Governor Sanford was away for a while. I guess that I would not have noticed if it had not been for the tizzy that everyone seems to be in. He was in Argentina or on the Appalachian trail. Sounds like a game of “Telephone” may be responsible for the accurate information. If Assistant Governor Andre Bauer wandered away I doubt that anyone would notice. Unless he was trying to fly an airplane with the brakes on. Or land with the wheels up.
Mockingbird
A mockingbird lives in the neighbor’s Bradford pear. Earlier in the spring, mockingbird was defending territory. One way he did this was by attacking his reflection in the windshield of the cars parked on the cul-de-sac.
The other morning around 3:00 AM, he began his song with a new tune – the car-alarm ba-n-n, ba-n-n, ba-n-n, ba-n-n, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whee-a-oom, whee-a-oom,whee-a-oom, whee-a-oom.
My wife remarked that this bird starts his multi-tune mockingbird song at midnight and indeed last night right at the stroke of midnight he began the song.
Almost 30 years ago, my wife and I had an apartment in Newton Upper Falls, MA next to a restaurant-bar. When we tried to sleep late on Saturday morning, a trash truck would back into the restaurant parking lot with the beep-beep-beep of backup warning. This would be followed by clanking chains, clunk of metal, rev-ing engine, and crash of hundreds of beer bottles into the the metal bed of the trash truck.
One morning, I heard the beep-beep-beep and waited for the crash, the beep-beep-beep again, and still no crash. I looked out the window to see a mockingbird on the fence between us and the parking log, singing the backup song.
Smart Move
I see in the news that Sen. Pelosi has decided that she has nothing more to say about what she may or may not have been briefed on the CIA’s investigative measures. When you are in a hole, stop digging. I suspect that Mr. Panetta will find other things to talk about as well.
Flower Flyer Rebuild
The Flower Flyer started as a re-build. My wife had found a rusted coaster wagon in someone’s trash and dragged it home. I built a body for it and painted it green. Phillip made a stencil and painted Flower Flyer on the sides. It was a pretty thing.
But the outdoor storage was hard on it and it developed dry rot. Time for a new body. I was sure that I had a picture of it but cannot find it. After I took it apart, I took a picture of the body as it was.
Using a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood and higher 1×6 pine sides, I built the new body. This time I put scuppers in it so the body would drain better. I used brass screws to reduce the rust and the start of rot. I also treated all of the parts with linseed oil and pine tar before assembly. Here is the new Flower Flyer.
- Rebuilt Flower Flyer
- Scupper Detail on each corner
Log Planter
My wife likes to garden and in the hard clay soil, some things do better in a planter. Her idea was to arrange the logs in a circle, hold them together and fill it planter with potting mix. My son and I have made a number of them.
Cut a number of logs roughly stove length. If you like uniformity, use a gauge stick or a knotted rope as a measure. How many? About 3 1/2 times the planter diameter divided by the log diameter. For example say 3 feet across. Time 3 1/2 is 10 1/2 divided by 6 inches = 1/2 foot = 21 logs. Or in metric say 1 meter, times 3 1/2 = 3 divide by .15 = 23 logs. Cut the ends square so they will stand on end on the ground.
On previous planters, I used 16 guage galvanized wire. For this one, I used the soft iron wire used to tie reinforcing bars together for concrete. Find it near re-bar and concrete at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Galvanized doesn’t rust, in fact it stays shiny for years. I do not know yet how this darker wire will look or hold up but I suspect the darker color will be more aesthetic than shiny wire in a rustic planter.
If you choose the re-bar wire, you will need to draw it straight before you use it. Twist the end around something substantial, spool out enough to go around twice plus a bit more. In our example above about 15 feet (4 meters). Give a tug to take the kinks out. Do not cut the wire yet.
Arrange the logs in a circle where you want them to be. Put them as close together as they will stay.
Wrap the wire around the logs two times keeping the wire close together and 1/2 to 2/3 up the sides of the logs.
Pull the wire hand tight cross and twist it a couple of turns to tie the ends together. Have enough outside the twist to grab. Now cut the wire at the spool. Do any final arranging of the logs. Pull tension on the twist and begin to twist up the excess to pull and hold the planter together.
When the twist is about 2-3 inches (5 cm) from logs, stop twisting. This will be tight enough. And if you go to far, you risk breaking the wire.
I twist by the hand-over-hand method or by grabbing the twist with a locking plier and twisting. Either way keep tension on the twist as you twist it to keep the ends leading smoothly into the twist.
When it is tight enough, cut the twist.
Then turn the end of the twist back on itself and close the hook. Press the loop flat so it will not snag on anything. The cut end is SHARP!.
Tree-cutting
Last summer when everything was green and the leaves were out, I went through the woods with a marking tape and tagged a number of trees that were dead. Now that winter is here and the leaves are gone, it is time to take them out.
My son sharpened the chain-saw. His first time. It’s been used casually a couple of times and needed it. The first tree had already fallen since I marked it. The ants and rot had gotten into the lower part. The trunk had given way and the tree was leaning into a nearby tree. This is a particularly bad situation for cutting since it is difficult to tell which way the trunk is stressed and will move when cut. We set up some cargo straps as tensioners to try and persuade the trunk to move away from the current lean. This was supposed to let the trunk come off the stump after it was cut. He cut a wedge to give the tree a place to lean and the cut from the tension side to get it to break. It did not go as planned and fell into another tree. We dragged the butt away from the stump until it came down.
We cut down and cut up 3 trees that day. A few weeks later we cut down 3 more and cut up 4, including one that had fallen in a wind storm.
Subsequently, we gave a chain-saw lesson to the my daughter, her friend and my son’s friend.
Less than Total Recall
A small spat seems to have developed between the Director CIA Leon Panetta and Senator Nancy Pelosi. Normally I would guess that Senator trumps department with a budget. But Panetta seems to be sure that his agency under the previous director did in fact let the Senate Intelligence Committee know what was going on. Perhaps Sen. Pelosi would benefit from some H.E.R.D. Hydrotherapy for Enhanced Recall and Disclosure.
Welcome Home
Many days when I get home from work, Adah waits by the door of the car until I open it. She jumps in my lap squeezed by the steering wheel. Or sits on the seat next to me and wants to be patted. I do not know how long I could pat her before she tired. I have never patted her like that for more than 10 minutes.
Jamcleat has moved
If you have been getting here via http://jamcleat.toasterlogic.com please update your bookmark to point to http://jamcleat.com. Jamcleat has a host of its own thanks to Phillip Calvin.
PHP and CICS
CICS or Customer Information Control System as it was once known, now pronounced “kicks” is a transaction delivery platform for the mainframe. I have been working with it for 30 years or so. Recently it has been extended again, this time to support requests from PHP programs. Wow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyHRAQROnw
Pretty exciting.
YouTube offers some related videos at the end of each video. The choice below was offered.
Unrelated to CICS or PHP (or perhaps I do not really grok either one). But you may recognize parts of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFFW-wBG3c
The scene from Pi is especially well remembered. One of our favorite movies here.