We made it. We landed in Denver as winter storm Argos got fired up, had change planes on a 10 minute most-of-a-mile hike, de-ice the new one, got on toward Philadelphia, took off at 2, landed at midnight, no food since noon.
Met by a Philcon friend, taken to Wawa to get really very good sandwiches and on to the Cherry Hill NJ Crown Plaza, which was a room with a glorious view of autumn foliage and the river 12 stories below…
Conventioning, conventioning, conventioning. Autographing, meeting many people I haven’t seen in more than a decade—
Argos hit with such a fury it blew our window open, but the cool air was really nice—40 degrees. Philadelphia seems to like the temperature kept around 73 degrees, and we came dressed for fall. So we were able to sleep well, given the open window blasting 40 degree gales. We had a lovely time, met and re-met, and then boarded the Southwest flight home, which this time took us to Las Vegas. On this leg, partly because I’d strained my once-injured knee in Denver and Jane was handling our really heavy carry-ons, we yelled uncle and took the wheelchair option…felt a little guilty, but not willing to have permanent damage to the knee in another sprint; and it also let me take some of the weight off Jane’s hands, carrying it in my lap. Which made ME heavier for the pusher, but hey, they set the pace, not me. We got out of there with no supper, no food but a bag of fritos (lunch size) and on to Boise, and on to Spokane. Kudos to our dear coach Joan who got us TO the airport in good order, and to friends Tim and Cheryl, for Tim picking us up even if Cheryl was under the weather: friends are people who are there when they say they’ll be, come hail come wrack… we’re home. Arrived home to refire the half-week old frozen pizza, burned my side of it, ate it anyway: hunger is a good sauce, for sure.
Next day, breakfast and unpacking. We’re exhausted. And the house furnace quit. We’re working on that issue.
But we had left the cats the longest ever, from Thursday midday til late Monday, and their manners were impeccable, not a mistake, not a hairball, nothing scratched or overset. They simply met us at the door and have been pretty well glued to us ever since.
Welcome back! That sounds like a fine time, even with all the hub-bub, bub.
The only thing better than a cozy cat in chilly weather might be a cozy hew-mon. Ah, if ony. My two cats have pawed a peace treaty to share the bed and the staff human (me), so all is well enough.
I will have a nice Thanksgiving meal too, though a couple of things will be delayed until the next trip to the store or Christmas, but this is fine, I’m happy with what I have for Thanksgiving.
Indeed, welcome back! Favor that knee some more, pat the cats some more and enjoy more turkey (or whatever you favor) tomorrow on Thanksgiving.
One certainly hopes that the furnace problem is simple and inexpensive to correct…..the $2,400 I paid for a new furnace in January was a heavy burden on my already stretched finances.
And a very happy Thanksgiving to all our salads! Hope you are able to get that furnace going, because it’s probably cool enough for you to want it running.
We’re starting prep tonight, assembling the turkey stuffing and making the sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows, please; I’m trying to recreate the wonderful sweet potato dish they have at Ruth’s Chris) to bake tomorrow. Projected attendance tomorrow: 6, if our tame astrophysicist can get time off.
Welcome home! Hope you had fun conventioning, in between all that exhausting travelling.ý
The Denver airport and bad knees, a really bad combination. That place is huge and my knees were barking by the time I got to the gate.
Progress report on the Toy Box Tales:
* Augie’s Adventures — It looks like the upcoming mini-episode might be my last photostory before trying a format switch into a photo-illustrated story form. This may or may not get to introduce another two characters, depending on when the pre-order is shipped and arrives, but it’s due before Christmas. (More about that in a later post.)
* Robby’s Adventures — I think the upcoming episode will be the first photo-illustrated story form. But I doubt these will be the size of a full short story each, more like a short chapter or episode in a serialized story. I have an idea for a start to these for Robby.
