08.31.2002/21:56
If this stuff is watermelon juice, then what do you call the juice of a watermelon?

08.31.2002/21:45
Writers! This condensed thesaurus from Harlequin will give you many of the words you need for romantic passages!

08.31.2002/15:08

Foundation
A firm foundation, notwithstanding that there is no house. Weeks St., New Iberia.

08.31.2002/08:52
So we are not having a baseball strike. I can't decide whether it's a really good thing that I have some psychic energy invested in this issue (rather than, say, harboring anger at bad drivers and inflicting it in acts of road rage, or perhaps being addicted to slaying endangered animals), or a sign of a really empty life. Actually, I'm probably better off pondering the Astros' pennant chances than dwelling on that question...

08.31.2002/08:50
"The first music CD's in europe specially for cats and cat-owners!"

08.31.2002/08:42
This site, called Pub Fight, purports to answer the frequent pub question of who would win a fight between... You vote, and you see how others voted. You can also comment, and the comments run the usual range, with some of them pretty amusing.

08.31.2002/08:37
J. David Love, R.I.P.

08.31.2002/08:33
Ant-eater.

08.31.2002/08:31
Family values derail school board campaign.

08.30.2002/23:44
Where to buy candy cigarettes.

08.30.2002/22:36
Kinds of volcanoes.

08.30.2002/22:26
A totally different kind of mad cow disease, where it's not the cow who is mad.

08.30.2002/07:48
Bubonic plague in the news.

08.30.2002/07:43
Iowa gourmet foods include such treats as soy nuts, popcorn and barbecue sauce. And, of course, the Original Iowa Cow Chip.

08.30.2002/07:41
Here's where to go to report a UFO.

08.30.2002/07:38
Yes, we do mind!

08.29.2002/22:45
The curse of the Mummy.

08.29.2002/21:45
Lucky dog.

08.28.2002/23:21
Helpful information about werewolves.

08.28.2002/18:10
Death at cemetery when lightning strikes mourners.

08.28.2002/18:06
Backing SUVs over tots amounts to epidemic.

08.28.2002/12:56
Pondering the problem of pigeons at Colorado's capitol.

08.28.2002/08:51
Hand Signals
Yesterday afternoon I was driving home and traffic brought me near a driver who was gesticulating to his passenger, waving his arms, including one out of the driver's window. When he first came into my range of vision, he was pointing upwards, in what looked like the old hand-signal for a right turn, and although we were on a long stretch of road with no turnoffs, I instinctively braked a bit to accommodate his turning.
A few seconds later I had moved into the lane next to him, and his hand drooped... in the old hand signal for braking; I expected him to slow, which of course he did not. He was not making signals; he was just being expressive with his hands.
It intrigued me that I reacted so specifically to a mis-perceived utilization of a set of hand signals that, so far as I can remember, I had probably not seen employed for 25 years or more. But it was an automatic response, spontaneously recovered from when I first learned to drive, as fresh as if I saw these signals every day.
Do they even teach those hand signals any more?

08.28.2002/08:49
Cell phone death.

08.28.2002/03:44
Dead body found at cemetery.

08.28.2002/03:38
Very interesting exploration of Scrabble phenomena and theoretical situations.

08.28.2002/03:20
Here's a reason to go to Boise!

08.28.2002/03:15
Scientists discover how geckos can climb the walls, Spider-man robots to follow.

08.27.2002/11:32
Sorry, wrong number. Really, really wrong number.

08.27.2002/09:48
What would be worse, to be named after something evil, or to not have an identity at all?

08.27.2002/08:35
Let's have some sympathy for Martha Stewart, whose disappointments after all extend beyond her insider trading accusation woes.

08.27.2002/08:29
In regards to the most immediately previous posting in this column, I note that many weblogs contain stories of crashed computers and reinstallations, etc. Is the blogging community plagued by bad machines? Or is it the sort of crowd that pushes machines to their very limited limits? Maybe computers don't work all that well, after all.

08.27.2002/08:28
Generous assortment of antipodal panoramas.

08.27.2002/08:22
Good news! The Acadiana Park Nature Station has added acreage. This is a really good thing... Susan takes groups there regularly.

