CurlyShavings

Comments and quotes

2010-07-18T11:29:43Z

I rarely get any "real" comments from anyone other than my two faithful readers. That doesn't stop me from periodically sifting through the Spam for mis-labeled "real" comments.

Recently I noticed a pattern. Someone was posting some witty one-liners (unrelated to the entry). It was pretty clear that it was some sort of spam bot, but they were so witty, I had to find the source.

Well, I can't say with certainty that I found it, but I did find a collection of quotes in a "fortune" list that contained all the quotes I was looking for.

Here are my favorites from the list on the subject of taxes:

Intaxication: Misguided euphoria about a tax refund (of your own money).

Taxation WITH representation isn't so hot, either!

Taxes are going up so fast, the government might price itself out of the market.

There is nothing more permanent than a temporary tax.

Any new tax law must exempt enough voters to win the next election.

Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they should not be simultaneous. -- Mack

The ability to tax is the ability to control.

The power to tax involves the power to destroy. -- John Marshall

There is only one way to kill capitalism: By taxes, taxes, and more taxes.

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors and miss.

Death and taxes are inevitable; at least death doesn't get worse every year.

I've just about always hated taxes. Becoming a small-business owner has only galvanized my dislike.

Part 1: George

2010-07-16T03:35:25Z

Before moving into the neighborhood in 1998, I'd never seen a flat top haircut before, except maybe Buzz Aldrin on TV. George had one, though, and even in the winter when he'd cover it with his orange knit stocking cap, you knew it was there. George was about as old as you could be without thinking of how old he might be. Nowadays he's even older of course.

George held court three houses down from us in a house with a garage as full of junk and miscellaneous as I'd ever seen. I never saw the inside of the house but I figured it was as full as the garage. Had to be. In thinking about it now, it's quite surprising that the house and garage didn't overflow into the yard, but it didn't. And despite the fullness of the garage, the place never looked like Appalachia. Wish I knew how he pulled that off.

He was amazing in how he kept up with things. Actually, the whole neighborhood was fairly up-to-date on happenings, but George out-snooped everyone else. It didn't take much to bring him strolling past. I'd get out my circular saw or think about pounding a nail or two and he'd just show up. Always stayed on the sidewalk unless you engaged him and got him talking--he just seemed to know where the line was on being a distraction.

Well, most times.

Early on I decided to upgrade the electrical panel and rather than sit down and calculate all the outlets, lights and various loads, I just picked a panel with a good-sized main: 200. Yep, from 60 amps to 200 and I'd need to roll out new wires all the way to the peak of the house. Those wires were thick and pretty ornery so I chose to put them in nice, big 2" conduit.

Well it didn't take George long before he was standing there asking what I had that was so big that I needed 200 amps for my little-bitty starter bungalow. I think he was convinced I had a pot farm in the basement and needed all those amps for the grow lights. I still have the occasional nightmare where I'm working inside a hot meter base with him asking me questions from the sidewalk. I'm sure he was just there to pull me off the live wires if I happened to make accidental contact. Yeah.

I'm not sure George ever got rid of anything. I imagine in his house a drawer with a small box in it labeled "string too short to save". Well, maybe not, but he seemed to keep just about everything.

When a squirrel would deposit an acorn, a walnut or a buckeye in his hedge and forget about it for a year or two, those saplings would get pretty high before he'd think about cutting them down or digging them out. George taught me the meaning behind the old proverb about the best time to plant a tree being twenty years ago and the second-best time being today.

One Fall he showed up in our front yard with a couple of his lost-acorn oaks and a couple of volunteer red maples. Thought we might want a couple of trees in our front yard. Well, I didn't. Trees are trouble, I thought. You have to mow around them and rake their leaves and all kinds of maintenance I didn't have time for.

And I planted them anyway. My wife probably had something to do with that. The oak had been cut once and there was a twisted little part about five feet up on this seven foot tree. I figured I'd be digging it out the next Spring.

Well, that year we planted those two and a year later we moved a green gauge plum to the front yard and a year or so later a peach went into the back yard. My wife probably had something to do with that.

And twelve years later my children are thirty feet off the ground in the most perfectly-shaped pin oak tree that ever was. Even the maple has a lovely figure. And even though you can only get twenty-some feet off the ground in the maple, they climb that one, too.

I will always be proud of George's trees.

I still don't like raking, though.

Fishing Expedition

2010-07-12T01:27:07Z

We went fishing this past week in Lake Klein (map) at Greater Cleveland Council's Camp Beaumont. It's a neat little lake, one that I often hear doesn't have any fish in it.

