September 11th

I know, it's not even September, it's almost October 11th, a month past the 9 year anniversary.

What do you remember from the coverage?

There was lots of remembrances for the firemen, the people who died in the building and the planes, lots of pity and remorse directed at ourselves. And I do morn the loss of those people.

But I found myself thinking about how September 11th happened: why the hijackers did what they did, how U.S. foreign policy was then versus now, have we done anything concrete to make ourselves safer, how have views toward religion changed because of what happened on that day (and the time since then), etc.

But there was none that I heard.

It seems that we (as a country) have just become more divided, more partisan, more disenchanted. We're no safer, we've spent tons of money in two different wars and bailing out financial institutions, incompetence and corruption continue to spread through our political system (both parties, one just has better PR).

That is what I'm sad about.

A Busy September

Where to begin?

Simone began the month with a row boat. That was a reoccurring theme for the month. The tricky part was when she wanted to row with me in the boat.



We then went to the beach for labor day.

There were sand castles to be made,



walks to the river to go fishing,



and thoughtful strolls:



Afterwords, Simone and Nana made pig-shaped cookies with the new cookie cutter:



Then we read Skippy Jon Jones (the case of the burrito bandito), which turned out to be funnier on the second read. Simone has been big into masks, so she dressed up as Skippy Jon Jones:



Then we had to return home, to normalcy - pancakes with faces:



To remember September 11th, I took a photo of our beautiful daughter:



Then, Simone and I headed to Opal Creek to hang with Grandpa, Nana, uncle Sam, (soon ot be auntie) Ingrid, and Sarah. We began the trip with the 3 mile hike in. Simone wanted her backpack on (it's a cow):



We walked in with Grandpa and Nana. Well I rode my bike towing the Burley:





The next day we went for a hike - Simone walked a good 2+ miles. We had a great time.



She pretended to be a mushroom that was growing from a seed. First a seed:



And then growing up to be a big mushroom:



Simone took several pictures, some turned out pretty well:



We ran into Nana and Grandpa on the hike and walked back together.



(a couple more photos of the hike are available here). I really liked Simone's quizzical look here (still at Opal Creek):



The next week was more excitement. Sam and Ingrid's wedding. First the rehearsal dinner at Kennedy.



These two are the ones getting hitched:



This was just too cute:



The next day was the big day (many photos from Nansie Jubitz here). The reason we were at the rehearsal dinner was because Simone was the flower girl. And this first picture tells it all. Simone was bubbling with excitement:



And Simone in action:



Simone danced the night away, nearly adopting Ingrid as her favorite person.

The next day we woke up, had breakfast at the B&B with Ron, Angel, Moo (Jason), Alex, Susa and their girl. We then took a trip to Lost Lake:



Simone went fishing in the lake:



Simone also really wanted to take one of the boats out, but we were on our way to Sam and Ingrid's BBQ.

Simone and I finished the month off with a picnic at Sunset Park, at sunset:



Whew!!!! Busy times, much fun.

A Little Bit Of Ranting

It boggles the mind that Wall Street has the gall to complain about new regulations while making BILLIONS the last two years (with billions in bonuses). They would have brought down the country (world?) if it were not for the bail out, and now complain that they're being stifled - while making bank when the rest of the country is poorer than ever. Income inequality hasn't been this great since just before the great depression.

Rechargeable batteries. I went to buy some more rechargeable batteries and only one of the 5 or 6 brands available had any mention of how much power they could store. That's really the only useful metric. Yet the packaging told me the batteries would last 12 times longer than regular batteries and the charge would hold up 3 times as long.... all useless, give me the milliamp hours.

I love how the Iraq war was announced to be over on Sept 1st, but we'd already had two major offensives in the two weeks following. Yet the media proudly thumped the drum of "combat operations are over."

I'm not crazy about (poorly designed) digital controls, which most seem to be. What do I mean? Well, digital (versus analog) controls only allow you to change the temperature, volume, flow by pre-determined increments. And those increments are generally too large. Think of taking a shower, you can turn the hot and cold by the tiniest amounts to control the temperature exactly how you want. Imagine if the water controls only had 6 positions, the water would always be too hot or too cold. Well, the digital controls in my life that are currently annoying me the most: the gas burners on my stove, the volume on the car radio, and the volume on my computer. The burners are really the most annoying - it's very difficult to simmer.

5 Movie Reviews in 5 Minutes

Am on a bit of a movie spree lately.

500 Days of Summer - quirky, well done, nice job of a non-romantic comedy. You knew what was coming, but it was enjoyable to watch the characters get where they were going.

All About Steve - The previews led me to think this would be funny. Mary fell asleep during it and I watched through the end more out of morbid curiosity. Sandra Bullock's character was fun and interesting, but a bit too much to be believable (even with suspended disbelief). I thought the end was good - last 5 minutes.

Date Night - started out slow and boring, was a bit worried. But about 20 minutes into it the twist came and the movie turned up. Mark Wahlberg was fun, and all the movie held together pretty well until the last 15 minutes - which was a bit over the top. I did think there was a scene where Tina Fey totally looked like Parker Posie.

The Hurt Locker - bravo. Very suspenseful, I was on the edge of my seat most of the movie. I don't know what the take-home message was, but I enjoyed watching it.

Awesome, I Fcsking Shot That - a Beastie Boys concert video - with much of the footage taken from 50 video cameras handed out into the crowd. First, thumbs down for their green track suits. The concert was pretty decent, and I like the idea - but the footage from most of the cameras wasn't very interesting. Still, their show wasn't as entertaining as Stop Making Sense, so the fan footage was a way to make it somewhat watchable. Not recommended for epileptics.