08.27.2002/08:15
Maybe it would be a good idea to start spilling coffee all over myself.

08.26.2002/17:34
Well, here's how the first day back from vacation went: Turned on the computers this morning and the Sony turned up an "UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME" error. Tried many things, eventually had to reformat and re-install everything. Fortunately I have a strong compulsive streak and so there were backups of everything, all but a few emails that had cruised in since the last backups. But still, it's a drag to re-install everything, much of which is still to be done. And of course, the recovery disks from Sony re-make the machine into just what it was like the day I brought it home, meaning that there are tons of Windows XP horrors to undo.
Computers, I tend to grumble on days like today, almost work.

08.26.2002/17:18
Retrosheet, with its wealth of statistics of past baseball games, is a slice of heaven... and we may just turn to its recorded glories for baseball jollies if there is a strike.

08.26.2002/17:07
Oh, how I would have love to have been there!

08.25.2002/07:40
Back home... (contented sigh).

08.25.2002/07:39
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
umpire.org

08.25.2002/07:35
Susan and I were almost tempted to stay in Boston another 48 hours in order to take part in this underground tour of Boston's Big Dig interstate highway project.

08.23.2002/14:00

Chanterelle Crew
Our Summer 2002 vacation was taken in New England and Nova Scotia, where we ate lots of scallops and hunted chanterelles on the small islands around Medway Harbor with our friend and host Bud. For a few dozen pictures, click here.

08.23.2002/08:20
One of hundreds of collisions.

08.23.2002/08:12
The life of a roach is not all glamour, like you're tempted to think...

08.23.2002/08:09
How to tie knots.

08.23.2002/08:01
Modern day Robin Hood caught monkeying bank loans, but to help delinquent customers rather than get rich.

08.22.2002/19:18
Yesterday Susan and I took a short hike along a trail in New Hampshire but realized that we had such a good nature dose in Nova Scotia that the well-groomed trail full of well-equipped hikers ready to show just how quickly they could get up and down the mountain somehow left us just a little flat, and it made us slow down and simply enjoy being in the woods rather than thinking of ourselves as on a programmatic hike.
While in Nova Scotia, there were woods next door and we never "took a hike," we simply went wandering around in the woods. We hunted mushrooms on harbor islands where there was nary a trail to be found.
I also should mention that the first night we were in Nova Scotia, Aug. 12, we saw some meteorites from the annual Perseid meteor shower.
And did I mention the scallops in Nova Scotia?

08.22.2002/19:16

Hundreds of Collisions
NH Route 112.

08.22.2002/19:15

Towers of Worship
Church tower and rocket, Warren, NH.

08.21.2002/15:31
A nice collection of pictures of roses sent from various gardeners to be posted on the site.

08.21.2002/15:26
Better him than me.

08.21.2002/15:16
Big Cats Online.

08.20.2002/20:37

Store Moose
Corner store in Smithfield, ME.

08.20.2002/07:58
Junk Food News.

08.20.2002/07:48
Alligator wrestling is not all glamour...

08.20.2002/07:46
The lamentable decline of higher education in my home state.

08.20.2002/07:33
Susan and I have gone totally scallop while in Nova Scotia. We even made scallop gumbo Sunday night at our friend's house. On Saturday, we had gone to Lunenberg, just up the coast from where we were staying in Port Medway, where there was the annual Fishermen's Picnic & Reunion, which included a scallop shucking contest. Scallop fishing is still a big business in Lunenberg. Fishermen go out on trawl boats for shifts of about 10 days out and 4 days home, slicing open the shells and freezing the scallops right there on the boat. Our friend Bud knows of an outfit that saves some unfrozen on the last day, and calls to find out when the boat is headed in. He did that one evening while we were there and sauteed the scallops in a bit of garlic-infused olive oil. Best thing we've eaten in a long time!

08.20.2002/07:29

U Pic
On Long Cove Road in Port Medway, NS.

