October, 2005

2005.10.31 — Alfred, Ohio. Boo!

Tonight, I changed the site to make it render in IE. It is pretty sad that well over ten years into the Internet, I still have to suboptimize my code in order to be viewed in the browsers of the world. The site has looked good all year in Firefox and Opera but looked goofy in IE. I reduced it down to the lowest common denominator and got it to look “not great” but OK in all three. How frightful.

2005.10.30 — Alfred, Ohio. Oh my! Mary Ellen writes in her blog about the first snow of the season. They got two inches of it… in October. Oh joy! Steve’s reaction.

Samwise is strumming his guitar and making music in the pubs of Northern Kentucky. He is now playing Friday nights at the Keyhole Cocktail Lounge in Bromley and will soon be playing Saturday nights at the Crosstown Cafe in Covington.

2005.10.29 — Alfred, Ohio. Micki had a serendipitous moment when shooting the moon recently. She unexpectedly caught a little critter on film and didn’t realize it at the time. How does the old saying go, something like “the harder I work the luckier I get” seems to apply in this case. Getting up before dawn to snap a photo of the reflection of the moon takes dedication to the craft. In this case, it was rewarded.

Some day soon (hopefully a distant day but things like this always seem to happen before one is well prepared), there will be questions about how to care for me. I want to spell out very clearly my expectations and wishes so that there is no mistake or doubt about what I would like.

I do NOT expect nor desire round the clock visitors if ever I am a patient at a hospital. When visiting hours are up, please leave. That applies to everyone. I can't very well flirt with the nurses with you there Jeanie so please go home and get some rest. Tomorrow will be another day. Kids, daughters-n-law, grandchildren and such, please don’t skip work to visit me. Brothers, sister, and any other family or friends who may be out of town, stay put. You know that you are always welcome to visit when I am well, but I’m told that I am a bit grouchy when ill. Please don’t ever make special arrangements to visit with me if I’m sick, particularly when there is a chance that I won’t even be aware of it. Assume that I will recover and save your travel dollars and vacation time for a get together later under more favorable conditions.

What about long term care? A nursing home is fine with me. Find a cheap one in China. I’m serious. The Chinese have a long history of treating old people well, plus it would cost far less than here.

2005.10.28 — Alfred, Ohio. Nick and a few friends stopped in tonight for dinner. Kate, Andrew, Tara, and another fellow all came to go to Halloween in Athens tomorrow. They are spending the nights in Nelsonville with friends. Sounds like fun.

The indictments are in. Libby is toast. What do you figure he will do? Squeal on his boss in exchange for a lighter sentence or do the time and hope for a pardon. Put yourself in his shoes. A pardon in 39 months is certainly possible and may be a better deal than the prosecutor is willing to offer. The problem with a pardon is that there is no guarantees that it will happen. Much can change before President Bush leaves office. What if it slips his mind? What if President Bush is impeached or dies in office. Mr. Libby would then get to fulfill his entire sentence unless he gets paroled. The next president would likely have little reason to pardon him. My guess is, Libby will realize this and in exchange for a lighter sentence he will spill his guts. I look for more indictments to soon follow.

I bought a load of firewood and started a fire in the woodburner tonight. First time of the season. The warmth felt pretty good.

2005.10.27 — Alfred, Ohio. Frogtails now has a wiki. A wiki? Yes, a wiki. Wiki is a term used everyday in Hawaii. It means fast. Wiki wiki means… very fast. You think I jest? Nope. If you go to Hawaii you really will hear people say wiki and wiki wiki. The idea behind a wiki for web pages is that it permits anyone to create pages wiki wiki (very fast). You don't believe me. Well, they exist everywhere and are very useful. Take a look at this one titled Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Poke around a little and you can see that absolutely everything you might be interested in is being written about by ordinary people.

