Ooee, everything’s alright

Mulch in my driveway.

Flowers in my yard.

Dog laze in the afternoon.

Ooee, everything’s alright. Ooee, everything’s alright.

(Apologies to Country Joe McDonald).

Camper, Innovation, Aachen

Camper Van Moving Along: We took the camper van out for a little spin yesterday. Stopped by Lloyd Bridges and Service Guy Steve said he could fix the bit of plumbing that got damaged at the dealership. No problem. We’ve got an appointment to get ‘er all ready in a coupla weeks. Took Coney for a ride around the block. Just like camping.

Innovation: Thomson and Reuters just merged into Thomson Reuters. The founder of Reuters got his start by sending stock quotes, via carrier pigeons, between Aachen and Brussels. Innovation lives on at Thomson Reuters. I pitched an idea to the company Innovation Board yesterday; however, it was decided that carrier pigeons would not be a part of any of the recommended solutions.

Aachen: Speaking of Aachen, way back in the 8^th century, the pope allowed Charlemagne to take cool architectural treasures from Ravenna since his dad, Pepin, chased the bad old Lombards out of Ravenna and gave the city to the Papal states. Charlemagne, medieval king and starchitect, used the treasures to build a wonderful rustic version of Ravenna’s San Vitale. Here’s a link about Charlemagne’s chapel at Aachen:

http://faculty.cua.edu/Pennington/Religion402/Topic%20Two%20Carolingian%20Church/LectureTwo/PalaceChapelAachen.htm

and here’s a link about San Vitale in Aachen:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/images/ravenna/san-vitale/san-vitale-center-c-paradox.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/ravenna-san-vitale.htm&h=498&w=750&sz=75&hl=en&start=1&sig2=LjqBX1GGVTiVCNDbxyqvmQ&tbnid=rHdADL0bHKFMwM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=141&ei=F2IKSIqWEIO4iAGO9-n7Ag&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSan%2BVitale%2BRavenna%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

"Spring", Camper Saga, & Brilliant Silliness

“Spring”: I’m sorry. My fault. It’s snowing out and I know it’s because I got the deck furniture out last weekend. It was a struggle. Had a fight with the patio table. One of the legs lunged toward my face and dealt a near-fatal blow to my glasses. Got quick out patient treatment from Bennett Optometry and they were glasses-shaped again.

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!: To paraphrase a former colleague, “Chevy Dealership—Idiots!” In the process of checking out our camper van, an Ypsi dealership broke a piece of it. We’re hoping that Lloyd Bridges will come to the rescue since he was so heroic on Sea Hunt. We’ll get there. We’re keeping this little set back a secret from Coney Dog, the true owner of the camper van.

And Now For Something I Think You’ll Really Like: Thanks to Drea for pointing out this brilliant musical piece of silliness:

http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

On the Road (Almost), Dogs, Penguins & Bunnies

Hitch Up the Wagons: We’re getting the camper van on the road. Jump that battery! Pump those tires! Move it on into the Chevy dealer for a check up. Pinckney, here we come!

Dog Comfort: The ad for the raised outdoor doggie bed said, “Makes your dog feel as pampered as if he were given a place on the couch.” Ha! We’ve got four couches and I still have trouble getting a spot. First come first served and Coney has this uncanny ability to get to the couch first. We won’t even talk about the bed...

When Penguins Fly: Award for best April Fool’s joke goes to the BBC for their short video of penguins migrating to the rainforest for a little R & R, with Terry Jones doing good impersonation of David Attenborough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23qDl1aH9l4

Inspired Architectural Detail: Copying The Ann Arbor Observer’s "I Spy" monthly feature, here’s an inspired architectural detail:

Joe, Dog Rain Coats, and Champleve

Joe: As a very fine young British director, James McRettin (John Cleese) says on the set of 20th Century Vole’s latest epic 'Scott of the Antarctic', “This film is basically pro-humanity and anti-bad things”. We got the word this Wednesday that Joe’s MRI films showed a lot of pro-humanity and anti-bad things. In fact, there were absolutely no bad things on the MRI at all. We drank to Joe’s health that night, and the next night and the next night and the next night ...

