scaffolding

you'd think they might be painting the house, but no. just replacing the mossy roof. the flaking paint will continue to flake, until something major happens like a wall caves in.

also, the refrigerator broke today. the freezer is at absolute zero. a bottle of vodka is frozen solid. i didn't think alcohol could freeze completely but i was wrong. rock hard vodka. the refrigerator is a balmy 40ish degrees.

maintenance takes forever.

were there ever any question as to why the ceiling caved in

moss grows fat on a steep pitched roof

the new kid

we've been dogsitting for this 8 month old 'lab mix' since tuesday. his name is nesta. i think he's lab boxer. his owner said the vet said he's lab collie. i see no collie in this dog.

he's very smart and TOTALLY HOUSEBROKEN which is awesome.

he's snuggly and sleeps on the couch next to humans. he's generally mellow, though he has spent some time attacking eli and nacho's jowls and ankles and ears, and they have shown great patience for the most part.

he has eaten one dustpan handle, one holden figurine, one pound of almonds, and unraveled one spool of dental floss.

he's small and sleek and nimble and next to him, nacho and eli seem like grumpy old hippopotamuses.

fun fact

some people call polar bears ICE BEARS.

sign of the times

as gas prices climb

ceiling chunks keep falling, now with bonus black mold!

the conditions have become, dare i say, untenable. chunks of plaster are falling. damp plaster. covered in mildew and black mold. surgical masks required. at least it's not snowing.

antonyms: mildy, moderately

Main Entry: extremely

Part of Speech: adverb

Definition: greatly, intensely

Synonyms: acutely, almighty, awfully, drastically, exceedingly, exceptionally, excessively, exorbitantly, extraordinarily, highly, hugely, immensely, immoderately, inordinately, intensely, markedly, mortally, notably, over, overly, overmuch, parlous, plenty, powerful, prohibitively, quite, radically, rarely, remarkably, severely, strikingly, surpassingly, terribly, terrifically, to nth degree, too, too much, totally, ultra, uncommonly, unduly, unusually, utterly, very, violently, vitally

Antonyms: mildly, moderately

from: http://thesaurus.com/browse/extremely

3 circling hawks

i think they had their eye on nachodoggy.

unconfirmed big woolly mammoth sighting

while hiking yesterday, we passed a group of kindhearted kids who may or may not have been toking their faces off in the woods. when eli passed, one of the guys said "he's so WOOLLY."

what a great word.

spring is springing

Guilty!

i am crying laughing watching this.

orange peel redux

last time i wrote about the orange peel it was after feeling unfairly violated by security at an ozomatli show two years ago.

i went back last night for the lucinda williams show and am THRILLED to report that entry was smooth and easy and my civil rights remained intact. everybody was friendly and there were no harsh searches or pat downs or anything. it was amazingly refreshing.

lucinda williams. her voice is one in a million. she makes me believe she's had a grizzled life and lived to sing about it. she was on.

she did a 3 song encore. and after that came BACK OUT for one more - cover of buffalo springfield's 'for what it's worth.' she left the stage triumphant yelling 'peace love and revolution.'

the vintage empress in me thinks it was too bad she and her lead guitarist were wearing basically matching blue bandanna style western shirts.

dylan leblanc opened for her. this kid is GOING PLACES. mark my words. 21 years old from shreveport louisiana. looks like townes van zandt. great stage presence. haunting emotional raw voice a la jim james, proficient moving finger style guitar, he'll be back at the orange peel in june opening for the drive-by truckers. don't miss it. his cover of bruce springsteens 'i'm on fire' was imminently memorable and smoldering.

free shirts, road races

aw yeah! another fun post in the 'free shirts for bloggers' series has arrived.

kate parker kicks ass.  my best friend in high school was beth. beth's best friend in college was kate. kate and beth went to wake forest, and i was only an hour and a half away in chapel hill, so i saw them more often than you would think. they came to stay with me one freshman weekend in the age before cell phones and i was unable to meet them and give them shelter because i was underage passed out by 1 PM from everclear jello shots that i made in the dorm kitchen. classy!