Try this. Go to the Wikipedia mentioned above. Look at the URL. Change the word “Main_Page” to something else, nearly anything. Viola! you should now be looking at that topic. Once I check mine out a little closer, I’ll open it up to you and we can see what can be done with it on a smaller scale.

Did you hear what the president of Iran said yesterday? Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday openly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

Today I found this headline about Israel, “War to Bitter End” in an article about their response to the Hadera bombing. Heaven help us end this fighting that has gone on for centuries.

2005.10.26 — Alfred, Ohio. We got a little break this evening and I got to see the sun shining on my way home. The trees look nicer than I can recall in a long time.

A couple of days ago the public debt of the United States surpassed 8 trillion dollars. I can recall the anguished debates in congress when I was in high school over the debt ceiling of 400 billion back then. That seems quaint by today’s standards. Who pays? Those who haven’t even been born yet will bear the brunt of this madness. Isn’t that taxation without representation. Shame on congress.

The cover of Time magazine this week has an article titled the great retirement rip off. Corporations are picking people’s pockets – with the help of congress. I have felt that first hand and prefer not to associate with such people who have a hand in it. Shame on congress.

Our representatives and senators have passed any number of laws to pilfer our freedoms away over the years. Nearly every ideal that our founders had has been attacked and tossed aside by these perverse people. Thomas Jefferson had this to say “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” These people know what they are doing and do so anyway. Shame on congress.

2005.10.25 — Alfred, Ohio. The weather today was cold, wet, and grey. There were even reports of SNOW today, but that was way up north in Marietta.

2005.10.24 — Alfred, Ohio. Today I received a tip from an anonymous source that tweaked my interest. This week Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to decide whether to seek indictments against several high profile White House aids who may face charges of perjury and obstruction indictments resulting from the Valerie Plame case. My source believes that there will be a new terrorist threat within 24 hours of any indictments to draw away our attention. Look for a threat along the lines of what didn’t happen in the New York subway a couple of weeks back or what didn’t happen when they closed the Baltimore tunnel a week ago. These were just “threats” from a rather nebulous un-named source.

Further, my source goes on to suggest that on November 7, the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers confirmation hearings begin, there will be another warning, with the associated news coverage and police mobilization that will consume the news for several days. This will draw attention away from what is likely to be a very ugly hearing in the Senate. It will be fun to watch and see how things turn out and see if my source is on to anything.

2005.10.23 — Alfred, Ohio. Micki recently sent me permission to publish another photo and her recipe for bread. When I first saw the photo, it made my mouth water and I could almost smell it.

The drive back from Cincinnati was gorgeous even though it was raining when we left and still over cast and cold when we got home. The trees are spectacular! Pike county is at it’s peak about now and is fabulous. I saw many with darker colors (reds, purples, and deep oranges) than all of the yellows and greens of a week ago.

We did notice that the price of gasoline varied from 2.249 in Cincinnati to 2.719 in Jackson. How do they sleep at night and where does all that money go?

We stopped at the hospital on the way home to visit Grammie. She is recuperating from pneumonia. Jeanie is spending the night with her.

2005.10.22 — Cincinnati, Ohio. This morning Jeanie and I had breakfast with Dad and then headed for Kings Island. We had an enjoyable time together. We rode some wild rides and a few tame ones. The park was really pretty with all of the foliage turning colors. The weather was sometimes over cast, sometimes sunny. It wasn’t too hot nor cold and the rain held off so we were very pleased with that.

The entire park is decorated for Halloween and from eight until midnight they had nine different spook attractions. Sorry, a freight fest it wasn’t. Save your money, the lines are far too long for it to be enjoyable. Worse, the spook attractions were pretty lame (IMHO). Of course, Jeanie and I have about seen and done about everything and perhaps we are just a bit jaded. All that said, don’t think we didn’t enjoy ourselves. We did. It is good to get away now and then just to play. I just didn’t think it was worth what what they charge for it and believe that they could do much better with a little effort and planning. However, I’m sure it would have been pretty neat if you were twelve years old.

