Signs of Spring

From wasps appearing in the office and intruding on private email correspondence, to muskrats wandering onto dangerous roads, to robins hopping across the lawn, to snowmen melting into nothing, it appears that spring is here. Finally.

Evidence of Being Human

While hypertext and technology are evidence of human intelligence and tool-making capacities, it's also important to recognize that being human also means making poop, as has been true for 14,000 years in North America, according to a new discovery. Not only did they poop, they pooped in caves. I'm sure it made the caves less livable.

Hypertextopia

My students and I tried out a hypertext fiction site today. Thanks for the tip, Dan. It's like living in Hypertextopia!

Saying Goodbye to Lance

Services were held this afternoon for DSU student Lance Parliament, who was in one of my classes. His death came in a fatal car crash with a bus last Wednesday as he returned to Madison from Sioux Falls. He was a good young man, and the services revealed how much he had connected with the people here, from faculty members and administrators to students in his classes. He was a welcome addition to the classroom and will be missed.

Snow Day = Snowman Day

While the wife and I were at work today, slaving away in classrooms, meetings, and more meetings, Anica and Walter got to stay home and play. We came home to clear walks and this little pale fellow to greet us in the back yard. I wasn't sure how to read his expression, but the other two are pretty easy to identify.

Meanwhile, it's snowing again!

Saturday and Schmeckfest

Freeman Academy in Freeman, SD, has held a Schmeckfest every year for the past 50 years, and this year we got tickets, so we and the B's, along with our madchen, went down, looked over the cool stuff, and enjoyed their good Mennonite cooking.
They apparently serve about 1000 people each of the four days of the fest, driven mostly by volunteers who collectively raise over $100,000 for the school each year. Impressive!
On the campus is also a good museum, and the fest includes demonstrations of such activities as basket weaving, soap making, and cooking the good, old-timey stuff like poppy-seed rolls, bierocks, and other stuff (like handmade pot holders). There's another opportunity next weekend to check it out. It's worth a drive!

House Progress

Over the past week there's been some progress on the interior of the big house, with sheetrock and the first and second coat of mud put up. Outside, the trees have been trimmed, more of the old wood has been consumed by the big stove, and the porch is becoming again a gathering place more than a project storage center.

Back from Foodville

Now that spring break is coming to a close, it's perhaps worthwhile to recount the gustatory travels we've been on. They include some New Orleans jambalaya and chocolate bread pudding with pecan/caramel/Kahlua topping, shown here, a night in Tuscany supper that featured roast pork, fancy bread, fine wine, and chocolate cake, and an Easter meal that included ham, potatoes, veggies, beans, bread, and this bread bunny that had us eating out of his belly. We ate him as well. Top the meal off with some pie--pecan, lemon meringue, apple--and some strawberry brownie dessert, and you should be able to call it a good day. But will you come back to life when all's digested? We'll see! Eating's not all we did, but it does seem to have occupied a big part of our week. Thanks to all who cooked!

Paradise in a Pan

Sometimes you don't have to travel to reach an island of paradise; sometimes Xanadu comes out of the oven. Imagine fragrances during the half-hour these spent cooking, the anticipation as they came from the oven bubbling caramel, the satisfying whump as they flipped onto the foil, the sweet scramble as you make sure none of the caramel gets left in the pan, and then . . . you've arrived. A little butter, a plate, a fork, and a passport to a sweet beyond.

Traveler IQ Challenge

Since I'm not bound for any sites afar, I found myself this morning playing a quiz game on Travelpod.com, which tells me I'm not too bad at my geography. Faced with a world map and the name of some city or famous site like the Eiffel Tower, you aim your mouse at the map and click. You get points for getting close and for speed. It ain't easy! So far I've just reached level 9, but you have to score high enough to continue. Can you--quick!--find Suriname? I mean, without your Google map?

Not So Surprised by Snow

They'd been saying that snow was on its way here, and sure enough, we're getting a fair dose. It looks like a couple of inches so far of the wet and heavy stuff with more coming. Good thing I got my tree-trimming done yesterday--check out those cleaned-out trees.

