Thar Be Swales Here!

Today looks like it will be a gorgeously hot, clear, sun shiny summer day.

I got the chance to drive a tractor yesterday. I think it's a secret fantasy of every city kid and some who aren’t (Apparently country boys and old men like tractors, too). The school has a new New Holland tractor. Nice. It has more room for the drive than the old ford they used to have, and is certainly more user friendly. There are some “swales” at the elementary. Those are low spots intended to help with drainage…we do, however, live in a desert, and while we don’t get a lot of precipitation, what we do get is generally well handled by our area. Except in the swales, which the designers may as well have labeled swamps…apparently they used clay or something that does not allow easy drainage. You should see the things growing in some of them. YUCK. So, my job was to wait for the dump truck to bring some top soil that my boss wrangled from the city. Then, after it was dumped, spread it out. Which I dutifully did. Monday we will use a box scraper...don't ask me, I only have a vague idea of what it looks like, though I have seen them used, but I am not going to attempt to describe it.

The dump truck did not show for a few hours and I got paid for waiting…it took long enough to get over there on the tractor that it did not make sense to go do something else, especially since, every time I called the boss, he said it would just be a little while and wait.

It was fun when he finally showed and I got to use the front bucket and the back grader type appliance blade…sorry I don’t know the best term for it…probably just blade. I was out on the south side of the school and in the direct sun…I got a little crispy…fortunately not bad enough to do more than tan.

I got the barbeque started when I got home and we had steaks and Asparagus (Cora did the asparagus) for dinner. I love that hickory smoke. I sat out and read one of my history books for class while I waited for Cora to get home and the coals to get hot. They were Rib Eye steaks from Costco...ohhhhh, I do such a GOOD job on those things. Then, somewhere during the evening, my eyelids got super heavy and I could not stay awake. Cora let me go to bed early, since, even when I tried to wake up I could not stay that way…must have been super tired. So, after MANY hours of sleep, I am up, bright eyed and bushy tailed…take my word for the bushiness of my tail, I don’t want anyone poking around trying to prove things.

Today, I think we will work on the house and then go down to my sister’s new house in Prosser. They are having a Father’s Day BBQ. I am not one to miss a BBQ, so we are going. Plus, my niece and nephews are among the cutest kids on the planet. Speaking of the kids, here is one of ora being her usual entertaining self, see how the kid was so excited, he passed out? ( she does that to me sometimes) Nah, this is David and he was tired (as tired as I was last night? maybe); he is the youngest of my neicephews(that is an all inclusive term; I began using it when Carrie would not determine the sex of the first child ahead of time).

I looked at my new palm last night and I am beginning to wonder if they are palms…they probably are, but I suppose I have not grown this particular species from seed before and am new to what it looks like…that Sago Palm I grew several years ago is actually a member of the Cycad family, so it is not truly in this palm’s family. I also noted yet another something starting to sprout in this pot...it never rains, but I drizzle a bunch of water on them anyway.

A Hard Thinking Face

I was going through the pictures in the camera and came up with this one from Sunday. My brother-in-law...Sisters husband...thought he should make a face when I aimed the camera at him...silly boy...he should have known a face like that belonged on my BLOG! Looks like he is thinking hard, though, doesn't it? "Scott, what is the square root of an inverse bilateral retrification bilineated by the reverse lateral of a spectral prime ocillation?" or maybe it was, "Scott, what would you do with your time if you did not have kids?" We enjoyed our time down there and had t leave way too soon. Thanks for a fun time!

Well, today I ate three donuts and watched a couple videos for work. One was on blood borne pathogens that must have been made in the 1980s and one on Asbestos from roughly the same era (the movies, not the donuts).

Then I was going to do more weed whacking. I am telling you it looks like all I will do all summer…it’s a bit monotonous. The boss drove by just then and told me and the other guy we needed to take a van and go to Selah to help load some boxes. We got there. The guy who was already there (an administrator who looked reluctant to break a sweat) suddenly began to get phone calls. Those calls kept him mysteriously busy and away from the hard labor. Yippee.

When we got back we went to the end of the year barbeque for the maintenance department. It was fun. Had a little water fight with a few kids…and adults. One of them was one of my students…a kindergartner named Skylin. She sneaked up behind me and began squirting the rear of my jeans…by now she was past her quiet ways and well into rambunctious summer kid. I threatened her with a time out the next time I subbed for her, she just laughed and told me, "Mr. Huffman, school is out!"

