Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

DOOM’s legacy

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Comments Off on DOOM’s legacy

It informed the operation of many of today’s computer games. Did it need a story? Nah. It was fine the way it was. Fourteen years later I still remember trying to jump over those chasms at the end of one episode to avoid the water below while the monsters shoot fireballs at me. And all via the keyboard. Not a single mouse click. Quake was better. Halo is better still. So is Half-Life. But only because of DOOM. And their stories are beside the point.

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Posted in Library, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles

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The rains cometh

Posted on October 21, 2009 | Comments Off on The rains cometh

Steady showers this morning on a forecast wet day and night through tomorrow. Glad to get the rain, as always, but it will push the pool problems diagnosis by the maintenance guys out until Friday morning at the earliest. Although it will be middle of next week before we can get the replacement parts for the impeller, anyhow. If the impeller is the problem, as rare reader JD thinks, and it now looks to us like it is.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate

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Pool fools part 3

Posted on October 18, 2009 | Comments Off on Pool fools part 3

This time we’re noticing that only three of the pop-up water movers in the in-floor cleaning system are popping up and squirting water. It became obvious when the usual fall supply of acorns and leaves began lingering in mid-pool instead of being swept across the bottom toward the drains in the deep end where we could easily scoop them up. Also the green algae have been returning.

This site suggests we check the pressure first, then the filtration system, and last the pop-ups themselves. The pressure is the same it’s always been. So the issue may be in this rather complicated-looking apparatus. Meanwhile, I got one of the pop-ups out of the floor and discovered that its rubber seal was weakening, to the point where the black color smeared off on my fingers. I need to get the rest out to check them.

And, wouldn’t you know it, once again, there’s a hurricane off the Baja threatening big rains here by the end of the week.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly

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Hold the phone

Posted on October 15, 2009 | Comments Off on Hold the phone

Mr. Boy has recently discovered the telephone and how much fun it is to call a friend or get a call from him and talk for hours. For hours when I forget that’s what he’s doing. But even though this sounds amusing, and I must admit has a certain juvenile appeal, I have so far not allowed him to record the outgoing message. Then again, he hasn’t asked to do it. But forewarned, as they say, is forearmed.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly

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Off to Enchanted Rock

Posted on October 9, 2009 | Comments Off on Off to Enchanted Rock

Mr. B. and I leave early tomorrow morning for the annual fall Cub Scout camping trip. This time we’re staying at Enchanted Rock state park, the big pink granite dome north of Fredericksburg where Texas Ranger Jack Hays fought off a Comanche war party about 1844.

The boys will be hiking to the top at noon. Not sure I’m going to make it to the top this time, but have done it many times before. Fortunately the mail today brought my review copy of Mike Cox’s new book, so I can read until they come down.

We’ve been advised to bring lots of bug spray, as all the recent rain in the Hill Country out there has vastly increased the mosquito population. Forecast highs in the seventies, lows in the fifties, however, should make long pants and long sleeves comfortable, as well as protective.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Saved by Olaf

Posted on October 5, 2009 | Comments Off on Saved by Olaf

So nice of Tropical Storm Olaf to fade into a tropical depression, sending far less moisture up here from the Baja Peninsula over the weekend. Because after a few hours of chemical ministrations the green algae has been banished and the rancho pool is sparkling blue again. The water is too cold to swim, of course, but that’s why pool owners are called pool fools. Of course the forecast is for more rain through the end of the week, but if the algae returns it won’t be Olaf’s fault.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate

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Green pool

Posted on October 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Green pool

We happy band of pool fools have seen the water turn hazy green again since the last rainstorm a few days ago. Mrs. Charm says we must spend the weekend mixing chemicals and scrubbing the walls and vaccuuming the bottom to get the water back to its normal sparkling blue.

Alas, the weekend forecast calls for more storms, in a Pacific tap as it’s called, of moisture streaming up here from the remains of TS Olaf, predicted to go ashore on the Baja tomorrow night. So we may just have to start all over again on Monday. Pool fools, indeed.

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Posted in Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate

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