FALLING FORWARD

Its that time of year again...

Though I guess I'm lucky not having to be

anywhere at any set time.

I can doze when I want.

The glide into the new time slot

will be mild for me this year.

Still...

I grumble.
I don't like the time changes.

All in all the weekend was great.
Pretty much just the man and me...
no visitors.
Ordering pizza in.
Lazy days watching college football.
Romance too.
Ooh la la!
Living off left over pizza the next day.
I'd say that is the perfect weekend.


My Ducks won against the Huskies of Washington U.
It was a fun game to watch.

But I think the most interesting game of the weekend
had to be Oregon State
vs
Stanford.

For all the hoopla about Stanford
and Andrew Luck,
who truly is an incredible quarter back
destined to be the Heisman winner this year...
The Beavers gave them a real hassle!


You have to understand that Stanford is ranked 4th
in the nation before this game.
Oregon State is not ranked.
They've had a fairly lousy year.
It should have been an easy win for the Cardinals.
Nope.


The Beavers held Stanford too long for a team that highly ranked.
For almost 3/4 of the game,
the Beavers had a chance to do damage that might 
stick.
They in fact made a touch down early on...
that should have been counted, 
but wasn't over ruled after review.


I say should have because it was a question of
causing "intentional" harm to another player.
I did not see any intent to harm,
only an unfortunate case of both players dipping
at the same time and a collision of shoulders.
I think the Beaver player dipped to avoid such a hit.
Sadly so did the other player.
That's my opinion.



In normal circumstances,
I believe the damage to the player who was hurt
would have been much less to a player that was not previously and seriously injured.

It is unfortunate for the player who was hurt
that he had already had two big concussions
in this season...
and one of those just the week before.
It was not very responsible of his coaches to allow him
even to play so soon.
Possibly not even at all.


Concussions are compound injuries.
They don't get better.
The damage sustained stays
and any subsequent 
damage is piled on top of the previous damage,
adding to the injury.
So what may be a good slam and not do damage
can certainly do far worse damage
to a previous head injury.
He was taken away by ambulance.
Sad.
I imagine that young man's football
days may have come to an end.
But I don't believe that the Beaver player intended harm.
Not mine to call.



You follow the ref's decision.
The game went on.

There was clear aggression against the Beaver who
was involved in that injury...
a very obviously intended 
"face mask" wrenching.
(any part of the helmet grabbed is considered face mask)

That fellow's head jerked around sideways.
Yes, there was a flag and a penalty.
Stanford couldn't play for crap for a while.
Emotional upset I guess.


Stanford is a very good team
who did not play anything near their best.
They should have slaughtered OS!
They got by with only 38  total points.
Ridiculous!
If they play this badly next week,
I don't see how the Ducks will have any trouble winning.


As for the Duck's game with them next week...
Well, I'd like to see better defence.
They will need it.
Stanford won't make the mistake of thinking it an easy win
and play sloppy.


Both Stanford and Oregon
are second half teams...
they play their best in the second half.
They wear the opponents down in the first half
with fast play.
I think it will be the PAC 12 game of the season.
May the best team win!




I'm a Duck fan to the end, no matter what.
I believe they can win and will make the corrections
needed to win.
Go Ducks!

If you're a Stanford fan...
pardon me for being a bit happy that they did play 
such a sloppy game.
And... that...
I'm all for seeing that again.


=;]

PICTURES OF WOOD

Last month, my in-laws took us to meet a chainsaw carver

that they had met recently.

Since its the weekend,

I thought it might be nice to show you some of the pics I took of the man's work.

What's that you say?

Yay!  A shorter post!

Ha!

A turtle!

This man's yard was filled with fun and whimsy.

I could use a handy bear like this one.

This one brought up a question...

were those antlers or ears?

Antlers!

 Not bad for a chainsaw.

Turkey Vulture anyone?

  This was the man's favorite.

 This chicken was my favorite.

The man who carved these was very nice.

He showed me how to use the chainsaw and how he blocks out the pieces.

He even gave me a frog that was blocked out to finish

with my carving knives.

