Category Archives: Scribbles

Oops

Shocking, but true. I actually failed to post something for 24 hours, or thereabouts. But Mr. Boy and I were preoccupied Tuesday. He got to watch a morning video, followed in early afternoon by an hour’s worth of a Harry Potter computer game, while I mowed the lawn. Then I took him to the dentist (still no cavities), and up to the elementary school ball field to play catch. After about 45 minutes we came home so I could fix supper and he could watch another video. Mom got home a little later than planned, but there was still time for stories, as always. All-in-all, it was a reasonably satisfying day of retired parenting. And so it will continue, I hope, until day camp begins on Monday. Then I’ll start sailing in the morning while he’s gone.

Here’s something I filched from this site, with whose headline on this page I entirely agree, though I’m not sure about the rest of the content:

"This Entire Web Site Was Produced Totally From 100% Recycled Electrons. Absolutely No Protons or Neu[t]rons Were Used Nor Were Any Wild Pixels Harmed In Its Manufacture."

So true. 

Tinky Winky’s purse

Those Teletubbies. The suspicion marches on. Now the Poles think Tinky Winky & the gang are gay. All because the Tinkster carries a purse.

Happy Birthday Duke

It’s John Wayne’s 100th birthday! You can’t beat that. So hightail it to Winterset, Iowa. Where? Why, the town where Marion Robert Morrison (i.e. John Wayne) was born. Move along there, pilgrim.

Turnback Canyon race

Despite the storms, the Austin Yacht Club is pressing ahead with its annual 19-mile race on Lake Travis. I’ve only tried this one three times since 1985, all three aborted about two-thirds of the way from sunburn and exhaustion. Each time, I spent the night in a small cove miles from the finish line and the parties and etc. The last attempt was the most memorable, because Mr. Boy’s mom broke her hand, hitting it on the transom when trying to start the manual outboard to help me position the anchor in the cove. Fortunately the First Aid kit had a splint and chemical ice pack, and we watched a sitcom on a small TV we had. Motored home the next morning and went to the emergency room. Hope no one has it that bad this weekend and that all arrive on time, despite the inevitable debris in the water from the flooding.

Ignominious end

IgnominiousEnd.JPG

A 1975 Catalina 22 finds a sad end after 32 years. It was abandoned by its owner, who had removed, among other things, the teak trim. It was leaking sufficiently that it had to be pumped out periodically, and Anderson Mill marina was tired of the game. When they couldn’t get the owner, who was no longer paying his monthly slip fee, to take care of it, they dragged it, scraping, up the ramp on its folded swing-keel. There’s a few more of various makes due to make the trip, victims possibly of the long drought when the docks were moved so far out into Lake Travis that it was hard to get to the boats to maintain them. Some of them were a lot dirtier than ours.

Behold…the air car

More on the new wonder engine, via Popular Mechanics. Zero emissions, by next summer. At least, in India. But, despite inevitable complaints from Detroit and the rest of the business-as-usual auto industry, can imports be far behind? Yes, a long way behind, according to PM, which cites the car’s all-glue, fiberglas construction. But the technology is sure to spread beyond India. So, maybe… The best thing: no payments to the oil ticks to go for groceries.

Via Instapundit 

Extinction for magnolias

The neighbor across the back fence at the rancho has a towering magnolia whose big white blossoms we get to share even as the big pointed, oval leaves litter our yard from time to time.

"Magnolias are among the most ancient groups of flowering plants and have long been cultivated by mankind. Some specimens growing in the precincts of Chinese temples are estimated to be up to 800 years old."

I planted one once in South Austin. It was ten feet high and sprightly the last time I looked. I’m surprised to hear wild magnolias are facing extinctions in the forests of the world, including north America.