May 2006 Archives

Ready or not, hurricane season starts tomorrow. There are not likely to be too many storms in June or July, though. August and September are the months to worry about. I’ve only made a few adjustments to last year’s plan. One of them involves a major purchase (Larger generator) that I still haven’t made.

In New Zealand, Fi has moved into a new old house in the country. The opossums are cute down under. They look nothing like the homelier ones we get here at CrabAppleLane that only a mother could love. Those cute ones down there probably aren’t as cranky, either.

I’m asking for guest bloggers for this upcoming week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. If you’ve guest blogged here before, your account is still good. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

99 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Once you see everything, the game slows down. Or actually, you're speeding up to the level where everybody else is.

Byron Leftwich, Jacksonville Jaguars QB

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "At 89, Willie Mae Seaton wants her restaurant back. It's located in the Treme district of New Orleans. The flooding post-Katrina was devastating."

First, a little science news: These should be illegal but I want one.

While we were in New Orleans yesterday, rain poured on CrabAppleLane. It hadn’t rained here in weeks and it was just what my languishing tomato bushes needed. Sprinkling does not have the same effect as rainfall. Speaking of tomatoes, I picked four over the weekend. Two are ready for eating tonight. Turkey bacon and tomato sandwiches are the order of the day with our first-picked. It’s a tradition here at CrabAppleLane. There’s not much else happening so I’ll leave you with a couple of shots from yesterday’s visit to the Aquarium of the Americas.

The aquarium is dimly lit. Most of the light in the building comes from the exhibits like this one. All of the exhibits are gorgeous. This one was bright enough to take a picture of without using a flash.

These guys are in the Amazon Rain Forest exhibit. They were very active and noisy and cantankerous. In other words: Crowd pleasers

100 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

I’m so proud. I think this race last three days. It was so awesome to watch these guys. I’m so proud of them. We just love to drive. We love race cars. We just love to do it. We were born to do it, I think.

Mario Andretti

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "As it turned out Boris was shorter than expected, blonder than expected (to the point of yellowness) but just as disheveled as expected. And not at all badly behaved. In fact very properly serious. Until his speech. Then Boris buffooned. And was very Tory."

Happy Memorial Day

Except for being extremely hot, it was a lovely day in New Orleans on the Mississippi River this afternoon. We decided to visit the Aquarium of the Americas today along with everyone else in the world. You’d have thought it was a holiday. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did in spite of the overwhelming crowd.

That’s Patsy’s sister on the right up high feeding fish and waving to the kids and her brother-in-law on the left down low doing the same. They're both volunteers. You pass through that tunnel as you enter the Aquarium of the Americas and the fish and turtles are all around you. We hadn’t been to the aquarium since the year it opened. It is truly a marvel right on the Mississippi River.

These guys and gals are the star attraction. They were made famous recently. They’re kept behind glass as you can tell.

We got to go inside because we knew two of the divers. :) These two turtles were rescues.

The plan was to walk from the Aquarium to the Riverwalk and get lunch but only two restaurants in the Riverwalk were open and they were wrapped up solid with people standing in line. We went somewhere else. We passed the fountain both ways and I stopped to get a picture. That’s the Cajun Queen in the background.

I’m asking for guest blogger volunteers for the week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

101 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

It hasn't been too often that I've heard kind words about me and my situation. ... It's really an uplifting feeling to be in this kind of environment.

Ricky Williams, CFL Toronto Argonauts

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I arise naturally at the crack of dawn on a weekend, but it’s a job in itself to drag my sorry ass out of bed Mon-Fri."

I've been meaning to watch Hotel Rwanda since it came to Pay-Per-View but just never got around to it while it was there. I finally recorded it off of one of the Encore channels and watched it last night. It’s a powerful film. I think Don Cheadle is one of the best actors working and this is a stellar performance. He plays Paul Rusesabagina as a guy just trying to do his job first and then just as a guy trying to save his family. It was the perfect note to strike. His character reminded me a lot of the Dith Pran character in The Killing Fields. They’re just guys trying to get by with incredible madness and slaughter all around them. I didn’t find the film overly political but much like The Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda makes a strong case for real international intervention, not a toothless U.N. presence. I suppose that will always be a tough sell, though, and the film acknowledges that as well. Who wants to get between people who are fighting over wrongs their ancestors did to each other? Especially if they’re just going to resume the instant you leave?

Thanks to today's BOTD, I now know what one of those exotic blooming plants I photographed in City Park is. It's ginger.

R.I.P., Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. I had Saints season tickets when he was drafted in the first round by the team out of Pittsburgh. I had visions of him blocking for Dalton Hilliard and Rueben Mayes and running for touchdowns when he wasn’t blocking. He was a fun player to watch. He didn’t realize his potential in the NFL and that’s too bad. Still, you couldn’t help but like the guy and 39 is way too young to die.

