11 April 10
The Game We Didn't Catch
[It’s my turn to blog but I’m leaving the field open for Numenius, whose birthday it is today. – Pica]
We went to San Francisco today to catch the Giants game on the occasion of my birthday. Unfortunately a storm decided to pass through San Francisco at the same time. Undeterred, we trudged the seven blocks from Montgomery BART to the ballpark clad in rain jackets and ponchos through the rain, hoping the weather would let up in time for us to see some baseball.
The game wasn’t called off, but was in indefinite rain delay by the time we got inside the ballpark. We headed up one escalator flight to promenade level, where we milled about, happy to be under a roof, and grabbed a lunch consisting of garlic fries and hot chocolate. We were never even to make it up to our seats.
It didn’t let up. We watched the in-house televisions giving pre-game coverage commemorating the 10th anniversary of the opening of the ballpark. Eventually they switched the telly over to the final round of the Masters golf tournament. A bit surreal — watching golf (which we never watch) hanging out in front of a hot dog concessionaire, the rain pouring on the field of AT&T Park, all on my birthday.
Our giving up time was 3 PM, two hours after arrival. It was still coming down on the field at that time. The game had not been called — they were going to do everything possible to play the game today due to the logistical difficulties of rescheduling the game with the Atlanta Braves later on.
We left the ballpark. Two minutes later, it started letting up, and the sky was bright to the west. We wondered if heading out when we did was a mistake.
We took BART back to Ashby Station, where we had left our car, and got the radio. By 4 PM they still hadn’t made a decision about the game, and were checking on the condition of the field. By 4:45 when we were three-quarters of the way back to Davis the game was a go, the start time scheduled for 5:10 PM.
Back at home for the first pitch. Tim Lincecum didn’t get much warmup in, and it showed in the first inning: he walked a batter and gave up a two-run home run to Brian McCann. But he settled down quickly, and didn’t give up another run.
San Francisco’s offense got started in the 4th inning — Pablo Sandoval hit a triple, and was singled home by Aubrey Huff. Pablo had his first big day this season, later on hitting a home run and a single. Tim Lincecum ended up with 10 strikeouts. Jeremy Affeldt pitched two innings to close out the game, only giving up a home run to the Braves’ rookie phenom Jason Heyward. Giants win 6-3 — we weren’t there to see it. A fun day regardless.
10 April 10
Swarms of Spring
Lisa over at How’s Robb reported yesterday on her adventures in joining some beekeepers who were catching a swarm in a yard in the Oakland Hills; today we got to witness the same process, but out our kitchen window. Our landlord’s son is a beekeeper with a pretty substantial operation that is partly based out of a workshop that is around back where our house is. This past few weeks he and his assistants have been extremely busy building up beehives and starting to truck them around places. When Pica got home today, she saw that there was a swarm of bees in the peach tree just north. The beekeepers didn’t take long to collect it, as shown at left.
7 April 10
On Being a Fan
Most of my friends aren’t knitters. Most of my friends aren’t birders (though many are, perhaps the largest single group). Most of my friends aren’t sketchers or artists. Most of my friends aren’t calligraphers. Most of my friends aren’t the slightest bit interested in sports of any kind, especially not baseball.
Yet most of my friends seem to tolerate all these things in me. Thank you. It’s baseball season again, which has me happier than I can describe, and I hope you’ll forgive the effusion for a little while. It will settle into the June doldrums for both the Sox and Giants, into the vague hopes of August, into the dashed dreams of September. But for now, baseball leafs out as it does every spring, full of hope and promise.
Play ball.
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.