5 April 10
So It Begins
The baseball season opened this evening with a ratings-capturing matchup between the Red Sox and the Yankees at Fenway Park. After spending all day at the office, I rode home through driving rain to arrive in the middle of the fourth inning, where Pica was listening to the game on ESPN radio, the Red Sox down 5-1. But the Red Sox came from behind twice to end up winning 9-7. Not a pitcher’s duel, this game, both starters Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia being chased out fairly early. A good start to the baseball year. The Giants open their season tomorrow in Houston with Tim Lincecum going against Roy Oswalt.
1 April 10
The Rescued Shoe
When I was visiting my sister’s 1902 house in Maine last week, they showed me a child’s shoe that had been found in a wall they were taking down between the kitchen and the living room. I love these kinds of hidden treasures and wonder how it got there. I drew the shoe right before my nephew’s land shark hamster, Obi-wan Kenobi, bit me. The shoe, not the hamster, is my contribution to Illustration Friday’s theme, Rescue. Maybe I should have been rescued from the hamster.
31 March 10
Vacuum Grail
We’re continuing to quest for the right vacuum cleaner for us. When Pica was in Maine last week, she asked her brother-in-law his opinion, and he first said get a Sears Kenmore and then thought better of this and said no, no, ask somebody who repairs vacuum cleaners. What brands do they hate working on? What models rarely come in to their shop for repairs?
More research today by Pica, including asking her Facebook pals. The common wisdom is that they all break after a year or so. Pica called the vacuum repair guy in town (I’m amazed there still is a vacuum repair store in town) who a) hates Dysons (a brand about which there is a considerable cult) since they are difficult to repair, overhyped, and have lots of unnecessary junk on them and b) only sells three brands — Panasonic, Sanyo, and Shark — because they still have a majority of metal rather than plastic parts.
There you have it. One vacuum cleaner review site lists thirteen different brands, with many models for each, and I have little expectation for longevity from any of them. Sigh. I don’t like machines that can’t be repaired.
27 March 10
Feathers of Hope Turns Seven
Hard to believe, but seven years ago Numenius posted his first entry here.
A lot has happened since. We don’t post as religiously often as we used to, and I don’t like the way my online time has become so fractured. (Numenius was better at making sure he has kept well away from the likes of Facebook.) Bird by Bird has become a further delicious distraction. (I have a common eider to post when I get near a scanner.)
To those of you who still follow our rambles on here, thank you. As our have interests shifted, so has the blog. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
26 March 10
New Morning Nook
Charlie this morning pulled over the basket containing the newspaper recycling and after tentatively poking his nose in he settled inside it for his morning doze.
In other critter news, I saw my first Swainson’s hawks of the year this afternoon, two birds flying into the black walnut trees on the opposite side of the road.
22 March 10
In a Vacuum
Well, I ended up not being able to get on my flight to Maine this morning from Portland (OR). This is one of the hazards when you fly standby. The price is great but the reliability isn’t.
However, being given a free day in Portland is a fantastic consolation prize. I walked a good bit down Hawthorn Street, had some tea, walked some more, hopped on a bus, hopped off at the Yarn Garden (wow), had a wonderful lunch at a Lebanese restaurant, hopped back on the bus and took myself in to Powell’s, hub of the bookworld. On the way, though, I found a haberdasher (John Helmer’s ) and popped in on the off chance they might have ladies’ handkerchiefs (no, but Kathleen’s on the same block did, amazing).
The vacuum day. We’ve been considering buying a vacuum cleaner…. on M’s recommendation, I paid a visit to Stark’s, which is the largest vacuum showroom in the country which also contains a vacuum cleaner museum. I made some sketches of these (the earliest of which were operated with a hand pump). I’ll post sketches when I can (ADDED Sunday, March 28).
15 March 10
Slacker Birders
Even though the change to daylight savings time today gave us some excuse, heading out at 10:30 AM for a session of breeding bird atlasing is still quite late. What can we say — we’re slacker birders. For the Yolo County Breeding Bird Atlas project, this year we surveying two 5 by 5 kilometer blocks out by Esparto at the head of the Capay Valley.
On the first block, we didn’t do that well, seeing all of three species. There was a steady 15-knot wind from the northwest, and the supposedly quiet country road we turned off on was in fact quite busy, including the passage of about 15 motorcyclists in a row, off on a Sunday cruise to somewhere. We spent much more time in the block to the west, especially enjoying our session in the Capay Cemetery, a nice birding spot.
In one of those meant-to-turn-right-but-said-left maneuvers, we ended up returning through Esparto, normally a sleepy rural town but we found ourselves in a traffic jam — hundreds of motorcycles, vintage cars, the city park filled with people and stalls, a band playing last century’s rock music — we later learn we had stumbled upon the annual Capay Valley Almond Festival, now in its 95th year. Slackers that we are, we avoided the crowds at the Hog Canyon Deli there, and headed back to Davis for our usual weekend taqueria lunch.
9 March 10
Back From the Desert
I didn’t quite hit the wildflower peak, but wonderful to see blooming heliotropes and verbena. And black-chinned and Costa’s hummers, and a small flock of Lawrence’s goldfinches…. Lots of movies were watched, and much Ulysses was discussed.
6 March 10
A Bit of Spring Training
Earlier in the week we got a note from our friend Susan the hardcore San Francisco Giants fan, excited to be catching on the radio the first spring training game on the radio. Today was my turn. I walked into town for lunch today and brought my handheld radio, just in time to catch the noontime start (actually one minute early) of the Giants playing the Diamondbacks, the play-by-play and commentary by Jon Miller and Duane Kuiper. It was still 0-0 by the time I arrived at Crepeville for lunch, after which I did the bookstore rounds, ending up at Borders where I picked up a copy of the 2010 Baseball Prospectus. (They were out of stock earlier in the week).
The Giants were ahead 9-4 when I started walking home, and I think they ended up winning 12-6.
Of the Giants’ organization these days, Baseball Prospectus leads off by saying:
When is it time to make a change at general manager, even if the GM is the longest-tenured in the game and a respected figure? When do you throw up your hands and admit that the man you have put in charge has no idea how to solve his team’s problems within the boundaries you have set for him? The Giants have reached the point where they need to answer that question, because they have been stuck in a terrible rut.
Sounds about right.
