Category Archives: GeekWorld

Family, GeekWorld, Politics

Night Time, Summer in the Exurbs

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Summer                            Waning Strawberry Moon

Night.  A couple of nights ago I went down the driveway to the mailbox.  As I came back up, I looked up as I often do and saw an object scooting from SSE to NNW.  At first I thought it was a plane.  Without my glasses distance observing for me turns into a game of analyzing tantalizing bits of information rather than direct scrutiny.  As it came overhead though, I could see what I thought were lights were blurs owed to my faulty peepers.  No, it was a satellite.  It was bright and moving fast.

At heavens-above.com I tried to look it up, but the tables for satellite passes only look forward, not backward.  I don’t know what it was, but I know it was man-made.  Whether it was a communications satellite of the International Space Station, it’s still something up there because humans put it there.  An amazing and still almost science fiction notion to this boy of the 1950’s.  I remember Sputnik.  Well.

Kate’s a day away from her surgery.  The vicodin she has to take now makes her dull, “stupid” as she puts it.  She doesn’t like that feeling and looks forward to the time post-op when she can return to her NSAID.

Obama.  As a political leftist, I find things wrong with Obama’s record.  He supported off-shore drilling, he’s ramped up the war in Afghanistan and he’s accepted weakened regulatory legislation and weakened health-care legislation.   The Gulf oil disaster and McChrystal give an air of chaos to his administration, though neither one is his fault.  Here’s my prediction.  A year from now Obama will look very good in all the areas in which he looks very bad right now.  Her’s pulling troops out of Iraq as promised.  The economy will improve.  The public will get clear about the Obama administration’s role in the Gulf oil disaster to his credit and his firing of McChrystal will be seen as what it is, a necessary assertion of civilian authority.

He’s working as a politician, not an ideologue, a necessary ambit if he  wishes to govern, which he does.  Bush was a right wing ideologue and no matter how charming or gritty he appeared it was clear his decision making was in thrall to the neo-con view of the world.  Ideology puts blinkers on the best of us and Obama seems to govern without ideology, though he’s clearly a left-liberal.  Kudo’s to him.

Dogs, Garden, GeekWorld, Memories

Reaching Back in Time

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Beltane                      Waxing Hungry Ghost Moon

We’re only a week away from the summer solstice, but you could not tell it from our current weather.  We’ve had a cool, rainy streak that has made work outside appealing.  It’s also given the weeds considerable encouragement.

The internet allows a look-up phenom that you’ve no doubt experienced at least once.  An e-mail shows up from someone in the way back long ago.  A posting of Facebook.  A comment on  your blog.  I’ve had a few.  Got one Friday from a high school girlfriend, a relationship that meant something to me.  It was nice to hear from her since we stopped seeing each other my senior year and went our separate ways.  E-mail is a great medium for this kind of oh my it’s been so long reacquaintance.  Neutral. Not time sensitive.

Vega has a new gorilla that she carries with her in the house where ever she goes.  It makes a noise and whenever she triggers it, she scoots off for a safe area, not quite sure.  Rigel has no interest in toys, she enjoys the thrill of the hunt, the joy of escape.  Which she did yesterday.  Again.  She got out through a hole under the fence I wouldn’t have thought big enough for her.  I’ve hardened the lower edge of the fence line over the years, but this spot had rotted out.  I found her collar hooked on a log where she’d crawled under the chain-link.  She does not go over the fence anymore.  Electricity.

Kate’s on a countdown for a new hip.  June 30th.  She commented on a discogram yesterday (this involves a probing needle that injects dye between the discs to get a contrast image), “I’m a Norwegian, a stoic and a woman and still I had copious tears.”  She can bear it, but she pays a price.  She also observed, by the way, that I will never, ever have a discogram.  She’s right on that one.

Not a bee day today.  Wednesday looks like the day for the hive inspection.

Aging, Art and Culture, Bees, Dogs, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Garden, GeekWorld, Great Wheel, Minnesota, Our Land and Home, permaculture, Politics, Writing

The Sublime Gift

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Beltane                                       Waning Planting Moon

” Life can’t bring you the sublime gift it has for you until you interrupt your pursuit of a mediocre gift.”

Woolly brother Tom Crane sent this to me.  It took me back to my recent post about Siah Armajani and his personal commitment to staying within his skill set.  When I worked for the church in the now long ago past, I had a boss, Bob Lucas, a good man, who had several sayings he used a lot.  One of them was also similar in spirit, “Don’t major in the minors.”

Stop focusing on the small things you might be able to do well to the exclusion of being challenged by the prajaparmita400serious, important matters.  Stop your pursuit of a mediocre gift.   The tendency to judge our worth by the accumulation of things–a he who dies with the best toys wins mentality–presses us to pursue money or status, power, with all of our gifts.  You may be lucky enough, as Kate is, to use your gifts in a pursuit that also makes decent money; on the other hand if  your work life and your heart life don’t match up, you risk spending your valuable work time and energy in pursuit of a mediocre gift, hiding the sublime one from view.

