Wood time

It's frosty all of a sudden:

But the cupboard is bare...

That means it's time to get wood (no rude jokes please)!

Well, it's a start, but we'll need much more...


Annoying sidenote: this wood is TOO GREEN! It's hissing as it burns on the fire. This means that our chimney will rapidly clog with a tarry substance and, just as it's coldest and people are least likely to want to climb on our roof, the chimney will totally clog and the fire will be unusable. Argh - why can't people not lie about their wood being "kiln dried"? However, my cries of rage spurred Jami into a frenzy of Googling and YouTubing and she discovered a whole firewood-related subculture, full of handy hints like "use an old tyre/tire when you're splitting logs and you won't be always bending over!" and "make a solar-powered log-drying lean-to in your back yard!" So it will be a busy spring. In the meantime, I have to scour Craigslist or stands on the side of side-roads for actually burnable wood.

Out with the old, in with the new

On all days when we don't have to drive Thomas to school at ungodly hours (i.e., 6 AM), we are finally coerced out of bed by Frederick thundering downstairs. Yesterday it was me who gave in first and followed him downstairs to make him his usual toast-based breakfast - only to find that his toaster (i.e., the one assigned to Gluten Free bread) was broken. Well then, I thought (after trying for about ten minutes of futility to get the plunger thing to stay down), I'll just use the other (glutenous) one, just this once. Good thing we've got two, eh? Well no, because IT HAD BROKEN IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. What is this, a toaster curse? So anyway, Jami braved the Black Friday crowds and came back with a two-for-one deal.

At the same time she picked up a replacement for the bin we found at Goodwill about 15 years ago and that has never worked properly.

Now I feel bad:

Michigan weather

From this:

To this, in a couple of days.

Too soon!

Okay, a little smattering is to be expected before December.  But this is silly!  We haven't stocked up with wood yet!
Morning, Grand Blanc Commons:

Afternoon, a walk to the office.  Frederick models his new lime green snow pants.

Even the trees weren't ready for winter:

First Snow

It's been an absurdly warm November.  This week I noticed it was in the 60s (F) at ten o'clock at night, and it's been up at least to 75.  Well, not any more:

Low Gas Prices

For some reason, the price of gasoline/petrol keeps dropping.  This wasn't even the lowest price per gallon I saw yesterday (when it was still sunny):

To give our English reader(s) some idea: currently one dollar is 66p and 1 gallon is 3.785 litres.  So work out what that is in pounds/litre.  (By my calculation that's just under 31p per litre.  According to the BBC, the price in England is 1 pound 7 pence right now.  Fascinating, eh?)

Thomas is going to college!

Well, I would think so.  But today possibilities are becoming reality.  Thomas came downstairs clutching his phone (kids these days!) and informed us that (a) the University of Chicago sent an email to let him know that his application was incomplete (much panic in the room, especially on my part but it turns out his ACT scores had not been processed yet--nothing we can do, it's just a test report his school has to push through the application process) and (b) "Oh, yeah, I heard from University of Illinois at Chicago a few days ago and they said I got in.  I think, but I'm not sure since I was too scared to read the email."  After another round of panicked mayhem I finally read the email (Thomas didn't want me to see who else had been sending his email and then, in a flurry of efforts to conceal his secret emails he "lost" the email from UIC)  and, yes, he got an acceptance letter (!) followed by a round of emails full of financial aid applications, housing applications, application forms for more applications...Thomas has sent off 4 applications (and is sitting on two more--one for King's College ("just in case" but just in case what, Thomas won't tell)--because he can't be bothered to finish them off) so it's too early yet to know where he will end up.  But, at least I can sleep easy tonight knowing that he won't be bumming off us next year.

The Hotel

So, today was a big conference day, so the whole of it was spent inside an over-air-conditioned room (outside it's in the 80s) listening to talks about blame and regret. So the only scenery to document is the inside of the hotel. So here you go. The first two are by the elevators on my floor (the 9th)

The French Quarter, again

Well, I'd done the Warehouse district and still the afternoon stretched in front of me, so I decided to go to the far side of the French Quarter and zigzag back, now I knew my camera was all set (and the clouds had burned off). Just a reminder, the French Quarter is HERE:

Apparently these are featured in A Confederacy of Dunces.  Maybe I'll try to finish it to confirm that.

History!

This being America, the seated woman is demurely clothed.

A bridge over the Mississippi.  Also nice clouds.  I like clouds.

The station for the local light rail.

A statue of the Maid of the Original Orleans, a gift from the ENTIRE NATION of France to the city of New Orleans.  Isn't that nice?

I'm noticing a lot of Dr. Seuss themes around.  He must've been from here or something.  Clearly this is for the Duggars.

Verti Marte is a tiny little corner store that is famed for selling the best sandwiches in the French Quarter.  So I had to try one.  Pretty good, even if made by people with no teeth.

Voodoo and Occult bullshit abounds.  As do crusties with dogs on strings, unfortunately.  Haven't seen those since England.

I don't think those really ARE James Brown's legs, but you never know.

Houses large

and small.

But always quaint.

And so we wend our weary way back across Canal St. to the Hotel.  I have a massive blister (those flip flop sandals, combined with super-sweaty weather) and the Conference kicks into gear starting tonight, so that's probably the last of my 'sploring. It was fun while it lasted.