CrabAppleLane Blog II

Just some Saturday procrastination stuff

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:45:31 -0600

The plan today is to get out in the road-buckling heat and work on the John Deere. I'm hoping that just changing the hydraulic fluid and filling it to the proper level will solve my problems. If not, to the shop it goes. I'd be out there in the heat and humidity right now if this stuff didn't have to be thought up and typed. I'm all about the sacrifice for my two readers.

Great news for LSU baseball fans. The Tigers already figured to be a national contender in 2010 but Blake Dean coming back for his senior season moves them up a peg. Somewhat risky move on his part, though. Major League Baseball knows he can hit. The only way for him to improve his draft stock is to show that he can play somewhere in the field. A shoulder injury has mostly kept him out of the field the last two seasons. He plans to get himself right and his head coach has committed to giving him that chance (See QOTD). A chance is all any ball player should want.

61 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

We'll find room for Blake Dean somewhere on the field if he comes back. We're committed to that. That kid has earned that from me.

Paul Mainieri, LSU Head Baseball Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "He's not just "some guy"? He's some guy with a cool quote!"

There is a profound quote there but I don't know that I would characterize it as cool. I think I'd lean more towards sad but true. -Rob

Dumb, dumber, and dumbest - Part 78945619416968

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:50:23 -0600

Dumb: Safe food.

Dumber: About today's QOTD: Not the best statement to make in one's defense to charges of discrimination. At the very least, it is incredibly insensitive.

Dumbest: "A charging bull gored a man to death Friday at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years.".

And a little bliss courtesy of Tracey.

62 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club.

John Duesler, Valley Club

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "We're getting the condo. After an extremely speedy negotiation on price yesterday, we were told to ready ourselves for the mortgage application by gathering all paper-based evidence that we are productive members of society who do things like pay taxes and save money and shank hobos."

9 weeks

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:05:20 -0600

With Major League Baseball in full swing and coming up on their All Star game, I naturally turn to football. We're still about three weeks from the first NFL training camp opening but we're only 9 weeks now from Opening Day.

About today's QOTD: Not sure what the outrage is about unless it's pure theater, tilt at windmills, fight the good fight nonsense for public consumption. Did someone think that process was going to be completely painless?

63 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

GM and Chrysler have come under withering criticism in Congress for their plans to close dealers.

David Shepardson, Detroit News Washington Bureau

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The termination of the dealer franchise agreements would be effective this week if G.M. is allowed to cut free of the holdout dealerships."

About free

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:35:59 -0600

Today's QOTD comes from The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell. It's a terrific three-page article about the web's ideas of "free". I love that expression "close enough to free to round down". The New Yorker's website has ads all around its content as do many other websites. Like most internet users, I don't even notice them. Even the pop-up ads that are getting better at getting through our pop-up blockers and staying up for a period they think is long enough for us to read go unread. I think internet ad revenue will ultimately dry up mainly because too many people ignore the ads. What then?

64 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

If you can afford to pay someone to get other people to write, why can't you pay people to write?

Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "After leaving Forest Lawn, I made a quick pass through downtown, where there seemed to be more T-shirt sellers and cops on the streets than grief-mad fans."

DVD Collections

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:53:57 -0600

We were big DVD collectors for a time. When I say big, I mean we'd buy one or two per month. We would never rent them. Still don't. That practice has ceased due to economics and convenience. We've not only stopped buying them, we've stopped watching them except for the occasional music/concert DVD. The DVR has pretty much become our favored way to watch ANYTHING. It is infinitely more convenient. You can stop a movie any time and resume a month later right where you left off. You can keep it recorded as long as you like and it never gathers dust. My only concern with our DVR right now is storage. They just don't store enough content. I am certain that concern is being addressed with the next generation DVR as I type. It's just like a computer in some ways. Even though you can store files offline on a CD or DVD, you'd rather have them on your hard drive available to you any time. I don't think the future is all that bright for DVD sales or rentals any more.

65 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Nothing wrong with college baseball, especially at the level LSU plays.

Dave E, Fish Fear Me

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "A friend of mine once suggested a movie's greatness can be measured by how much you think about it after seeing it, along with the way it lingers in your memory over time."

A lousy start to the week

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:22:32 -0600

Mainly because of a bad night. Trouble getting to sleep and staying there.

Cool shot of the Louisiana State Capitol Building.

