Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday cat blogging

Oh, there's Mom. She's down at my level to take a photo. Here I come, Mom!
Normally Dudie just lies around in the grass. When I look at him to take a photo he comes. Funny since he really doesn't like to be petted. I can stroke him as long as I don't get near his head.
Jellico avoids PuddyTat and LittleOne.
Tommie is not happy that LittleOne always wants to eat at the same bowl someone else is eating. Tom heads for the canned food.
Since I was taking a photo of PuddyTat eating on the ground level for a change, Jellico decided to leave. PT would have chased him anyhow.
Finally Tim doing what makes her by far the fattest of the felines. This is a rather homely little shelter I made from some shelves and constructor bags. There is a kitty thing at the back. It is one of the most popular shelters for some reason.

Friday shuffle

1. Every Time You Say Goodbye - Alison Krause
2. Beethoven Chased by Rossini - Garrison Keillor, Frederica Von Stade
3. Flop Eared Mule - David Grier & Mike Compton
4. Anon: Kyrie, Kyria Christifera - Anonymous Four
5. Earth Angel - Penguins
6. It Ain't Me Babe - Turtles
7. Halloran: Witness - Concordia Choir
8. Hang On, Sloopy - McCoys
9. He'll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
10. Dupre: Variations sur un Nöel - Michael Farris

Interesting collection. #2 is from Songs of the Cat. 2, 3, 5 and 6 are sort of non-human related. Michael Farris was the organist at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for a couple of years. He died tragically early while at Eastman.

Grump, Part 2

This is the tree and some debris from the car. The tree had a couple of damaged spots which makes me wonder if the car rolled the tree a bit which may have helped get over it. Where it was hit, the tree was about a foot in diameter. It was a poplar, I think, which is pretty soft wood.
This is what it did to the guardrail. The top of the tree and lots of branches are in the creek on the other side.
The owner of the only auto body place I will allow to touch my cars is away so I won't know more until next week sometime. They are approved by my insurer too. The Prius is at home there having been a deer magnet in its early life. I'm now driving a stealth Buick with Ohio plates and PA inspection stickers. I've never owned a GM car because they are made for people who aren't built like me. By the time I get the seat close enough to reach the pedals, the steering wheel is under my chin. But this car is old enough that I can barely see over the wheel.

Oh, yes, I removed and saved the bumper stickers.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Grump

This is what happens when you run over a tree with the Prius. I was on the way to a concert in Greenville in a storm that made it difficult to see. Less than a mile from home suddenly a tree fell across the road a few feet in front of the car. One second later and I would have been under it. Three seconds earlier and I would have missed it. I knew I was going to hit the tree and waited for the airbag to go off as the car came to a sudden stop. The car didn't stop. It bumped over the tree. And it was still running. And it continued to go and stop as it should.

I pulled off into the entrance to the park - the dam road - a few hundred feet down the road and called 911 on my iPhone. I was concerned someone else would run into it in the dark and downpour. She took the info and said she would contact the Jamestown Fire Department to get rid of the tree then connected me to the State Police. They took all my info and asked repeatedly if I was ok and if the car was drivable. I didn't want to check the damage until I could see in the storm. There had to be some damage even if the car was still running. The trooper asked if I was going home. I told him I was going on to Greenville since the car seemed drivable.

By the time I hung up the rain had stopped enough to take a look. A mess. But it looked like it was drivable if the radiator was ok. How that escaped damage is interesting to ponder. I looked and listened for problems all the way into town.

So I went on to the concert not liking the idea of walking in during. But it had not started so I had time to find a seat and exchange pleasantries (gossip) with some of my neighbors. It was in Holy Trinity, the Lutheran Church I belonged to before going to Christ Church. There were people there I hadn't seen in many years. I didn't get to talk to all of them tho.

The concert was a trio from Apollo's Fire, a Baroque Orchestra from Cleveland. It was excellent. I loved the "human" sound of the Baroque violin and cello. So different from the modern instruments. I wish the harpsichord had been a little louder but I forgot my hearing aids so it may have been ok for most. I left the program in the car. If you really want to know what they played, let me know in the comments. Vivaldi, Bach, Buxtehude, Handel and whoever wrote the last lively piece.

On the way home, I checked out where the tree had fallen as I drove by. A trooper had called during the concert and I returned the call during intermission. He said the tree was gone, nobody else was involved and thanked me for calling. The tree crushed the armco (what do you call those big metal barriers?) on the other side of the road so it wasn't that small. Only Godde knows how the Prius bounced over it.

I'm curious to see if Erie Insurance totals the car. It has 124k+ miles.

Three hours before the parade...