kochleffel

The first of today's special days reminds me of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who is quoted as saying "If you can't say anything nice about anyone, come sit next to me." My middle name is a family name, my maternal grandfather's surname. I've been told that I resemble him mentally, which is no compliment. Nothing against peanut clusters but they're not my favorite. The soup would be OK. I would probably like the drink, once. Cabernet Franc is one of the best grapes in the Finger Lakes, very like the same variety from the Loire, which nothing in California can approximate. I'll nominate Vineyard View Winery 2020. The Department of Environmental Conservation is warning hikers to avoid higher elevations in the Adirondacks for now. Several experienced winter hikers have had to be rescued because the ice is thinner and more slippery than in colder weather. Nothing down where I live is that high.

I know that, but I didn't want to post just ordering from Mexico without checking. Staying out of further medical discussions.

Please don't go without a medication that's essential. If your doctor can't come up with another that would work, here are some ways to reduce the cost (I wish they lowered it more): Manufacturer's coupon that dovetails with insurance (not sure it works without insurance) GoodRx. It is possible to order prescription drugs from Mexico. The US government will tell you that it's dangerous, but it's legal for a drug that is approved here. I have done this during a gap in insurance.

Yes. Before trying to set a new password, I checked another device that should have been logged in, and it had also been signed out. So I think that Spacehook's login system is broken.

Absinthe was our DOTD on January 28 If the chicken dish contains ranch dressing, or tastes like it, I will pass. I'd like the drink. No Rioja in the FL so I'll go with Glenora's Cabernet Sauvignon 2021. Dentist at 12:00 and teaching Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ruth at 7:30.

If you owe something to the public library (in Worcester, Mass.) there is new value in your cat photos. The Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts announced that people who have lost or damaged a book can bring a picture of a cat this month to one of its branches and get their library cards reactivated. The program, which it calls March Meowness, has generated hundreds of returns in just a few days. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/us/massachusetts-library-fines-cat-picture.html?smid=em-share

I've seen other reports about this in airplane lavatories.

Hula Hoe may have been a brand name. A trademark for Hula Ho (no e) was filed in 1959 but cancelled in 2001. Similar hoes are still on the market under both names. Lee Valley Hardware describes the no-e version: "In production for over 60 years, this oscillating hoe is an outstanding cultivating tool that runs just below the soil surface to slice weeds off at the root. It gets its unusual name from the slight wiggle in the blade – as you push it back and forth, the double-edged forged steel blade automatically sets itself at the correct cutting angle in each direction, so the backward stroke is just as effective as the forward stroke."

I would call it a scuffle hoe, but the more common generic term in the trade is stirrup hoe.

The topics for my course this week are local watersheds, and Native American practices. It was 68° and sunny, and I chose to combine them by doing some of the reading, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, on the riverbank. The path in the first picture was created by the feet of the Seneca people before European settlement. It extends for several miles but only this section receives much use (some is on private property). View downriver Swing installed recently by the River Friends View from the swing

I looked up Courageous Follower Day: Courageous Follower Day is observed on March 4 every year to shed light on the virtue of followership. Brought into order after Ira Chaleff’s groundbreaking book on leadership, The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders, the holiday encourages all of us to become responsible followers. The book has become a source of debate about the multifaceted aspects of leadership since its publication in 1995. A learned and organized follower is an asset to any leader. On Courageous Follower Day, we ditch the idea of rugged individualism and propagate the ethos of genuine followership. I like sweet potato fries well enough but like Roy I prefer ordinary ones. Pass on the cocktail, but I have Cocchi Americano on hand. There are just a couple of aperitif or aromatized wines from the Finger Lakes: L‘Moné, made at a winery on Keuka Lake and flavored with Meyer lemon, and Génépi, aromatized with flowers from the French Alps; it's made with Finger Lakes wine but the final production takes place in Brooklyn.