The good dose of snow on the first real day of spring break drives home the different plans we have this year as related to last year, the blog postings from then (1 and 2) depicting a different scene than the one you see here.

Down from the Trees

Spring lurks at the corner of the street, its temptations wafting over the lot, its birdcall in the air. The sap is beginning to run, trees heavy with it, buds swelling. Grass that has emerged from the snow is already beginning to turn green, snow retreating even from the shadowy places. We've had rain, though frost is on the grass each morning. Courtesy of the mother-in-law, today we enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage, bread pudding, and good company, preparation for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. Yesterday a few trees fell out at the Bechen farm, having served their purpose--no buds on their branches this spring. Friday evening we enjoyed companionship at the B's, a few beverages, some limericks, the first dose of corned beef and cabbage of the year.

This afternoon branches fell from the apple trees, my attempt at putting them to right, lopping off the diseased and withered, keeping the branches that mean to do the work of apple-making. Suckers and branches going in the wrong direction dropped into the yard, some well-dead wood already in the wood stove. Sore and satisfied, I plopped my tired bones down near that stove's heat and enjoyed the evening with spouse and dog.

The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth

Lunch today was sponsored by the Women's Day organizers here at DSU, and the featured speaker was an inspiring author of children's books, Jean Patrick, the author of The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth, If I Had a Snow Plow, Who Carved the Mountain, and other books. She told about slowly taking hold of her dream to become a children's author and the struggles that she has faced to fulfill that dream, and to keep on working toward it. She's an accomplished speaker and is available for school visits. She'll appear as Jackie Mitchell (pictured here), if you like, the girl who struck out the Babe and Lou Gerhig. Good stuff.

Epic Adventure--Dog Rescues Cat

Okay, so I had managed to survive over 50 years without seeing "Milo and Otis," but enough is enough, and since we had a young visitor to the household, it seemed right that we take it on. Who knows how many pugs and kitties gave their all in filming this tribute to cross-species friendships. How many takes would it have taken in the kitty free-fall? How many in the turtle rescue? How many in the bear/pug battle? Or the cat/seagull encounter? How many in the birthing sequence, both dog and cat? "Made in Japan" is all over this film, with sequences that would have raised the ire of American animal-rights activists, even in 1983, when it was released in Japan (revamped for the US in 1989). Even the best animal trainers would have trouble, I would think, in encouraging a cat or dog to befriend a fox, deer, duck, chicken, goose, sheep, turtle, cow, and a passel of other animals for the filming of such an adventure.

Spellbinding? Heart-wrenching? Blood-curdling? Mesmerizing? Nah. Just Dudley Moore's voice and lots of cutsie animal antics.

Walter in His Dancing Slippers

Walter isn't all that bright, and he's getting a little old, so when he dances at the door expecting to get out to do his business, he's probably thinking he'll bolt for the yard, race along the fence, and sprinkle half a dozen spots on his top ten list. But when it's 10 below and he steps from the house onto a giant frozen planet, his ambition goes out the window and he'd just as soon piss where he stands. So he needs a little coaxing. It's nice to have the sprinkling done a few feet from the back door.

So, as part of that effort Walter was gifted some dandy slippers, which he first tried outside tonight. Ahem. He must have thought he'd been velcro-ed to the floor. The wife carried him to the back door, where, with some coaxing, he tried using them for ski boots. Once his ordeal was over, he did manage to get back to the house under his own power, looking something like a miniature Clydesdale the way he carefully (but quickly--it's 0 out now) lifted each foot.

The wife asked whether I'd like it if I would have appreciated it if someone had put me in shoes after having been without them all my life. Well, I told her, that's exactly what did happen to me. It's been some time ago, but I hope I took to it better than W did.

Our Dearly Departed Friends

Friends and students appear this week in the DSU production of "Dearly Departed," by David Bottrell and Jesse Jones, a comedy depicting the reactions of a family to the death of their "mean and surly" patriarch. It'll make you laugh. I had a bit part for the invited dress rehearsal and am listed as an understudy, but last night I just sat back and enjoyed the whole show. It was good to see students having such fun AND performing well.