( It’s maybe possible I’ll have something else, but so far, the story isn’t working out. I have a basic idea of the characters, though. And although I want to add something there, I don’t think I can do it for a while. So that may or may not sit on the back burner.
I’m still aiming for sometime between now and Christmas.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Jane, and the kittehs, plus all our friends on Wave Without a Sore. Quiet day here in AZ, as we decided to forego the turkey day trimmings and have homemade spaghetti sauce, pasta and salad toasted with a Latah Creek Moscato dessert wine.
Welcome back and a Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We had a late Thanksgiving lunch and now everyone is sitting around digesting and sneaking 2nd slices of pie. I hadn’t realized that the blow that came through last weekend was named; the wind was intense in Maryland as well. Wish I had snapped that you two were in Philly; I could have made a day trip up to say “hi”.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Jane and the kittehs. We did a chowder, seafood being a big deal in the Midwest when we grew up. The dogs were disappointed as they generally get scraps of bird as I’m cleaning the carcass. Weather in KC stayed dry, and we are needing moisture.
Just came home from my sister’s, our step sister was visiting, and turkey. Can’t remember the roads being so empty–maybe at 3AM, not 9PM. ‘Course, maybe 2.6″ of rain (and climbing) since 6AM might’ve had something to do with it. Good day to’ve stayed home.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Jane, and the kittehs too!
We decided to roast just half the turkey, which Proge did on the grill! It was delicious! And the rain even held off until he had finished cooking.
Toes crossed that all Waves enjoyed a happy day.
Is anyone else staying home until Monday?
Hope everyone had a good T-day yesterday with a surfeit of all good things and maximum just-right-ness. I had my 92-year old mom and BFF since 7th grade over for the traditional fare — cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy courtesy of Praters, sliced turkey courtesy of Oscar Mayer, –all of which I spent less than 2 hours cooking, and the BFF brought over an excellent chardonnay.
Hope you got the heater going again, and that it didn’t cost you an arm and a leg to do it! Mine’s gas and has been doing widely-spaced controlled burns for about three weeks now. Sounds like a rocket engine firing up — first the burner, then the blower. We had our first hard freeze the 18th — got down to 26F(3.33C). I have the thermostat set at 68F(20C). I’ve finally switched out the bed spread for the comforter. That and a warm fuzzy fat(cat)boy sleeping against my shoulder blades makes for maximum snuggliness.
Getting to be good knitting weather . . . .
Furnace working fine.
THanksgiving dinner was spaghetti and meatballs al aglio (olive oil, garlic, italian spices for a sauce). Garlic is our one safe onion-type substance, but it has to be real garlic, not dried (allergy to the anti-clumping agent). It was a good supper. I’m still dumber than dirt from the trip, but it’s improving. 😉
That must be some smart dirt you’ve got there!
,,,snart dirt ? hmm…
Had to reread your menu a little closer — first time, I read “Spaghetti and meatballs all aglow” and had a “Wait, what?” moment. Dumber than dirt? I think not. You’re suffering from slow-mo brain splat. Going through the series of events before, during and after the con was like having your brain go splat in very slow motion. The end result is the same, but instead of happening in seconds, it happens over days. It takes time for the wibbly wobblies to settle down and for your poor old grey matter to pull itself back together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5AfHYST6E
WOL, nice video! What I find most amazing is that after all those contirtions the jello “remembers” its cube-shape enough to return to it. I wonder how that works, such enormous flexibility in the bonds holding it together that it can deform so much, but with such “preferentialness” (for lack of a better word) to the bonds holding it in its original cube shape.
Tangent to the tangent, and a good elementary / middle shcool / (?) high school science class question:
What is dirt made out of? Or the various kinds of dirt or ssoil, like peat, clay, dirt, sand, loam….
I’d guess it’s mostly composting organic matter plus particles worn down from rock and other things. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Calcium, Silicon,
That offhand smart dirt comment got me thinking.