About today's QOTD: It's Steve Largent talking about Al Franken. Largent was a fantastic wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. Don't know much about his record at his stint as Congressman.

66 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

He's got work to do as a legislator, but he doesn't need to hide from his former career. I think he needs to view it as an asset, not a liability.

Steve Largent, Former NFL player and U.S. Congressman

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "We imagine that her dalliance with Marilyn Manson certainly won't hurt her ability to get into character as the "Vampire Queen of Louisiana," which is easily the greatest region-specific character description we've heard since Ferris Bueller passed himself off as the "Sausage King of Chicago.""

Love True Blood. -Rob

CrabAppleLane Sunday - July 5, 2009 Issue

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:42:25 -0600

Awww, Steve. The Tennessean is now referring to his death and that of Sahel Kazemi, 20, as an "apparent murder-suicide". Very sad. I'm a Steve McNair fan. I knew nothing of his personal life. I only knew him from football. He was on many of my fantasy football teams over the years and I've also seen him play quite a few times, both in person and on TV. I loved the way he played. One of my favorite images of him via Pitcherlady. The news breaks my heart.

I'm in a bit of a it-surely-could-have-been-worse (See McNair, Jackson, and Fawcett) mood but it's been a bad week here, too. One of our cars needs to go to the body shop for minor repairs, the tractor needs to go to the shop for minor repairs, and the gutters need cleaning. Got a decent price on gutter cleaning Friday so there's that.

I offer a few from CrabAppleLane on this very hot Sunday. A few more below the jump are part of the CrabAppleLane Clearing Project.

CrabAppleLane Wasp Nest - July 5, 2009 - Passed right in front of this nest yesterday without noticing them and I get shivers just thinking about it.

CrabAppleLane Tomato Garden Site - July 5, 2009 - It was time.

67 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

I am deeply saddened and at this point do not have the words to describe this loss,

Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans Head Coach

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I have heard about Eggs will stand at Noon of the Rice Dumpling Day, but i never tried it. I saw people doing it while having lunch. I tried as well, and i got them standing!! According to the tradition, if you can get it stand, you will be lucky for the whole year!"

Eggs will stand any day of the year if you have the patience and steady hands. Nice photo. -Rob

Happy Independence Day

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:59:50 -0600

Happy Independence Day

Got plans?

Today's QOTD comes from an article I stumbled across at the London Times website. To say that British journalists have a drier sense of humor than their American counterparts is a bit of an understatement. I love the internet. It brought me this from Helena Frith Powell:

Sweden is hardly famous for its benign climate. Even if you don't mind getting your kit off, doesn't wandering around naked in midwinter get a little bit chilly? And, particularly if you're a bloke, wouldn't that decrease your chances of making new friends?

Check, please.

68 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

It is a sad fact that naturist resorts seldom attract those to whom Nature has been kindest.

Helena Frith Powell, London Times

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Thoughts on this?"

3-day weekend

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:15:36 -0600

Today starts a 3-day weekend for us. We're both off today. Patsy is off because the state has a holiday today and I'm off because my office decided to split our work force with half working today and the other half working Monday. Might work in the yard today if it cools off at all. The tomatoes are done here and it's time they were pulled up. I got a little burned out on them and let them go toward the end of the season. We're in the middle of an incredible heat wave and drought. I just lost interest in taking care of them. I'll do better next year. The first few weeks were fabulous, though. They were as tasty as ever.

69 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

His advice for frazzled adulterers was to "take a time-out from the affair and have a brain scan".

MSN.com

Blog of the day via Instapundit is here.

Quote from said blog: "Although reviewing Sotomayor's record has supposedly stymied Hatch, he found time to write yet another essay (published in Sports Illustrated), which explains his theory of the possible antitrust issues related to the BCS. Hatch believes the automatic bid for the major NCAA conferences might violate the law. This sounds preposterous to me, but I am not an antitrust scholar. Neither is Orrin Hatch."

Couldn't agree more. You will find no bigger critic of the BCS than me but I would never suggest Congress meddle with it. They have other things much more important to deal with. -Rob

Albert Pujols

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:12:16 -0600

Watched the last two innings of the Cardinals-Giants game last night. The Cards are a game out of first place in their division. If they don't have Albert Pujols, they're in dead last. He is the only player in that lineup that matters. He's a legitimate triple crown contender this season. From his ESPN player profile:

Pujols is clearly the game's current best hitter, and it remains a mystery why he isn't pitched around more like Barry Bonds was. Pujols now has 30 homers and 77 RBI on the season.