I got home after work and Cora showed soon after. I asked her to accompany me over to her mom’s so I could drop off the Nile Letters. She did, and we went over. One of the newer kids is a student I have taught before. He kept calling me Mr. Huffman…the rest of the daycare kids call me Jim. I told him that since it was summer and we were not in school, he could call me Jim. His expression was interesting to watch as he processed the information. A few minutes later, he asked me what he should call me in the fall...well, seemed like a logical question.

So, we had pot stickers and egg rolls for dinner…not quite enough.

Oh, see how much my Palm has grown since I posted Sunday Morning? BLOG.

It Beckons From The Nile...

As you may recall, back in March I posted about an upcoming treasure hunt for my Mother-in-Law’s daycare. It is Egyptian themed. I made a bunch of quasi-hieroglyphs and got some treasure together. (you can compare mine with the real thing) Then we went to Arizona and I forgot about it…well, not completely.

This weekend, as is my duty, I left a drawing on the daycare whiteboard. I do so every few months. Last time it was something corny, like "Spring has Sprung" with a picture of a robin sitting on a branch. Well, this weekend, I left a drawing of pyramid and the words: “It beckons from the Nile…” I was trying to be innocuous, but one of the kids apparently has an eye for that and guessed that something was up…hence tonight’s post.

So begins the Egyptian Treasure Hunt of 2008. It begins with some letters from Sam Samson in 1845. He has gone off to seek his fortune and ends up wishing he hadn’t. He befriends a treasure hunter in Egypt and tends the treasure hunter’s horses. They uncover a tomb and soon find they have been cursed. (People just disappear…no deaths) The Local workers, who have presumably hauled things, dug holes and done whatever local workmen do on treasure hunting expiditions, scream about a curse when the tomb is opened, but the treasure hunters pay no heed (do they ever?). Then people (who would have guessed the local workers would disappear first, bad luck I guess...or is it because I wrote it?) and animals disappear. Even the treasure hunter finally disappears…after he gives his journal and the treasure to Sam (Luckily, or we would not have a treasure to find, would we?).

Sam decides keeping the treasure is dangerous (Apparently he does not want to wake up in a state of disappearance) and sends the treasure journal, several letters describing the events, and treasure to his cousin, Bill Williams. Bill is soon tormented by the curse, too. His horses are forever disappearing, as are his neighbors. He decides to leave his home to run away from the curse. It follows (Bill is not particularly bright at first). He finally hides the treasure and his notes in a valley in the Oregon Territory. He hides it in a place called Moksee by the Indians…(if he didn't, again, we would not have a treasure to find here, I just can't believe all the coincidences lining up to create a treasure hunt for these daycare kids!) He decides, however, to also leave a map and instructions on how to locate the treasure…except, he figures only someone who is worthy of the treasure can take the treasure without being cursed. So, he reads the treasure hunter’s journal, which we assume is extensive, and learns hieroglyphics (evidence of Bills Burgeoning Brilliance). He leaves the instructions to find the treasure in this hieroglyphic writing…the kids will have to use every little brain cell they have to find the treasure…or just use team work.

The letters go first. I hope my mother-in-law hides them in plain sight. The next time she should hide the journal (Bill kept a short journal on his escapades, which ends in 1848) I wrote the letters and journal tonight. They are bound by an accurate-to-the-era pink nylon ribbon. The paper is printer paper aged with tan/ochre chalk and ripping and rolling.

A map to the first part of the hieroglyph dictionary will be next. Then the coded messages…in Hieroglyphics. Then finally the treasure…at least that is the plan. I welcome suggestions. I hope this keeps them busy. I kinda got in trouble for starting something and not finishing it last year.

I worked maintenance today, and will for the remainder of the summer…when I am not being really, really annoyed by having to read numerous Cold War history books…whose idea was it to get a Master’s in History? Then I have to actually sound half-way smart and talk about them…what joy. And, to top it off, I ran out of whiskey last night. The problem with whiskey? Whenever I have it I drink it.

