Category Archives: Thoughts

Flu tracker

November 13, 2008Technology, ThoughtsTechnology, Thoughtswarren

I like to divide people into groups with the best of them – There are blue staters and red staters. There are people who like the toilet paper over the top as God intended it and there are people who like the toilet paper underneath. There are also people who like to get flu shots and people who do not. I do not want to have a debate about the merits or pitfalls of flu shots, but I think it is interesting to hear people discuss their reasoning either way. Apparently Google has partenered with the CDC to track and predict the flu’s progression across the United States (Get right to the tracking map here). They are able to track past years’ data as well as frequently updated information from the CDC’s flu tracking. Apparently it used to take weeks to crunch the data from the CDC. Anyhow, Google found that they could correlate web search terms with the data from the CDC. I have read reports suggesting that Google can predict flu trends 1-2 weeks in advance based on their models/web search analysis. Now, truth-be-told, if you know the flu is 1-2 weeks out, it’s too late for a flu shot to do any good. However, I think this could be pretty useful to know when you should stay at home for a few weeks catching up on old episodes of the Dukes of Hazzard.

Destination Unknown

October 27, 2008ThoughtsThoughtswarren

I remember my Grandpa (who was born in 1914) talking about the first time he saw a car and a plane overhead. He had (and still has) all sorts of great stories of life in the early 1900s. It was such a different world compared to the one we live in now. I know that he wondered where life would take him when he was younger. He no doubt had some dreams of things to come. I am sure he had no idea that there would ever be contrails from so many jets crossing the sky overhead. He had no idea that the world population would grow from under 2 billion in 1920 to over 6 billion now and that food would be scarce in many places and maybe even here in the near future. I wonder how life will change in the coming years for my family and beyond. I cannot imagine how life will be. With global warming and the economic crisis, will life become more technologically advanced or will we revert to a more simple life? Will we come out of it and just keep on doing what we are doing now? In some ways, I get a bit panicky when I think about what is coming, but then I think of all that my Grandpa has experienced. He survived. He is generally happy and well-adjusted. He has some great memories of times long ago. We’ll be alright whatever comes. I can’t imagine the stories I will have to tell!

End of the Summer Garden

October 17, 2008Canning, Garden, ThoughtsCanning, Garden, Thoughtswarren

We wrapped up the summer garden last weekend. Mentally, we checked out of it a few weeks ago, completely exhausted from canning and drying and pickling and cooking. Gardening and canning is exhausting work though we both really enjoy it (don’t ask us now, ask us in February) and it gives us a lot of time to work together towards a common goal, chat about the day or the future or our dreams. It provides us with fantastic nutrition and exercise. We have no fear of a vitamin D deficiency in the summer sun. It’s just the right thing for us to do.

It is equally good to put the summer garden to rest though. We get to take a break and enjoy a bit of the work that we’ve done.

I don’t suppose to have any real idea of our ancestors who really survived on the land, but I think I feel a small bit of the relief of having food put up, of the rest of fall and winter, and the simple joy of seeing stuff transition from seed to seed.

Ok, enough pondering life. We gathered a bunch of cayenne and jalapeno peppers (will they ever end?!), black beans, green peppers and tomatoes (those are 6 gallon buckets in the first pic) at the close of the garden. We actually picked several crops of black beans that had dried on the vine over the course of the summer. Anyone pulling up the plants early to harvest dried beans is missing a huge second or third crop.

Anyhow, Emily spent a good part of one evening shelling the last crop of black beans. Mo, our cat loved the seed pods. He chased them all over the place. We dry the beans on a clothes drying rack covered with cotton fabric which is held in place with clothes pins. The cool thing is that the entire rack folds down almost flat and is easy to store.

It’s also a lot cheaper than some of the fancier racks and the cotton fabric can be washed unlike some of the window screen versions that some folks have made.