I must argue though, that I've never walked away from Lake Klein without having hooked at least one fish, usually several and this time was no different.

First, though, we had to capture this very patient frog. He/she/it was hanging out near the Adirondack in the Sycamore Campsite that will eventually bear my grandfather's name. We painted it a few weeks ago and decided to check out how good a job we did. And while we were there, this little guy was checking us out, too. (We did put the frog back.)

We were there for Family Night, visiting our oldest Scout who is a Counselor in Training this summer for four weeks. He's learned quite a bit, worked really hard and has gathered quite a few stories to tell.

He's currently working his last week before coming home for a week and then packing up for two weeks of the 2010 Jamboree. Should be a fun July! One of the biggest things we've noticed with him gone this summer is the grocery bill has gotten smaller. The other is there's no one left who is excited about mowing the grass.

But seriously, we have missed him. And I cherish the Sunday drive out to camp with him and the time spent Saturday when I pick him up for his 22 hours at home each week.

Well, it seems that other wildlife was also curious this night. We had four or five damselflies that would land on a hat, someone's hair, the tip of a rod or the tackle box and just sit there.

If one got "shooed" away, another would take its place.

Have you ever wondered what the difference was between a dragonfly and a damselfly? Well, it's really quite simple:

the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest.

From Damselfly, Wikipedia.

Well, the bluegill/sunfish were biting flies tipped with artificial maggots trailed about 18 inches behind a float.

Even my wife hooked a nice bluegill. So did the little one.

My oldest daughter (10, pictured) was having some trouble. We try to let our children be pretty independent in many things. In this case, that meant more fishing for Daddy.

It also meant some frustration a little further down the shore. I could sense some tears coming as she was having some difficulties, so I went over, helped her untangle her line and get the fly and the float in the right position. We've been practicing some fishing knots and this was a good opportunity to implement an Improved Clinch Knot. If I'd felt a little stronger on the blood knot, I doubt I would have had to snip, clip and re-tie everything else.

With a "fresh" maggot-like thing on the sharp little hook, she cast it out, began to reel it in and bam!!! she hooked a nice-sized one.

I think it's pretty easy to see just how proud she is.

And she should be, too.

Ohio Moon: July 3rd

2010-07-03T16:03:24Z

The moon as seen from near Rock Creek Ohio on July 3rd, 2010.

Sky-blue Pink Skirts

2010-06-29T01:00:48Z

Inspired by Jeanne's Toddler Skirt Tutorial over at Life in Cleveland, I decided to get some sky-blue and pink fabric for my daughters and give this a try.

A quick trip to Jo-Ann Fabric saw me in a weaker moment. The daughter (age 3) wanted a couple of different pinks and a couple of different blues.

Four yards later, we came home and I began measuring and cutting and sewing.

First, her waist is about 24" in circumference. (Oddly enough, so is the older daughter's!) Second, there's about 18" between where she wears her pants & skirts and her ankles. Third, I don't follow directions very well.

I cut about 16.5" off the 45" section of pink. And a 45" long strip of 5.5" wide blue. Then I followed the directions a bit, lined up the pink and the blue, rolled up the pink, made a tube of it all with the blue, pinned it and sewed it up. (See her blog post for better instructions.)

Turn all that right side out, iron the sleeve for the elastic, sew that sleeve, sew the skirt's sides, insert the elastic, fasten it into the sleeve and hand it to the girl to try on.

Then, it's outside to twirl around in the sunlight. We picked a daisy for an accessory (hope Mom doesn't mind)!

Of course the older one (age 10) wants one, too and Dad is quick to churn out another one. We still have plenty from these two yards for pockets and maybe a belt/sash, too.

The date/time stamps on the photos says it took 40 minutes to make the second one, however, I think it was a lot less—either that or fun makes time flies!

That was quite fun and I really like how they turned out. I'll cut out a couple pairs of pockets in a contrasting color (pink on blue and blue on pink), iron over the edges and sew those on tomorrow. And I still have two yards left for another two or three.

Eldest daughter brought me a skirt book with some excellent ideas for patterns which we might try. One is a double-layered skirt that would look excellent with the remaining sky-blue pink pair that we have.

Sisters

Ben and the Big Fish

2010-06-22T10:51:15Z

Look, dad! It's as big as I am!

Well, not really, but it is a big fish.

At one time or another, each of my children have expressed wild fanaticism about fishing. With some of the children, it's happened multiple times.

