Month: March 2006

Letters to Esther

Progress Report: Letters to Esther

Shelly

More progress! I spent the last couple hours installing WordPress on the Esther sub-domain. Actually, it took about two minutes to install. The rest of the time was spent in my other favorite pastime–not!–template tweaking. It’s done, though. I’ll post there whenever I upload new files or add substantially to existing ones. That way, those following along won’t have to try to keep track of what’s new and what’s not.

Good lord, could it get any more windy? Seriously. And we’re under a tornado watch until 10pm. I really am not amused. I really, really don’t like Indiana weather. The winters aren’t cold enough and the summers–which apparently begin in March–are too hot and muggy. O ick. It’s 85F inside right now, which is way too warm, but I’d feel like a total wimp if I turned on the AC, onna counta it’s March! Hrmph.

But the good news is that the Almond Dishmate Fairy visited in the wee hours, placing a bottle of dish detergent–the good stuff from the co-op that doesn’t leave a gross residue on dishes–on the driver’s seat of my car[1]. Thank you, Ms. Lea! I think part of the reason I kept forgetting to pick up dish soap was that I didn’t want to use any of the gross “ultra” varieties. They all stink to high heavens and no matter how thoroughly you rinse, there is still a residue that just won’t come off. It’s especially bad on plastics, because they absorb the chemical-y odor and taste.

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[1] Since graduating to a grown-up car, I no longer leave my keys sitting on the dashboard. I do, however, still leave the car unlocked when at home. I’m far enough off the road that no one is likely to bother it, and if they did, there’s not really anything useful in it. And, leaving it unlocked makes it much easier for folks to drop off things without having to stop if they don’t want to. Even the UPS guy seems to like this arrangement. He always leaves packages in my car if it’s home.

Crankypantsing, Meta

Google-y Fun

Shelly

Gleaned from my various stats…

Animal related queries:

  • how i could write a rough draft about a cat (There are days I’m glad I’m not back in high school. Can you imagine what sort of writer’s block someone must have if they’re reduced to Googling for this?)
  • how to tell kittens apart (Apart from what? Dogs? Meatloaf? Hiking boots?)
  • Who is the voice of the gecko in the Geico commercials? (Beats me, and I have no idea why Google sent you to me.)
  • purple tongue cat dehydration (I sincerely hope they rushed the poor cat to the emergency vet, and that they were Googling as a post-visit, fact-gathering expedition, because those symptoms are seriously bad news.)
  • purple tongue pit bull (If it’s all purple, it’s not a Pit Bull. Any breed can have black or purple spots on the tongue/mouth, but only a few have solid black/purple tongues. And if it’s purple from dehydration, GET THAT DOG TO THE VET NOW.)
  • how do cats prints (I’m not even sure how to parse that.)
  • perineal urethrostomy pu surgery and cost (I get this basic query at least once a week. The surgery itself was around US$400, if I recall correctly. I mention it only because it seems to be something people go Googling for. But surely, asking one’s vet would be the most expedient and accurate way to find out what it’s going to cost you?)
  • mayan stingray piercing penis (Stingrays have ethnicity? Who knew? And, what, exactly, is a stingray piercing penis? Actually, I don’t think I want to know.)

Non-animal queries:

  • edward kienholz the cost (If you have to ask… Though, he’s on the wrong side of grass these days, so I don’t know why anyone would want to purchase him.)
  • things with three (Just any old things?)
  • why do shamans wear masks (42)
  • shape line color texture value of olmec head (Is that value in the monetary sense, or in the design sense? If the former, priceless; if the latter, they’re sculptures, so it doesn’t really apply.)
  • opposition to civil works administration cwa
  • aztec art monte alban skeletal head
  • which new deal agency hired artists to paint murals in public buildings
  • vision after the sermon iconography gauguin (Unfortunately, the paper in question was about Manao Tupapau, not Vision After the Sermon.)

Okaythen.

Crankypantsing

Rural Road Warriors

Shelly

Why, oh why, do I attract reckless drivers like a Chow attracts cockleburrs? I had two young guys in a Camaro attached to my rear bumper, until they decided–not to merely pass me. Oh no, that would’ve been too civilized–but to instead, wait until I stopped at an intersection to make a left-hand turn. Before I could negotiate said turn, however, they zipped around my left side, so that they could turn in front of me. Sweet fancy Jesus! It’s not like I was poking along, either. I was going 45mph in a 35mph zone, which is plenty fast, I think. They needed to be going even faster, I guess, because they zoomed off at an insane rate of speed.

