Last June week, normal mid-week day

A hot Wednesday day followed by a cool night. It was 105 outside my office, in the sun on the ledge.  Cool enough not to use air-conditioners at night.

Went to the garden after work - planted some cucumber seeds in the central area at Azalea.  Weeded around the two bean rows, the north side of the corn next to the squash; and north east corner boarders where flowers were being overwhelmed by weeds. Was there about 1.5 hours - the Muslim family was there as well as the woman in the plot east eat of us.  Not very hot.

More Urdufest from noon on - learning how to make markers, which were put in on Panel 1 before starting to export it - then came back at four and it was done finally - moved a copy to Kaltura Collab.


Ordered requests, including juggling a DK one with no one wanting to fund it.  Wrote and asked about the Anthro new grad session for Fall. Attended the public service meeting at 3 about Fall public messages, Libra, Alumni databases, pilot public login, and RefWorks - leaving at 4:10 as the meeting dragged on with no new information about RefWorks.

Rich was outside my office finishing up his review of Urdu maps - which he said was in Sindhi, dated 1889, and nicely covered with plastic like coating.  He said - definitely keep for a treasure of anyone doing 19th century north west India (became Pakistan).

Watched Netflix "Made in Dagenham" (Ford plant women's strike for equal pay in England, late 1960s). Pretty good. 4 out of 5 stars. Third night of shrimp for me as Deej ate her salmon cakes. Good cuc, carrot, raddishes, celery also, topped off by blueberries on ice cream (with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and malt).

Just a regular day.

late June 2011

Ah, now we are in to summer.

Lots of weeds grew while we were away at the beach a couple weeks ago.  We both went and weeded some of the garden, late morning on Saturday 25th June 2011, but much needs to be done.  We took a break on Sunday, and I went to the garden after work and tried to clear up some stuff for 1.5 hours - especially around the ochra, then some around the middle flower area and ended up thinning and transplanting some zenias in a circle there.  Weeded and scuffle hoed the remaining unplanted flower border the west side by south and planted more zenias and cosmos.  Cleared some more weeds around some of the flower borders, but weeds are overwhelming some and some flower seeds do not seem to have produced. For the back yard, mowed it Saturday late afternoon and Sunday cleared some vines and pulled them off of bushes around the shed. Deer had come and eaten lotus leaves in Deej's large tub on the north edge - and two of the 3 fishes we had bought recently also died.

That's about plants and yards and stuff.

Back to work on the Urdu Fest on Monday, exporting the Panel 4.  Then Tuesday we met with Phillip T of Shanti and finally got the remaining of 5 videos onto the web.  Still left is Panel 1 - and I still want to know how to save sequences under a new and different name in Final Pro, as also to learn how to insert good cross dissolves or fades.  Disappointingly learned on Tuesday we probably cannot provide navigation to sections in the videos.  Drat.

Learned also Tuesday that others were selected for the upcoming SAS voyages - again drat. Good deal for all the others, though.

Worked on normal library stuff - purchase requests, double monthly (May and June) report, etc. as well as searched for Walter on confirming where Bharauli, Ujiyar, and Narainpur were located where SSS traveled to in 1908.

Made shrimp supper Sunday night, and continue to eat it, as Deej made her own salmon cakes and are eating those. Monday night's new 10-grain loaf mix was huge, and we had no large plastic bag to store it, until Deej got some more bags after her dentist appointment Tuesday.

Discovered and skimmed through a wonderful little book on Joseph Stein (Innocent Abroad) - wrote David S about it including some pages from the book in pdf - wish I could locate the 2001 India video on him.  I'm also plowing through Cyberabad - a dull, narrative only story / chapter by a genetically enhanced Vishnu kid.  Also read a little more of Auel's Children at lunch.

We've got some rain (1/3 inch) a couple times in the last 4 days.

End of Spring / now summer 2011

Last day of May 2011 - back to work after 3-day weekend.

