Category Archives: Mrs. Charm

iPod shuffle meets washing machine

Posted on February 1, 2011 | Comments Off on iPod shuffle meets washing machine

Guess which one lost? I had forgotten it in the pocket of a shirt I washed.

Mrs. C. has buried the iPod in a jar of rice, on the theory that the rice may draw the moisture out of the electronics and Ella, Neshama, and Anat (et al) will be heard again in my ear buds.

I’m not a betting man, generally, so I’ll just keep my fingers crossed. Who knows. She may be right. Update to come. (Says we have to discard the rice. I don’t see why.)

UPDATE:  Didn’t work. The iPod was still DOA. So I ordered a refurbished one from Amazon for a small percent of what the original cost. And, yes, Mrs. C. discarded the rice. Wasteful.

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Posted in Mrs. Charm, Music, Rancho Roly Poly

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A Scouting he goes

Posted on January 14, 2011 | Comments Off on A Scouting he goes

Mr. B. left a short while ago with two chums and one of their fathers for an overnight camping trip with the Boy Scouts on a private ranch near Bastrop, their final Cub Scout Webelos II requirement.

S’posed to be in the 40s out there tonight with a good chance of showers. Mrs. C., of course, sent him with twice as much as he needs, but maybe she’s right. A few more years of these once-a-month Scout adventures and he’ll know what to do on his own.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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The sparrow and the duckweed

Posted on December 28, 2010 | Comments Off on The sparrow and the duckweed

Watching the flying pigs strip the feeder this morning, I was reminded of the duckweed in Lake Austin. Both were introduced, the seed-eating bird to the country and the duck-food weed to the lake and both quickly spread and multiplied.

Mrs. Charm looked it up. The house sparrow was introduced to Brooklyn, it says here, in 1851, to control caterpillars. The weed, I already knew, was sown in the 1940s to attract ducks to Austin’s fake lake created by dams on the Texas Colorado River to create a picturesque scene for the populace. Bird and weed ran wild.

The sparrows now are found everywhere people are, and their seed feeders, of course. They are the most abundant bird in the world. And there are still plenty of caterpillars. The weed was even less successful. It attracted few ducks but became a magnet for outboard motors, clogging them and the lake itself. So much so that the lake is artificially lowered annually to cut back the weed. Heh.

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Posted in Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

Wassail and etc.

Posted on December 25, 2010 | Comments Off on Wassail and etc.

We here at the rancho in the valley offer our kindest felicitations for your having arrived at yet another of these seasons, and the fervent hope that your punch bowl be filled with spicy liquid merriment and that all of your problems be little ones. Nay, infinitesimals.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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Way to go, Rangers!

Posted on October 22, 2010 | Comments Off on Way to go, Rangers!

ron-washington1-e1287063781612Mrs. Charm had it right: “Who would have believed it?”

The Rangers (managed by the inimitable, minor-league veteran Ron Washington, at left) won the sixth game 6-1 over the Yankees, thanks to the strong pitching of starter Colby Lewis, and their usual hot bats.

They now advance to the World Series! Hot dog.

UPDATE:  Lifetime, dedicated Rangers fan Scott Chaffin at The Fat Guy has a good wrap of the season, especially on Ron “Wash” Washington:

“But, somehow, someway, it worked out, and I think we stats-focused nerds are seeing how bloody important it is to have someone who knows how to corral the egos in the fabled ‘room’ with something that isn’t measurable out to five significant digits. Because I don’t think you get here without the language-mangling, chicken-dancing, Winston-smoking Ron Washington.”

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Posted in Mrs. Charm, Scribbles, Texana

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History has its (brutal) say

Posted on October 15, 2010 | Comments Off on History has its (brutal) say

The headline in the daily’s sports section was Rangers: Doubts Are History. Story being that these Rangers were too talented and confident to worry about their team’s history of losing to the Yankees in their first post-season game against them.

Alas, history once again had its brutal say as the Wankies won 6-5 tonight in Arlington. Mr. B. and everyone else are deflated at the rancho tonight—especially as the Longhorns are expected to also lose to Nebraska tomorrow afternoon.*

UPDATE:  Then, on Saturday, the Rangers beat the Wankies 7-2, one-upping history, afterall, since it was the first time they’d won a post-season game at home. Now it’s on to New York and game three for the best of five.

*Instead, Texas won 20-13.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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Blaenau-Ffycin-Ffestiniog

Posted on October 13, 2010 | Comments Off on Blaenau-Ffycin-Ffestiniog

“…observed features of the [Martian] Melas Chasma look remarkably like Blaenau-Ffycin-Ffestiniog when viewed from the heavens.”

But it’s too late, Mrs. Charm’s beloved Wales and its ridiculous spelling have lost out in the Mars-comparison sweepstakes.

Still, there’s always Qwghlm. Minus the reefs, of course

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Posted in Library, Mrs. Charm, Scribbles, Space

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