 Inside his wonderful house...

he has other carvings of wood and soapstone.

He gave me a chunk of soapstone to try carving...

since I already carve with knives and a knife is the tool for this.

They were the nicest people... he and his wife.

They have gone south for his cancer treatment for a few months...

and invited me to return 

when they get back home and he's had some rest.

Meanwhile, the in-laws cut down 

a few of their incense cedar and red wood trees.

I've asked for some tall pieces...

6'

and some smaller ones of 2 to 3'.

I'm hoping to find a nice small chainsaw soon.

One that won't take a WWW guy to operate.

Have a great weekend everybody!

IDLE HANDS

I left the house to go to the store... 15 minutes tops!

I thought it would be no problem to leave t in the shop...

because his dad, T was there too.

I told T that I was going.

He said

"No problem."

Cool beans.

I arrived home and all looked well.

A car pulled in behind me.

It was t's mom, K.

As I gathered my stuff up...

K walked past me and tapped on the shop door...

it immediately began its lift up and in.

K had a smoke in her hand...

the reason she did not enter through the house.

My first thought was 

"Where's Roxy?"

because there was nothing to keep her from escaping

thru the magic wall that goes up and down.

I hopped out to block her exit path.

T was still out back,

so t must have pushed the button

that operates the door.

But...

He is only 8 and can't reach the buttons on the wall in the shop.

I'm 56 and I have to stand on tip toe.

I looked around.

Sure enough, I had left the remote on my table.

Ok.  

No harm done.

K borrows a couple of potatoes from me

and she and t leave for home.

T tells me that the weirdest thing happened...

that the magic wall had risen on its own

and stopped about a foot and a half off the floor.

He said he freaked out until he found Roxy in the house, sleeping.

Roxy had missed her golden opportunity to flee.

I decided not to mention my remote.

t is a good kid and a kid does kid things.

T goes back to work on the patio.

I sit down to watch the TV and hear a hum.

Odd.

I look around and see the surround sound remote laying on

the man's table saw.

Weird.

We keep it in a roll top shelf with the surround sound.

I open the shelf roll and sure...

the machine is on, empty.

The dials are all turned funny.

t must have tried to turn it on manually before using the remote.

I click it off and put the remote back

before rolling its cover down.

The man will have to readjust the buttons.

When I click my remote for the TV

I Carly laughs at me.

I don't watch that show.

But whatever, 

t is a kid and its a kid show.

T finishes his project and says good night.

I am alone in the shop now.

I like to be out here away from the sleeping man...

where I can make as much noise as I want.

*   *  *  *

It gets cold out here this time of year.

So yesterday morning the man surprised me with a new heater.

Because it is a wood shop,

we needed to buy a heater that would not combust sawdust,

and is cool to the touch.

This heater is special in that it has a closed system

for the elements that heat.

However it has a filter and does suck in air.

For that reason we have a nice thick cover for it when

the dust making machines in here are running.

We have to wait until the dust settles to run it again.

No clogged filter!

The heater came with a programmable remote.

(Oooh... foreshadowing!)

It is a smart heater that can be

 turned on or off in a variety of ways.

I dislike special functions...

I like "OFF" and "ON".

Or

"UP" and "DOWN".

That way I know its off or on because I did it then and there.

No relying on the machine to get it right.

Not in a wood shop.

We fear fire here.

I walked the man to his truck...

my end of the night ritual begins this way.

He says

"Please be sure you turn that heater off before you go to bed...

and wait until the fan stops to be sure its off."

I promise.

I watch him back out of the driveway and wave.

I wait until I can't see the lights anymore, then go inside.

I follow my ritual and make sure all is locked up tight.

Roxy says she does not want to listen to music.

I leave her to guard her dog bed...

and enjoy a CD in the shop.

When it is almost over, 

I turn off the heater.

The music ends and the fan turns off...

I trundle off to bed.

Morning arrives.

Before I prepare the man's diner...

I open the shop door to turn on the heater

so that it can warm things up a bit

while I cook.

My kitchen is fairly cool...

maybe 58*

The shop is 75*

???