2005.10.21 — Alfred, Ohio. Heading for Cincinnati today with Jeanie to visit my Dad.

2005.10.20 — Alfred, Ohio. Joe and Angie stopped over for dinner last night. It is always good to see them.

2005.10.19 — Alfred, Ohio. Beautiful weather again today. The forecast however, is for a change. Cold, gray, and wet to replace the warm, bright, and dry days we have recently enjoyed. Hope you have enjoyed your days as much as I have been enjoying mine.

The bird flu continues to maintain high rankings in the news nearly every day. One doctor in Minnesota (didn’t catch his name or title – it was on the radio) mentioned that travel and trade as we know it will immediately cease once a pandemic is declared. Forget the flu for a moment and your chances with that. Think about our “just in time” inventories of nearly everything. Got milk?

2005.10.18 — Alfred, Ohio. More beautiful weather today!

2005.10.17 — Alfred, Ohio. Beautiful weather!

2005.10.16 — Alfred, Ohio. What a perfect day. Here are a few photos taken today at our place. I notice that there is more yellow in the leaves this year than I think normal. Not so much red and orange as I would expect. Maybe that is still to come. Dial up users beware – 765kb in these eight photos on one page. It will take a minute or two to load.

2005.10.15 — Alfred, Ohio. Allan sent in another installment of Thru the Peephole titled Eli “The Rocket” in Nova Scotia while Dennis and I were on vacation. How appropriate that it be about Nova Scotia. I looked at the map while we were in Quebec and gave it a thought… “So close, but so much to see… Next time, it deserves a trip of its own.” I thought to myself.

By the way, I recall the 175 dirt bike from the 70’s mentioned in Al’s story. I probably rode it once or twice myself. Good memories. It has been a lot of fun for me to read about another side of my old friends. Allan also mentioned that this was the last story that he had written for his newsletter. I’m encouraging him to start writing again. We will see.

2005.10.14 — Alfred, Ohio. It is very foggy this morning. This is the time of year that the weather changes in these parts from bright sunny warm days to grey wet and cooler days. It appears to me we are about a week early this year.

2005.10.13 — Alfred, Ohio. The rain continues in the Northeast. Dennis and I would have had a vastly different experience had we gone this week rather than last. The forecast? More rain.

I’m beginning to get caught up on my reading and writing. The household chores (mowing grass in particular) are looming. Please be patient if you are expecting anything of me. Vacations are nice but getting back into a routine always takes far longer than one would expect.

2005.10.12 — Alfred, Ohio. Joe and Angie were at our house when I walked in last night carrying a small bouquet of flowers. Jeanie was beaming and Angie was saying “how sweet”. Unfortunately, for once, the flowers were not intended for Jeanie. I had bought them for our neighbors. They are celebrating their 48^th wedding anniversary today. Congratulations to them both! I could not have picked a better family to be neighbors with.

Joe and Angie stayed for dinner and we talked until well past bedtime.

2005.10.11 — Alfred, Ohio. Here is the silver lining for the day. Diane sent a couple of pics of Andy and Cyndi from their honeymoon in Bermuda. The original black and white below is a very large image so I couldn’t get it over dialup. What you see below is a screenprint of a thumbnail that I enlarged. Check back in a day or two to see it (in better resolution) from a broadband connection. UPDATE: this is the better image I spoke of earlier.

I love this black and white shot of them on the bench.

Back to work. It was a long day for me trying to get caught up on even more e-mails and other little project and problems. Still grey and wet outside. Worse, it is getting cooler.

2005.10.10 — Alfred, Ohio. Columbus Day! Jeanie and I both had the day off. We went to town for breakfast, got my pictures developed and stopped in an antique store. For me it was a nice day to unwind, do laundry, catch up on the news, my e-mail, and relax. I’m hearing for the first time about the flooding in New Hampshire and the earthquake in Pakistan. Dennis and I drove on I-89 from near Lebannon, Vermont to Boston.