She Takes to the Slopes

Our German girl made friends with the ski slopes out in the hills, and although she took a raft of pictures, it appears that her camera is balking now at coughing those photos back up from its electronic depths. But the itty-bitty, ten dollar camera I sometimes carry in my pocket just to take bad pictures seems to have captured her here.

Downhill Easy, Uphill . . . Not So Much

When friends invite you out to their ski-cabin, you don't hem and haw. You hustle your buns across the state and slap on skis, jump on the lift, and swoosh down the mountain. If you're really feeling like you want to put your hosts to the test, you ask for a lift for the car, too. After all, shouldn't it enjoy a little ride uphill as well?

Mary Kay Took the Wife Away

. . . and sorta-daughter's singing in the choir.

A Taste From the Big Easy

The in-laws drove down into New Orleans recently on a two-week trip and returned with some treats available only there. They followed my recommendation to the Cafe du Monde and returned with some chicory coffee, some pralines, a bit of fudge, some beignet mix, and a six-pack of Abita for yours truly and wife. Now how you gonna top that, huh? What a haul! I even picked up some true LARD to fry the beignet in for that true taste, so if my arteries suddenly clog up, you'll know why. The mother-in-law learned the lard secret from beignet gurus in the big city, so it should be good.

Goodbye, Old Paint

All things must pass. My old Dell computer has served me well in my office for a half-dozen years or so, plugging away long before I got my little Gateway Tablet. But when a recycling offer came along, I realized it was time to let the old machine go. After all, I had two other computers I could use in the office, and each one takes up space, so I had it toted off to be piled in with the other machines on campus.

Several students in past years have written about computer recycling, and I've read some on my own, and the news isn't always good; although some companies do offer programs to extract key polluting elements from cast-off electronics, some just get the offending electronics out of the country. Check the EPA for a list of contacts for electronics recycling.

Public Libraries and Free Stuff

I envy New Yorkers who can drop by the New York Public Library, entering through its doors into the vast holdings of books, publications, and other artifacts. But a comment elsewhere sent me looking at their online site and I discovered a wealth of material that I (and you) can get at for free, legally, online. You can stream movies, download audio books, watch animated talking picture books, and listen to webcasts, among other things. I suspect other libraries offer the same options. I'd still like to climb the steps past the big lions and check the place out for myself, but for now their online presence will have to do.

An article that I read recently, leading me into other available free stuff, was on Business Week, "World Wide Web: Land of Free Stuff." Check out the slide show available there.

Fox Hunting Success

Some things in life can still be had for free, and despite pressure from some cable TV lovers I know, we're still off the grid in terms of TV channels. We've been making do with a pair of rabbit ears that brought in CBS, ABC, NBC, and a fuzzy PBS, but I had brought the big antenna from the old house. It had been sitting in the attic since we moved, not hooked up. It took Super Bowl weekend to get me up there with the gear to get the antenna in the air and the signal to the TV. It's done, and channel 17, FOX, host of Super Bowl XLII, is coming in dandy. We're having a game!
Our other old channels are also coming in clear and bright, and we're picking up something called the CW, which I thought might be the country western channel, but when "Will and Grace" came on, I decided otherwise. Who knows, maybe someday I'll wonder how I got along without "Gossip Girls," "Aliens in America," or "Friday Night Smackdown." For now, I'm happy to have the fox and a clear signal from PBS.

Shanghai Surpise: Snow!

Our friends in Shanghai are reporting on their experiences with the recent heavy snows in China. From Chun (in blue):

Just came back from a one-week trip to Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province,which is one of the most renowned national parks and world relics in China. Danyan, Songmei, and Zhaobei went there too. We had even more snow there than in Shanghai. The blizzard, which was reported to be the heaviest in 50 years, blocked the highway and most flights were cancelled. We're lucky enough to catch a midnight flight to flee back home during the interval of two snowfalls. My heart is still fluttering with fear when I see how terrible the situation now in Hunan is from TV newsreports. The local government had to turn to the Army for help with the relief work and Mr.Premier flew there to investigate the situation.

