill yesterday — the old kettle finally fell apart after 12 years of service.
Gonna figure out what to throw on Weber III later and just otherwise chill out around the house today. You?
Spanky
Maria!
I’ve just met a storm named Maria
And suddenly, it seems
I’ve seen this same scene ….
Anyway, that’s looking to be a week away, and not necessarily for Maryland. Today, work in the yard to make up for being a lazy shit yesterday.
Schlemazel
Visited the Soudan Mine STate PArk yesterday. Soudan was one of only a few underground iron mines & was profitable only because the deposit was iron oxide, 70% iron and 30% oxygen. People paid a huge premium for it because the oxygen removed carbon and made steel instead of cast iron.
A half mile down we saw the chambers where they worked. This is hard rock mining so no timber supports and really huge rooms (the deposit they were working at close was 300 yards long & 150 feet high.
But the real story to me was the guide whose grandfather immigrated to the US and worked the mine for 40 years. The guide talked about how hard, dirty and dangerous the work was, the men paid by the ton not the hour. Then he mentioned how the union made a huge difference, “They didn’t want better wages to live an easier life, the wanted more money so they could send their children to college so they would never have to work down here” BANG!
Then he talked about how many of the crews had no common language because they came from all over the world. “Immigrants come here not for the easy life, they come to work hard because they know if they do their families will have a better life”. WAM!
Never talked about what this means for today but you would have to be pretty dense not to see the parallels. That may be the most subversive tour I have ever been on. It also was a lot of fun & I recommend it if you have a chance to see the MN iron range.
Kristine
I’m supposed to visit Florida in 2 weeks and those storms keep coming.
In local news, headed out for morning walk. Then work for a few hours, followed by dinner out with friends.
Mustang Bobby
I don’t want to hear about any more storms. I have power, cable, but no internet (I’m at a local Starbucks on a work laptop with Windows XP). I can’t complain; my friends who put me up during the storm still don’t have power. FPL is now saying “Maybe next week.” I go back to work tomorrow.
ThresherK
@Spanky: The wind already has a name.
They Call the Wind Maria
Brachiator
BTW, I missed the earlier thread about the Juggalos. Just wanted to throw in that there is a good, short book about them by film critic Laremy Legal. I think it’s called “60 Hours Among the Juggalos,” and it should be available on Amazon for 99 cents.
FlyingToaster
My mom is in the Lehigh Acres hotel with power (which came on late Friday night, she found out Saturday morning); so it took 5.5 days from power out to get the power back on in the CBD. Yesterday afternoon she ran home to grab some stuff and the landline provider was replacing components on the switch at the entrance to her development — 3 minutes later her landline was back. Power might be back on today, but I told her about all of the Lehigh people tweeting that their power came on for 4 – 24 hours and failed again because upstream components weren’t replaced. She’ll stay at the hotel for two days after the power comes on, so that it stays on.
75 shingles pulled loose; the guy who re-roofed her 3 years ago waiting on the next shipment of blue tarps. She’s already been down to the insurance adjuster and the claim is in for a new roof. Assuming Maria doesn’t come right over them the way Irma did.
Brendan in NC
Got back from Maine yesterday (visited Mom & Dad), and then helped a friend move. Today – clean, then go root for the Bills here in Charlotte, against the Panthers!!
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: Nice.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
So if I had a week in Seattle but was only free in the evenings after 5, are there still sights to be seeing or are my options basically to sit around and drink (a) coffee or (b) artisan beer or (c) beer with coffee or (d) coffee with beer? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Retired Grandpa is going along on my daughter’s business trip as a full-time nanny. And I do actually plan on going sightseeing with the baby during the day. Just trying to decide what to do on Nanny’s down time.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: I saw Imitiaz Ali’s Jab* We Met, yesterday it was a charming romantic comedy with great music. Hindi movies can do romance so much better than Hollywood can these days. It has Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor (not related). Kareena Kapoor is the fourth generation Kapoor in Hindi movies. The Kapoors are Hindi movie royalty.
Jab = when
JPL
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Depending on the age of the baby, you might consider room service and a nap. Enjoy!
cope
We got power back here at casa cope Friday evening, cable and internet yesterday evening and today, I’ll be mucking out the pool (ours isn’t screened in) in preparation for…WTF…Maria next weekend?