There sits the heater doing some cooking of its own.

This is a very bad thing.

I freak out.

I push the off button.

I get thoughts;

What if I had put the cover on it when I was sure it was off?

Fire!

How much electricity had I wasted?

Is not telling the man something a lie of omission in this instance?

How had I possibly not turned it off when I pushed the off 

button and waited for the fan to stop?

I know I turned it off.

While I sat and questioned my sanity...

I turned on The Sopranos and sipped my coffee.

When the second episode came on...

so did the heater!

Was it demon possessed?

YIKES!

I hit the off button again.

I get the manual and begin to read

in the trouble shooting section.

A much saner answer awaited me there.

I followed the directions and punched buttons on the remote...

to the set timer function.

Busy little t had programed it to 

automatically turn on 30 minutes after being shut off.

I fix the problem.

I tell you what...

tonight when I go to bed...

I'll unplug the thing.

And the next time I see little t...

we will have a serious talk

about what could have happened.

NUTHOUSE

(From here: http://freshcode.co/post/Nameservers-in-a-Nutshell-Fresh-Insights-7.aspx)

How cute is that pic?

He picked a loaf of bread up from the store shelf.
He sighed as I said "Ick."
9:30 in the morning out running errands...
when he should be getting bedded down for his night.

Off we go to the frozen food section.
Sacrilege!
Too late for me to cook a normal diner for him from scratch...
today it made sense.
But lately there have been too, too many frozen entrees.
Way too many sandwiches.
For both of us.

We only manage to eat together on his weekends.
Week days we eat opposite on the clock.
Fending for ourselves,
we have taken the easy outs.

I left him browsing Stoffer offerings.
We met at the check stand line...
he had a meatloaf meal in his hand.
I had chicken thighs, soups
and fresh veggies in my little hand basket.

"For tomorrow." I said.
"Promise."
I made him a set in stone vow.
Tomorrow I will eat diner at my normal breakfast time.
We will sit with real plates and eat real food...
together.

Makes sense to me.
I can eat a big morning meal and work off the calories in my day.
A nice sturdy diner meal will help him to catch the zzzzs that have been so elusive.
One of many adjustments we are having to make.

I tossed his frozen meal into the oven and set about attacking
another villain...
light in his sleeping chamber.

He's got so much stuff packed away in the cupboards and chests.
While he was single... his mom picked out his sheets.
I like light and airy colors on my bed.
The blanket closet was overflowing with...
manly colors.
Black and brown were out.
I didn't want to look at depressing.
I opted for a nice dark forest green...
mostly because MIL had accidentally purchased two top sheets.

Down came the manly muted purple, brown and green 

weird patterned valances over the blinds.
I draped the sheets over the rod and adjusted the volume evenly.
A quick fix.
But the stripe on the wide edge makes them look like a panel.
It will do for now.
The tiny bathroom window blazed like a star.
"Fantastic."
The man pulled the pocket door shut to the bath
and true darkness fell.
Cool beans!

C4C told me recently that I had just begun a great adventure...
of surprising discoveries.
These aren't exactly the sort of discoveries I had in mind,
but we certainly have our share of things to figure out about our life together.

Much arrives unexpectedly.
Like the graveyard shift.

Shift gears... make adjustments...
set the cruise control.
Life in a nutshell.

CANNED

The boy bangs on the door.
I have gone to great lengths to be sure this does not happen.
But nature called and I took a few minutes to use my bathroom.
I hurry to the door to let him in.
Roxy goes crazy... careening off of everything...
indluding me, knocking me on my butt.
Later I see that her head hitting my shin has left a big bump.

I jump to my feet and limp to the living room,
which is at the back of the house...
trying to get the dog under control and the boy away
from the front bed room where the man is trying to sleep.
Roxy cannot contain her joy at a visitor.

Fail.
The man flies out of the bed room...
wild eyes and insane bed head.
Roxy takes one look at him and gets worried fast.
He has never hit her and hardly raises his voice.
But even the dog can see Papa Bear is grumpy.

The boy and the man do not get along well.
Its because ex likes to play them against each other.