No idea who wrote that but he isn't watching the same games I'm watching. I've seen Pujols play 50-60 times over the last two seasons or so. Everyone pitches around him. Everyone is careful with him. The Giants walked him intentionally last night ... twice. He was on deck when Rasmus ended the game with a homer. Rasmus saw nothing but fastball strikes because the Giants didn't want to walk him and face Pujols with a runner on base. How Pujols is hitting the way he is with the pitches he sees is amazing. If he saw half of the juicy pitches the guy batting in front of him sees, he'd break every hitting record on the books. He's the best player in baseball.

Need a laugh?

70 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

The agreement was at my father's insistence as he wanted to protect my inheritance - this is perfectly normal in our countries of origin, France and Germany. My father taught me the value of hard work and family values.

Katrin Radmacher

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Not sure what that means exactly, but I'm reading a lot of Sylvia Plath and watching some Japanese game shows in search of fresh ideas."

The X Files: I Want to Believe

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:31:28 -0600

I finally got through The X Files: I Want to Believe the other night. I thought maybe I had let too much time lapse since the last time I saw an X-Files episode. I was pretty much lost throughout this film. The X-Files have always been a bit murky and mysterious to me and, on reflection, I think maybe that's intentional on their part. Check out the QOTD. I was not a devoted fan, did not see all of the episodes, and further, did not watch the ones I did see in order so maybe I'm off base on the mysterious and murky and maybe devoted fans got more out of it than I did. Good for them, I suppose. For me, I just didn't get it and it was a waste of time. Cool theme music, though.

71 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Maybe that's the answer, in a larger answer.

Fox Mulder, The X Files: I Want to Believe

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "But, hey, we're the faithful. We'll be there for you, Chris Carter. Sorry for the late start, but this means more concentrated, X-Files-ian goodness for you."

Road construction

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:09:52 -0600

Dave's experience with his local government's road crew gave me an idea for a post. Gotta take inspiration whenever it comes. I've also let some of the required maintenance lapse longer than I should have but I'll save that for another day. Today, we're talking about road work.

Crabapple Lane was an incomplete, unnamed dirt and gravel road when we bought our property way back in 1988. In fact, our land survey below referred to it as "proposed road".

Survey The "proposed road" was completed sometime before we built our house but it was still dirt and gravel. This was 1993 or 1994, I think.

Jump to 2002 or 2003 and enter St Tammany Parish. The road is to be paved. New culverts would be required. The culvert I had was the cheapest my contractor could get away with. It was up to the builder's code but the parish preferred their own. I'm thinking, OK, they're going to tear up my driveway skirt, replace my culvert, and I'm going to get a bill for several hundred or several thousand dollars from the parish. My culvert and driveway skirt were on parish right-of-way. They had every right to do whatever they wanted.

Paving the road took a few days. They ripped up my asphalt driveway skirt, yanked the cheapo galvanized aluminum culvert out, replaced it with TWO of these nice concrete and steel culverts you see pictured, paved and widened my driveway skirt with concrete, and landscaped both sides of the skirt where the culvert stuck out. They had done a fantastic job, far exceeding expectations. I almost had a heart attack. What is that going to cost me? This was September. Among other expenses, all of my insurance premiums (Two cars and two life) are due in September. If this is going to cost more than a few hundred bucks, I don't know what I'm going to do. I called the contractor and asked him for an estimate. He said I'd have to talk to the parish. I went round and round for a few hours before I found the person in charge at the parish.

"Oh, Mr Ferrara, there's no charge. Just let the concrete on the skirt set overnight before you drive on it."

Sixteen tons had just been lifted. We parked on the street that night. They did cut my phone line while they were doing this and I was without phone and internet service for a weekend. It was football and fantasy football opening weekend, when all of the glitches on the website come up. There wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to complain to anyone, though. Phone and internet service was restored on Monday morning and I had a cool new driveway.

I am ever thankful for today's QOTD about Michael Vick.

72 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Saints: Vick is no Saint. And he hardly seems ideal for the offense if Drew Brees was suddenly unavailable.

Buzz Up, USA Today

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "So while they may not be flashy, gutters are an important feature of the home, which require a balance of practicality and aesthetics."