Say it ain’t so.
Skepticat
Sitting in Maine waiting to see whether my home in the Bahamas survives another (projected) hurricane. We were spared all but minor damage from Irma, and naturally I hope the same from this one and her siblings. I refuse to stay glued to reports until the track is more certain, and I think I’d best not go home until the season has really petered out. However, hurricane season now is, like Christmas, nearly year-round. Thank goodness global warming is a hoax; think of how bad things would be if it were real.
Bostondreams
So if our QB can throw balls like that, why the heck are we throwing short routes all game? Argh, Coach Mac. Come on.
OzarkHillbilly
Unsure what I am going to do today. Could be build another flower bed so I no longer need to mow the gravel. I will be putting up some more firewood. Might clean out the chicken coop. I will take a nap at some point (up way past my bedtime last night and still not quite over the effects of whatever bug hit me a week ago). Gonna get some chicken out of the freezer and Q it up for dinner. Might reconfigure and move the platform bird feeder. Will get into the veggie garden and pick some more maters and hot peppers,also pick up the last of the winter squash. Might form up some small concrete pads to be poured as the whim strikes my fancy.
Or maybe I’ll just be a bum.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: I might have missed a report on the wedding ….
debbie
Deranged. Preening over his own “excellent” golf swing, compared to a woman tripping over the boarding stairs of a plane. WTF?
OldDave
@Mustang Bobby:
Our power in north Broward returned on Friday afternoon. Air Conditioning! Warm showers! On the down side my job resumed on Tuesday, meaning less available time to return the house to normal.
I think it’s too far north for you, but I have a friend with a very nice coffee shop at 131st and Biscayne. In store roaster, wood fired pizza oven, bakery. I could spend several calorie laden hours there.
OzarkHillbilly
From Pro Publica and the Texas Tribune one year ago, Boomtown, Flood Town:
It’s almost enough to make one in favor of secession. Or at least the end of federally subsidized flood insurance.
Betty Cracker
@Bostondreams: It was a poorly coached and hideously executed game. But I thoroughly enjoyed the last 40 seconds!
Betty Cracker
@debbie: Worse than that — he’s reveling in a meme that shows him physically harming his erstwhile opponent. He’s a goddamned lunatic, and thanks to 62M fucking idiots, he has one of the most consequential jobs on the planet at a critical time.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
I’d love to see someone approaching Trump and threatening physical harm. Bet he’d take off squealing like a little girl (apologies to little girls).
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Actually, that woman goes down because the golf ball hits her in the back. Hilarious! //
JPL
@Betty Cracker: After seeing the video below at Josh’s, it is apparent that the guy is misogynistic. https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/909409537320538112
Of course, we all knew that anyway.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: Previous thread: It was a wedding in all the wedding ways with most of the usual wedding characters playing the usual wedding parts. Missing was the Drunk Obnoxious Uncle, the Unappreciative MIL, and the Jealous Sister. I played the part of Grumpy Father Who’d Really Rather be Fishing to a ‘T’.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
You know, you coulda been a contender.
JPL
@debbie: While on the campaign trail, someone stormed the stage during one of his rallies, and yes he did duck and scoot. Hillary meanwhile kept speaking during a rally when threatened. A secret service person stood next to her, and patted her on the back. Girl Power!
Cheryl Rofer
The President is tweeting intensively.
One on how the sanctions against North Korea are working because President Moon of South Korea told him there are long gas lines.
Ten retweets of praise for him including a gif of him hitting a golfball and it hitting Hillary Clinton in the back.
Two retweets of his own tweets about the Muslim ban.
And he may still be at it.
This is not good.
Baud
@debbie: If Trump is intended to be the anti-Obama, he proves every day just how great Obama was.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Yeah, that’s a contrast I’ll never forget. Trump is a cowardly, stupid, racist, sexist, xenophobic, corrupt, unfit, know-nothing, degenerate demagogue — and that was clear at every point throughout the campaign (and since). The morons who voted for him can’t claim they were deceived.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
QFT. This also goes for people who voted third party or did not vote.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
It’s one thing for Candidate Trump to call his domestic political opponents “L’il Marco,” “Crooked Hillary,” “Low-Energy Jeb,” and the like.
