kmbrknits

Home again, home again...

2010-07-28T20:12:13Z

We're back from our long adventure on the prairie. The Things and I rode Amtrak from Los Angeles Union Station to a little town just outside Chicago, where my sister Cricket lives. Very convenient and WAAAAY cheaper than flying. Added benefit: no security theater, bring all the luggage and pointy objects you want, and omit getting herded like cattle into tiny little "seatlets." The train ride was 40 hours (2 nights) and we managed just fine in the roomy coach seats. The ride, both directions, was a relaxing break from everyday concerns; we just hung out and decompressed.

Once we arrived in Forgottonia, IL, the fun began! It was All Cousins! All the time! We barely saw the kids at all unless it was raining. Not that I'm complaining; its awesome that they all get along so well. No fighting to speak of. Weird. Uncle Paco was there the whole time this year, his National Guard tour being later in the Summer. He's fabulously entertaining, and a welcome addition to what is usually a momfest (brought to you this year by Dr. Who). Our east coast cousin Pickle was there with her dog, so it was quite a crowd of kids and dogs and dogs and kids;

We visited the local wildlife sanctuary, where they had many buffalo, and this particularly rare bovine genetic mutation "pacous kissyius" on display;

The indigenous monarch "redheadium" was freakishly chatty, for a large insect.

My brother Socket and his charming bride brought their own summer home with them, to the delight of all the kids who got to hang out, and even sleep over, in it;

And there was Twister on the very few rainy days.

We Californians were delighted to have some huge midwest thunderstorms pass through during our visit; lots of light and thunder, and rain! Hard rain, soft rain, loud rain, but mostly warm rain, which we never get here on the left coast. This was the year the Things got past being afraid of the sturm und drang of storms, Yay! One particularly intense cloudburst was followed by the ritual of my childhood; using the wet-vac to contain basement seepage. That was a real eye-opener for the Things. Basements aren't all fun and games, you know!

We had fun, and we miss the cousins. Till next year!

Ouch!

2010-07-08T17:47:17Z

The Things and I are in Illinois cornfields with my sister Cricket's family. Playing with their Eastern cousin group, visiting with grandparents and right coast relatives, we are having a pretty great and humid time. We are also missing SysGuy, who stayed home for work; I hope they are appreciating his dedication.

Meanwhile, when SysGuy got home from work yesterday, he encountered this new and interesting spot on the sliding door behind the garage:

That looks like it might have really smarted. No carcass or feathers in the vicinity, though. It was a pretty big bird, too. Yow.

We took Amtrak for the IL trek this year. Notes to follow.

Camping at Lake Tahoe

2010-06-25T15:32:41Z

So we spent a few days camping at Lake Tahoe with SysGuy's extended family. It was delightful, and as you can see, ridiculously scenic. That's not a backdrop. Bizarre.

This is officially the most recent photo of the Things, SysGuy and me. All the families took similar—good grief, why wouldn't you!! There was a fairly strenuous hike to get up to this little lake above Lake Tahoe, a path with lots of vertical made of blocks of granite, the majority of which had been somewhat carved into recognizable, if not particularly even, "steps."

Below are photos of our campsite, with the TentMajal about to be furled. In the second photo you can see the other campers with our group (we had 7 tents I think) and on the side is the bear box that came with our site—and yes, it saw some bear action during our visit. Poor bear got nothing from our group but an exploratory chomp on a box of plastic cutlery. The bears totally have a system down; slap the door on a bear box to see if its locked, and move on to the next one if the door doesn't bounce open. Impressive.

Then closeups of the filthy Things as we were leaving. Thing 1 is working on his John Waters hot cocoa mustache. I love how the lens on my camera makes their noses really huge and puppy-like. Last is Thing 2 hair contrast, because its amazing.

this could be the last time...

2010-05-14T03:09:40Z

...maybe the last time, I don't know....

Thing 1 had his 5th grade band concert tonight. It was a multi-elementary school extravaganza, with a 5th grade orchestra full of brave new string players alternating with a 5th grade band of shiny new brass and woodwind players.

