Trying to take care of my little piece of the planet
My dictionary includes the following for the word bittersweet: “pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering”. That’s the word that popped into my head as I drove in this morning, and was transported from a series of hard news items into listening to this StoryCorps segment on NPR.
In case you’re not familiar [...]
Posted on August 27th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 1 Comment »
Yes, he’s back.
We thought he was a goner about six weeks ago when a large tree fell on him, toppling him into our small fish pond. As is usually the case, it was my fault. We’ve had an issue for years with pine trees in our woods becoming infested with pine bark beetles. A number [...]
Posted on August 4th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Rainwater Collection | 6 Comments »
Yes, you were, Allis Ray. And we will miss you very much.
When Allis came into our lives in 1998, we had just unexpectedly lost another dog, probably the smartest dog we ever owned. That particular adjective would not apply to Allis, but a dozen other favorable ones would. She was a sweet companion, who is [...]
Posted on July 30th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 7 Comments »
As penance for recent serious posts, and in a shameless attempt to lure you to the site with a new post without investing any time of my own, I give you two of our eight house pets. As a point of reference, the smaller of the two weighs about eighteen pounds. Fortunately, all sweetness.
The spot [...]
Posted on March 9th, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 1 Comment »
As I look down at the clock on my computer screen, it’s straight up midnight. ( Come to think of it, I guess ’straight up’ is pretty meaningless on a digital clock…) I’ve just walked into a quiet house; my wife and all the animals are asleep, as they should be. It’s for times like [...]
Posted on November 19th, 2009 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 4 Comments »
Past time for a non-political post. A few weeks ago I mentioned that my brother needed an emergency transfusion. Thirteen units, if I remember correctly, of whole blood or plasma. Fortunately, it was available.
It was available, not thanks to a government program, nor due to the efforts of the free market economy. Neither was [...]
Posted on October 1st, 2009 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Rants and Musings | 5 Comments »
We capped off a marvelous week with a trip to the coast, staying in a relative’s beach house for the weekend. It was forty-eight hours of R and R, returning home to our little place in the country a few minutes ago. Now, I’ve unpacked the van, built a fire in the woodstove and successfully [...]
Posted on November 9th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Meat, Eggs, etc., Nature Diary | 2 Comments »
The last few days have allowed some reflection on my middle-aged life, filled with memories, special people and a reminder or two that life is flying by. Monday after work I drove a few miles to have coffee with Jane, a woman I’d never met, but whom I’d heard about years earlier from my mother. [...]
Posted on August 27th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 3 Comments »
A busy weekend, still catching up after being away the week before last. Yesterday was twelve hours of weeding, mowing and watering. And today included more watering, getting ready for some much needed rain (hopefully next week) and hauling a monster-sized truckload to the trash/recycling center. Part of my rush centered on the fact that [...]
Posted on August 24th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Nature Diary | 1 Comment »
There are days that I whine about having too much to do, and fleetingly wish that I’d opted for the simpler lifestyle of a condo, where some other guy cuts the grass, etc.
Those moments are rare, but they do happen. But perhaps the picture I received a few days ago will be more effective at [...]
Posted on August 1st, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life | 2 Comments »