anyway kate has two supercute little girls and still finds time to run, bike, and swim all over the southeast. not only does she race sometimes, she wins sometimes. i've seen her wearing medals. her blog is here: kate parker's blog

she also has the most beautiful 13 year old golden retriever and should put more pictures her on her blog.

comments

it has come to my attention that the comments were not working on this blog, and for that i have much sorrow.

i hate typing out a whole comment, getting the courage to hit 'submit' and then...nothing...

it sucks!

i changed the way comments are handled and did test anonymous comments from firefox and internet explorer and i think they're all working now.

my test comment was supposed to say 'test' but instead said 'teat.'

so that's good.

sorry for the trouble, let me know if it's not working for you, and thank you for trying!

father daughter dance (1984)

i went to cedar hill elementary school for kindergarten through second grade. every year they had a 'father daughter dance' and i went both years. i think i wore this same blue velvet vest get-up both years. this picture is the second year and the get-up barely fits. i have a muffin top. or as my dad would say 'it's not fat, it's extended stomach...really...it's hard." i love my giant corsage and the rope bracelet i wore for YEARS until it was so nasty it had to be cut off.

i remember the dance being FUN. dancing in the school cafeteria. at night. to the go-go's and 'the boy from new york city.' and doing the thing where you hold your dad's hands and he flings you under his legs and then you go flying up in the air.

those wicker thrones are called peacock chairs. i found & scanned this photo to add to the listing of a peacock chair wall-hanging i'm selling on etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/65561177/vintage-80s-peacock-chair-wicker-throne

satchel paige's incredible business card

saw an episode of 'auction kings' last night with one of satchel paige's old business cards. he printed this on the back:

1. Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
2. If you stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain't restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

i googled it & found he called this "How to Keep Young."
pretty fucking badass!

so glad we're renting

western north carolina got a major rain/snow storm this weekend that dumped inches of rain in one day.

the living room ceiling sprouted lovely new water damage.

i feel badly for the people who own this house. they had to replace the entire HVAC last year for us (because it was spewing carbon monoxide and wouldn't heat above 60 degrees), and now it looks like they'll need to replace the roof.

there are 8 huge old dead hemlocks in the back yard that need to be removed too. the wooly adelgid killed them sometime in the past 5 years. if they take these dead trees and their roots out, and don't plant something major in their place, however, the yard will be barren and i believe this house will slide down the hill in the next decade.

home ownership is not cheap. especially ownership of 100 year old homes built into the side of hills.

window seat app

(CECT-6 phone by Daniel Christensen)

my cell phone is a walkie talkie.

some of you however may have a more modern device. something more like...how you say...smartphone?

if you have one of these phones that downloads apps - you should definitely try out WindowSeat.

Track your flight without GPS or a network connection. WindowSeat gives you a better view of where you’re flying, when you’ll arrive, and what’s below you, all while you’re offline.

super cool! right?

and our friend phil is heavily involved in this sweet invention. props!

http://www.windowseatapp.com/

eat the puppy

i would eat that dog's head in one bite.

WTF ingles?

amazing pizza invention

 

1 metal rod, bent in 6 places. so simple, so MINDBLOWING.

reminds me of these bauhaus chairs

grate

the crackle of the new fire is the same as the crackle of the record.

rondettes

one of the most random things about asheville is the colony of rondette houses up on the mountain close to downtown.

this is from the april 1969 issue of popular mechanics, where they showed you how to build your own rondette.

these things are still standing. they're not in the best shape. not sure a flat roof is a great idea for a temperate rain forest, many of them have makeshift tarps on the roof.

rondettes are not to be confused with weaver chicken rondelets, which i used to eat out of the toaster oven growing up. i seem to recall a layer of cheese under the breading.