Two from the backyard this magnificent CrabAppleLane Sunday morning:

The CrabAppleLane hydrangeas are getting bigger and better every year and are fast becoming my favorite. Someday, I hope to capture their beauty.

Some of the many blooms are part blue and part purple. Just lovely.

102 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

We all knew we would die, no question. The only question was: how? Would they chop us in pieces? With their machetes they would cut your left hand off. Then they would disappear and reappear a few hours later to cut off your right hand. A little later they would return for your left leg, etc.—they went on till you died. They wanted to make you suffer as long as possible. There was one alternative: you could pay soldiers so they would just shoot you. That's what her [Tatiana's] father did.

Paul Rusesabagina

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "This is a photo of the variagated shell ginger in my back garden. I love the exotic, wild look of it....the yellow and green strips reminding me of the stripes of a tiger."

My office had a meeting the other night and the topic was hurricane preparedness. I imagine all of the offices in New Orleans have had or are going to have similar meetings. Katrina dramatically changed how businesses will prepare for future hurricanes. The single biggest facet of that preparation will be an earlier start. When I left work at 6PM, Friday, August 26, 2005, Hurricane Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico and thought to be headed to Pensacola although New Orleans was in the “cone” of possible landfalls. On Saturday morning, I started getting calls from some of my fantasy football owners saying they were evacuating so I canceled the draft we were to have on Sunday. It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that people started preparing in earnest (Hurricane Katrina made landfall Monday morning at about 6AM). The Saturday crew, which is maybe one fourth of our full staff, at my office got the computers off of the ground, covered them in plastic, and generally tied down anything that could move. The basic thinking was we could lose portions of the roof from the winds, have broken windows from flying objects, and get rainfall in the building and maybe a few inches of flooding if it rained hard enough and the pumps shut down. No one expected the 4 to 9 feet of flood water we got in our buildings after the levees broke. This year, we will prepare for that, too. I think the preparations required will mean we’ll have to start on a weekday when we have a full staff. I’m also sure business will err on the side of caution in New Orleans this year and there will be more than a few extra lost days. Just what the struggling New Orleans recovery needs.

FEDEX donated $100k to the penguin exhibit at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans and provided their flight home. Good on you, FEDEX. We hope to visit the aquarium this weekend. They just reopened after being heavily damaged by Katrina. A little FEDEX story: When they were still brand new and first started advertising (When it absolutely, positively HAS to be there overnight), my grandfather, who was a bit of a cheapskate, asked me, “Who is going to pay $6 to send a letter?”. The rest is history. They became an OVERNIGHT success.

While I was at City Park’s Botanical Gardens yesterday, I noticed this brick column had plants growing out of it. They sell plants to the public so plant propagation is almost always underway. I don’t think anyone intended this but it surely looks like a floral arrangement. I think Mother Nature did it on her own. It should be noted that the only thing she grows on the CrabAppleLane walls is mildew.

I’m asking for guest blogger volunteers for the week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

103 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Is this blog dead yet? No, only languishing.

Ilyka Damen

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Let's blame the politicians and bureaucrats for their errors. Hell, let's blame them for being politicians and bureaucrats in the first place."

City Park Botanical Gardens - New Orleans, LA

Kim is a fan of the Blue Dog. Mr Rodrigue and his wonderful art is another one of those cultural assets of New Orleans I only had a vague knowledge of until recently. I am now a fan, too. Thanks, Kim. He’s raising money for Katrina relief. Quite a bit, too, I might add.

CrabAppleLane will celebrate a three day Memorial Day weekend for the first time ever starting tonight. The universe aligned itself so that I could take Monday off. My office works on Memorial Day as do a lot of offices in New Orleans. It's the holiday most of them traded in to get Mardi Gras Day off.

104 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

I firmly believe I am innocent of the charges against me as I've said from day one.

Ken Lay, Former Enron CEO

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I guess everyone has a set of morals they live by... I never would have expected parking tickets would have an affect on one's love life. :-)"

Inspired by Emily’s rant post on Syd Barrett (Also spelled Sid), I offer my own ramble post about Pink Floyd and me. In the early 70s, I was a Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Wishbone Ash, Who, and Black Sabbath fan. Pink Floyd was the band that played Money on the radio. I didn’t take them seriously. It should be noted that all of these bands were camera shy. That was intentional. If you want to see Led Zeppelin, fork over your $6 and go see them in concert. The exception was seeing Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash on The Midnight Special. They were on the same show. What a treat. You could read about these bands in Rolling Stone (If you could stand it) or Circus (I preferred this publication) if you wanted to but I usually didn’t. They were just the guys who made the music. What the music was about and what their life away from the music was about didn’t concern me much.