Not sure if I've talked him into continuing in band. 6th grade has other enticements, and he only gets one elective that year. Meanwhile, he does look pretty cute, if I say so myself.

Which I do.

Pyrite

2010-03-05T03:15:38Z

Did you miss it?

Today was a "National Day of Action" for educators around the country to agitate for attention to the shamefully necrotic education system in the United States of America. Apparently the Lotto is not covering school costs as much as everyone though it would. Surprise.

Here in California, where 1 in 8 American school children are educated, we are running a race to the bottom, desperately competing with Mississippi and Guam for the title of most mediocre school system. At the rate we're going, we might just win it! If we can gut the schools enough, its homeschooling for everyone!!

The Golden State, with an economy larger than most countries, has decided that education is not such a priority after all. How the mighty have fallen. This is how.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

My mini haha of the day.

2010-03-01T04:12:06Z

Every time Rush Limbaugh speaks,
an angel chooses to be gay.
Amen.

Way to go Massachussetts

2010-01-20T03:43:57Z

Now that the citizens of the Commonwealth have enjoyed a few years of statewide health coverage, it was awfully good of you to endanger similar benefits for the rest of us. Oh, I know, state health coverage hasn't been perfect. But its A HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN NOTHING, ASSHOLES!

Actual Knitting!

2010-01-09T21:47:03Z

I do actually knit pretty continuously, for sanity’s sake. Currently, I am just finishing up a cardigan, loosely based on this particular design from Vogue Knitting Holiday '09—I know! Its crazy that I am actually finishing something within 2 months of getting the magazine it was in! Unheard of!

Well, I need a black cardigan. NEED.

As you can see, there are some truly regrettable aspects to this design, but I like the ruffles down that front. Its kind of like a boa, only not as “out there” as actually wearing a boa. A secret boa, if you will.

The ruffly bits on the arms though? They’re a bit sad buck rogers-looking. Also too 80’s, which I already did once, thank you. Anyway, that’s it. Barring housework or actual responsibilities getting in the way, I will be sporting my secret boa cardigan by the time Supermom and Wonderdad arrive on Thursday night!

Visiting Snow

2010-01-05T01:21:13Z

Well, Sysguy and I finally overcame our desire to lay around the house all day and took the Things to see some snow. We cheated a bit by visiting relatives in Northern CA, where snow is easier to get to. We spent a day roaming the Lake Tahoe area looking at views, finding little sledding places and generally trolling for untrammeled snow. Its hard to come by in these parts, which is frustrating when you've grown up with a yard full of virgin snow at your disposal every winter. Usually, snow is pretty well packed and icy by the time we get to it.

Since we live where it doesn't get cold, we're not particularly equipped for it. We did manage to score decent coats this year, but decided to forgo winter footwear. Here are the guys attempting to stay upright on a pretty well-used and icy sled hill we found, in their essentially treadless sneakers. Note the spiffy new "barf" colored sleds.

After lunch at a mom'n'pop place in the Donner Pass (yes, that one) we found a fabulous little pullout spot just during a little snowsquall. The snow was perfect, new, and falling like crazy—somehow, there wasn't anyone else there!! It was the perfectest snowman packing snow I've seen in ages. Also, excellent for snowball fights.

Thing 2 got tired of having snow down his back, and retired to the relative comfort of the beluga; you can see SysGuy and Thing 1 are still at it. Below is the road home.

Happy New Year!

Science! 4 Real!

2009-11-29T19:38:58Z

Turkey Day for kmbrknit’s family was spent with SysGuy’s sister, Fleur, in Davis, CA. Its a 7 hour drive from chez kmbrknits (this state is too damn big). The Things are really good at entertaining themselves in the car, we’ve trained them to mostly read books and listen to audio plays that SysGuy has audiohijacked from the BBC Big Toe Radio Show (I told you he was awesome!). Here is Thing 1 rapidly draining the battery on my Touch while killing pygmies in PocketGod. Its digusting, but we treat them to it occasionally. You can see that Thing 2 amuses himself with suction darts. We’re a family of geniuses.

