Warning: Many stupid statements and assumptions ahead.
I have recently discovered that we have something of a bat problem. They've probably been there for a year an a half, off and on. We noticed droppings around that time, but I didn't give it much thought, because the droppings were outside of the house. I thought that it might be squirrels or something, but wondered how they were getting to the attic vent, around which there was staining, indicating some activity. The guy painting the house at that time let me know what I was dealing with, when he told me that he saw a dozen or so fly out when he went up to paint that part of the house. I figured that he scared them off, and that was the last we'd see of them. Yeah.
Last weekend, when I noticed that the droppings had returned, and sprayed a hose up toward that attic vent, whereupon about 20 bats flew out, and bat guana ran down the side of the house like Willy Wonka's chocolate river. I returned the next day with my hose, and chased the bats off again. I had hoped that being disturbed like that would cause them to leave for good. Yeah.
The good news is that they're not in the attic; rather, they're hanging out on the outside of the screen, but protected by the slats outside that attic vent window on the side of the house. I went online and ordered some Bat-a-Way to put up in the attic. The smell supposedly drives the critters away. We'll see.
The other side is that I hate to drive them away completely, because they keep the mosquito population down (though, if you walk outside our house right now, you can't tell that they're doing a particularly good job). I may put a bat box on one of the trees, and see if I have any luck moving them there.
Friday, July 30, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
A Reading for Afterdinner's New Play
Afterdinner's play "Cinnamon Girl" will have a staged reading in October. See this site for details. (Information on her play is on the bottom of the linked page.)
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004
Friday, July 16, 2004
Daddy Says
" Bill Cosby did not grow up in the projects, living in a rathole, dirt poor, with a father that beat his mother or wasn't there at all, not knowing where his next anything was coming from. Some of the things he said needed to be said by a black man who scratched his way up from these conditions. No matter what he says in the future, white biggotts will use his remarks."
Vacation Sundries
Everyone survived the trip to the mountains, and had a great time. I've got some pictures; I'll try to share some of them this weekend. We did lots of loafing, guitar playing, fishing (worm and fake worm drowning), hot tubbing, Password playing, beer and coffee drinking, grilling, red-meat and ice cream eating, swimming, exploring, and arson.
We did some boating, told jokes about boating, and about people who own boats. We made our somewhat annual trip to the drive-in, which is always fun. Spiderman 2 was a hit. White Chicks was, well, White Chicks.
Gock and I tried to burn down the cabin and surrounding area with our hillbilly pyrotechnics. Thanks go to Gock and Melanie for braving "One Armed Willie's" to purchase the implements of destruction.
The cabin was outstanding. Thanks to Koala for securing it; we hope to have it again next year. It was borderline luxurious: The hot tub was a big hit, the amenities were unbelievable, and there was lots of land to roam around on.
We did some boating, told jokes about boating, and about people who own boats. We made our somewhat annual trip to the drive-in, which is always fun. Spiderman 2 was a hit. White Chicks was, well, White Chicks.
Gock and I tried to burn down the cabin and surrounding area with our hillbilly pyrotechnics. Thanks go to Gock and Melanie for braving "One Armed Willie's" to purchase the implements of destruction.
The cabin was outstanding. Thanks to Koala for securing it; we hope to have it again next year. It was borderline luxurious: The hot tub was a big hit, the amenities were unbelievable, and there was lots of land to roam around on.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Dereliction of Dipity Duty
Forgive me if you've heard or read any of this before. It's just that I've felt it necessary to update alla y'all on my travel plans.
As it stands, I still haven't actually "booked" anything, as I didn't want to be stuck with something that I would've had to've changed because of poor planning. Since I'll be out of town for the next month, at a remote enough location, and occupied with responsibilies of a company nature most of the time, my net access is likely to be sporadic at best. I depart this weekend, and am to be back here on the 6th of August.
The plan:
to be in Chicago no later than Barry's wedding on my birthday, which should have me arriving between the 8th and 13th
to play a couple of dates
on or about the 22nd of August to either visit Gock, if Gock is da, and then head south; or if he's not there, go straight to the northern mountains of the great state of Georgia
to stay in A&W land for a week or so, whichever comes first
Any plans after this are subject to Carola's schedule, or her ablity to be there in the first place. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.
As it stands, I still haven't actually "booked" anything, as I didn't want to be stuck with something that I would've had to've changed because of poor planning. Since I'll be out of town for the next month, at a remote enough location, and occupied with responsibilies of a company nature most of the time, my net access is likely to be sporadic at best. I depart this weekend, and am to be back here on the 6th of August.
The plan:
to be in Chicago no later than Barry's wedding on my birthday, which should have me arriving between the 8th and 13th
to play a couple of dates
on or about the 22nd of August to either visit Gock, if Gock is da, and then head south; or if he's not there, go straight to the northern mountains of the great state of Georgia
to stay in A&W land for a week or so, whichever comes first
Any plans after this are subject to Carola's schedule, or her ablity to be there in the first place. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Directions to the cabin
The cabin:
A Fisherman's Retreat
650 Blackberry Drive
Mineral Bluff, GA 30559
706-374-7740
(from Loving Road/76)
1) Turn right off of Loving Road onto 76
2) Go to the intersection of 515/60. Turn left (North) onto Hwy 60.