Bands produced albums almost every year then. When Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here came out, their Dark Side of the Moon was still near the top of the charts (It was still on the charts when Animals and The Wall came out, too). DSOTM didn’t do much for me but I liked WYWH. I didn’t buy it when it came out, though. The first Pink Floyd album I bought was Momentary Lapse of Reason after I saw a video of On The Turning Away. I was on the BBS scene then and there was a Fidonet Echo (Similar to a usenet newsgroup) devoted to PF. That’s when I discovered that “true” Pink Floyd fans hated that album. Not only was Syd Barrett gone but Roger Waters was gone, too. Those two guys were thought to be the driving force behind the band. I loved that album, though. It was David Gilmour that I liked. After MLOR, I was inspired to get their older ones. Naturally, I got Wish You Were Here first and it fast became my favorite. Listening to Welcome to the Machine cranked up in surround sound is one of my very favorite things to do but I also love the title cut and Have a Cigar.

I saw them live on their final Division Bell tour at the Superdome. After consulting the t-shirt, I can safely say it was 1994. Doesn’t seem that long ago. That was the only concert I ever saw in the Superdome that sounded good. The shows I saw before that sounded horrible if you weren’t close to the stage.

And, finally, I saw the reunion show at Live 8 on TV in surround sound. To me, they sounded exactly the same with Roger as they did without. See their spectacular performance in the rain at Knebworth '90 and tell me they sound different now. As for Syd, I hope you can find the “walk on part in the war”.

It’s that time again. I’m asking for guest blogger volunteers for the week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

105 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Welcome my son
Welcome to the machine
Where have you been
Its alright, we know where you've been

Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Last in Manchester in 1988 when Pink Floyd played at Manchester City Football Club’s old home, Maine Road, David has only really performed in Manchester in his early Floyd days, performing at universities in 1968, 1969 and 1970."

Vlad the Impaler didn’t live there but is thought to have "visited" the castle so now it’s called Dracula’s castle?

While known and marketed as "Dracula's Castle," the Bran Castle never belonged to Prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula character, but the prince is thought to have visited the medieval fortress.

P.T. Barnum is alive and well and living in Romania.

For the record, I prefer the vampire stories that emanate from the Prince Vlad legends like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles but I hope I’m done with vampires for a while.

Reggie Bush can’t wear his famous Number 5 in the NFL. I suppose he’ll have to make another number famous, instead. Fine by me but I still think the rules on that are ridiculous.

106 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

This is a terrible thought, for if so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his hand for silence? How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash?

Bram Stoker, Dracula - Jonathan Harker's Journal

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a proposal till today, not a real proposal, and today I had three. Just fancy!"

The first line of a UPI story I stumbled across via the appropriately named Rose Colored News seems like it should make for a bigger story.

MILAN, Italy (UPI) -- An Italian company has begun marketing a cement that is capable of absorbing pollution from vehicles.

The rest of the story explains a little how it works. It’s worth reading.

My friend, Dave, the Internet NAZI.

Speaking of baseball, today’s QOTD is about the best player in that sport, Albert Pujols.

Quote of the Day

No disrespect to Scott (Rolen) or Jim (Edmonds). But you're not going to let Albert beat you.

Paul Lo Duca, New York Mets Catcher

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to Harry Chapin and get maudlin."

We watched The Ice Harvest yesterday afternoon. This movie reminded me a lot of A Simple Plan except it’s a little funnier. Billy Bob Thornton was in that one, too, although that was a totally different character. Plan was gruesome and methodical in its downward spiral. Harvest is gruesome and a little funny in its downward spiral. In fact, it's got some belly laugh moments, mostly conveyed via the treacherous driving conditions. Everything goes wrong for Charlie, the John Cusack character, and everyone is trying to con him into doing things for them before they kill him. Worth seeing.

I’m asking for guest blogger volunteers for the week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

108 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

We make movies for people, not critics.

Valerie Van Galder, President of domestic marketing for Sony

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Grace is SO NOT me!!"

We saw The Da Vinci Code yesterday at the 12:45 matinee. The crowd was pretty sparse and there were no protesters. Patsy hates big crowds so that was fine by us. We both read the book recently, knew the story, and I think Ron Howard assumed that most of his audience will have read the book, also. That was probably a safe assumption on his part and also a good idea to stick to it. The film was a faithful adaptation and almost mechanical in its execution. Very few details were left out or changed. I suppose it had to be that way. About the movie (No spoilers allowed here or in the comments): Paul Bettany was perfect as Silas. Hanks was fine as Langdon although I pictured a little younger man in that role. The film missed a perfect, dramatic AHA moment and I was disappointed in that. The locations were exquisite. If you liked the book, you should like the movie. They’re both entertaining.