Davis is a nexus of animal husbandry and biology studies, what with the ginormous UC land grant school as the town anchor. Its also a ridiculously liberal and feel-goody town, so we like to visit. Fleur has provided the Things with 4 cousins (Fleurette, Biscuit, Myrtille and Bruyant) with her husband, DrÉnergie; a fluffy cat and a fluffy dog complete the family. They’re a lot to keep track of, I don’t know how she does it—just thinking about vacuuming after the fluffy pets exhausts me.

DrÉnergie has a veterinary pathology business, where your local veterinarian sends acky bits of sick pets for expert analysis under a microscope, and various research studies are conducted. He’s built his own lab, which is very, very cool. We managed to get a tour for the Things the day before Thanksgiving. Starting with the video microscope, where DrÉnergie has a collection of “kid friendly” slides of interesting things he’s found to look at (black widow egg sac, anyone?). This is a mosquito wing. It looks kind of like my legs in winter. Who knew they were so hairy? I reduced the size a little bit, and I’m sparing you their disgusting little feet.

Stop here and scroll directly to the bottom if you are squeamish, it gets grosser quickly.

Then was the really interesting part! First, DrÉnergie slapped some gloves on Thing 2, and before he knew it he was holding a diseased dog tail for all to see. You can see that Thing 2 is a bit happy but unsure about this. I have to admit, the tail was the grossest thing of all, be grateful it is blurry. And there was a lot more to come.

Next, there happened to be a recently amputated cat leg for analysis. Now, veterinarians don’t do this operation casually. While it is gross, the leg has a fast-growing cancer that was headed for the cat’s body, and cats can get by just fine on 3 legs. Anyway, out comes a ziplock bag with a cat leg in it, with which DrÉnergie shows the kids how muscles work and where the cancer is. Thing 1 gets to palpate the leg and feel the tumor (This is where Thing 2 bails.), then DrÉnergie shows us how he takes a sample and prepares a slide for later analysis.

After the cat leg was safely put away, DrÉnergie fished a sheep’s heart out of a small bucket of other sheep bits that are part of a study at the lab. He showed the kids how it was insulated with fat, and ran water through it to show how it pumps. Then, in what was fascinating and gross, he dissected it for Thing 1 and Myrtille to see the different chambers. It was really neat. Meanwhile, in another room, Thing 2 was being entertained by a technician who was showing him slides of brain and kidney slices. (Its way less smelly outside the lab room, and slides are a less “immediate” reminder of where the tissue came from.)

Hmm. Can’t find my sheep picture. Will post later.

While the turkey was roasting on Thanksgiving day, DrÉnergie entertained us, and the neighborhood, with his collection of estes rockets. Many tiny parachute men were sent to ~~the~~ ~~stratosphere~~ about 200ft. It was really fun, the shooting off, and the watching the platoon of kids race to catch the spent rocket and parachute men.

Here is DrÉnergie getting a rocket ready with Thing 1, Fleurette and Myrtille.

This one is self-explanatory.

Fleurette and Myrtille readying the porta-potty rocket. : )

Happy, Lucky Things.

As if that weren’t enough excitement for one weekend, on Friday we took the Things to the Happiest Place on Earth: The Exploratorium in San Francisco. (I bet you’ve seen ads about another Happiest Place. Don’t believe everything you see on TV.) We spent basically the entire day doing the hands-on demonstrations of scads of scientific concepts. I don’t know about the Things, but I personally experienced sensory overload about 3 hours in. We’ll definitely be back!!

The things pedal-power a light bulb, among other choices of appliance.

SysGuy smoke ring generating with the Things and Myrtille.

Oh, yeah. On the way out of town we went across some old orange bridge.

And that, was that.

Science!