Then, as I was going through Miller’s Flats (a stretch of straight two-lane highway, speed limit 55mph), I had an Explorer in front of me and a string of cars behind me, headed by a truck with dualies. We were going 65mph, which is plenty fast for that area, as it’s really windy and the road has some weird dippy bits it that want to toss you off into the ditch. Anyway, 65mph was not fast enough for Mr. Dualies, so he passed me. Only, he misjudged the on-coming traffic, and I had to slow down so that he could get around me in time. Then, he did the exact same thing to the Explorer in front of him. So, he made two cars slam on their brakes, put people’s lives at risk, and ultimately slowed down a long line of traffic, just because he had to be in front. And here’s the kicker–he didn’t go any faster than the Explorer had been going! He just wanted to be at the head of the line, I guess. Fuckwit.

I think people should be able to explore their own death wishes, an’ all, but I wish they would disinvite me from the festivities.

Art, Ladybusiness

Look Away!

Shelly

Surely y’all’ve seen this. It seems to be everywhere, but just in case you’ve managed to miss it, I’ll share. I wouldn’t want you to be left out, dontchaknow. Really. It’s for your own good. You’ll be a better person for having gazed upon its WTF-ness, in the sense that what doesn’t kill you is bound to make you stronger. Or is that stranger? Anyway…

Britney Spears, 2006, by Daniel Edwards

Britney Spears, 2006, by Daniel Edwards
Britney Spears, 2006, by Daniel Edwards

Britney Spears is now the poster child for the anti-abortion movement. Yea, verily, it is true. What cracks me up–well, one of the things that cracks me up–is that Her Britness had a planned C-section. Apparently because she didn’t think she could deal with the pain of childbirth. I read it in Us Magazine, so it must be true. In any event, I’m pretty sure that no woman has ever, in the history humankind, looked like that while giving birth. That is some seriously fucked up, pornographic view of The Miracle of Life, lemme tell ya’.

Letters to Esther

Old Boy

Shelly

I was stuck at home today, onna counta my car needed some TLC. The engine was making an odd ticking noise this morning. Boys and Girls, lemme just tell you that it’s probably a good idea to get your oil changed more frequently than every 10,000 miles. I’m just sayin’…

Anyway, because I was waiting on the mechanic to call me back, I couldn’t even play on-line. I had a pile o’ Netflix, though, so I entertained myself by watching fil-ums.

Instant Review: Old Boy

Wow!

First, the default setting was for dubbed audio, so make sure you change it to Korean with the appropriate subtitles. Second, there is a good bit of gratuitous violence, but it was the slow, prolonged gross bits that squicked me out. If watching people having their teeth pulled with a claw hammer makes you feel a little ill, I recommend looking away. (Oh, hey, I think I have to pet the dog rightthisveryminute.) Thankfully, those scenes are set up in such a way that it is easy to anticipate and avoid them.

The basic story line involves kidnapping, imprisonment, Revenge-with-a-capital-R, and all manner of things that would be right at home in something wrought by Aeschylus or Euripides. But the story was not merely lifted from a Greek drama. It’s full of inventive twists and turns and back-trackings, so that, while you may identify the lynch-pin before it comes into view, you aren’t disappointed by having figured it out. There are still plenty of WTF moments to keep your internal “I knew that” voice quiet.

Rating: * * * * *

Instant Review: House

Dear lord, where to begin? I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I put this movie in my Netflix queueueueueue. I’m sure I thought it’d be good for a laugh, but it was all around pretty horrific, and not in a good way. The cast included (and no, I am not making this up):

  • The Greatest American Hero / Paul Drake from 1980s vintage Perry Mason
  • Bull from Night Court
  • Bubba from In the Heat of the Night
  • Norm from Cheers

Are you scared, yet? Cuz, you really should be.

I won’t bother to describe the horribleness of the plot, the special effects, the acting, or the writing. Let’s just say that it’s quite possibly one of the worst movies I’ve watched in my entire life, m’kay? I ought to be embarrassed to admit that I saw it, but in my defense, I’ll just state that I was working on the computer while the movie was playing, so it’s not like I actually sat down and watched it. About the only good thing I can say about it is that it was mercifully short and it came from Netflix, so it was almost like free.

Rating: * * * * * (It gets one star just for the sheer absurdity of THAT CAST.)

In other news, I finally managed to make a poached egg without burning myself. Oh joy.