It’s that time again. I’m asking for guest blogger volunteers for the week of June 3-10. I’m going to take that week off from blogging. If you’ve never blogged before, here’s your chance to see what it is all about. If you use different blogging software, here’s your chance to see what the latest Movable Type version does. If you already blog, here’s a chance to do something different and shamelessly plug your own blog to maybe some different readers. I’ll be around to lend technical support for anyone who wants it. If you’re interested, email me for details.

Tragedy at Pimlico yesterday. I hope they can save his life but it doesn’t sound good. I didn’t see it live and have no desire to see it. Ever.

No tragedy in New Orleans yesterday. The mayor’s race wasn’t all that difficult to call and I kind of like the notion of them having a mayor that has already made mistakes. There isn’t much other difference between Landrieu and Nagin. I don’t support Nagin as much now as I did four years ago but this result is certainly not the end of the world. New Orleans is largely on her own in her post-Katrina reconstruction efforts and has been almost from the beginning. She’ll still recover because the communities surrounding her also have a stake in her recovery. CrabAppleLane is still bullish on New Orleans.

One from the CrabAppleLane Wildlife Sanctuary

The wrens have decided they like building nests in our porch awning. The entrance to the nest is on top of the awning and the exit is below and heaven forbid either parent forgets it. These birds weigh almost nothing but their weight is all lungs and attitude. Building nests here every year is fine by us but that always makes me postpone cleaning the awning. Come to think of it, that’s not all that bad, either.

109 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Two weeks ago we were on such a high and this is our worst nightmare.

Michael Matz, Trainer - Barbaro

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The kid bounced into bed with us this morning and woke me up by shoving her ice cold feet into my crotch…"

While the City of New Orleans elects a new mayor today, some more pictures of City Park in New Orleans are all I have to offer. Grabbing a burger at the drive-thru and eating it at the park has been one of my favorite things to do since our office re-opened in New Orleans and that was on the agenda yesterday. I love the park and I kind of like the quiet I get there now. I’m anxious to see what happens when school ends. It seems to me that even with school in, there should be more people at the park on pretty days like yesterday. And, now, for something completely different: An escape into blasphemy is on tap for today.

I assume Popp donated a large sum of money although I haven't been able to confirm it online. There's a Popp's Fountain in City Park, too. Have to work on my lines here.

12:45PM on a gorgeous Friday afternoon. No kids at the playground. Too bad. City Park needs more laughing, screaming kids and less litter.

The sundial says almost noon. It’s still on Central Standard time. I have one of these, myself, read up on it pretty good, and still have no idea how they work.

Some beautification going on. I had a large portion of the park all to myself.

I have no idea what these are, either. They were right next to those other things from yesterday. I suspect they’re Japanese in origin. There was a distinct Japanese exhibit I could see through the bars near these.

110 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

If you can't bring people together, you can't get anything done.

Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans Mayoral Candidate

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Three poles"

Nice photoblog. -Rob

No idea what these are. They're on a wisteria-type vine hanging over the bars of the City Park Sculpture Garden. I have never been inside of this exhibit. I will change that stat the next time I go. Did not have enough time today.

From USA Today:

The Louvre, which set an attendance record last year with more than 7 million visitors, once treated the novel with French disdain. Now, it's peddling a 50-minute, downloadable audio tour, narrated by Da Vinci Code film star Jean Reno. Even Westminster Abbey, which refused to allow filming and denounced the book as theologically unsound, is offering two Da Vinci Code-related lectures at about $47 a head, wine and canapés included.

Money trumps disdain with ease. Never let your convictions and/or snobbishness stand in the way of making a buck.

111 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Dan Brown's novel is utterly preposterous; Ron Howard's movie is preposterously entertaining.

Roger Ebert, Film Critic

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I gave up completely when I moved to San Diego. Now, I have 3 area codes just within the county. I work in one, and live in another 15 minutes away. I actually had a choice of which area code I wanted when setting up home and cell service. My phone number is 10 digits now, period, end of story."

The Da Vinci Code didn’t WOW the critics at Cannes. Big surprise. That will not deter me. In fact, I give the film makers credit for allowing it to open there ahead of its big opening weekend. Those are the snootiest critics you can find and a blockbuster with this much hype was almost a certainty to disappoint them. Very risky.