Anyhow, we are done with our summer garden. We are planting garlic tomorrow but that is fairly low key compared to everything else. ‘Tis good to have a break!

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Who picked this location?

October 16, 2008Thoughts, WVThoughts, WVwarren

As I was cruising down through the city the other day, I noticed the placement of these two signs. Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, this was just too funny to pass up. I had to say something about it, but what? I don’t want to make crude jokes on this blog, but I can’t let such a piece of art-in-advertising go unnoticed!

Well, here it goes – I have become aware of the role of the WV Department of Agriculture and incumbent Commissioner Gus Douglass through my involvement with the WV Beekeepers Assoc. I think he is generally well regarded and has done a good job at increasing the visibility of agriculture in the state. I am not sure that I see significant policy differences between Mike Teets and Gus Douglass and both care about the state. I think both seem to be running a clean campaign and are both practicing farmers.

So, how does one choose the better candidate? Does sense of humor matter? I doubt Mike Teets drove by Hooters and thought, “I gotta get me a billboard up there…people are gonna love that!” Still, I won’t forget the candidate’s name come election day. Regardless of which candidate gets my vote, one has instant, though, perhaps unfortunate name recognition. It may be vindication for the years of junior-high torture he had to endure. I don’t know who I will vote for and surely won’t put such an opinion on here, but it really hit me how important advertising and simple name recognition are in politics. It also really makes me appreciate the last name I have!

Sunflowers – redux

October 15, 2008Garden, ThoughtsGarden, Thoughtswarren

Earlier this summer, I posted about our first year planting sunflowers. They were glorious and grand and a lot of fun to watch turn into the sun as we worked in the garden. Such beautiful plants couldn’t be left with just a single post. I had to bring them back into the discussion as I am sure you have been curious how things turned out.

As it turns out, sunflowers grow very tall and get very heavy with the weight of seeds. I didn’t really think things through when I planted them. I watched them grow and was awed by their stature. Of course, like Andre the Giant, sunflowers are in a different atmosphere with winds that we normal Earth-bound travelers don’t feel. Sure enough, I lost a few to winds and gravity (which still works by the way). As I am a quick study, I staked those that remained and we harvested 7-8 gigantic sunflower heads. I had no idea when to harvest them of course and the first thing that occurred to me was that when the birds start devouring the crop, they must be ready. Thankfully, I have access to the internets and was able to find that when the fronts turn brownish and the backs tun yellowish, they are ready.�

Emily and I started de-seeding them this week and found out that sunflowers produce a very sticky sap. I am still dragging my one cat to the office each day as he is glued to my left hand. Anyhow, we pulled the seeds from the face of the flowers and winnowed them in a screen sifter I built from 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Most of the debris was removed by that process but we still put the seeds in the freezer to take care of any critters that couldn’t be persuaded to leave. We plan to roast the seeds which I suppose would have killed anything still attached also, but it just seemed grosser that way. Anyhow, after a 2-3 day freeze, we roasted them and will have several mason jars full of seeds!

Stick Man

October 10, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Abigail has been learning about shapes in kindergarten. I remember (somewhat) kindergarten where we learned about circles and squares and triangles. So we started talking about shapes and a plan she had to build a “shape man” for Halloween. She listed the shapes we needed, “1 triangle, 1 hexagon, 2 parallelograms and 2 trapezoids.” “Excuse me?”, I said. Yup, she had an entire plan worked out on paper with the shapes she named.

I had to follow through with this so we worked on how to use a straight-edge to make proper shapes and then I cut them out of cardboard. She drew most of the shapes so they weren’t perfect but we cut them out as she drew them. We glued sticks we found in the yard to the back of the cardboard to hold the pieces together properly. Sure enough, we had created a shape man (or, to credit my contribution, a stick man).

She painted him and has plans for another before Halloween. I am still amazed at her knowing about these exotic (for a kindergartner, anyhow) shapes. Kindergarten has changed a lot (and a lot for the better in most cases, I think), since I was in that position!