3) Go 1.8 miles to Railroad Avenue, turn left.
4) Go .3 miles to Mountain Rivers Road, turn right. You will go across a wooden bridge. Stay on the main paved road for about .5 mile to Blackberry Drive, and turn right.
5) Go .6 mile to the dead end. There is a gate. Open the gate and continue to the cabin. There is a Tica Cabin Rental sign at the driveway.
I'll add a map in here tonight, if I can. You can pull one up in Mapquest if you need one, also.
A Fisherman's Retreat
650 Blackberry Drive
Mineral Bluff, GA 30559
706-374-7740
(from Loving Road/76)
1) Turn right off of Loving Road onto 76
2) Go to the intersection of 515/60. Turn left (North) onto Hwy 60.
3) Go 1.8 miles to Railroad Avenue, turn left.
4) Go .3 miles to Mountain Rivers Road, turn right. You will go across a wooden bridge. Stay on the main paved road for about .5 mile to Blackberry Drive, and turn right.
5) Go .6 mile to the dead end. There is a gate. Open the gate and continue to the cabin. There is a Tica Cabin Rental sign at the driveway.
I'll add a map in here tonight, if I can. You can pull one up in Mapquest if you need one, also.
The Camping Plan 2004
This is probably as good a place as any (if it's not too late) to coordinate the plan for the week, or at least update everyone on schedules, directions, etc.
Craig, Kristen and I will be arriving at Turner Road late Saturday morning. We can't check into the cabin until 3PM, so we'll go over and pick up the keys from the main office early Saturday afternoon. I'm trying to get directions faxed to me. If I get them, I'll post them as a followup. I'll leave a copy on the kitchen table at Morganton, also.
Daphne will be arriving on Monday late, as she's driving down from the Outer Banks. We'll all (4) leaving Friday for Norcross, as the kids have to be back at their mom's on Saturday AM.
I'm bringing a tent, an inflatable mattress, and a couple of sleeping bags for overflow of campers.
Does anyone have fireworks? I don't know what the vibe will be, but it would be nice to have them if we can use them. Koala dumped the stash that we had in a fit of paranoia.
Craig, Kristen and I will be arriving at Turner Road late Saturday morning. We can't check into the cabin until 3PM, so we'll go over and pick up the keys from the main office early Saturday afternoon. I'm trying to get directions faxed to me. If I get them, I'll post them as a followup. I'll leave a copy on the kitchen table at Morganton, also.
Daphne will be arriving on Monday late, as she's driving down from the Outer Banks. We'll all (4) leaving Friday for Norcross, as the kids have to be back at their mom's on Saturday AM.
I'm bringing a tent, an inflatable mattress, and a couple of sleeping bags for overflow of campers.
Does anyone have fireworks? I don't know what the vibe will be, but it would be nice to have them if we can use them. Koala dumped the stash that we had in a fit of paranoia.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Firefox - Gotta have it
I periodically read about "alternate" browsers, like Mozilla, and Opera, and think, "Ah, that's for teh geeks. It's prolly a pain in the ass, so I won't do that." This primarily because the people that tell me about the other browsers remind me of the Mac dorks that beat the Apple drum, or the Linux snobs.
Aaaaanywho, I started using Mozilla Firefox and I'm loving it. It doesn't cost anything, and is *very* easy to download and set up (it can automagically inherit all of your Internet Explorer settings, for example). There are a lot of cool things in it, like a built in pop-up blocker, but you can discover those on your own.
The reason that I'm bothering to tell you this is that I stumbled upon a feature that I haven't seen documented anywhere, and it's an excellent solution to the problem of knowing when this page is updated. In Firefox, you can choose the properties of any of your Bookmarks (Favorites) to include a visual and/or auditory notification whenever that page is updated, with an option to automatically open that page. I know for sure that I got a notification when King of Fools added her last post, and I think, but am not sure, that there is notification when someone adds a comment.
If anyone is interested, download from here, where you can get a lot of information on the product as well.
Aaaaanywho, I started using Mozilla Firefox and I'm loving it. It doesn't cost anything, and is *very* easy to download and set up (it can automagically inherit all of your Internet Explorer settings, for example). There are a lot of cool things in it, like a built in pop-up blocker, but you can discover those on your own.
The reason that I'm bothering to tell you this is that I stumbled upon a feature that I haven't seen documented anywhere, and it's an excellent solution to the problem of knowing when this page is updated. In Firefox, you can choose the properties of any of your Bookmarks (Favorites) to include a visual and/or auditory notification whenever that page is updated, with an option to automatically open that page. I know for sure that I got a notification when King of Fools added her last post, and I think, but am not sure, that there is notification when someone adds a comment.
If anyone is interested, download from here, where you can get a lot of information on the product as well.
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