The Saints announced a season ticket sales record yesterday. A new coach and a new potential superstar are part of the reason but the NFL stepping in and reigning in Tom Benson’s wanderlust should share some of the credit. If the question is “Can the Saints survive in New Orleans?”, the answer is a resounding YES. If the question is, “Will Tom Benson always be happy in New Orleans?”, the answer is probably not. After 40 years of ineptitude, the last 10,000 Saints fans needed for consistent sellouts need something to be excited about. A winner is the best solution but that has been elusive here.

Where in the world is Jimmy Hoffa? Sounds like a game.

Quote of the Day

I'm happy with my career so far and what I've done in my career, and I don't need anything extra.

Albert Pujols, St Louis Cardinals

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Where in the world is Pringle, South Dakota? It's what we asked ourselves as we came out here to report on yet another polygamist compound."

I had no idea there was somewhere in the United States where full serve gas stations were still in vogue. Apparently, I was wrong. New Jersey is such a place according to this article from USA Today. If you look hard enough or beg hard enough, you can find it in Louisiana but only during daylight hours, only in quaint old-timey service stations, and you’ll pay more for your gasoline. When I was a teenager so many years ago, pumping gas was an entry level summer job for kids my age. It was being phased out even then. By the time I had my own car in 1975, I wouldn’t have considered paying the extra 4 cents per gallon to have someone pump my gas. I wonder if New Jersey stations still wipe your windshield and check your fluids, too.

There was a Texaco commercial that featured a young guy on a date stopping for gas. He asked for 50 cents worth and the attendant proceeded to wipe his windshield, check his oil, check his tire pressure, etc, etc. His date kind of scoffed at the 50 cents and his defense was he had spent his last $10 on his accelerator pedal (Cut to a shot of an accelerator pedal in the shape of a foot). When the attendant had finished this rather extensive service, he asked our guy if there will be anything else and our guy says, “Put in another 10 cents worth”. Good on you, New Jersey.

Happy Birthday, Duncan and Nikki. Duncan would be 24 and Nikki would be 22. Still missed.

113 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

If I'm in a tux going to a black tie (event), I don't want to stop and handle a gas pump.

Francis Bodine, Assemblyman

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "My fondest wish is that these get circulated far and wide...especially to those serving jury duty, which for some people is their triennial visit downtown: may they never have to darken the door of crappy chains again."

OK, who's going to see The Da Vinci Code this weekend? I plan to go and I wonder if there will be protests. It opens Friday. Patsy hates big crowds but I don't want anyone spilling the beans to me even though we both read the book recently and know the story. The trailer is awesome. I'm looking forward to it and also looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. That trailer is equally awesome. I loved the first Pirates. Johnny Depp was a hoot.

Good job, Len.

Quote of the Day

I sense the tectonic plates are shifting. People want to find that balance again. They want to rediscover their inner tortoise.

Carl Honoré, Author

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It's a coming-of-age memoir, that takes a heartfelt look at his unusual Crescent City childhood during the 1950s and '60s."

I’ve been following Big Love on HBO since it premiered for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. I don’t know if there’s an ounce of reality to this show but that’s not all that important to me. However, since I have never given the ins and outs of polygamy much thought, one of the questions that keeps rolling around in my head every time I watch an episode is just how serious is this show? Is this show really based on something?

Hard to imagine a nicer weekend at CrabAppleLane. Fairly cool temps for mid May in southeast Louisiana. I leave you with the last picture I took yesterday of one of the gorgeous Mimosa trees swaying in the cool breeze. This one is located in the neighborhood about 200 yards from where I type.

115 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

I work in a safe environment and I enjoy my job

Luna

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Bruce says in Chris Welch's book, Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup, that he "has no regrets that [he] didn't join Led Zeppelin when they asked." This suggests that Bruce was Zeppelin founder and guitarist Jimmy Page's original choice for bassist/lead singer."

Canadian Geese, delmer. Wish light had been better but it's nearing sunset and it's also overcast at CrabAppleLane this Mother's Day. The pair at top have the oldest and the most goslings. The two pair in the second image are a contrast. The far ones seem relaxed and are just moseying along whereas the near ones seem determined to get wherever it is they're going. Heads tilted forward, hurry up, hurry up. All of these were on the same pond and I had no idea they nested here. Thought they all migrated north in the spring.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom and ALL Mothers

From Rob & Patsy at CrabAppleLane

Quote of the Day

Fifty-one years ago I had a Hallmark moment when my boyfriend sent me a beautiful card, "To My Other Mother."