This is not an affair without risk.  Twenty years ago I shifted from the ministry which had grown cramped and hypocritical for me to what I thought was my sublime gift, writing.  At least from the perspective of public recognition I have to say it has not manifested itself as my sublime gift.  Instead, it allowed me to push away from the confinement of Christian thought and faith.  A gift in itself for me.  The move away from the ministry also opened a space for what I hunch may be my sublime gift, an intense engagement with the world of plants and animals.

This is the world of the yellow and black garden spider my mother and I watched out our kitchen window over 50+ years ago.  It is the world of flowers and vegetables, soil and trees, dogs and bees, the great wheel and the great work.  It is a world bounded not by political borders but connected through the movement of weather, the migration of the birds and the Monarch butterflies.  It is a world that appears here, on our property, as a particular instance of a global network, the interwoven, interlaced, interdependent web of life and its everyday contact with the its necessary partner, the inanimate.

So, you see, the real message is stop pursuit of the mediocre gift.  After that, the sublime gift life has to offer may then begin to pursue you.

Garden, GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Fly Dragon Fly

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Beltane                                    Waxing Planting Moon

Under the cover of a cloudy sky and a gentle rain I planted tomatoes, peppers and alyssum, spread moss as a mulch and cut the scapes off the garlic.  It’s hard to believe but the garlic will be ready to harvest the middle to late part of next month.

I always turn my computers off during a thunderstorm.  Better safe than sorry.  When I came down at 2:30 to crank them up again after the loud thunder bangers we had crashing through around noon, the clouds had dissipated.  I looked up and saw a fleet of winged insects flying to and fro, everywhere, just outside the windows to my east and to my south.  I went out to see what they were.  Dragonflies.  They flew in various directions, scouring, I imagine, for recently hatched mosquitoes.

The dragon fly has a warm spot in my heart not only because they eat mosquitoes, though that’s enough, but their bi-wing construction and hovering flight also appeal to me.  They have just a tinge of magic and the exotic.

As I planted the tomato and pepper transplants in the suntrap, I happened on a small dark toad.  He had been happily ensconced under the bale of sphagnum moss that I moved when I begin to spread it.  He looked around, hopped a bit and stopped.  I told him I didn’t mean to uncover his hiding place and that I was happy he had chosen our garden in which to live.  He acted like he didn’t hear me.

Aging, Art and Culture, GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Hostel Elders

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Beltane                                  Waxing Planting Moon

Two tours today with an elderhost group from Portland, Oregon.  The first involves the Asian collection, the second highlights of European art.   I enjoy Asian tours since I have spent a lot of time with the collection, Asian history and literature.  I also enjoy the freedom of selecting objects for a highlights tour, which can include objects that seem interesting at that time.

My brand new router acted up yesterday and I lost my internet connection.  Minny, an Indian young woman working at 8:30 pm her time, walked me through how to resolve the issue.  Took the usual hour or so after calling Comcast, eliminating the modem or their servers as the problem.  They connected me to Netgear.  It was, as far as tech service goes, a quite reasonable process.

Looks like we’re about to have hot, muggy weather.  That’s the good part about living in Minnesota, without leaving home we can visit several different climates over the course of the year.  This week we will imitate the muggy south.

Bees, Garden, GeekWorld, Great Work, Health, permaculture

Heirlooms. Better Eating, Better Seeds

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Beltane                                    Waxing Planting Moon

Got some plants in the mail.  I didn’t start anything from seed this last winter after starting way too many the season before.  Maybe this winter I’ll hit a happy medium.  These are heirloom plants, so I can save the seeds and plant them next year.  Would somebody remind me to do that when fall comes around?

The flower garden has gotten the short end of the stick this spring and it shows.  Weeds and grass in places where there should be neither.  While Kate’s away, I plan to get some work done on the flowers since the vegetable garden will be planted, irrigation problems are largely resolved and I signed out of the Museum for the two Fridays she’s gone.

We do have a lot of things growing.  The leeks have jumped up as have the sugar snap peas, beets, onions, fennel, mustard greens, garlic, parsnip, strawberries, apples, pears, cherries, currants, quince and blueberries.  The radicchio, thyme, dill, rosemary,  flat parsley and lavender are also off to a good start.  The potatoes are, as they say, in the trenches and we await their emergence.  The whole fruit group is still relatively new to us since the orchard is in its third growing season, but only beginning to actually bear fruit.  A lot of critters have evolved that love fruit:  insects, fungi, birds.  Just how much predation we can expect is still unknown.

I got an e-mail back from Gary Reuter at the U about the comb I photographed.  “The bees,” he said, “are making extra comb.  Take it off.”

The red car went in for its 260,000 mile check up today.  It’s in fine shapes with the exception of a little bit baling wire and bubble gum necessary for the next 100,000 miles.   Toyota dealerships are not intrinsically happy places right now, but they’ve always done well by us and I appreciate them.