The heavy snow, the falling stock price... we really need something nice to boost our spirits for the coming new year :) . Kids are quite happy with the snow. They rarely see so much snow in Shanghai. We made a snowman yesterday.

And from Bei (in white):

Yes, we did have a lot of snow this year in Shanghai as well as in the other parts of China.It causes many trouble since the traditional Chinese New Year is around the corner. Many people can't go back to their hometown to have family reunions.

I always like snowing because actually I was brought up in the northern part of China with my grandparents.

And from Cuiping: There is a lot of snow in Shanghai and the other peripheral cities this winter, which is rare in meteorological history in China. Maybe you know that the Chinese traditional Spring Festival (Feb. 7.) is approaching now, so millions of poeple working outside their hometown are eager to go back for their family reunion. They are now hindered by the heavy snow on the way home for several days. Despite a lot of snow these days, it melts quickly as soon as it falls down. So it is muddy on the roads and people here somewhat hate the snow.

So there you have it, a variety of responses, with commentary. It's clear that this area of China isn't accustomed to snow, with many people relying on bicycles to go to work. It comes at a bad time as well, with a big percentage of people on the road. I wish them well. My friends who plan to go to China this summer wish that some of the snow could be kept for summer, when its cold would be welcome.

Monkey, Monk, Samaritan

A clash of cultures appeared in my little world today, a contrast concerning the aftermath of a life on earth, whether the actions, good or evil, of a human being, have an effect on an afterlife. The contrast came as a result of my getting up early this morning and reading some of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, or Monkey, followed by attending morning services. In the novel, on display is the Buddhist philosophy of reincarnation and a life of works that will lead to a better next life. Monkey and his troupe struggle with the concept of doing good for others, saving a king from a wrongful death, for example. They are selfish and mean, but with effort they can gather their will to do right for others. When they do right, it’s not clear why they do it. Monkey does some good works for fame, Pigsy does them for treasure. But why does the monk take on these challenges? That’s a tricky question, in part because he’s got Monkey and Pigsy (and Sandy) to do his good deeds for him. But well understood among them all is the importance of acting for others; it’s just not easy or desirable always to do.

With this concept in mind of the importance of a life of self-sacrificing acts leading to an improved state in the afterlife, with the possibility of reaching perfection, I then went to services which included a hymn that pointed to the falseness of such teaching. The hymn stated emphatically that works don’t count in salvation, that only faith matters. For my poor whiplashed mind, it was a clash, something I wonder about and something religions clash over. In your teaching, how do you make it clear that the Samaritan should stop? So it says in Luke 10: "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" The idea here is the struggle, “What must I do?”

Sometimes It's Cold

There's no denying the cold sometimes. It could be colder, yes, but it's damned cold now. The wind isn't blowing, so that's something.
I wish the wood stove were in.

Mary Oliver: Maybe what cold is, is the time
we measure the love we have always had, secretly,
for our own bones, the hard knife-edged love
for the warm river of the I, beyond all else . . .

From Mary Oliver's "Cold Poem."

Following the Monkey King

At the beginning of my World Literature class, second semester, we begin with the story of the Monkey King, or Monkey, or Journey to the West. It's a crazy mixture of Buddhist philosophy and action/adventure, a great story that just begs to be told and retold--and is. I've been gathering images for a photo slideshow to use in my class, and it's impressive what there is available, from images of a TV show (stills and video) to pictures of toys, exercise equipment, cartoons, movies, and comic books, among others. The reader follows the adventure of Monkey as he assists Tripitaka who travels west to India. The two are accompanied by Pigsy and Sandy, a pig and a dragon.

What's really amazing is that although millions of people recognize Monkey and his crown, people in the West are largely unaware of the story. Most do enjoy the encounter, however late it comes.

Walter's Whiplash Imitation

Walter's usually game for trying something with a little coaxing, so he got to be the first to try the little horse I salvaged from the burn pile and got ready for a little young'un that was having his first birthday party Sunday. Little W. seems uncomfortable, since the toy is built for a creature with thumbs.