The Horror

Hazel is generally a pretty low maintenance dog, which is nice.

However, today, on a pretty warm day, I take he run in the woods. I'm jogging along, trying to figure out if I'm going to walk or plodrun up the next rise and I smell something. Something awful. I pick up the pace and the smell goes away, for a minute.

The smell comes back again and again, like a bad burrito dinner. Finally, Hazel runs past me - she'd been hanging out behind me for half a mile. As she runs by I notice that she's got several dark, greasy streaks along her neck and shoulders.

I think she found a dead skunk with bowel control problems that had sat in the sun for a few days. I had trouble jogging near her and wasn't looking forward to driving back home with her in the car.

Now it's time for a doggie bath.

Mental Note

Ensure you have the right spare tube when you go riding.

I went on a mountain bike ride with Mary tonight, and got my first flat in a couple of years. No problem, I whip out my spare tube and my pump... the tube has a stem that's too short.

Huh? Well, if you recall, I got a fancy rear wheel to replace the other fancy rear wheel that I got because I've had problems with rear wheels in general. Anyway, the rim has a deep-V cross section, so you need a stem that's long enough to poke out. Turns out, my spare wasn't long enough. I had actually thought of this situation and bought a valve extender, only it was at home in my toolkit.

I could have taken the tube off my front wheel and used it, but at this point I decided I was only 3 miles out and I could just jog back. So I did.

I'm still trying to figure out how I got a pinch flat with my fancy full suspension. Unfortunately, I can't blame it on big air...

New Bedroom

The fairies worked hard and painted Simone's new room and decorated it with a new bed! Here is a photo of Simone and Mary reading a book in Simone's new bed:

And now just an artsy photo of the room the next morning.

This was Simone's first time ever sleeping in a different room than Mary and I (but in the same house). Kind of bittersweet.

July!

Take a look at the photos from July - some pretty cute ones of Simone, like these:

Nocino, the verdict

A year ago today, Simone and I picked a bunch of walnuts to make Nocino. All I'd read said that you should wait 3 or even 6 months to taste it, and around Christmas time I tasted it and found it a bit disappointing. It was kind of bitter, sweet enough, but just not very tasty.

In the past I'd made some lemon liqueur that tasted bitter and generally unpleasant. A year later it ended up very smooth and bright. Turns out, age can help liqueur a lot. So I put the liqueur back in the cupboard and waited.

A few weeks ago I took a sip and it was pretty good! I think it'll be awesome over some ice cream.

If you stop by the house, you should have a taste.

The Shawshank Redemption

Simone and I are hanging out together this weekend. She was very tired from a day in the sun and water. I'm kicking back, having a cool, Jalepeno vodka mojito, enjoying the best movie of all time: The Shawshank Redemption.

Van

Two years ago, Mary bought me a van cherry tree, yes, the one the deer tried to eat (well, it actually did). We planted it last year, along with an apple and a plum tree.

It did get planted in a potentially wet area of the yard (i.e. the front yard), and endured a brutally cold snap in the winter, and then the deer came along. Needless to say, I was a bit disheartened.

Well, the cherries came on and riped very nicely, all of 10-20 of them. We missed some because we were on vacation, but were able to eat a few. And I must say, they were very tasty indeed.

Standup Class

I had a dream last night that I was in a class for standup comedy. We were taken to a club and had to get up there and tell at least 5 jokes. And I only knew three. I spent the whole dream trying to think up other jokes, or how I could use my lack of jokes as a joke. I also realized that my 3 jokes were all "what do you get ..." kind of jokes, which work one-on-one, but not so much in standup. Of course I realized that as I got up in front of the crowd.

And then the dream ended.

Headphones

Simone has been wearing an old pair of over-the ear Sony headphones that I no longer use. We called Nana on the phone through the computer so Simone could hear Nana (and talk to her). Now it's a very enticing activity.

One really nice thing about it is that Simone actually talks with the person on the other end of the phone because she gets to use the headphones and microphone. When she uses the regular phone, Simone often gets distracted, or just speaks very softly.

What I found funny was that when she wears the headphones (and is listening to music), she talks really loudly.

Faces

I saw this page: Made by Joel: Small Cardboard Cutouts, which reminded me of a recent change in Simone's drawing. She's now drawing people as round heads with hair. Very exciting to see the milestones.

Oh deer...

I stand up from the couch, look outside, and a 6-point buck looks back at me.

WTF?!?! He's eating the leaves off my Van cherry tree!

Now I have deer netting around the tree, looks ghetto, but I gotta save the tree.

Peas!

We have peas growing in the garden. Possibly more exciting than strawberries.

Did I Mention?

We got 14 yards of chips?

And we spread them around the new beds - that each have a working water spigot.

Pretty nifty, eh?

First Mountain Bike Ride With Hazel

I took Hazel on a ride today. We've been running together in the woods off and on for the past year and I decided it was time to try the bike. She's a little scared of bikes, which is convenient because it means she's unlikely to get in the way of my front tire, but I will work on getting her a little more comfortable with the bike.

We rode up the logging roads and came down Extendo. Hazel kept up real well and seemed to enjoy herself. Four and a half miles didn't wear her out - so next time we'll try two loops.

Tonight, however, it was a little late, and Simone and Mary had come out as well. They were just walking by the bottom of Extendo when Hazel and I finished - great timing.

Walking/riding back to the car was a great way to end the weekend.

Chamomile and Mint tea

Chamomile and mint tea, both picked from our yard. Simone had a great idea, and it was tasty!

4 Continues Even Today

We met Patty and Ken at Avery park and played on the big train there.

We all climbed on the train.