08.20.2002/07:13

Scallop Shuckers
The spectator highlight of what turned out to be a big week of scallop eating (sauteed scallops, scallop burgers, and I even made scalloop gumbo) was attending the scallop shucking contest at the Lunenberg Fishermen's Picnic & Reunion on Saturday night. Contestants shuck 200 scallops (in about five or ten minutes) and then they're checked to see that they've not been damaged in the process.

08.18.2002/07:02
Bad stuff (and attendant denials) about artist Thomas Kinkade.

08.18.2002/06:59

Open
Magnolia's Grill, Lunenberg, N.S.

08.17.2002/07:08

Kejimkujik Adjunct
This is one of a series of beaches found in what is called the Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, part of a national park preserve in southern Nova Scotia. There are several miles of various kinds of seashore, some sandy, some rocky, and much of it with views of seals cavorting in the harbor.

08.17.2002/07:02
Top money-earning dead celebrities.

08.17.2002/07:00
I thought of a good name for someone: Howell Barker.

08.17.2002/06:58
Death by drinking too much water.

08.17.2002/06:55
West Nile virus in my hometown.

08.16.2002/07:16
We have been in Nova Scotia since Monday afternoon. The days reach into the 80s and it is dropping, where we are on what is called the South Shore, into the 50s at night. We sleep like milk-fed babies.
Even so, this is considered unusually warm weather here, even for August. When we dropped around a store the other day to pick up a few things, the clerk's send-off pleasantry was, "Enjoy the heat!"

08.16.2002/07:14
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
whattimeisit.com

08.16.2002/07:07
Elvis slept here.

08.15.2002/07:13
Cadaver tissue in the news.

08.14.2002/07:17
Princeton hacker demoted.

08.14.2002/06:47

Bingo
Grave marker in Clyde River, NS.

08.11.2002/21:27

QE2
The Queen Elizabeth II sailed out of port this evening at Bar Harbor, ME, as we took our evening stroll along the waterfront.

08.11.2002/21:26

Tomatoes
Tomatoes for sale at a fruit stand in Seabrook, NH.

08.11.2002/20:58
The rental car we picked up yesterday was about the last thing left on the lot at Logan, something called a Daewoo Nubira. I think. It's not so bad, but when we got in the car this morning and I reached to turn on the radio, nothing happened, and the legend "COD----" appeared in the readout.
Turns out that the radio is equipped with some kind of security device that requires a four-digit code to be input before it will work.
This is, remember, a rental car.
A rental car might be driven by several different people within the same week, none of whom has the code for the radio. And this one had Florida plates, even though we rented it in Massachussetts.
After going through the owner's manual and finding lots of talk about how great the security code was, but no security code, Susan called the rental company. The helpful but frustrated woman on the phone said others had called in with that same problem for this model car (maybe even the same car, I wondered), but no one had been able to figure it out. She suggested looking in the tire tool well. "Some people say the number might be there," she told Susan.
We pulled all our luggage out on the side of the road, dug into the spare wheel well, and found nothing. The rental car company arranged for us to pick up a another car if we would swing out of our way an hour or so to a nearby airport.
Finally, one more look through the owner's manual wallet turned up a small plastic card with a four-digit number on it. The radio code. It worked.
So we did, after all, have music for our drive. And now we know something important about a model of car that we had never driven before...

08.11.2002/20:56
Suicide by crocodile pit jump. Note was left.

08.11.2002/07:56

Vacation at Last
Us (mostly Susan) bound, eventually, for Nova Scotia.

08.11.2002/07:54

People Who Hear Jets
These folks enjoy a wonderful location right on the water near Boston's Logan Airport... but have to hear jets, like the one I took this picture from, all the time.

08.10.2002/06:30
Hey kids! Your science project on global climate change is almost already done!

08.10.2002/06:27
Dead pets in the news.

08.9.2002/22:43

Tubas
Tuba players of the Lafayette High School band march toward the football field for a performance.

08.9.2002/22:41

Drum Major
This evening we went to see the end-of-summer-band-camp performance of the Lafayette High School band, about 20 miles up the road, where our friend Caroline Comeaux, a senior, is one of the drum majors.

08.9.2002/14:09
We Come In Peace. Oh, this is fun!

08.9.2002/13:47
A cursed Wal-Mart?