Family, Friends, GeekWorld

Our Servants

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Beltane                                        Waxing Planting Moon

A business meeting took most of the morning.  Our new pull behind wagon for the lawn tractor has come in and I need to go pick it up.  Also, I have to purchase two sprinkler heads, both to replace ones dug up and removed by Rigel.  She does not like the sound of that water in the pipes.  Of course, I also have to solve the problem at its source, the irrigation timing itself.

Yesterday there was no power at all to the wall to which the irrigation clock connects, therefore, no irrigation.  After a number of moves, a tripped GFI switch on the west wall of the garage turned out to be the  culprit.

I often marvel at the number of electro-mechanical servants we have.  The irrigation clock controls twelve different zones allowing us to water different sections of our property at different times and with amounts appropriate to the area.  If we need to go somewhere, we hope in a metal cabin, turn a switch and an internal combustion system comes to life to move us along on our journey.

When we have food that needs long term storage, we put it in a metal box that provides temperature cold enough to keep it frozen.  Food that doesn’t need that level of refrigeration go into either our upstairs or downstairs refrigerator.  Though both cooking devices we have in the kitchen run with gas, if we need an even heat we can use the convection feature in the oven, or we can use the toaster oven.  The microwave cooks foods in a manner inconceivable when I was a boy.  A blender and food-processer save long bouts of stirring with spoons or paddles while an electric mixer will kneed dough and work with flour.  There is, of course, the dishwasher as well.

When we want entertainment, we turn on one of the hd tv’s which receive their programming through a cable attached to our house.  The same cable brings in broad-band internet service which connects our three home computers to the world–quite literally.  These computers allow us to send mail, buy almost any retail product, research all manner of topics, read the news, even watch movies and tv shows if we were so inclined.

That’s not all.  If we want to talk directly to friends or family near or faraway, we can pick up a small phone, independent of any lines at all and call toll free, all amazing from the reference point of my childhood.

In addition of course we have the lights powered by electricity in every room of our home and in outlying sheds as well.

Now, go back over this list and imagine the number of servants it would take to water the property with the kind of precision and control I achieve by pushing a few buttons.  Think of all the work in the kitchen that would require either a cook or a stay at home parent.  The internet and cable tv afford us opportunities that were simply not available in my childhood, global reach and multiple forms of entertainment–at home.

Staying connected with friends and family has become casual, not requiring long trips or extended conversations via letter.

Then there’s the matter of all those candles.  Replaced by light switches.

And, oh yeah, how could I forget in Minnesota:  the furnace and the air conditioner.

This is, truly, an age of miracles.  But, the miracles come at a cost, don’t they?

Cooking, GeekWorld, Humanities

Going for the Circuit

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Beltane                                                  Waning Flower Moon

So much for a quieter day.  I group errands until I have enough time to do many at once. Today I hopped in the car and took off for the post office where I got my long delayed Oxford Latin Dictionary.  It now stands right next to my OED.  Can’t wait to use it.

Next stop, Lights on Broadway in Brooklyn Park, trying to get the halogen light fixtures we bought there a couple of years ago repaired.  Got great assistance from Adam, but no joy on an immediate fix.  He’s going to see if we can get a warranty replacement.

When I left Lights on Broadway, I gritted my teeth and prepared to encounter that most oxymoronic of all terms:  Comcast Customer Service.  Whoa.  Big surprise. Went smoothly.  Talk about disintermediation.  I pick up, deliver and install all of my electronic devices for them.  I’m old enough to remember the smiling gas station attendant who would offer to check under the hood.  Sigh.

Next stop Teavana where I picked up 4 ounces of Copper Hongcha and 4 ounces of Jasmine Pearl.  After tacos at a place next to the Sleep Comfort bed folks, I headed back home.  2 hours plus round trip.

Aging, Art and Culture, Faith and Spirituality, Friends, GeekWorld

Every Life Is A Universe

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Beltane                                      Waning Flower Moon

As you can tell, cybermage Bill Schmidt has contributed again to this blog.  He set me up on WordPress and has updated this software from time to time, including the new photograph.  The old one has only been retired, not eliminated.  We would like to find a couple of more photographs I could rotate over the course of year, perhaps a seasonal array.  Thanks again, Bill.

In the docent lounge today I saw Wendy talking with Linda.  This was a moment to remind us that we can never tell what lurks in the life of people we see casually from a distance.  These two women talking, not remarkable.  A woman recently treated for breast cancer and another whose son recently died of an overdose of oxycontin talking, more remarkable.  It took my breath away.

I’ve spoken with both of them over the last few weeks and I can only say that the resilient and yet unblinking attitude they both have is a testament to the human spirit.  We never know the full story of those we meet, even those closest to us, because the inner life exists encased in an impenetrable place, the mind and heart of another.   Still, we do get clues, signals from the interior and they often come in moments of tragedy.

(Pissaro:  Conversation)

One of the truest things I have ever read is that each death is an apocalypse for an entire universe dies each time a human dies.  This makes these encounters with it more telling, for the stakes are so high.  So, the next time you see two people engaged in casual conversation, pause a moment to celebrate this oh so simple, oh so magnificent act.