Fame at last!

Maybe not on the level of Grandpa Cushing's letters to the Guardian but check it out!

Orange chair power struggle

Whose been in my chair when I'm not home? That's what I'd like to know.

Botanical Experiment

As Simon mentioned, the landscape is a barren (albeit warm) wasteland. So it's tempting to head to the nearest plant nursery and buy up everything in sight. I didn't slip that far, but I did see this oddity at Meijer the other day and bought it:

It claims to be a pussy willow grafted onto a willow tree. (If you look closely, you can see the graft site near the top of the stem.) So, imagine a pussy willow bush the size of a full grown willow tree! (A small note attached to it suggested that it be planted outside. Will do!) When I got it, the pussy willow blossoms looked true to their name, like small kitten feet peeping out of the branches. Since the warm spell hit, they have fully blossomed and are pollinating our house.

The plan is to put this in the ground near the pond. I am hoping it will be ONE plant the ducks do not eat. (Note about the top photo: the sweater in progress is a yoke sweater I started during Christmas break, intending to get it done before the weather turned warm in early May, which is the usual seasonal schedule. Since night time temps are in the 50s, knitting a bulky yoke sweater has lost its appeal. I suspect this will reappear next Christmas break.)

Sunny Seven Lakes

Continuing the "unseasonably warm" theme that all our readers are clamo(u)ring for:

I don't like this time of year (which is usually in March or even April) - the sun is quite glarey (it's still low in the sky) and there are no leaves to provide shade.
In other news:
Kids Nowadays Don't Know They're Born and
Things Were Much Cheaper In My Day.

Always exciting at work

The whole family (those that still live in Flint, that is--insert hard stare directed westward to Chicago) are in the office today, getting stuff done. Suddenly there is a small flurry of activity outside, five stories down. Here is the reason:

Look closer...

The cops are here and figuring out what do to.

And there is the yellow tape that will secure the area. (So far, nothing has actually been done with the tape, because there is no obvious way to attach it to the building.)

It's not even windy out... Update: Several hours later, the sign is still loose but at least the yellow tape is doing its job:

UPDATE: A bloke came later to fix it:

Hotsy totsy

 Mark Twain once said "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco".  Well, this winter in Michigan is warmer than a pretty ordinary summer day in San Fran.

 No leaves on the trees yet, of course, but there were a lot of people out fishing, who normally would've been ice-fishing.

Spring Has Sprung!

Unbelievably, it is short sleeve weather here. Yet there are still small mountains of filthy snow piled up in all the large store parking lots. The ducks are happy, and that's all that matters.Sylvester remembers why sneaking outside is so great and considers doing it again.

BFG

Frederick is our resident BFG (Big Friendly Giant, a movie that he recently discovered and loves). This is a close up of his height chart in his room, which shows the 6' mark he passed last September. Today (Valentine's Day), he is at that top line (it's messy because he was wiggly and I am still recovering from a HORRIBLE flu that is sweeping the nation (and, yes, I did get a flu shot)), which is just below 6'2", which is just a hair shorter than Simon.

Thomas is taller than Simon and so still the tallest in the family (when did I become the tiny one??) but Thomas better watch out: one of these days Thomas is going to come home and Frederick is going to reach down and stick Thomas into his pocket.

Half n Half

It was almost Spring-like today, but not for part of the back yard:

For Thomas

Thomas has been complaining about this for months and possibly years (I can't remember how long it's been broken).  Well, thanks to Connie, it's fixed.  Better come home to take advantage:

Sickie

A terrible plague is sweeping the land. My classes have been decimated, and those that drag themselves to class are hacking and wheezing and sneezing in a quite disgusting manner. Our household has been 66% unaffected (who knows what Thomas is doing in Chicago) but the one of our number who was struck down, fell hard. Here he is recuperating (apparently in quite good spirits):

Three Little Piggies

THIS time they are building their gas station out of cinder block bricks--surely that will keep the Flint wolves at bay, right?

Well THAT'S not worrying...

Mott is between our house and UM-Flint campus:

I mean, what is the world coming to?  "Due to"?

Uneventful weekend

I understand there is some kind of sporting event this weekend, but not of any concern to this household.  So here's a deer in For-Mar

 Frederick let it be known that he only left the couch with great reluctance.

Flint Water Update

The latest.  In short, Flint residents can't sue for damages because, says this judge, to permit such cases would mean that the courts would be "circumventing" state agencies put in place to regulate water.  But: (1) What if state agencies fail to do their job? and (2) What exactly are courts for, one (Flint resident) wonders.

Mosaic Update

As I am sure everyone is wondering, I will give a full update on how the mosaic progresses. In addition to needing many, many more polyps, I need the little "arms" that reach out from the polyps. Here is one:

Here are lots more, all piled up and waiting for the kiln to fill so I can do what is called a "bisque fire." (That is a light cooking that turns the clay into a porous cookie, or biscuit-like substance that will accept the glaze.) Don't worry, they can be piled in heaps at this point because after the bisque fire, they will be nice and dry, and won't bake into a solid mass. I've got lots more polyp disks and polyp arms on the two shelved below this one.

However, the problem arises after the bisque fire, after they little arms are dipped into the glaze: during the glaze firing, which is much hotter, the glaze will become vitrous and will melt onto anything it touches--so it is vitally important that the arms not touch one another, or even the shelf. I lost some sleep over this until I came up with this idea: a big clay cookie with lots of holes stabbed into it. I'll hold the arms by the very end, dip them into glaze, and then pop them (standing upright) into this holder (which will also go through the bisque fire and be dry as an old cookie). Then, they can fire and, if the glaze is just right, they will pop loose when cool OR, if the glaze runs, they will stick to the cookie which is no loss (except for the one arm) and the kiln shelf will be clean and undamaged.

Now that I have written out the process, it sounds really tedious.