I am thankful...

...that my job, as much as it makes me nuts some days, is considerably more comfortable than this one. I’d hate to go to work dressed as Mr. Pickle, and spend an overcast, foggy day on a lonely street, trying to recruit customers for a sandwich shop.

Anyone who will stick to a job like this, though, is bound to be a success at something someday.

Best wishes, Mr. Pickle.

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I just got back from seeing it. In 3D at an Imax theatre.

I wanna ride a dragon. I wanna tail, I wanna be blue and not have a fat butt.

I wanna know why the characters are so similar to the ones in C.J. Cherryh's Inheritor series.

I'm really tired now, been running through the tops of trees and jumping off cliffs for the past few hours. The storyline is pretty juvenile, but what a great time!

As Ugly As it Gets

We do occasionally have some winter weather here in sunny California. Sunday morning I went out to take some pictures of my sad little flower garden. This is as bad as it gets. Even the weeds have given up.



But not the gardener! Two minutes after the winter solstice, I was out there cleaning up and planning for the coming year.

But not without obstacles. First I needed a shovel. Over the years I’ve bought many shovels, there should be at least 5 of them around here. Somewhere. I mean real, pointy shovels, the kind you use to dig a hole.

But this is all I could find.


Who needs even one of these? Let alone a whole bunch of them. These are shit shovels, the kind you use to clean stalls. I don’t even have stalls. Where did these things all come from?

I’m beginning to suspect that I buy pointy shovels and they sit in dark corners and morph into useless shit shovels. I read a science fiction short story once about how paper clips morph into coat hangers. You’d be out of paper clips, and go buy some. Within a year you’d have no paper clips, but there would be a surplus of coat hangers in your closet. The good news is that once in a blue moon (and we just had one, didn’t we?) one of those coat hangers will actually mature into a bicycle.

So I wonder what stage is next for the shit shovels? Meanwhile it’s off to the garden store for another pointy shovel. On the handle of this one, which I will paint pink, I will write: “Jan’s Personal Shovel. If you touch this shovel and you are not Jan, you will be maimed.”

Aunt Bea always said to use the word “maim” when you’re threatening people, especially guys, because it gets their attention better.

Dang I'm Good! (finally)

Before I had my RAV4, I drove a Dodge Caravan, and before that either an old Mercedes station wagon or a pickup truck. It was easy to back up to the loading dock at Sheldon Feed, our local livestock feed supplier. In both cars, the back door swung up, so there was no clearance problem.

It’s taken me a while to judge the proper distance in the RAV4, but please observe:


And I did this in ONE try!!! I’ve had the car for 3 years and made several trips to the feed store where I had to either pull forward to open the door, or the fellow who loaded the car had to walk a ways. So yes, I’ve had some practice.

But these days I’ll take success anywhere I can get it. And luckily I had my camera along.

Out in Chickenland

OneSpot (or is that 3-Spot?) and the cockerel that used to be beige. Now he’s a handsome young fellow that Bob has named Alan because he’s always talking. The black pullet to the left is his sister.

I think Bob plans to teach Alan some tricks. He’s a chicken trainer of great renown and Alan is very clever. He’s also a chow hound, and that helps. I meant the cockerel is a chow hound, but actually the boy is also.

One old hen died this winter and three old roosters went to the sale. The pens are not crowded, there are only 22 birds out there, so it’s been easy to take care of them.

Cousin Ken pointed out today that Patrick Stewart has been knighted. Cool.

One for the Guys

I have some guys in my family who are master mechanics. Uncle Jim and Brother Jerry come immediately to mind, but there are others as well. You guys go over to Bernard's blog and check out his January 2 blog about a Morgan Three Wheeler. Have you ever heard of these cars?

I can see my brother searching for the bones of one of these things and resurrecting it like he did Uncle Ray's ancient Harley Davidson, better than new. I wouldn't be surprised to one day see him driving it up my driveway.

Thanks For the Help

I was having trouble focusing my digital camera for close-ups, even though it has a macro setting. So I consulted Katherine the scrimshaw artiste, who takes close-ups of her teeny tiny pieces of work. She gave me some great advice. With my Canon Power Shot S5IS, I have to move the camera back and forth to focus, not use the zoom button. See, it works great. In this one I was focusing on the cup.


And this was focused on the Cap’n.


I love having friends who know stuff.