Introducing… the bottle opener

October 8, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Emily and Isaac were getting some stuff at the grocery store this weekend. As they walked past the Mexican-food section, Isaac noticed single bottles of coke. He asked Emily, “What is that?” He had never seen real Coke in a bottle. Of course, as a kid, I remember the carts of returnable bottles at the grocery store, hauling them back to get our deposit refunded, and getting to “pop the top”.

My poor kids had never experienced any of those things. Isaac asked if he could get a bottle and try it and Emily obliged. When they checked out, it rang up as “Mexican Coke”. We got to looking and the stuff was actually bottled in Mexico and was made with real sugar rather than corn syrup. Anyhow, they were pretty proud of the product as it cost $1.79 for a single 355ml (maybe 12 oz?) bottle.

Still, they brought one home and chilled it for several hours for the proper experience. We then brought forth the mystic bottle opener and gave them a quick lesson in mechanics and physics. It was pretty hilarious to watch Isaac “pop the top” and he certainly enjoyed the drink.

Most importantly, he approved of the burping experience produced by “Mexican Coke” in a bottle.

Learning to read

October 3, 2008ThoughtsThoughtswarren

I found this poem somewhere and it made me laugh out loud as Abigail continues on her journey of reading. She already can read quite a bit though she needs more confidence in her abilities. School instruction on reading is pretty easy right now so I have been working on spelling and Emily has been working on reading with her. Language is tough but most folks seem to make it through just fine, though I have no idea how!

I take it you already know,
Of tough and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead – it’s said like bed, not bead,
For goodness’ sake, don’t call it ‘deed’!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go and thwart and cart –
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Why man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five.

Bigfoot sighting!

October 2, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Isaac seems to have a way of destroying shoes. I don’t really know what it is about him. My Dad used to fuss at me for dragging my feet, “When you’re buying shoes, you can walk how you want…until then, pick up you feet!” I was all prepared to fuss at my kids in the same fatherly way…but Isaac doesn’t drag his feet. Still, he destroys his shoes. On Monday, Emily took Isaac to get new shoes. She started off at a local department store. It turns out my 8-year old son wears an adult size 8 1/2 shoe. Emily asked the attendant to bring forth their very cheapest 8.5 sneaker. In response, they brought out a pair of shoes valued at $145. Obviously they valued them more than we did. He’ll need a new pair in 3-6 months no matter what they cost. My crew finally ended up at a chain store and found a pair that were reasonably priced and stylish.

Ok, but seriously, an adult size 8.5 shoe on an 8-year old…he clears a path…mothers grab small children out of the way when he walks by. The US Geological survey calls when he jumps rope. It’s crazy. My son is Sasquatch!

Does it get any better than this?

September 23, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Isaac has been a great reader since he learned how a few years ago. Even as a toddler, he loved for us to read to him. He memorized lots of books and knew when we left words out. His memory remains phenomenal and he is really great with words, spelling, reading, etc. This summer, he read almost constantly. We frequently have to fuss at him to stop reading so he will eat. Even then, he prefers to read while he is eating. He is currently reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Inkheart and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling, and a StarWars Jedi novel he checked out of the school library.

Needless to say, I love to see him enjoy reading so much but occasionally he needs to get nourishment and a bath. Anyhow, he loves to read and I really enjoy these pictures of him. I really think that his Mother would read like this if I didn’t make her do other things occasionally. I really love to watch the two of them read together. Emily make excellent voices for each character and Isaac hears nothing else but her voice. Isaac reads to his sister some also. We have a couple of wing backed chairs and they curl up together (somehow) on one of them and will read all sorts of books. The imaginations in our house are sometimes crazy but always awesome to behold. The kids have no problem visualizing other worlds and amazing creatures in their play. They don’t mind running around outside together reenacting scenes from their books, fighting off villians or embarking on a galactic voyage to save the Universe. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!