2009-11-22T19:46:50Z

Well little bloggy, its been a while. Lets forget about summer and move on to recent bits. Most recently, my darling sister Cricket made me aware of impending They Might Be Giants concerts at venues in and near LA. TMBG recently released a cd/dvd combo of catchy songs about Science! that totally apply to our lives (and yours), and as a representative for both our families, I had to take the Things. It was, of course, awesome! Here are the dudes at their very first actual rock concert. Sadly, at grown-up rock concerts U2 and their ilk do not stay after and hand out sheets of stickers to the audience; I consider this a serious lack of customer service on their part.

This concert is important to the Things on several levels, not least of which is providing Thing 1 with a tune that explains the difference between a scientific theory and a stab-in-the-dark theory to sing to the crazy "christian" kid who forcibly evangelizes creationism on the playground. Good grief.
Science is Real.

Giving Props
I have to give a seriously respectful OMGUR AWESOME!!! to SysGuy for his amazing husbandy handyguy prowess during a particularly irksome 4 weeks of September/October. With the ominous high-pitched whine emitted by our hideously expensive 8-year-old dishwasher—the harbinger of incipient motor axle disintegration—SysGuy's odyssey of home repair began. My intrepid SysGuy disassembled the beast, found the offending problem and promptly hied us off to our local Pacific Sales Showroom of Newer Hideously Expensive Dishwashers. We were informed by our salesperson that one could expect a lifetime of roughly 8-10 years for a dishwasher, we think he was parroting Consumer Reports. Balking at the investment, and finding the lifetime expectancy objectionable, SysGuy found another motor that would work and installed it. Meanwhile, the Things got to learn all about getting to wash the dishes for reals.

While this was happening, the ice maker in our marital freezer was completing what had been a slow demise. Perhaps for normal people, this might not be a big deal. I, however, am an ice addict. I come from a line of ice addicts. The ice machine, it is an instrumental marital aid at our house, not merely an appliance. Without the ice machine, many many, many, words are spoken, bickering about who used the last ice. Much research is done on the optimization of ice tray release; we have a critical issue with mineral deposits. No, vinegar has not worked, thanks. It is not a good situation. SysGuy swiftly disassembled the beast, attempted a fix, and reinstalled. Sadly, we woke up to Lake Inferior the next morning, though mildly grateful that it had somehow not overflowed the ice bin to the bottom of the freezer overnight. Thus began the researching a new ice machine, post haste. Its cheaper than couples therapy.

That same weekend, our blighted main sewer line, ancient, porous, ceramic, directly beneath a hungry hungry elm tree, decided to act up. Fortunately, I can fix this myself. I call a man who comes and deals with it. While it was annoying to have this problem on a weekend, we are counting our lucky stars that it didn't happen the weekend the Grandparents were visiting.

During the wait for ice machine delivery, SysGuy happened to check on "stuff" out by the pool pump. In the process of checking on "stuff," the big, pressurized, pool filter tank decided now was a good time to twist off its (pre-us) precarious perch, thereby destroying ALL of the PVC piping in the general vicinity. Thus ensued the great Pool Pump Pipe Redesign and Build of 2009, wherin SysGuy had the opportunity to remove the 35 extraneous 90° bends that have been inserted into the system by inept hirelings over the ~~years~~ decades. This took 4 evenings. In the dark. With a big spotlight.

Just after the Pool Pump Pipe Redesign and Build of 2009, the computer SysGuy built for me for Xmas a few years ago, which houses our custom DVR, had a hard drive FAIL. Apocolypse. In addition to recording tv stuff, so we never have to see another commercial ever again, the drive housed many movies ripped from public library dvds (hey, its legal if you don't show them for profit). Ma and Pa Kettle. The Three Stooges. An Affair to Remember. Important things to have on hand. Frantic research of an appropriate replacement drive ensued. Desperate attempts to retrieve data were performed (mostly) successfully. Re-installation of the apparently ginormous pain the the ass DVR software happened. Several times.

Then the new ice machine arrived.

This is the Real Prince Charming. He does not arrive in a carriage with diamonds in hand; he comes with majah skillz, and a never-ending trough of the important kind of ice.