Mom

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "SAHM duties: day-care center teacher, van driver, housekeeper, cook, chief executive officer, nurse and general maintenance worker"

Patsy and I finally watched Annie Hall from start to finish the other night. Neither of us had seen it before and neither of us are wild about Woody Allen films so that partially explains why it only took us 29 years to get around to it. This one was recently voted one of the best movies of all time so I figured maybe it was time to take the plunge. To me, it was a typically OK Woody Allen film. It was nothing extraordinary or to put it more accurately, it was “better than a poke in the eye” as one famous Mary Poppins character might say. Maybe I’m supposed to see Woody Allen movies in chronological order to understand what kind of breakthrough this film was supposed to be but I didn’t see anything in this one that I haven’t seen in any of his other films. Probably not fair to say that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all but they all have his distinct signature on them and are instantly recognizable even when he’s not portraying the central character (See Celebrity). I have never seen a Woody Allen film twice. Once is always enough. Furthermore, I don’t have a lot of patience with people who say I don’t get him because I’m not from New York or I’m not Jewish. I get Steven Spielberg films and I’m not Jewish. I get Martin Scorsese films and I’m not from New York. His films are simply hit and miss and I refuse to take all of the blame when portions of his films fail to connect with me. His hits are always singles, never home runs, and the misses are just a waste of time. However, most of them have moments (See the QOTD). One other thing: I don’t think anyone is as neurotic as he comes off onscreen. Do you?

Switching to baseball: $14 million per year sounds like a lot of money for a ballplayer but I think Albert Pujols is worth considerably more than that in this day and age. That's his current salary. With Alex Rodriguez at $25 million and Manny Ramirez at $18 million, Pujols is a bargain. He is more productive and more valuable to his team than either of those guys and has been for a number of years.

Quote of the Day

I was thrown out of N.Y.U. my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

Alvy Singer, Annie Hall

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Ever fantasized about being Tony LaRussa? You haven't? I cannot imagine why not."

I was on one of the bridges over City Park Lagoon yesterday finishing my lunch when one of the Park’s Ugly Ducklings swam over and proceeded to thoroughly intimidate the turtles. The closest one retreated completely inside his shell just after I snapped this. I’ve seen one hiss at a nutria until the nutria backed away and they're not nearly as timid as turtles. The swans rule this lagoon with an iron fist.

City Park Lagoon. I’m not sure who’s tending to City Park right now. It’s either volunteers or a skeleton crew. It needs more attention but it's still beautiful.

118 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

It's best to leave on top. Not many players in the NFL get a chance to do what I'm doing today and walk away from the game happy. I can live the rest of my life happy.

Jimmy Smith, Jacksonville Jaguars

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "When the year is about to pass on, to die, our lives seem more transparent. When the sun is shining, as it is now, and when the cherry trees and the dogwoods are dumping flower petals like snow showers, as they have been, it’s hard to believe that we won’t live forever."

There’s porn on the internet? Who’d have thunk? Some want to make adult sites use a XXX domain name. From MSNBC.COM:

And they say such a domain name would legitimize adult sites, which two out of every five Internet users visit each month, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix.

If “two out of every five Internet users visit each month”, we’re kind of past the point of legitimacy, don’t ya think? But the most fun from this article comes from the opening paragraph:

Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, the Internet’s key oversight agency voted Wednesday to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the Internet.

Conservative groups and some pornography Web sites? That HAS to be an uneasy alliance but it’s a step in the right direction. Otherwise, it’s simply a waste of everyone’s time. Porn is not going away. Opposition to porn is not going away. The porn industry wants these groups off of their back and these groups want porn off the internet (Total pipe dream) or at least off their kids’ computer screens (A little more attainable). Instead of going to court or third parties, they should probably work together.

Quote of the Day

Sweetheart, you can use any word you want.

A.M. "Abe" Rosenthal, N.Y. Times

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I’ve been reading a book called Flying Without Fear this week because I want to be able to start flying again without, well, fear. It’s in the title, people!"

Local Metro New Orleans fans will get their first look at Reggie Bush in a Saints uniform this weekend. The Saints are holding their annual rookie camp. He’s not signed yet but he’s going to participate. He’ll wear Number 5 if the NFL allows him. I can’t imagine them not making an exception, in his case, to the ridiculous rules that certain position players have to wear a certain series of numbers. He is instantly recognizable in the Number 5. Running backs are supposed to wear jerseys in the 20s through 40s. Drew Brees will be wearing Number 9 this season. Quarterbacks are supposed to wear jerseys from 0 to 20 so he’s safe. If Reggie gets his 5, you’ll hear a lot about 9 to 5 this season and Dolly Parton’s voice will be filling the SuperDome. I wasn’t the first one to notice that tidbit. I suspect/hope we will be hearing that all season. Or maybe they'll work in a reference from Short Circuit. The robot hero in that film was Number 5. Possibilities, possibilities.