Practical Dog Fashion: I broke out Coney’s Fido Fleece rain coat on rainy Thursday and left a note for her “au pair”, Barb, about it. Barb thought it was the bees knees and took some pictures of our fashion plate. If she can have pics, so can you. Here’s one I took a while back:

Pretty Pins: You say cloisonne, I say champleve. Let’s call the whole thing off and call it enameling*. That’s what Bill Spear does. He creates beautiful pins of realistic birds, dogs, foxes and lots of other things. Peaceable Kingdom on Main St. in Ann Arbor has a selection of them or you can order them from the W. M. Spear website:
http://wmspear.com/catalog.php

* Cloisonne (derived from the French word for partition) is an enamel where the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of metal wire secured to the ground, often copper. Champleve is an enamel in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel. W. M. Spear creates a steel die to make the copper ground. Here’s a link to the description of their process:
http://wmspear.com/process.php

Joe, St. Pat's Day, Dog Historic Marker, Like Camping, Pandora

Joe: Things are moving right along. To work in the Z. Home from work in the Z. An occasional detour to St. Joe’s for a diagnostic MRI or two.

St. Patrick’s Day Hoo Ha: In the early 70’s, the only place you could get a drink on St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin was at the dog show. Things have livened up since then. Read all about it:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E0DA153DF934A25750C0A9679C8B63

I treated the G35 to a car wash on Monday. I went for the premium wash since it was the same price as a regular wash. They squirted blue gunk and yellow gunk on the car (what is that stuff?!), added water and guess what! You have green gunk for a perfect St. Patrick’s Day car wash!

Make Your Own Dog Historic Markers: I inadvertently made my own Dog Historic Marker this week (see 2/24/08 entry). I pulled out the dog treat bag while on my neighbor’s sidewalk. It had a hole in it, so it was, “Every time it rains it rains Kibble from heaven...”. Coney and I check out this spot every day now.

Just Like Camping: Had a nice chat with Jim at the water treatment plant on Saturday morning after getting an automated alert about a water main break that affected our neigborhood. We had a precautionary boil water which felt just like camping. 1855 is a very comfy camper van.

Paean to Pandora: Try pandora.com, the window into the Music Genome Project that let’s you listen to and create music channels full of music you like for free. I love it. You will, too:

http://pandora.com/

Joe, Lavender Larry, and Math & Science News

Joe: Here’s a picture of Joe’s triumphal return to work:

and here’s a link to a larger version so you can wonder at details like the guy in the front seat and those oxen tailgating on US 23:

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/6.PG/SCMEDIA/4.6.Celebration.gif

Lavender Larry: After seeing the Multipet plush “Loofa Dog” featured on Puppy Bowl IV, I knew Coney needed one. In fact, I knew she needed two. The blue one is being held in reserve, but Lavender Larry is on active duty. Larry is 18” long (they’ve got a jumbo 24” pup now!) and is the perfect recall companion. Coney brings Larry back and forth to Joe and me for our evening recall practice. The squeaker in da rear emits a pleasant honk, the bod bends as necessary to get through tight spots and that smile can’t be beat. An end-to- end favorite.

Math and Science News: March isn’t just for ides or St. Patrick’s Day anymore. I don’t know how I could have missed knowing about Pi Day, 3/14 ... 3.1415926535... There’s a website, of course, piday.org. We celebrated with pie, of course, Achatz Michigan Four Berry, available at Produce Station. We’ve been celebrating a lot with pie lately. “Why is you so obsessed with thoughts of pie?”

The moon of Saturn called Enceladus is getting a lot of attention from the Cassini cameras because it has a cool geyser of icy particles shooting out at 800 mph from its south pole. Cool! Go Cassini! Go!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/science/space/13plumew.html?ref=science