I also filled in a huge amount of genealogical data for Esther. I’ve got most of her ahnentafel finished through the 6th generation, with surprisingly few gaps. I found that she was descended from a niece of John Morton. I don’t think that’s particularly surprising, though, as anyone who can trace their family back that far is likely to be descended from Somebody. I haven’t really started on the 7th generation, and I don’t know if I will, as that will require identifying eleventy-six people, which seems like a humense amount of work.

I will say that the LDS databases are truly wondrous, though. Just be careful, as a lot of the info is not even a little bit accurate. If you have access to a library with a gov docs department, and you are interested in genealogy, you might consider volunteering to transcribe census data. The ultimate goal is to get that data on-line so that it can be accessible. As it stands now, the on-line availability of census data is spotty at best, which means that anyone doing serious research (as opposed to my strictly non-serious research) will likely have to travel in order to view those records. Travel = Bad! Sitting on butt in front of computer = Good!

And, my apologies for boring everyone with the Esther-talk, but that’s where my OCD Bliss is taking me these days.

Letters to Esther

Uselessness and Tail Chasing

Shelly

Yes, I’ve been thoroughly useless. I spent the entire weekend trolling RootsWeb and World Connect and trying to make sense of what I was able to find out. I’m not a genealogist, by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of the thought processes involved are disturbingly like math story problems, so it doesn’t take long before I get brainache. There are about eleventy ways to go at establishing any given link, and unless you hit on the correct combination of parameters, you’ll come up with bupkis. And then, you can look at something twelfty times and on the twelfty-eleventh, the penny suddenly drops, and everything falls neatly into place. It’s frustrating as all hell, but when you stumble across an important key bit of information, it’s also rewarding.

I’ve spent several years, on and off, trying to pin down Esther’s family tree. I had a small amount of information from the letters themselves, and will likely have more as I go continue reading and transcribing them. However, there are huge gaps, especially on her father’s side. Odd that I should stumble upon her mother’s data, when so many women show up as Unknown in family genealogies. I think the saddest, though, is Esther’s paternal grandmother, who thus far is Unknown Unknown. She was someone, damnit, and deserves better than that. So, I spent the weekend trying to figure out who she could’ve been. A fool’s errand, that, as all I know is that she probably came from the Dayton, Ohio area and that she married an Unknown Munro who probably came from the Seekonk, Massachusetts area. They were probably married prior to March 1864 (their son’s birthday is 14 January 1865). I don’t know where they were married, but I’m guessing it was either near her family’s Dayton area home or in La Salle County, Ohio, where their son was born. That’s a lot of maybes. I feel like I’ve been chasing myself around and around in circles, because I keep running into the same false doors and brick walls.

All I can say is that I’m thankful that I don’t feel much of an urge to do this sort of research on my own family, because it’d be every bit as frustrating.

EEEEEP! And, just to show how fickle this whole process is, I justthisverysecond found, via an LDS records search, that Esther’s paternal grandparents were Warren C. Munro and Emma Pearson. I’m tellin’ ya’, this genealogy thing could drive a person to tears.

Crankypantsing, Pets

Good, um, Morning

Shelly

I’d really like to be sleeping in right now. I had fully intended to do so this ayem, and stayed up extra late onna counta that. So being wakened at 6am by a Beagle in full bay was not my idea of a good time. Not even close. He’s been trailing something in the woods behind me, and has been barking and baying for the last two hours. I am not amused.

I’ve been able to catch glimpses of him out my kitchen window, and I recognize him. He’s the same mostly white Beagle who was dumped here a few years ago. He attached himself to my landfolks’ pack o’ Bumpass hounds, but later took up residence at the Silver Mullet’s house. He nearly got hit by me last Fall as I drove past. Luckily, I’d seen movement in the tall grass and weeds by the side of the road, so I’d slowed way the hell down. He careened onto the road and ended up bouncing off my front tire, unhurt and, hopefully, a little better educated on the laws of physics.

Anyway, he’s having a grand time hunting on this gorgeous morning.

Crankypantsing, Photography

My Swiss Cheese Brain

Shelly

Happy, um, Friday. Or something. It’s clamid here–not exactly cold, but coldish, and grey and drizzley with what I’m pretty sure was a an occasional spittle of sleet. O ick.

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Despite–or rather, because of–the cloud cover, we had a nice little sunset last night.