Ran across this blog while looking for someone to cleanout my gutters. -Rob

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:38:14 -0600

I mentioned I had started Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in yesterday's entry. I finished this third installment in the franchise yesterday afternoon. I suppose I let too much time lapse since I saw the second (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) because I had forgotten a lot of what had happened previously. I was lost at times. There is some fun sprinkled throughout the film but it is almost exclusively limited to the Johnny Depp scenes. No one else is particularly interesting and the film is entirely too long. Hopefully, the filmmakers find their way again and have a decent wrap up to the franchise with the next one.

Speaking of allowing too much time to lapse, I started The X Files: I Want to Believe yesterday. I'm a little past the halfway point. There was a lot I didn't know about the characters or remember from the show. To add to my confusion, I wasn't a devotee of the show. I've only seen a little more than a handful of episodes.

73 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

The Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the NCAA aren't supposed to play favorites. But I can guarantee you that when LSU makes the Series, a big cheer goes up downtown. Their fans come by the thousands and spend lots of money. When we open the box office every morning to sell just-released tickets, the parking lot is a sea of purple and gold.

Eddie Sobczyk, CWS ticket manager

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Considering that I live in a house that was built in 1913, I was pleasantly surprised that turning it on tripped no breakers."

I'd be pleasantly surprised that it HAD breakers. -Rob

CrabAppleLane Sunday music rant and other stuff

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:27:23 -0600

Bruce Springsteen was booed in Glastonbury for not playing Born in the USA. People have always misinterpreted that song. Probably why he doesn't play it much any more. Aside from that, I'm wondering what kind of connection an audience of mostly Scots would have with Born in the USA. Reading that gave me a few thoughts.

Politics is under the impression that music influences people, mainly the youth I would think, so politicians try to figure out ways to use it or to prevent its use. The aforementioned Born in the USA was played at a Republican National Convention. I'm fairly certain that no one read the lyrics (See QOTD for the first verse of that song). That was a dumb way to use music to influence anyone.

Simon and Garfunkel's hit, Mrs Robinson, was censored for TV because someone didn't like the line, "Going to the candidates debate". Not sure whose side benefits from removing that verse but it seems to me like a dumb way to try to prevent the use of music.

Country Joe McDonald played his famous Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag at Woodstock. When very few joined in, he complained onstage that he didn't know how they were going to "stop a war" if they couldn't sing better. The war didn't stop. Country Joe was singing to the choir, anyway.

Of course, we all remember the political storm Natalie Maines and The Dixie Chicks stirred up six years ago. I didn't agree with their opinion then but I was absolutely appalled by the reaction to it. Disagreement and criticism is fine and there was plenty of it. Boycotts are fine although a bit silly. Vandalism and death threats have no place in democracy and there was plenty of that, too. The DC's actions weren't an immediately effective use of music but the way they stuck to their guns and their f*ck you stance to their critics won the day if you ask me and fickle public opinion has veered in their favor.

Speaking of music. I've seen Washboard Chaz at The French Quarter Festival in New Orleans. He is awesome.

I'm 40 minutes into the epic 170 minute Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It had better get better soon.

I offer two from the very hot CrabAppleLane backyard.

CrabAppleLane Charlotte - June 28, 2009 - To fully appreciate

CrabAppleLane Trail - June 28, 2009

74 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up, now
Born in the U.S.A, I was
Born in the U.S.A, I was
Born in the U.S.A
Born in the U.S.A, now

Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "They were banned from radio. They received death threats. They were blacklisted by the record industry. People organized massive boycotts and destroyed their records. Talk Radio went nuts."

First new car

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:11:15 -0600

Rob's 1981 Monte Carlo This is my first new car. It was a Midnight Blue 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. I paid $7900 for it in 1980. When I first started looking at new cars, the 1980 Monte Carlos were all the rage. The dealership didn't have one that I wanted or could afford so I special ordered one. When it came in, it was a 1981 model, which looked quite a bit different than the 1980 model, and I didn't know, at first, if I liked it. It grew on me when I drove it home that Friday night for the first time and grew on me even more when my neighbor told me the next morning that it was "absolutely gorgeous". This was taken on our vacation to Gatlinburg in 1982. That far left room was ours. Don't remember much about it except that it was fairly cheap and pretty much all we could afford.