I don't understand 33 Flavors Day: it's supposed to refer to Baskin Robbins, but they advertised 31 flavors. Howard Johnson's advertised 28 flavors. I was hoping that we were done with butternut squash. I like ginger ale but wouldn't order the drink. I was going to say that there was no Finger Lakes vermouth, but there is, from Method Spirits. It's scarce away from NYC but the big liquor store here stocks it. I need to shop at both Wegmans and Aldi, but I don't have the mental energy to shop at both in the same day. For some outdoor maintenance, I checked on whether my reciprocating saw was charged. It wasn't. Not only was the battery not inserted into the charger correctly, but the charger wasn't plugged in.

Sasha was a rescued cat, from the Massachusetts SPCA, which obtained her from an incipient hoarder. I wouldn't mind some banana cream pie, and I think I qualify as old stuff myself. The chicken and lentil stew would probably be OK, with reduced heat. Pass on the drink. For a sauvignon blanc, this time we'll go with Glenora 2021. On Spacehook I saw a video of horses running along I-90 in Cleveland, in the opposite direction to traffic (which was probably fortunate since drivers saw them and moved aside). They were from the Cleveland Police Department's mounted unit and headed for their stable. Garden club: in class on Thursday, I gave a presentation about increased rainfall and how to manage it, including replanting residential lawns with native plants so that they would absorb and hold more water. I'm thinking about doing that on a small part (at first) of my property. To avoid being hauled into town court, I will have to make it entirely flowering plants, no native grasses. When I start, even so, I'll have to fence it, to make it clear to the neighbors that it's intentional. Perhaps I can include some sedges (carex), as some them top out at 12 inches, the town limit for "weeds."

Rabbit, rabbit. I would like a peanut butter cup right now. More people need to heed Mr. Huxley. I wouldn't mind turkey bolognese but probably won't make it. Pass on the drink. As far as I know, Bully Hill is the only Finger Lakes winery to box any wine, but I think that their Sweet Walter Rosé is sweeter and redder than the Franzia. Walter Taylor founded Bully Hill. He is from the family that founded Taylor Wine Company, which fired him in 1970. Coca-Cola, which had acquired Taylor Wine, sued to prevent him from using the Taylor name on wine. Their Le Goat Blush, in a bottle, is probably more similar. Walter Taylor had noticed when farmers protesting in Washington let a herd of goats loose, and he bought a goat, saying "They took my name and heritage, but they didn't get my goat." I was at Livorno in 2018 on the Norwegian Epic and visited Florence and Pisa, but can't locate pictures. Today I plan to attend a virtual Shabbat service at 12:30 p.m., which is the wrong time here but the right time in Europe. That's a bit like "It's after 5:00 somewhere in the world."

I live in New York, so I'm not at any risk of arrest because of chili. But I have to confess that I don't eat Buffalo wings.

One of my course assignments for this semester is to spend time in 10 natural settings and document them with photographs (of flora and fauna, not of oneself). It would be difficult in this climate to begin with--although the school is in Connecticut, I think that the professor created this assignment at a previous job in California. It's turning out especially hard for me because I've been ill for the entire semester so far, and the assignment is due in April. So far I have only one, on St. Thomas. I'm treating this as eligible because international students are allowed to include a site in their home countries, and although we hadn't yet had a class session, the semester had begun. There is extra credit for a species that one hadn't seen before, and I'm going to include a brown anole.

This is also a leap year in the Jewish religious calendar, but in that calendar, a leap year adds an entire month. That's because it's based on the lunar cycle, and a lunar month is 29.5 days and the lunar year would be only 355 days. To keep the calendars from getting too far out of sync, because Jewish holidays are seasonal (Passover must be in the spring, for example), a month is added seven times in 13 years. I'm enrolled in two online courses and teaching one. I probably won't have toast today, although I could. No jambalaya, please, and also no breakfast martini. The most expensive FL pinot noir I could find was Nathan K at $31.95. Most of what I know about the Panama Canal is from Arsenic and Old Lace, both the 1944 film and from a stage production in which I acted, although not in the role of Teddy. I'll see the actual canal, not the imaginary one in the play, in December.