I’d meant to spend the whole day at home, working on scanning, but I woke up at 3am and realized that I’d forgotten to take care of a very important errand. I ended up getting up relatively early, for a day-off, and going into Bloomington. Lemme tell ya’, that was about the last thing I wanted to spend the morning doing. I got my grocery shopping finished, though, so I should stop complaining. Except I’m not gonna, because I still forgot to pick up dish detergent, damnit! I’ve been out for over a month, and I keep forgetting to buy it. I remembered laundry detergent and camera batteries and lighters[1] and hand soap, sure, but not dish detergent. Hrmph. I’ve been substituting laundry detergent, which gets the job done, but it’s not as satisfyingly sudsy. Heck, I even remembered Kleenex and paper towels! And, no, a list wouldn’t be likely to help, because I’d have to actually take the list to the store with me. That’s the problem with lists, dontcha see?

Anyway, I’m back from errand running. Whew. I’m pet sitting for Ms. Lea’s menagerie this weekend, and I’m happy to report that the driveway ‘twixt here and there has been fixed! Yea, verily, ’tis true! She bought a metric buttload of gravel last week. Of course, the first time we have a big spring rain, the Chasm to Bism will inevitably re-open, but for now, it’s all nice and smooth and just darn peachy.

And, also, too, as well, a young adult bobtail cat turned up next door. I suspect some asshat dumped him, because he’s not at all shy. In fact, he’s heart-breakingly friendly. He’s obviously been someone’s pet. AND HE LOOKS JUST LIKE BASIL!!! But without the eeevilness. He even has a bitty Basil-sized nub. Ms. Lea has him locked in the bedroom, and will decide what to do with him when she returns. In the meantime, I get to go play with Basil’s Good Twin.

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[1] Disclaimer: I don’t smoke, but the electricity here has a bad habit of flaking out whenever it’s windy or really rainy. As in, when we’re having typical Spring-in-Indiana weather. When the electricity went out a few weeks ago, I had a hell of a time finding a working lighter so that I could light candles. I won’t mention how many times I’ve been to the store or gas station since then and I’ve forgotten to pick one up, but it was something on a par with how many times I’ve been to the store and forgotten dish detergent. My brain, it’s like a steel sieve, bay-BEE!

Letters to Esther

Lo Siento

Shelly

I ought to know when to leave well enough alone. I tried adding a search tool to the Letters to Esther site, and ended up temporarily breaking the front page. So, my apologies to anyone who tried to access it and was confronted with a broken and totally useless search page. Everything is back to normal now, whatever normal is. I’ll have a go at the search tool at a later date.

While I’m on the subject, everything that was on the old Esther blog has now been added to the new site. About half of those transcripts now have scans. This weekend, I’m hoping to finish scanning the stragglers. Then, I can start transcribing new material. Wheee! And, the About, Biography, Resources, and Notes sections are now functional. I’ll fill them out as I have time and come across material. Right now, the About and Resources sections are the most extensive.

I’ve also created a little envelope favicon which is very simple but kinda cute. It doesn’t work in IE, for some reason, but those of you who use Firefox or Opera should be able to see it. I’ll try to trouble-shoot the IE problem–it’s always an IE problem, it seems–as soon as I have time.

Now, if my patience holds out, I’m off to troll RootsWeb.

Crankypantsing

That’ll Learn Me

Shelly

I thought I’d have something moderately healthy for breakfast: poached egg on toast. I’m really picky about eggs, and will only eat them if they’re prepared Just Right. Poached eggs are one of my favorites, though. Mmmm

So, I started to make toast and cracked my egg into a bowl. I set the bowl on the stove and waited for the water to boil. When it began bubbling happily, I picked up the bowl and promptly dropped it. I’m a dork, you see, and didn’t stop to think that a ceramic bowl sitting rightthehellnextto a hot burner might get, oh, I dunno, a little warm maybe. Very warm, actually. I burned the hell out of my hand when I picked it up. The egg splattered all over the place when it fell. Half of it seems to have fallen into the burner pan, where it cooked to a crisp. The rest of it either coated the spice bottles next to the stove or ran down the front and sides of the stove-side cabinet.

I’m over the idea of poached eggs, so now I have to figure out what to do with cold toast. Maybe the birds will eat it? And I can’t even clean the burner pan–or cook anything else–until it cools off. Microwaving oatmeal would’ve been much safer.

So now I’m sitting here with an ice cube wrapped in a paper towel, typing whenever my hand gets too cold. I’m just glad that I managed to remember to buy paper towels, because I don’t even want to think of how else I would’ve cleaned up that unholy mess.

Can I go back to bed now?