Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

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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Clarinets

Posted on January 28, 2011 | Comments Off on Clarinets

Mr. B. had this vague idea that he wanted to play the drums. So, it seems, do half the fifth graders in Austin. So the middle school music teachers came up with a dandy way to cut the crush of applicants. They require two completed years of piano lessons. Right. Before you can play a snare drum.

I had to drag him to the sixth grade tryouts last Saturday. He was only mildly interested until he got in the middle school cafeteria and saw all the shiny instruments. After he was disappointed about the drums he moved on the trombone, baby tuba, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, flute, violin, viola, cello and standup bass.

The instructors decided he had done best on the trombone and the clarinet. The band director was selling clarinets that day and immediately pooh-poohed the trombone. Assured him it only got to play the melody fifty percent of the time. Whereas the clarinet? Ta-Da. Ninety percent. Hmm.

He was still a bit indifferent when we left, but he admitted he’d had fun. I’ve tried not to push him into anything, though I have encouraged his basketball playing and scouts because I know he likes them. But this time I believe I will push for the clarinet. He may never become a Benny Goodman, an Artie Shaw, or an Anat Cohen, but I’m sure he’ll have fun. Especially playing the melody ninety percent of the time.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, 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 urge to turn

Posted on January 12, 2011 | Comments Off on The urge to turn

I love my Kindle 2. I bought well over a hundred books for it in 2010 and continue to buy them, usually from Amazon and always after reading the free sample.

But, sometimes, reading from the screen, instead of reaching out for the button that shifts the screen to the next page, I get an urge to turn the nonexistent paper page with my fingers. It’s fleeting. I smile and move on. And I’m not the only one.

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Posted in Library, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles

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Welcome rain

Posted on January 9, 2011 | Comments Off on Welcome rain

KVUERadar1911Most of the heavy rain is off to the east of I-35, but at least it’s clearing the air around the rancho of juniper pollen. Probably not for more than a day, tho’.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Cedar fever

Posted on January 7, 2011 | Comments Off on Cedar fever

I’m dyin’ and I ain’t lyin’. Thursday’s juniper (also called mountain cedar) pollen count was the highest of the season, according to KVUE, which makes daily pollen counts.

Seems like it’s been going on forever but it’s only been about two weeks. Pity of it is, the only sure cure for this allergy is to move elsewhere. Wish I could. But it’ll be over soon.

UPDATE:  Or, maybe not. Friday saw the highest juniper pollen count in seven years, KVUE reported. It’s supposed to rain Saturday afternoon into the evening. It better, or I may just decide to lay down and die.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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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