Tomorrow is our welcome to summer meeting, where the superintendent will praise the maintenance staff for what a good job they have done and then he will want more from us and then walk out while we enjoy our donuts…yeah, I have done this a few times, even though I am just a sub. What I really enjoy is the welcome back to school meeting in August. A couple years ago they had everyone take part in a team building exercise. We had several large packing peanuts and pipe cleaners and we were to make an ant…there was a science teacher at my table. Apparently she was not a very good one, because she thought ants had 8 legs…every kindergartner I have talked to knows that Spiders have 8 legs and insects, like ants, have only 6!!!!!

Gulf of Tonkin

This is a picture of the USS New Jersey, BB-62, taken January 28, 1998, at Bremerton, Washington. those ships next to her have all been scrapped by now.

My Jaw hurts. I hate dentists and I am not particularly pleased with my teeth, either. It feels like I got poked in the jaw with a sharp stick…and I have not been to the dentist for over a week. Weird.

We had Carnitas tonight. Carnitas is Spanish for “Obscene Yumminess.” Add some onion and cilantro, then a little bit of guacamole…and Wow! It goes past “Obscene Yumminess” straight to “pornographic goodness.” (Sorry about my descriptions, but I am short on good descriptors) The corn tortillas helped, too.

Today, I worked maintenance and whacked some more weeds. I even created a good line cutter for the darned whacker. The motor was lugging when the line got too long and the cutter is not on it anymore. I made one and it helped, though, it is still lugging or maybe the carburetor is running too rich…either way, I need to fix it tomorrow, because I have A LOT more whacking to do.

Deadliest Catch is on and the Cornelia Marie is in port fixing an engine and anchor line. Doesn’t look good for them! Time Bandit might have a better chance…

Today, I was talking with a coworker about the USS Turner Joy (DD-951). It is a Forest Sherman class destroyer. Long since retired, it is now a museum ship. Legend has it she fired the last shell of the Vietnam War. And possibly the first. She and the destroyer (DD) Maddox (DD-413) were present for the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which basically started the Vietnamese Conflict, though it had been gaining steam for some time. It was probably fitting that she fired the last shot. Anyway, he said there was another ship out in the bay and wanted to know if I could ID it…I haven’t been in that neck of the Sound for several years. A short search of the internet did not reveal my prey, I will have to do a little more work to find it. I told him about my experience of being amongst the last people to be on the USS Missouri before she was towed to Pearl Harbor. I have a few pictures to share concerning that. The carrier was probably the USS Lincoln (CVN-72), since I think she was in port at the time. Also present at the time were several Knox Class Frigates, all of which have either been sold or scrapped since then(ships with the 1053 numbers on their hull).

One of my professors showed a picture of the USS Maddox, it wore a dazzle camouflage in the picture. The camouflage told me it was a photo taken in 1944. I told the professor that, and she wondered how I knew…simply that that camouflage was only used during that year and possibly into the early stages of 1945. I have small models (1:2400 scale) and because I strive for accuracy, I researched the different patterns and found that they varied by date. One ship might have been painted grey in 1941, then dark blue in 1942, then it was painted grey and blue, with the blue on the bottom, then in 1944, it could have worn the dazzle camouflage pattern, then back to a different pattern in 1945.

Thanks to Snyder and Short Enterprises for the pictures. I met Randy Short wile I was in California. I gave him a few of my scratch built ships. He gave me some ship camouflage printouts...I think it worked out nicely.

Billy Mays Must Die

I hate BILLY MAYS! “CALL NOW AND YOU”LL GET THE HANDY STICK UP LIGHT! THAT’S A GREAT DEAL, BUT, CALL IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES AND YOU’LL GET TWO HANDY STICK UP LIGHTS!!!” Ok, I know those bastards want to make a sale. I understand how economics and sales gimmicks work, but I cannot stand BILLY MAYS!!! I know I am not the only one. (looks like Mays actually commented on this one)

There are few people that I would ever wish bodily harm upon, Billy Mays, however, is an exception. It would be a pity if he ever lost his voice.

Billy, in the unlikely event that you read my blog, I am sorry, you just have the most annoying voice I have ever heard, and it makes me angry. I want to throttle small animals when I hear your voice. I want to take the heads off of Barbie Dolls when you talk about Orange Glo. I feel like biting the heads off of small birds when you explain how to polish the scratches out of my car. I want to hack antiques to pieces when I hear you talk about Oxi-Clean! When you speak of Kaboom it makes me want to eat my young (I have no young…and that’s probably Billy Mays’ fault, too!)!