2005.10.09 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Nick!

Today, Dennis and I drove out of Pennsylvania, through Maryland, West Virginia, and finally home. Dennis stayed for a little while and then headed on to Cincinnati. Looking back on it, we attempted to cover too much ground and so spent a lot of time driving. Still, there were a lot of memorable moments and I’m happy that we went. In all, it was a very good trip.

2005.10.08 — New York City. We got up early and left Boston. Drove through Rhode Island, Connecticut, and in to New York. The fog and mist had turned to rain. It made the city feel smaller as the tops of the buildings blended in with the grey and you couldn’t see but a block or two in any direction. On Broadway, we had nearly 20 police cars with sirens wailing race through the city. The people on the streets were nearly oblivious to the spectacle. Police barricades were on nearly every corner. The financial district has checkpoints. The Central Park drives were closed to traffic. We walked into a subway in an out of the way part of town and saw two policemen on duty… watching everyone. I found the whole experience pretty sad. One bright note of sorts was the sidewalk episode. I stopped at a light and it appeared that there was a street going in the direction I wanted. I turned and drove nearly a block before realizing that it was a pedestrian walkway and not a road. I stopped, turned around, and watched as the half dozen cars that followed me went on and took the shortcut I had created.

We drove on through the rain to somewhere in Pennsylvania before stopping for the night.

2005.10.07 — Boston, Massachusetts. The weather is expected to turn bad. We drove through a bit of Vermont and decided that the leaves were not going to be what we wanted so we doubled back and headed for Boston. Everything was very gray and the rain or rather a mist had started. Steve and Mary Ellen greeted us and we had a nice dinner and talked until midnight.

2005.10.06 — Lincoln, New Hampshire. We drove through the fog all morning. Within five miles of the New Hampshire border, it lifted and became beautiful. The drive through New Hampshire this time of year is spectacular!

The Mt. Washington Auto Road was interesting. We drove up expecting to pay our fee at the booth and were thoroughly surprised at what followed. The man looked in the car and said something about the transmission and started in about it not being safe to take on the mountain road. Dennis just bought the car new a month or two ago. It took a minute or two for us to realize that it wasn’t just a sermon, he really wasn’t going to allow us to drive the car up the mountain. We were dumb founded. He then went on to tell us that Honda knew of the problem, that they come out every year to test the road, and then he mentioned a guided tour that we could take if we wanted to. Then the surprise… Honda would pay for it!

Needless to say, we took the tour and road up in a van with several others. Dennis and I have both been on mountains in Colorado easily twice as high as this one. Still, I will admit to being scared on a couple of occasions. There is no guard rail on this road, it has a very steep grade, is un-paved, narrow, and has a few pretty good drops very near the road. The summit was unusually warm for this time of year and still very clear. We enjoyed very nice views. On the way down, our tour guide happily tells us that this mountain has claimed more lives than any on earth except Mt. Everest. Good stuff to know… once you are down. It also holds the record for the highest wind speed ever recorded on earth. It was clocked at 231 mph. The guide said that it was once clocked at 309 mph but could not be verified so it doesn't count as a record. The 231 mph was verified.

We drove the Kancamagus road to Lincoln and spent the night at Inn Seasons, Pollard Brook. This is the same place that Steve and Mary Ellen spent their honeymoon in and is a very pleasant place to stay.

2005.10.05 — Bar Harbor, Maine. We ate breakfast in Jackman at an old time restaurant and headed for Acadia National Park in the fog. Just before you enter the park we found a nice sized hill and decided to climb it. It turned out to be about a thousand feet high with a 900′ cliff. Acadia is a hard, rugged, beautiful place.

We walked through Bar Harbor and found a nice restaurant to have some seafood in and then began our trip back home in the fog. We spent the night in Augusta, Maine.