It’s quite another for the President of the United States to call the unstable leader of a hostile nuclear-wannabe nation “Rocket Man.”
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly:
Dog save us.
Cheryl Rofer
@SiubhanDuinne: I have thought about doing a complete exegesis of what’s wrong with that tweet, but I have a lot to do around the house today. That’s one of the things. Also that if he thinks there are long gas lines in North Korea, he is totally ignorant of that country. And that he would say that President Moon of South Korea said it, he’s lying.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: And he’s different from the president how?
debbie
@Steeplejack:
Right, like his aim is that good. /eyeroll/
bystander
@Cheryl Rofer:
He does seem more manic than ever. Combination of Russia and all HRC’s favorable press this weekend? Guess he’s over his bromance with Chuck and directing his rage elsewhere.
Steeplejack
@JPL:
Jeez. And then at the end he sort of gently propels her off to the side.
MattF
Went shopping at the Farmer’s Market– got mushooms, tomatos, fruit. Then to the pastry shop for the fattening stuff. I’ve finished my current round of novel reading (with Max Gladstone’s Ruin of Angels (which was excellent)). So, I’m at somewhat loose ends at the moment.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
The house can wait.
Exegesis Now!!
debbie
@JPL:
Damn straight!
I’m listening to an hour-long interview with her on The New Yorker Radio Hour.
I won’t be reading Hillary’s book because I’m already too angry, but it’s really very good.
Baud
@JPL: “Thank you, kind lady.”
Cheryl Rofer
@SiubhanDuinne: The kittehs are attacking me for their share of attention!
Baud
@bystander: I can’t believe he didn’t pivot. Oh well, there’s always next week.
debbie
@JPL:
There was quite a fight on my FB page last night about that video The only thing that shut up the Trumpie women was the question, “How would you react if your husband greeted you with handshakes instead of a peck on the cheek or even a smile?”
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer: More important than Trump’s tweets.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Oh, well, in that case…. You do what you gotta do.
Another Scott
@Cheryl Rofer: It’s horrible that he won’t give up his Twitter account. I do wonder, though, how many people are posting there in his name. Not that it really matters (he remains horrible), but the “tone” seems to change from day to day (and repost-to-repost) so it seems like it’s more than just him. Since he’s using it as an official propaganda organ, he really needs to decide whose “voice” it has – his, or Miller’s, or Javanka’s, or Barron’s, or … The chaos does not serve the interests of the United States or the federal government…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Elmo
I lived in East TN for eight years. I never felt the same way about the Vols that my friends did, but that still gives me a twinge.
Peyton Manning is revered as a demigod in Vol country; but it really doesn’t make sense that they love him so, because the one thing he could never do was beat Florida.
And I’m on Day Three with no water to my house because the well pump crapped out. Two plumbers have tried to fix it for eight solid hours over that span, and it stubbornly refuses to take prime. So Monday I am having a new pump installed, submersible this time.
I’m off to the gym to take a shower. I might get a room at the local Residence Inn just to use the dishwasher – I had bought 25lbs of Roma tomatoes and 10lbs of tomatillos Wednesday, with the idea that we would spend the weekend making sauce and salsa verde. Hard to cook without being able to wash dishes.
Cheryl Rofer
@Another Scott: I agree that the tone and word use seems to change. But the craziness persists except for the routine tweets. The solution would be just to stop anything but the routine tweets. I never followed Barack Obama as president because the tweet stream was boring and predictable. That’s what we need now.
And now the kittehs are attacking each other, which is what they do to get my attention. Gotta clean the house, but will be on and off and maybe will do a post, depending on how things go.
JPL
@Baud: lol Instead of fangs, he has little fingers. ick
One has to wonder if she climbs in bed at night with him.
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s a good thread on what a presidential response looks like:
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: From the envy of the world under President O to the laughing stock under the Orange Clown. Winning.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I don’t read T’s tweets, seeing his mug gives me waking nightmares. I try my best to avoid seeing his face. It is difficult.
Another Scott
@JPL: He hates her, and (she thinks) she’s trapped and wants nothing to do with him (but feels some sense of responsibility to her son and to the role he forced her to play by running for office).