120 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Along comes a guy who makes No. 5 famous during an incredible college career, and you're telling me he can't wear that number as a professional. That makes no sense. What about merchandising? The NFL are masters at that. Think of all the No. 5s the Saints will sell. I can't imagine Reggie wearing 15, 25, 35. He belongs in No. 5.

Paul Hornung, NFL Hall-of-Famer

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I'm trying to think of three good reasons not to go, and of course they all involve work. I can think of about 27 good reasons to go, and some of them involve work."

Repost: My mother has a very selective and very kind memory about some things. On our wedding day, she dropped in unannounced while Patsy was still getting ready. My undoubtedly inherited selective memory doesn’t remember why. What I do remember about that encounter was that Patsy was having a typical bride’s wedding day. Nothing was going to her satisfaction and she is not one to suffer that sort of thing in silence. Patsy has full command of the “Deadwood” language but she hardly ever uses it. Today was different. She was using it at the top of her lungs that afternoon within earshot of my Mom and I and most of the Western Hemisphere, I suspect. This would normally shock my mother. My dad had to say “goldarn” around us because of her. A couple of years ago, Mom told me she doesn’t remember this incident at all.

Happy Anniversary, Patsy
Love,
Rob
Hope the next 25 are as grand as the first

Quote of the Day

I gave my golden thing a gold wedding ring
And the both of us said I do

Mark Knopfler, Prairie Wedding

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "They seem to be very attracted to people, and watch all the activities of sculpture unloading with great interest. Only problem is they leave little surprises on the sidewalk."

The Bay Saint Louis Bridge in Mississippi on May 6, 2006. It was washed away by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. This looks a lot like the I-10 twin spans over Lake Pontchartrain looked. The bridge sections must be held down by gravity. I suppose the supports would have been yanked out of the bay bottom had the sections been secured to them. There were a couple of guys fishing just out of the frame to the left. My sister-in-law suggested they may have been fishing for flounder. The tide was coming in from the Gulf of Mexico pretty rapidly and they were struggling with it. The Gulf is to the right and the Bay is to the left in this image.

As impressive as Barbaro was Saturday, I do not think he’s a lock for the Triple Crown.

122 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Go ahead, we will get into one of the other boats. He smiled as he said it.

Selma Asplund, Titanic Survivor

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Blaine's skin, which has become shrivlled and pruned due to the water, hurts as well, and he is worried about his muscles - which have begun to atrophy."

I picked the Kentucky Derby winner yesterday. I’d like to say it was because of my superb handicapping abilities but it was really just dumb luck. I didn’t bet on it and I advised the readers here to only bet any house they had to lose. They don’t need to thank me for the 8 extra houses they now have.

The Rufous-sided Towhee I've been watching for a time now has found herself a mate. The above picture is the handsome fellow. Damn rain clouds. The males are black on top and the females are brown.

Quote of the Day

What can I say? Everybody saw it, so they know what he did.

Michael Matz, Trainer - Barbaro

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I think what's happened is that my life has phased into Super M mode - as in Super Mundane. Nothing of note is happening. At all."

We just returned from Trapani’s Eatery in Bay Saint Louis. What a delightful place to eat. I had fried crab fingers, seafood gumbo, house salad, Panéed Trout Eatery, and a deluxe homemade dessert whose name escapes me, and I'm now fairly worthless for the rest of the day. Thanks Bobette, Sharon, and Kurt.

And the sign said, "Do Not Remove Steeple". If it was meant for Hurricane Katrina, maybe it should have pointed in the other direction (The Gulf of Mexico is about 200 yards directly behind the sign). Katrina paid no attention to it. She removed the steeple. I suspect it's probably meant for FEMA. Chances are pretty good they'll heed it..........................................if they ever see it.

This art boutique caught my eye because of its old-timey Coca-Cola ad, which I'm sure is fairly new. I also liked the chairs outside ($29/ea). They only had one pink one still for sale.

Installed MTAutoBan today because we are getting bombarded by incessant spam comments and trackbacks. Almost none of them are getting through but they are occupying resources here and causing legitimate readers and commenters from being able to access the site. At least, that’s my theory. I had to delete over 6000 junk trackbacks the other day, which is ridiculous in the extreme, from this relatively obscure website. Hopefully, this will help but I have zero confidence in it because of my ignorance of .htaccess files.

It says here that Barbaro will win today's Kentucky Derby. Bet any house you have to lose.

124 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Buy good food. Stay out of its way. Serve it.

Gil Logan, Executive Chef

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The increasingly interesting YouTube has a video up showing Derrin Brown, a British somethingorother (magician? Illusionist? Wacky mind guy?) playing chess against nine world class (or really, eight world class and one very good) chess players simultaneously."