I teach both Geography and Geology at (quite) introductory levels and was going to reply that dirt is inorganic mineral/rock particles and soil is inorganic particles mixed with decayed, organic material… Then I decided to check that up in the texts I use first. While I still think the organic/inorganic distinction is very nice… looks like “dirt” doesn’t have any scientific standing as a word (neither does “stone” in geology, by the way. If inorganic and solid, it’s either a Rock or Mineral… Well, or maybe a non-crystalline solid like volcanic glass.)
On continents, the inorganic particles of eroded rocks/minerals composing “soil” (which is a formal term in both the “geo’s”) would primarily be from granite (at least the igneous, continental rock) and that granite made up of quartz, feldspar and biotite. These three minerals are silicates (composed of silicon dioxide in combo with—for the feldspar and biotites—additional elements); the minerals quartz and feldspar make up most of the earth’s crust.
Paul (or others), weigh in. I suspect you have more obscure tidbits hidden away in your brain on this.
I’ve seen olivine in granite. And I take exception to “dead organic material”. In fertile soil there’s lots of living stuff way above bacterial level, plant roots, mycelia, springtails, and earthworms.
I had to roll that around in my head a few minutes, because the olivine I know is usually embedded in our local basalt (or in meteorites 🙂 ) Granite, not so much, but you do get the green-tinted granite, so it makes sense. When basalt weathers here, you will occasionally get green sand.
I forgot to add, elemental carbon from wildfire charcoal. Elemental carbon is surprizingly stable.
Greensand may be something entirely different, given the use of “common names”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensand
http://www.bigislandhikes.com/papakolea-green-sand-beach/
Happy T-weekend, all. Don’t forget cyber Monday!
So, what happened before floors and soap and shampoo (we had real poo)? We got bacteria from dirt that colonized our skin and hair, and it kept away the stinky bacteria:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html
I am up to my elbows in dirt or mud almost every day. Only I call it clay, an adult term, which gives me some semblance of maturity!
Remember, you are never too old to enjoy a happy childhood!
Soap and shampoo – we don’t actually need any special bacteria to do without them. I know something about this because my skin is very sensitive to ingredients in most soaps and shampoos, so I’ve experimented over the years, and found what works.
Shampoo and conditioner. I personally haven’t used any shampoo or conditioner for several years. I just wash my hair daily with warm water in the shower. My hair has never been better. It looks good, doesn’t get oily, is manageable, no dandruff, and no, it doesn’t smell.
There’s a whole ‘no shampoo’ movement, just google it. Some people seem to use baking soda or apple cider vinegar, but I don’t think they’re necessary. Just warm water is fine.
When you first stop using shampoo, your hair may get a bit oily for a while, because your scalp is used to producing excessive oil, since the oil is always being washed off. After a few weeks it will settle down.
A lady with long hair, switching to water-only, and photos week by week.
http://fulfilledhomemaking.com/no-poo-shampoo/
I wash my hair with warm water most days, but then I have shortish hair. I don’t even think about it any more.
So basically, using shampoo and conditioner is a modern myth. It’s simply not necessary, and your hair and scalp will do a lot better without them.
Soap and deodorants. A few years ago I had a bad rash, and a doctor recommended using aqueous cream soap, or simply aqueous cream. I experimented with that and with glycerine soap. I ended up not using soap at all for showering.
I’m not fanatical about it. I use soap all the time to wash my hands, and shaving cream to shave, and if I needed to remove something oily, I would use soap. But a shower with warm water only is usually all that’s necessary.
Instead of deodorants, I use patchouli essential oil diluted in a neutral oil. (5-10 drops per tablespoon of neutral oil.) Patchouli is a natural antibacterial and destroys bacteria responsible for body odours. It’s also anti-inflammatory and generally good for the skin, and smells good.
Again, it works well just to have a daily shower with warm water. I don’t have problems with rashes and itching any more, I smell good, and I conclude that soap is mostly unnecessary too. 🙂