He's my hero.

Best quote I’ve heard in ages

2009-10-08T04:23:11Z

“I love this country,” Senator Al Franken says. “But you have to love your country like an adult loves somebody, not like a child loves its Mommy. And right-wing Republicans tend to love America like a child loves its Mommy, where everything Mommy does is okay. But adult love means you're not in denial, and you want the loved one to be the best they can be.”

déjà vu

2009-06-15T21:26:11Z

Yesterday I got a short but sweet visit from my friend Cherub, the only person I still know from elementary school. It was kinda trippy, but really fun. We haven't seen each other in 10 years or so, so there’s the “gee, I hope I’m/She’s not too different.” We weren’t. We look exactly like we’re still in 5th grade, don’t you think?

Sysguy is now a year older and better. Here he is celebrating the fact that he can still blow out all the candles.

And then Thing 2 got a “SuperCougar” award at the school. This award is given to practically everyone, so as a parent, I can’t work up a lot of enthusiasm, but the kids really get a thrill out of winning something. I just like his teacher, the little Indian lady. She’s a hoot.

Another year, already?

2009-05-27T03:28:37Z

Thing 2 turned 8 on Sunday. Hard to imagine, but there it is. We celebrated at the nexus of 8 year-old fabulousness: Legoland. The Things can hardly believe their luck to live where it is possible to go somewhere so incredible in just two hours!!

We arrived a bit early, after a quick breakfast and opening presents, treasure hunt included. We sprinted to the back of the park just as the motorway was opening up. The Things managed to get several ride turns in before a line formed and waiting was required. It was awesome.

Can you tell that the “people” and the (fully operational) stoplights are made of legos? Too cute. There was a ringmaster sort of fellow in the middle of “town” who tried to keep the drivers in line and explain the rules of the road on the fly, sort of like herding cats, where cats don’t all know right from left. At one point, during a crash, he announced a “sigalert,” which is an LA traffic radio-ism for somebody screwed up on the freeway and is now blocking traffic. We were amused.
Unlike the stinky lawn mower engines at Disneyland, these little cars were not on a rail to guide them, and they are all electric. Practically everything at Legoland is. I’m sure its one of the advantages of a newer park, but still, it was much more pleasant. And quieter!

Next, we moseyed through a couple of not terribly photogenic rides, to come upon the boat ride. The lego people are really crazy with the letting kids actually steer stuff. There were continuous clusterf**ks along the channel as the kids attempted to figure out the delayed reaction of the rudders and rammed into things and each other. It was hilarious, unless you were waiting in line for a boat.
Here is Thing 2 checking out a lego diver at one of the many interest points along the way:

We took a boat ride around a lagoon that had various famous buildings and skylines around it, averaging about 150,000 legos for each tableau. Jeepers.

This one is for Uncle Paco:

After lunch, we went on the Aquaraiders ride:

Had a photo with a bionicle:

Found out that Thing 1 was having an unpleasant reaction to his chicken pox booster:

Took pictures with some old friends on the way out:

Legoland closes at 6pm, which is kinda ridiculous, but at least we don’t have to eat dinner in there. We ate at a nearby restaurant, with Thing 2 repeatedly requesting we keep his birthday a secret in case the crazy waitstaff were to come over and humiliate him in that way that they do. His secret was safe with us.
We got home at 10pm, with exactly enough energy to spare for Cake! and singing. And collapse. This is what the end of the first day of 8 looked like:

Here is Thing 2 with some presents: Fluffy the dino and a really great puzzle.

And that, was that!

...and the heavens rang with song.

2009-05-27T03:22:08Z

Well, after several years of negotiations, our new ceiling fans are in process! For Mother’s Day this year I got 3 ceiling fans, and one installation. Two to follow in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. Here it is, the first ceiling fan in our house. Its in the Things room, for various tactical reasons that shall remain secret. The light works up, down or both, as seen here. The fins generate hurricane-like breezes. The switch, it is near the door we actually use. It is good.