The man ignores the boy and goes to get Roxy's
training collar.
She has not had to wear it for a few weeks.
She is not happy to see it.
He wrestles it on her and hands me the control.
"Any more of that shit and you zap her."

Then he stomps off to bed.

The boy and I visit for a few minutes.
He is always polite and friendly to me.
But all I really want is for him to leave.
Finally he does and takes the cans with him...
but not before he stands next to the bed room and says
the absolute worst thing.

He wanted the cans to buy a video game.

The cans are a problem for me.
The ex begged the man to "talk" to the boy about getting a job.
He's 22 and should be supporting himself.
I happen to agree.
But this is a ploy she uses to borrow money.

They have had this "talk" several times.
It ends up the same.
The man tells the boy to grow up and stop being a leech.
The boy has his feelings hurt and complains to mom, who sides with the boy.
You can't get more counter productive if you tried.
And she has set the man up to be the bad guy.

Recently, when the man's daughter also complained about 

the boy not having a job...
that he is eating them out of house and home...

causing stress in her marriage...
because they all live together...
the man decided no more cans for the boy.
Maybe he will get tired of not having money and get a job.

When the boy called me, he was on the way to take
his mother, the ex, to the doctor.
The way the conversation went, 

I assumed he needed the cans for gas money.
I could not say no when they needed money for gas.
Mom needs to see a doctor.

So I carefully put the cans in front of the garage and sat down to wait.
I figured that I could let him quietly take them 

and then explain to his dad when he woke up.

Well, guess I fucked that up huh?

I can't make excuses.
I can't say I didn't remember, 

because I did.
I know the man overheard that he wanted the cans for a game.
His boy is very loud.

Now I look like I directly did the opposite of what 

I knew the man said we would not do.
 I absolutely did that.
But I honestly believe it was for gas.
He has asked for the cans "for gas" in the past.
His mom is off work for several weeks.
Money will be short.
He never mentioned a game.
He said he had to take his mom to the doctor.
I did the ass out of you and me thing... 

and assumed he was picking the cans up to get gas on the way.
But he never said

"I need them for gas money."

The man won't be up for hours.
I will try to explain and it will sound lame.
I tell you what...
this will not happen again.
No more cans for that boy.

Boy do I feel like an idiot.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I've found out that some of my new family do not celebrate Halloween...

because it's

"Satan's holiday."

Oh dear.  

Well, they are entitled to their opinion and I will respect that.

Yet I disagree.

No doubt there are some sick-os out there who will use it that way.

There is no day out of the year that can't be made evil.

It's only evil if you make it evil.

Besides, it was originally nothing more than a day of 

celebrating the harvest...

a lot like our Thanksgiving.

It did not get its "evil" attachment

until hundreds of years after the British Isles

became Christian

and monks decided to write down the area's folk tales.

The monks interjected the idea that all things

supernatural... faeries, gremlins, etc.

were demonic beings...

and embellished the folk tales to include a devil-based nature.

So it goes.

I had a great weekend.

Duck game at Autzen on Saturday.

We won.

However, our defense was a bit off.

It was good to see the return of our injured players...

Darren Thomas and Le Michael James.

Woot!

Though neither played as much as we are used to seeing.

Afterward to Todd's for BBQ.

YUM.

Sunday we spent the morning hunting.

We climbed UP.

Very steep paths that left my shins aching.

Bambi and all his relatives are safe from us for another year.

No deer for the freezer.

=:(

The freezer still has high hopes...

Todd can hunt through Weds. for buck.

Then he has a week of doe hunting.

I've got my fingers crossed...

and a rumbling in my tummy!

To secret agent woman-

I forgot to answer your question...

"What is November 16th?"

That is the day that all people who love and care about

a certain Silly Rabbit celebrate her birthday.

Woot! 

=:]

Now then... I'm off to buy candy to give to the kiddos...

because I love the trick of seeing their eyes light

up when I compliment their costumes

and drop a sweet bit of something into their bags.

As far as I am concerned,

Halloween is a day to make children happy.

I don't think there can be enough of those days.