I suspect I am not alone. If I were a betting man, and I am not, but if I were, I would bet that your voice has caused much of the violence in the civilized world in the past 10 years. Why did the terrorists attack the World Trade Center? No, not because of American influence during the Cold War. No, not because they just don’t like us. And No, not because we have a different religious belief than them. It is because somewhere, one night, very late, a group of Islamic Fundamentalists were sitting watching Al Jazira and one of your info-mercials came on. One suspects it was not the first time, but this time, something snapped. They just decided the best way to shut your mouth was to hit you in your tower (I am not saying terrorists are the brightest)…unfortunately you were not in the World Trade Center. I am not in any way making light of 9/11 (I think it was a horrid, sad day, and a disaster for many, many families. My heart goes to those families.), I just think that if certain religious people can blame Hurricane Katrina on the wickedness of the residents of New Orleans, I can blame 9/11 on you Billy Mays.

I am not asking you to die…though some might, and it would pretty much take care of the problem…I am only asking you to take up a profession where you don’t have to talk. For the love of god, please quit coming on my TV and speaking. Well, maybe if you tried speaking rather than shouting, I might not hate you so much. Give it a shot!

Hope Sprouts Eternal...Well, Palms Do, Apparently...

I enjoy having plants. My thumb is somewhat tarnished, I would not say it is completely green, but it’s greenish. I have raised a few things from seed. When we came back from Disney World about 9 years ago, I brought some seeds on the flight back with me. Some cacti from Salt Lake City and some palms from Florida. My cacti worked nicely. I still have 8 or 9 from that batch. I also managed to get a Sago palm; it took almost 6 months to sprout. It reached about 9 inches tall and stopped growing. I took it to California with us. I figured it would grow better, but it eventually died, probably due to my mismanagement. I brought 4 palms home back from California. They were some that I had transplanted…dug up from the base of a local palm. Of the four, one survives today.

I have tried planting other seeds recently, by recently, I mean within the past year-and-a-half. I happened upon some American Chestnuts, apparently there is a stand here in Washington State that is still healthy, I am not sure that the department in charge of trying to bring the poor species back is aware of them, but I have been told that is what these chestnuts are. I planted them instead of eating them. Nothing. So, I was cleaning out my desk in the back room and stumbled upon some olive pits I brought back from CA. No guarantee they were fertile, but I planted them anyway…in the same pot as the chestnut, no use wasting soil, and maybe the chestnut WILL eventually sprout. No luck with the olives. So another item came from my desk. Some more palm seeds…these I have collected myself from several different species…in the pot they went. Then I planted some other seeds I found, these were the leftovers from our Florida trip, nine years ago. I planted the last bunch back in January? Since then it has sat in the kitchen window. I took a leaf that had come from an African Violet and thought perhaps it would sprout anew from the leaf. It stayed green and until the other day, when I was dripping some water on the base of the leaf and noticed a shoot. I picked up the leaf, it appeared to still be alive, but I tossed it in favor of what was now sprouting from my pot. The question now: what the hell is it? I suspect palms, but am unsure of the species it would be…probably Washingtonia filifera, that is the Californian Fan Palm. It’s the one that grows everywhere down there. Since that is the species I had the most seeds for, it is my assumption that I had the best chance of getting sprouts from them.

What do you think?

Below is a picture of a palm at Mare Island, with an Australian pine behind it...I don't remember the exact species

Here also, for your viewing pleasure, is a picture of my last California dug palm the way it is this morning.

My coffee plant.

Some seedling cacti! This is a barrel cactus.

These are Saguaros!

Wii Partied

“Left shoulder, Right?” Those were the words that came from Cora’s lips this morning. She had just spilled the salt. As I looked up her hand had already thrown it…the only thing left to do was laugh.

We went to town and I got a hair cut and she got a shirt. Then we got her grandma and we headed for Eburg. We got to Cora’s sister and celebrated her cousin’s graduation. She is now a certified teacher and looks forward to her lot in the elementary world. She thinks she will get a job before me. (Laura, just between you and me, you probably will)

We had a great time. My brother-in-law and I helped Cora parents fill their truck with firewood from the last son-in-law. It was hard, but we managed it.

Then we came back. Cora and her sister Emily came back. We ended up having some pretty good Carne Asada and we played Wii. This time my father-in-law finally got a chance to play his own game. It was a fun night.