Cold - got some sort of strange cold Saturday before last, getting worse until my fever broke Wed night, and have steadily improved since then.  It was so bad, I took off Monday, but since I had a lot of work to do, went back and worked the rest of the week.  Heavy cough, still slightly here after 1.5 weeks; head still feels a little hollow, though dizziness gone for the most part.  Very sore throats at 4 am on Tues and Wed mornings, but gargling with mouth wash helped lots both times. Then Deej got it last Thursday, but not as bad as mine. Made working hard, because kept loosing focus or what I was doing.  The other thing which may have contributed to breaking the fever was that I mowed the yard on Wed after work, probably before I was in good enough shape to try it.  But it needed cutting down.

Work - had our annual library Staff Appreciation luncheon last Thursday, going with Deej and the music staff.  Good food.
UrduFest - worked with Sarah on her last day, last Wed for a couple hours

Back to work Monday 25th Ap 2011

That was tough getting back to work on Monday after an extended weekend in Tennessee.

Monday. Had to catch up on email - and even forgot some things like the microfiche for Ryan in UCalif.  Worked on a Lost book list, ordering about 12 title replacements.  Trying to work on figuring out the Anth and MESA titles to un-subscribe to to get to our 5% cut - reconnecting to Direcotor's Station and using SIRSI - and not finding things or having difficulty navigating, etc.  Then staying late to do some more pamphlet review.  Coming home and mowing the lawn and making a rye bread mix.  And watching the NetFlix movie - Inception.  Those mind games and shifting back and forth, without knowing which, between dream and reality - its not something I'm interested in or enjoy.

Tuesday continued the attempts at review, first talking with George for review titps, and late mroning putting up or developing titles for the UrduFest digitization project over in the media lab with Dan, his assistant, and the media lab assistant.  Lunch, and then AldRef for 2 hours, looking up Anth titles.  Anne coming 12 minutes late, so I did not get off too Susan McKinnon's apppointment until 3:30 pm.  That went okay, but still need to do the list of titles.  Maybe with George's help this Wed afternoon.  Then back to more pamphlet review.  And late (6:30 pm) home but with good bus connections to 6, and walking - my right knee seems to now be okay after some of this walking home daily. Ham again for supper, but really conked out, and gave up sleeping on the couch and fell into bed at 11:30 am in payjamas and slept, slept, slept.

Wednesday - dental appointment at 10 am and back to work.

Can't wait to get through this 5% budget reduction review. Busy, busy, busy

Washed out

This week I've been trying to go and do some gardening after work - not too successful. I get rained on or it gets dark and I need to leave, etc.

First tried to go and water some on Tuesday after work, but I went to late, so had little time before it was dark.  Did do some weeding and a little watering. Rushed away to beat the "Park closes at dark" but forgot two things - my $300 camera and our $100 digging fork.  Deej drove me back and we retrieved them in the dark and escaped out of the Azalea Park before it closed.

Wed - went and weeded in the no-corn area some, and picked a few flowers and peppers.  Then the rain came quickly before I was ready to leave. What a deluge. and I left a handful of peppers, but grabbed the camera bag before it got too soaked.  It was touch and go driving on the way home, the inside wind shield fogged up and would not blow clear, so had to wipe with my hand, at the same time drive the 4 miles in the trusty 1987 Dodge Diplomat through sheets of rain, loud near-by thunder and bright flashes of lightning, splashing slowly through flooding streets, and trying to make sure to avoid anything in the headlights.  Whew, made it home.

Thursday - got off the #6 bus and had to run the last two blocks as the 50-mile an hour wind and beginning rain started.  I knew Deej and Karen would be getting off the other #4 bus in pouring rain, so went up and got them as they got off the bus - they still got soaked in the 20 yards to the car.  Dropped off Karen and then drove in the downpour to the Greyhound bus depot to pick up the two boxes of mangoes Betty had sent.  The rain had almost stopped by the time we loaded the 2 boxes in the trunk.  Unpacked the 56 of them, in pretty good shape, but the smell ! good at first, but then overwhelming.

Friday went an picked up Deej's sister at Barracks Road Kroger.  After we got home, I grabbed to soaked corn and bean seeds and went to the garden, working about 1.5 hours as it got dark, and weeded, prepared the soil, and put most of the corn and bean seed in as it turned dark.   Nice hotdog, potato, corn, tomato simple meal.  No more rain today.  We had gotten .82 on Wed, and then .52 yesterday, Thursday.