Progress Report

It's been some busy days lately, some good times, some work, some travel. You can see here the results of the day's work on the fireplace project. The new header is in, the back wall is up, the interior wall for the alcove is in. With some prodding I took down the old back wall with the doors to the closet and built the new wall all the way to the ceiling. In the last photo all the closets were still intact, but they're gone entirely. We'll have some kind of cabinet behind the wall you see to the right.
In the process we've discovered that the big doorway, the header to which you can see outlined by the light paint in the photo here, was probably framed by a short wall/cabinet that came up about two feet or so, then probably a column coming up from that to the header. Too bad that's gone. You could see the short wall outlined on the floor and on the back of the wall to the right. I just finally quit on the project for the day. It's too late for more.
Things are going well. The header had me worried since I had to decide finally how high to go. It may still change, but I'll just space it out--easy enough.
The worst part of today was trimming back the plaster and lath on the left wall; it was a dust cloud to end all dust clouds, even with the wife holding the shop-vac tube right at the saw blade.
We also discovered the dining room floor we thought was in pretty good shape there has got a light coat of glue. I imagine it will sand down okay if it comes to that.
Enough. Thanks for checking in. I might need encouragement, so drop me a line!

Replacing the Fireplace

We've been busy at our house with yet another remodel project, replacing the fireplace with a good, solid wood stove that will provide some relief from the sudden rise in home heating costs. In the meantime it's a bit of a mess. But Anica, our new foreign-exchange student from Germany, has already proven herself to be helpful as we try to make this improvement. Keep a watch here for progress!

Abstract Dryer Painting, or Pen and Ink?

The wife tried her hand at some abstract painting and sent me some images of her work, which she has since destroyed. I'm not generally one to criticize, but using the dryer (which we use on a regular basis for laundry) seems a little impractical, and employing an entire load of blue jeans to apply the ink to the inside of the dryer also seems extravagant. If the effect here appeals to you, though, it's a relatively simple procedure to try for similar effects, though your results will vary. You'll need a dryer, several pairs of blue jeans (the wife used a mix of work and good jeans, but work jeans will probably work fine, and cleanup is easier), and a good, full rollerball pen. The wife used a brand new one the dentist gave me for Christmas. (It's best to ask, or use your own).
As a side benefit, when you do decide to edit or erase the painting you've created, the fingernail polish remover generates some powerful mind-altering effects when you apply it in the dryer drum and put your head in.
If you want more tips, contact her directly. I don't care to relate the questions; she seems a little touchy about the procedure.

My Kingdom for a Crown II

Each time I go to the dentist it seems as though they want to crown me, and not to bestow jewels on me (not like my cool faculty crown), but to lay on me a new tooth, a fake one in place of a real but faulty one. So they were busy with drills and buffers and goop getting me ready for another crown to replace one that popped off. Too bad the old one's not worth much; it sure cost me a pretty penny when they put it in there.
Of course, there's an upside. The wife and I just suck our TV channels freely out of the public air, but it's slim pickings, so the dentist chair is one of the few places I get to wield a remote that commands more than three channels. This morning I was there about long enough to watch Peter Lorre in Mad Love, where he plays wacko surgeon Dr. Gogol, who loves a woman (played by Frances Drake) married to a pianist, whose hands get crushed. When the wife asks Gogol to save her husband's hands, he grafts a murderer's hands on him secretly. The hands take on a life of their own, but the end of the movie only shows Gogol getting a knife in the back, not what happens to the pianist/murderer and his lovely wife.
Then I got to see just the beginning of Lorre in The Beast with Five Fingers, another pianist, another hand problem.
Leaving the dentist's office, my mind wanders into what implications there are to having a manufactured tooth, if the tooth might influence me like it did the pianist, rendering me more machine than I was before, perhaps leaving me less genuine, less earth-friendly. Who knows.

New Year Frost

The new year in Madison dawned cold and clear, -2 degrees by our thermometer, with the wind blowing to make it colder yet. The little pooch danced in the cold snow to do his morning business, and frost etched this white backdrop for the celebratory corkscrews in our kitchen window.