And then he was gone...

Martha will have to cling to this memory for 3 weeks at least until her boy comes back from college, because Jami just saw him off on the train to Chicago this morning, just after 7. 

It was funny having him back in the house: we remembered just how much and how often he requires feeding, and one car or other would disappear at odd intervals, and then when you started it, the stereo would suddenly blare out at ear-splitting levels. 

Molesworth II pla "Fairy Bells"

Thomas is home for Thanksgiving!  No doubt he will complain that he can play MUCH better than this, but this is slice-of-life cinema verité:

(In case some readers don't get the reference.)

Not actually a mushroom cloud

I was driving on the freeway the other day (on my way to pick up frozen rice pizza crusts, if you must know) and saw this off somewhere in Flint:

This being 2016 I called Jami to look up what it was and it was this.  Think of all the lead and asbestos a fire in low-income housing would send into the air...

Ill winds

Or at least strong ones. Scenes of devastation the other day in Grand Blanc Commons:

Two Year Anniversary

It was two years ago today that this (no longer) little guy entered our life.I'm sure he regards making us happy a full time job.

Kiln repairs

A few years ago Emily's mom was clearing out excess stuff and found a kiln (used by her mother to glaze porcelain dishes) and I snapped it up. Simon gets very resentful if I use the kiln in the summer months, but with the cold weather that has set in (it's snowing right now!) I am free to fire up as much clay as I can stand. So I was very excited to run the kiln only to find that it never reached the required temperature, and the kiln ware looked very bad indeed. The culprit was a broken element (there are four). Since Emily is out of grandmas and new kilns costs over $2000, I was very dispirited--until Simon suggested I get online to look for a replacement kiln element. Since the kiln is certainly 40 years old at least, I was skeptical, but (unbelievably) I found a company that sells all sorts of kiln parts. The element I needed cost only $32. It arrived a few days ago and, with much trepidation, I set to work on it earlier today while Simon and Frederick went for a walk in Grand Blanc Commons. Here is the new element, right out of the bag: Step 1 is to remove the control panel. Eew--rather dusty, no?Step 2 was to disconnect the element from the control panel (held in place by a ceramic tube and a screw holding it to the switch plate. Step 3 was to pull the element out of the kiln bricks--CAUTIOUSLY!!!--I was warned, as (apparently) the kiln bricks are fragile. I quickly realized that the bricks were likely to break because the work was fiddly and frustrating as hell. It didn't help that the element crumbled to bits every time I got a good grip on it. Here is the kiln, with new element in place, all vacuumed out and ready to go. Now I just have to attach the new coil ends to the switch plate.......reattach the control panel cover......load up the kiln (with the monstrously hideous pots that weren't fired properly)....and Bob's your uncle!I have started up the kiln, but it takes about 5 hours to get up to the required temps (about 2000F--hard to believe I'm responsible--gulp--for wiring it up!), then it takes about 12 hours to cool down enough before I can open the kiln to see if it worked. Here's hoping.

Frederick and the cows

Last week was cow week for Frederick. On Monday, he and Emily went to a nearby farm (Cook's farm) to visit cows, but he was too scared to get close. So, Emily took him back every day (usually timed for feeding time because calves get bottle fed and helpers are always appreciated) and it wasn't long before Frederick decided that cows are the best! Best of all, cows make milk which can be turned into ice cream--and Cooks farm conveniently sells all sorts of ice cream products. Frederick brought home vanilla and strawberry and I can attest that both are delicious.

So. That happened.

Thought I should mention the elephant in the room: The Election Results.  In a staggering upset, Trump won the majority of the electoral college (he didn't get the most votes, of course, but only somebody who thought a democracy required the winner to get more votes than his opponent would quibble about that) and will be THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD.  This is, apparently, not some kind of fever dream.  Riots and protests are happening in large cities, while everywhere the number of aggressive acts against minorities and women has exploded.  In Royal Oak, for example, a fairly prosperous suburb of Detroit, a middle school classroom was video'd gleefully chanting "Build the Wall!" while the few Hispanic children in the class cried openly.  And then, Leonard Cohen died.  He did manage to put out his final album mere weeks before.  It's called "You Want It Darker".  Maybe he knew.  Anyway, a fitting anthem for our times:


Saturday Night Live made the connection. That last verse...

New Normal November

 Clocks back overnight.  Then, a misty moisty morning...

 ...that pretty soon became a beautiful sunny day.  So off to Seven Lakes for a trot.

 Looks good enough to swim in.

Halloween Party Pics

Emily just sent us copies of pictures she took during their Halloween party.  Frederick is an unknown species of dinosaur and Emily and Ava are pirates:

Apparently Emily in a black wig was a distraction for Frederick and he had a difficult time keeping his hands off it.

I mentioned in the earlier blog that the most important feature of the costume, from F's point of view, was that it have eyebrow horns (which is a real thing and all the best dinosaurs have them).  That's what those pointy pink things are on the top of his head.

Not surprisingly the costume was hot and everyone was pink-faced and moist by the end of the day.

Frederick models the back of his costumes, so you can see the plates and detachable tail:

Here is a whole family of pirates, complete with parrot:

A closer look at the duck food thief

I moved the duck food dish closer to the house, but it hasn't deterred him/her/it.  In fact, the little bugger was inside our screened-in porch this morning!  Insatiable.