Washed out roads some places, but the vegetables are going to enjoy and thrive on this week's rain.  And three packages came Friday - a hand held voice GPS, a portable photo gps tracker, and 3 $10 digital thermometers.  I set up one already so we can see the temperature in the basement where Deej's beer is bubling and brewing.  Now, how do I learn how to use the other two devices?  All those gadgets.

Garden, visitors Early July 2010

Today went to the garden in the morning and evening - about two hours each time

Our garden this year is not great - we had a very late start and have not done much very often. Got the peas in mid-May, too late to really get much from them. We pulled them this week, and tilled over them and planted corn, very late now.

We got up fairly early for a Saturday, around 9, ate and stuff, and went to the City Market with the slim possibility Robert and Suzanne would be there for breakfast stuff, but didn't see them - I got beans as Deej dropped me off, and she found a parking place quickly and got peaches. Then we went to get seeds at South States - corn, squash, zucchini, okra, and (against Deej's advice, cause it's way too late) watermelon and pumpkin. They had no veg plants so we went off to K Mart which had a $6 pot of about 8 watermelon plants.

Then home, and off to the garden around 11, working there in the hot sun until about one. Deej watered some and picked garlic, dug holes and planted zucchini and squash seeds; also a third row of beans; I weeded and then tilled the pea area.

Came home and rested, after picking up Taco's taco and burrito each. Saw Spain beat Paraguay. I went by myself around 6:30 and worked until about 8:30. Planted the corn, dug holes for watermelon and pumpkin and planted their seeds. Also dug six holes and planted watermelon plants. Also okra seeds at the east end between the corn rows. And watered what I had planted. Indian family came to water the east Europeans garden. Earlier the girl, just to the Indian's eat pot, worked and watered her plot.

Exhausted, showed, made ice tea, drank refreshing vodka and tonic, before warming and eating the hamburger, corn cob, and bean supper.

The garden has pretty good pepper plants, and the tomatoes are coming. Last weekend we worked, forked up and tilled the northwest area, and planted two rows of beans.

That was Saturday.

Last night, Friday night - Robert and Suzanne came to town, staying at the Hydraulic / Emmet road Holiday Inn, we figured out. We picked them up around 7:30 and went to Maya restaurant; moving to a back quiet room to ourselves. Fish and oyster suppers - including Robert's story of bumping into an Indian women at a Texas convention, getting her to pinpoint she was from Jabalpur, with an aunt in Pendra Road, and maybe even one of her aunts was a nurse for Robert's father. Robert was facing the window and got exited as trains went by - much to the derision from the women - hey, trains were important in our Indian childhoods. And I told them the story of killing Frederick Hart and Gene Markowski's cockatiel. Robert had asked if we knew Fred, and so I told him.

After going past the parking lot for the City Market, we took R and S back to their hotel. It was a pleasant, and different Friday night. Really glad they contact us when the come through.

Signs of Spring 2010

There were beginning signs of Spring all around and in our yard this last weekend Feb 27/28, the last weekend of February - sprouting daffodils and other plants, crocuses, snowdrops, melting snow, melted snowman, birds - even dog, raccoon, and deer poop. Lots of limbs had been broken off from the heavy snow during the storm, many from our evergreen 'pine' tree.

Also tis the season of birthdays - mine last Wed, Tim's the next day, and the twins on Sunday.  Deej took me to supper and then made a cake Thursday.  We took over and left gifts and a card for Tim on Saturday, even though no one was there.  Didn't get over to give the twins gifts and cards, though.



My digital classes keep going on - last Thursday we had a nice session at the Bayly Museum. In teams of 4-5, we decided on cataloging schemes for our 7 MesoAmerican art objects - I was the Handler for our group, wearing plastic gloves and carefully lifting and turning the objects.  Two schemes were hierarchical and two were serial.  This night's (Tuesday 2 March 2010) class focused on Mind as Metaphor with the developer of a web site, Pasanek, at the class for interactive conversation about his work.  The dreaded mid-term is coming up.