I'm not really taken with any of the special days. The chili would be OK, the drink probably not. For a Finger Lakes rosé, the unusual 2022 Blaufränkisch rosé from Ravines Wine Cellars. I'm not sure what to expect in the way of weather. Last night our regional cable news was saying 61° by noon, then rapidly falling temperatures, very high winds, and torrential rain, with ten inches of snow tomorrow. The Weather Channel agreed about the temperature but said less rain and snow than that. The National Weather Service said even less snow, probably none. I'm still coughing, but much less, and the appearance of my nose continues to improve. I'm struggling with this week's class assignment, which is to write about an example of local environmental distress, discuss proposed solutions, and evaluate them according to an ethics template. My area is not experiencing environmental distress right now. I will probably write about the increase in extremely heavy rain and the potential for flooding in places, such as my house in 2018, that had never experienced it before. BUT: last week I also had a hard time, with a letter to a grandchild (hypothetical in my case) to be received when the grandchild is the age that I am now. The professor's response: "Brilliant work, Paul. This is one of the best of this paper I've received in many years of assigning it."

During our first summer here, Fergus saw a black bear in the garden. For the rest of his life he was vigilant in watching for bears, even in the winter. He knew that polar bears could hide in the snow. Lamb & rice would be OK, and few people (or pets) are allergic to them. No on the drink. From the Finger Lakes, Empire Estate NV Brut.

There was only one large Black Lives Matter rally and march here, and I participated. I think that Carnival Day is mistimed since Carnival (Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday) has already passed. If you don't seize the day, you might end up carping about it. No pork anything, please. I wouldn't like the drink, a variation on the Depth Charge, even if it were called something else. For a Finger Lakes Syrah, this time we'll try Glenora, "elegant aromas of plum, brown baking spice, molasses and hints of chocolate covered orange." One of my friends has a beagle but the dog doesn't yet have a Youtube channel. I hope it goes as easily as mine did.

From that alone I would have known that you were on NCL. I have platinum status there, and two future bookings, but not because of the coffee.

I read Adelle Davis's books in the 1970s and I suppose that I still follow some of her guidance. I totally approve of chocolate-covered nuts, but no clam anything for me. The meal suggestion appears to be a sort of quiche or frittata baked in muffin tins. I did something like that once when I needed to serve 40 people at brunch and realized that they would make a mess of serving themselves quiche. I'd also like Roy's alternative. I would try the drink, maybe only once. For a Finger Lakes rosé, maybe Hosmer Estate Dry Rosé of Cabernet Franc, "Quince and rose water on the nose shift to strawberries and red raspberries on the palate. The finish is juicy and driven by notes of mulberry." I need to go grocery shopping, and maybe I'll buy some chocolate-covered nuts, but cat food is the one essential. The European Zoom at 2:00, and if it ends in time, the nature center.

I have two suggestions. First, send only one bottle, so that if it gets confiscated you won't have a larger investment in it. Second, if you have to fill out a customs sticker, write "OTC Products." That's what a pharmacy in NZ did when shipping me a drug that was legal in the U.S. by prescription, but available there semi-OTC (could be bought at a pharmacy counter without prescription, but not off the rack).

I look for tortilla chips that are less salty. Trading cards is the genre that includes baseball cards, a big thing in the 1950s and 1960s. Twin Peak Day made me think of the Peak District in England, but actually refers to a TV show that I've never watched. The soup would be OK with me, and I'd try the drink, maybe only once. For a sweet Riesling from the Finger Lakes, I'll suggest Chateau LaFayette Reneau from the east shore of Seneca Lake. Garden club: I have planted lettuce seeds outdoors as early as the first of April, but they took a very long time to germinate and now I would wait until later that month. I was thinking about doing some pruning now, but it's rather cold and when I got up a few flakes of s-n-o-w were falling. My other plans are confused. I signed up for a Zoom program that is tomorrow at 20:00 CET (Germany), which is 2:00 p.m. here, in other words, right in the middle of everything else. I also don't know whether the program is in German or English, but I understand German and since the program is supposed to be pan-European they may use English as the Einheitssprache.

Yup. Here, they're having a Carole King-James Taylor special, followed by the Bee Gees. I don't understand this at all: it would attract people who don't ordinarily watch the station and thus have no reason to pledge, while alienating those who do watch.