08.9.2002/13:39
Reformed formerly drinking, cigarette toting cheerleader in the news. Hasn't she already been punished enough?

08.8.2002/08:37
CDs to avoid.

08.8.2002/07:39
Aquarium membership has very special privileges!

08.7.2002/16:45

Purrfect
This tourist-oriented gift shop opened recently in downtown New Iberia, near the foot of the Duperier St. bridge and, consequently, near one end of our new boardwalk. It's of course also good for us locals; we'll probably do some of our Christmas shopping at Purr-fect Creations. But better than that, the soft drink vending machine you see in the little alcove is (1) accessible day and night; (2) asks only half a dollar for a drink; and (3) also has bottled water. For folks who like to both jog and walk through downtown New Iberia, this is purr-fect.

08.7.2002/10:16
If you think that you might perhaps be an elf, then perhaps you should see this.

08.7.2002/08:44
Great mazes.

08.7.2002/08:39
Iowans cross their fingers and hope for breakthrough in hog farm odor management.

08.7.2002/08:30
Geocaching is a cool, new, high-tech way of having fun and going to some places you would never otherwise see. But it does have a disturbing downside.

08.6.2002/09:11
Just a little something to stimulate the mind: European Rail Guide.

08.6.2002/08:56
A truly sad case of mistaken identity.

08.6.2002/08:50
Mayflies in the news.

08.5.2002/22:42
Eau d'asparagus.

08.5.2002/17:13
Solution to the mystery of Paul Bunyan's missing arm.

08.5.2002/17:03
Dog bites wallaby, now that's news...

08.5.2002/09:53
We watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding over the weekend, and boy, was it funny. We were in stitches the whole time. Wonderfully conceived, performed and produced. This is one of those breakthrough indy films that makes you feel good about going to the movies again.
Seeing it reminded me of an interview I heard a few years back of filmmaker John Sayles. Sayles was asked, that since he seemed to be able to make a fabulous movie for a million dollars, what if he could have a Hollywood budget of, say, 20 million dollars? Sayles replied, without hesitation, that with 20 million dollars, he could make 20 movies.

08.4.2002/22:27
Sites That Are What Their URLs Say They Are Dept.:
aboutproduce.com

08.4.2002/22:23
Nice tourism takeout piece on one of my favorite places, New Harmony, IN.

08.4.2002/22:14
Cougar attack in the news.

08.4.2002/22:02
A photo essay noting the 10th anniversary of Minneapolis's behemoth Mall of America.

08.4.2002/11:23
Hundreds of reviews of mystery novels.

08.4.2002/11:04
City employee cell phone abuse in Kansas City. I think this may be one of those kinds of stories that just about any alert editor anywhere has a good chance of turning up something if a reporter is sent to nose around a bit...

08.3.2002/00:19
Smelly carpets and upholstery on Washington's Metro cars.

08.3.2002/00:15
Everything you need to know about how to create panoramic photographs.

08.1.2002/19:40
Temp worker at phone directory firm has fun by creating "maliciouis" false listings, erroneously identifying some subscribers as abortionists, one as a suicide prevention hotline, etc. In one case a legal consultant was listed as a pet groomer.

08.1.2002/19:23
This Louisville site created "to show our appreciation to the good priests who serve us" (as several area priests face sexual abuse allegations) is a generous gesture, but it's hard not to take it with a grain of pathos.

08.1.2002/19:21
One of your better ping pong photos.

08.1.2002/18:45

Osage Orange
An osage orange tree on the grounds of Place Eugenie (formerly Mt. Carmel Academy), facing Front St. in New Iberia, LA.

08.1.2002/08:22
Which came first, onions or Marshmallow Peeps? Answer at The Food Timeline.

08.1.2002/08:19
The 50 state capitals. I love quizzing school kids on their state capitals. One kid I know, when she sees me, just sighs and says, "Helena."

08.1.2002/08:15
Here's what brewing politically these days in Berkeley, CA.

08.1.2002/00:51
"The orbit for 2002 NT7 is still being computed. While it will almost certainly miss the Earth, the exact distance is uncertain." Almost certainly. Almost certainly. Well, I certainly feel better!