As you say, it’s nothing new.
They’ve made their bed, and are adults. He’s a brain damaged monster, but I don’t feel much if any sympathy for her – she has a lot more options than almost anyone else in a bad marriage.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I just heard Katy Tur talking about her book, which I’ve heard a bit about, but she talks about how trump kissed her backstage at Morning Joe, being spat on and called a c*nt at his rallies…. None of it surprising, but all of it so gross. And Joy Reid finally spoke what no one I’ve heard has said out loud: “do you think he was attracted to you?” Gee, ya think her more than passing resemblance to Ivanka was a factor in his obsession?
schrodingers_cat
@Cheryl Rofer: My kittehs did that just 10 minutes ago, sitting on the bed facing each other and slapping each other with unsheathed claws. I am like, WTF kittehs, cut it out. They stopped after an obligatory hiss by my orange girl.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have little sympathy for Tur or any other media bots especially head cheerleader Haberman. Crying me a fucking river, you stupid both-sides-do-iters.
Steeplejack
Question for the hive mind:
My niece’s third birthday is coming up next month, and Bro’ Man asked me, as a mediocre longtime guitarist, what I thought about the possibility of getting her a little guitar. I dithered for a bit and then suggested he consider a small ukulele instead: fewer strings, easier to handle, pleasant sound, smooth transition to guitar later if talent and/or interest emerge.
So is this a good idea? The subtext is that I was a bit taken aback, because age three seems a little young to me. But I’m definitely not an expert on kids. Bro’ Man and his husband have not shown any pushy, tiger-mom tendencies so far, so I don’t think that’s a factor.
Thoughts? Anecdata? Suggestions?
debbie
@Steeplejack:
One of my nieces went through a musical phase. They make kid-size guitars and while it may have been a bit big when she first got it, she had no problem adapting.
MomSense
I see the twitter toddler is having a tantrum this morning. I was taking a news break this morning listening to music, looking over my stash, my stash, and doing laundry when my teenager came down to ask me if I had seen the “crazy shit” trump was tweeting.
Every Republican member of congress should be held to account for refusing to impeach an obviously unfit and corrupt president.
Mary G
I hope Twitler knows that some big shoe is about to drop and the maniacal tweets are a desperate attempt to distract from it. The one where he supposedly hits the golf ball that hits Hillary in the back and knocks her down must have George Washington spinning in his grave. Deplorable doesn’t begin to describe it.
MomSense
@Steeplejack:
My kids all had ukuleles because their pre-school used them in music class. They all play different instruments now but when they were little they loved them. You have to buy a decent one, though. The cheap ones do not hold a tune and that is very frustrating.
ETA Keyboards and recorders are also a lot of fun.
locagirl
@Schlemazel: If you’re still up in the area you should visit the Good Old Days bar in Tower. Best Bloody Mary in the the Northlands. Say hi to my uncle Randy too; he owns the bar. Lots of family up in that area. Beautiful but cold. My grandfather worked the copper mines in the U.P. His parents were from Slovakia/Hungary area. Now some of his children are doctors, teachers, and Mayors.
OzarkHillbilly
@Steeplejack: I got my eldest a guitar and lessons after several years of his turning everything within arms reach into musical instruments. I think he was 8 or 9 when I made the investment.
tobie
@Cheryl Rofer:
I hope when you have time, you will explain this comment. I once read a spy trilogy based in North Korea–the author and titles now escape me–and though I have plenty of reading experience with the genre I couldn’t understand the books for the life of me. North Korea is so foreign to most Americans…it’s hard to judge the meaning of whatever we hear.
Steeplejack
@MomSense:
Definitely will help them get a good instrument. I remember my own start on a crappy guitar.
I thought about suggesting a little keyboard, which would seem “easier” to me—plus more fun, with the auto-accompaniment and rhythm options—but I don’t play them, so there goes the “learnin’ with Uncle Steep” factor.
Steeplejack
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, I definitely get that. As I said, age three seems kind of young. But maybe she has expressed an interest that I don’t know about.
FlyingToaster
@Steeplejack: I recommend an instrument, either a student guitar or a student uke. They make nice small ones; I got WarriorGirl a 28″ guitar when she was three — her godlessparents had gifted her a toddler drumset when she was 2.