Interesting article on NASCAR over at USA Today. NASCAR has to walk a fine line. If there’s too much bad behavior on the track, they lose sponsors. If there’s not enough, they lose fans. They need both. There are a lot of thrills and artistry in stock car racing but many people go to the races or watch at home because of the possibility of spectacular car crashes and/or feuding between the drivers. It’s a little bit like hockey in that respect.

$95.2 million?????? It's kinda ugly if you ask me but I'd also be the first to tell you I don't know art. This one of Rosina Ferrara (I suspect she's no relation to me but I can't be sure. She bears a strong resemblance to one of my sisters.) by John Singer Sargent is more to my taste and a bargain at only $7 million. Via Pitcherlady.

Quote of the Day

You can forgive Arnold Schwarzenegger for his naivete. Most of his adult life experience consists of battling evil warlords, Latin American dictators, terrorists, alien cyborgs, Satan and unruly children. Obviously, by getting involved with NFL owners and Los Angeles politicians, he’s in way over his head.

Michael Ventre, MSNBC.COM

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: " It's been a busy week. My heart rate seems to have slowed just to the point where I can taste food again."

One of the weblogs I mentioned about a year ago has spawned another weblog (See today’s BOTD). I still think it can be a great and super cheap tool for companies to get their message out to the general public, to counter misquotes or inaccurate perceptions, to quell rumors, to start rumors :), to get fairly to extremely passionate feedback, etc, and I’m surprised I haven’t run across more of them in my blog hopping in the last year or so. The quoted entry from today’s BOTD is making a case for what he contends is a wrong perception. In time, a body of text will accumulate and I think that, too, is a valuable resource. There are no limits to what a weblog can do and the cost is next to nothing. A company can run a weblog almost indefinitely for a fraction of the cost of one commercial. I promise you that people who must be informed on this company (Journalists, investment researchers, whatever) are monitoring the site for anything they can use. I see so many positives and zero negatives. All they have to do is get others to read them, too. Maybe I just don’t know a good idea when I see one. Free unsolicited advice from CrabAppleLane: Post more than once or twice a week, interact more with your readers/commenters, and LINK.

126 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

He’s a bad man, but we have a fair society.

Rosemary Dillard

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "This perception of GM has got to change – it’s not even close to reality."

FEMA is closing their office in New Orleans over a fallout with local officials.

Agency claims local officials failed to meet planning obligations

Words fail. Where does this leave the citizens all of these officials represent? I suppose it leaves them in Houston, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Memphis, Denver, and wherever else the hurricane winds scattered them. Nothing like bureaucratic squabbling during a crisis. Well, yeah, there is . Politics during a crisis trumps it.

Quote of the Day

It appears the mayor’s office misunderstood the commitment made: While FEMA is committed to the long-term recovery of the Gulf Coast region, providing funding for planning does not fall under the federal guidelines of public assistance.

Aaron Walker, FEMA’s national spokesman

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "We are not having a beauty competition only but looking for an Irish girl to represent all that is best about being Irish in Derby and Nottingham in 2006. As the song says " She was lovely and fair", so we are also looking for personality, charm and confidence etc."

Ran across a blog this morning that was all Google ads at the top. There was no content of their own whatsoever on my screen until I scrolled down a bit. I really don’t have any objection to ads on a blog site to maybe make a buck or to help fray the cost but I think many of these sites go overboard into the realm of tacky. On a related topic, I’m still not sure what to make of “Please Donate” or “Buy Me Things” buttons on blog sites but that’s a post for another day. Got chastised once a while back after I made comment here about what I thought was overly distasteful panhandling by a blogger. There was much more than a button involved in that instance, though. It was augmented by incessant posting. One day, when I am really geared up for a pi$$ing match, I’ll give that another go. That probably won’t be any time soon, though.

128 days until football season...........................

Quote of the Day

Do you think if there was any real evidence, we would have reached a settlement?

Rush Limbaugh, Radio

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "A pic from the archives that I'm very pleased with."

Very nice pic. -Rob

I like Firefox. As browsers go, it’s really not any better than IE but it has a nicer feel to it. Its proponents say it is superior but I haven’t found that to be the case since all websites are designed to look OK in IE and only a handful are designed to look OK in all browsers. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of sites I use regularly that I cannot get to work properly in Firefox, particularly audio/video features. I find this annoying and will probably have to quit using it. I like using products other than Microsoft on occasion because I am forced to use so many of them at work and at home but it’s getting increasingly hard to do even that. I don’t blame Microsoft for all of this, just most of it.

Quote of the Day

I would like to make it easier next time. My heart can't take much more of this.

Chris Couch, Zurich Classic Winner

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Right now, two of my favorite Flickr-tographers are hkvam and _rebekka. They both have breathtaking landscape shots of Iceland."