2005.10.04 — Quebec. Oh my! Go. My old friend Steve from Scotland always told me to visit Quebec. He claimed it was the most European city in North America and always had an urgent “you have to go” tone when mentioning it. It turns out to be the best tip he ever gave me and what he said is absolutely true. I urge you to start saving and planning for your trip to Quebec now. You will thank me later.

Steve, if ever you read this… thanks for drilling a visit to Quebec into my head. Too bad it took me twenty years to get there. Dave.

We started the day at Parc Deschamps-De-Bataille(Battlefields Park). Walked down the street a little to a full city block of outdoor restaurants on both sides of the street. It was beautiful! We got to what appeared the government buildings and noticed that the blue flag flew above the red maple leaf of Canada. They take this notion of being sovereign pretty seriously up here.

We drove into the old part of town and found a parking place. We spent the next couple of hours just walking around and seeing the sights. French is alive and well here. You will easily hear a dozen languages if you walk a block or two through the old section of town. We hear a guitar player on the street and ended up eating in an outdoor restaurant right next to him and bought his CD.

We left Quebec and headed South for the U.S. Right at the border crossing, we saw a beautiful red fox up pretty close for about 30 seconds. There were moose crossing signs posted everywhere. We ended up in Jackman, Maine. Don’t expect cell phone service here. Instead, head for breakfast at Mama bears and enjoy the friendly people you will run into at the filling stations.

2005.10.03 — Cobourg, Ontario. Yesterday, we left the falls and headed out of town towards Montreal. We decided to drive until 9:00 p.m. and then stop. It turned out to be Cobourg. What a coincidence. Borg-Warner had a plant there and I had been in the town before. We stayed just off the Queens Highway and only by chance did we venture into the downtown area for breakfast. What a neat little place. It is a thriving little town full of restaurants and friendly people. It appeared to me that they have converted their rather imposing city building into a place for a symphony and other artists. What a simple idea to attract a lot of very interesting people.

Montreal, Quebec. We drove out of Cobourg and on to Montreal. It was OK, but not the place of my memories. Memories are a funny thing after twenty years. Sometimes things are much better than we recall, other times, much less than expected. We drank a local brewed beer, walked around a little and headed out of town.

2005.10.02 — Niagara Falls, Ontario. We got up early and enjoyed our drive through a portion of the grape growing region of New York. This time of year, the grapes are probably already harvested but the sweet smell was still around. That was nice.

We got to the falls before noon and walked up to the lookout in near perfect weather. Once near the falls, we were showered with a fine mist and only looked for a moment or two and had to walk a few feet upstream to get out of the rain. Perfect weather again. We changed some currency and walked back to through town to find a bite to eat. Portions of the town is a bit like a circus or carnival. We came back and then walked down and through the tunnels behind the falls. I can not imagine who would have built these tunnels or how the concrete could have set up or how long they might last. Later, we took a ride on one of the Maid of the Mist boats. That gives you an entirely different view of the falls. Once you get to the falls, you are looking straight into a wall of water. It is a terrific experience that I highly recommend.

A double rainbow at Niagara Falls

P.S. Happy 52nd Anniversary to Jeanie’s parents.

2005.10.01 — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dennis and I stopped in for a little break in Pittsburgh. He liked the view coming out of the tunnel, the Pittsburgh Plate Glass buildings, Point Park, and the little subway. The weather was mild and very pleasant. Pittsburgh is probably not what you might expect for a big city. We drove a little further North and ended up in Erie for the night.

Alfred, Ohio. The leaves are changing. Time to relax. Dennis, my brother, and I are going to go leaf peeping through New England. Don’t expect anything new to be posted here for a week. It may happen but seems pretty unlikely. I’ll keep notes and take a few pictures to fill you in later on what we see and do.

In the meantime, you may be amused to look through the list below of people who have recently visited this site.

Location and (Pacific) time of recent visitors:

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Additional writings:

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