She started at (Suzuki) preschool at 2 yrs 11 months with every-week-an-instrument, violin one week, piano next. She took up violin a year later, and we just completed six years (and multiple violins, in 1/16, 1/10, 1/8/, 1/4, 1/2, and now 3/4 sizes). At school in 4th grade she’ll be starting recorder, and I expect replacing soccer with basketball.
If the kid turns out not to be musical, the parents can check that off the list and try dancing or a sport or acting or art classes instead. The idea is to find something that’s fun, that if they do the work they progress, and build in the idea of “oh, working at something can be fun”, the earlier the better.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
It’s a strong yet measured response.
(But probably a good thing that Raven is currently on an airplane.)
Steeplejack
@FlyingToaster:
Thanks for the input. I need to do a little research to determine (a) what lessons are available and appropriate for a three-year-old and/or (b) whether I could get up to speed as an informal “teacher.” I play guitar, I know a fair amount about music theory, and I took clarinet lessons as a kid. But I know zip about teaching music to little kids.
Betty
@Spanky: According to the current forecast, Maria is set to pass directly over the island where I live, Dominica, on Tuesday as a hurricane. Eyes wide open here.
Amir Khalid
@tobie:
I think Cheryl means (she can correct me if I’ve got this wrong) that owning a car isn’t, well, all that common in North Korea.
Gator90
Young Franks has a lot to learn, but that was as good a throw as any Florida quarterback has made in the past 30 years.
Betty Cracker
@Betty: I hope you dodge another bullet — may we all get lucky.
efgoldman
@Steeplejack:
mrs efg started teaching granddaughter on a child-size guitar at about 2-1/2
FlyingToaster
@Steeplejack: I couldn’t find a Suzuki school in St. Louis, and only one Suzuki guitar teacher. Alas.
https://suzukiassociation.org/find-a-suzuki-teacher/?do=directory
Suzuki’s not the only method — it was convenient and appropriate for us up here in Watertown, when Suzuki School of Newton was 3/4 of a mile away. As a kid, I learned piano and guitar at the JCC in KC, starting in Kindergarten; but we had instruments around the house from early childhood for doodling around on. WarriorGirl can find her way around on all the strings due to the guitar (frets) and violin (bowed); recorder will introduce her to the woodwinds, and we have a couple of electronic keyboards (a 30 and a 67 key) here at home. About half the kids in her preschool took up an instrument; some of the others took up dance and gymnastics, and one is a football player ?
If there’s any Early Childhood Music progam nearby, that’s what tends to get kids going. It may be called “Every Child Can” or “Kindermusic” or other catchy titles, but those programs are geared to little kids.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
Well, of course, your granddaughter is a prodigy, whereas my niece (at least so far) is merely an emerging superstar.
I need to look at student guitars. I can’t picture those small hands dealing with six strings. Although I guess if you’re doing basic open chords it might not be a problem. Hmm.
There’s an old-school music store near me. Maybe I’ll go in there and pick somebody’s brain.
PaulWartenberg
At the winners circle sports bar in Lakeland GO BUCS
Steeplejack
@FlyingToaster:
Thanks for the information. I’m not in St Louis; I’m in NoVA, the Falls Church/Arlington area. I’ll check out Suzuki.
Bostondreams
@Betty Cracker:
It’s always a beautiful thing when Vols fans cry. This was one of the most Vol ways to lose that the Vols ever lost. :)
dww44
@schrodingers_cat: @schrodingers_cat: Exactly. I’ve heard a couple of Tur’s interviews and she does plenty of bucket toting for the Trump Base and how she understands how and why they felt and feel overlooked by establishment Washington. I am over hearing about the Trump Base, aka the “working class white voter.”
MomSense
@Steeplejack:
They make some really nice student guitars. Open tuning is a big help in the beginning.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Saw the trailer and an extended clip, and it looks like fun. Kareena Kapoor is very charismatic.
Despite the success of LA LA Land, in the US, musicals are almost ancient relics of a bygone era, and romantic comedies are a hard sell, and don’t do well at the box office anymore.
Daddio7
So, will we morons be underestimated next time? As for the Gators, an exciting game plus a win.