A couple of Fridays ago we were out at Greater Cleveland Council's Beaumont Scout Reservation in Broadbent Camp's Sycamore campsite, (That's a mouthful.) painting my grandfather's Adirondack.

After the painting and before heading over to Orwell's A&W for some root beer, we stopped at Lake Klein and did some fishing.

I like to say that when you fish with children, you're lucky to get your line wet and this is largely the case. You're constantly untangling lines, clearing snags, baiting hooks or changing tackle.

I did manage to get a few mealworms onto a fly I would present to the fishes and I caught a couple of bream/sunfish that were worth eating. Some of the others caught some too, and with my favorite Repala ("borrowed" from and never returned to my dad's tackle box) I caught a small-mouth bass.

But Ben caught the big one.

The tackle box shown is right at 12", so that would put this fish at 13 inches or a little more.

Why didn't we take it home to eat? It's been a while since we tried, but back in the day, the children would insist that we bring the fish home and eat them. After doing this a few times and having the children refuse to eat them, we stopped. Haven't eaten a personally-caught Ohio fish in ten years.

Oh, and what did Ben use to catch this Behemoth? His new blue Storm Original Hot 'N Tot® #133.

Nice fishing, Ben!

Cleveland Botanical Garden visit

2010-06-09T11:23:24Z

We saw flowers and plants and frogs and birds and butterflies, oh, my!

Peter B. Lewis building (sliced)

2010-06-09T10:12:42Z

My wife and I were the guests of the Greater Cleveland Council last Tuesday at their Scouting Art Tour hosted at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

There were six or eight Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari paintings there. Some of what makes these events "cool" is the art, some is the other people present and some is the venue.

We don't spend much time in University Circle, so walking up to the Botanical Gardens and seeing the backside of the Peter B. Lewis building (see left and right) was pretty cool.

I got the impression it was for large donors and so I felt a little out of place. We support the Friends of Scouting (FOS), I'm a member of the Stewards of Beaumont (SOB) and (until recently), I directed all my United Way contribution to GCC, but most of the folks around us were being recognized for donating five and six figures.

The quick, brown architect jumped over the lazy building. The quick, brown architect jumped over the lazy building. The quick, brown architect jumped over the lazy building. The quick, brown architect jumped over the lazy building. The quick, brown architect jumped over the lazy building.

We had a great time anyway and I'll try to get some of those pictures out for you to enjoy.

Dinner at La Dolce Vita

2010-06-08T16:21:46Z

Last night we enjoyed a fabulous dinner over at Cleveland's La Dolce Vita in Little Italy.

We sat outside on this cool evening and just took the time to catch up the other on the goings on. And since there has been quite a bit going on and even more going on to come, we took our time.

We shared a salad appetizer and both ordered the fettuccine. I had a glass of some delicious pino grigio*. We shared the chocolate cake.

You might think that because I can't tell you the details, that it wasn't fabulous. And you'd be wrong.

It was just that we were more intent on each other than the food.

(Photo from Flickr user KAHOONICA)

*Pino grigio says "summer". This was apparently a blend of pino grigio and chardonnay. It said "summer" all the way to the bottom.

Titles matter, don't they?

2010-06-08T10:50:20Z

I'll start by telling you that I don't know the answer to this question—I'm still struggling with how to answer it (although I've come to a current conclusion).

Background

You may not know this: I was recently (April) laid off from my company of 12 years. I'd known this was coming (was welcoming it, actually) and had been interviewing with a fair amount of success. But there was something nagging me in the back of my brain that said it was time to do something different. Reinvent myself, strike out on my own, take all that I've done and think about the problem from a different angle.

So I put things in motion so that when the day came (April 19th), I was ready to go the very next day. On April 20th, North Shore Nomads, LLC became legal, I started snapping up domain names, drafted a dozen different versions of a business plan, interviewed banks, realtors and brokers, joined the local chamber of commerce, got a cool logo, continued networking, talked with building owners and got things going.

And ordered business cards.

The Problem

What to put on those business cards? Is this a small business or maybe a startup? Am I an owner, a founder or an entrepreneur?

I'm taking an idea, finding that others have done similar things in other cities and bringing my vision of this idea to light in my own area. Sounds very similar to the example offered up on wikipedia for entrepreneur:

Entrepreneurs tend to identify a market opportunity and exploit it by organizing their resources effectively to accomplish an outcome that changes existing interactions within a given sector.

(emphasis added)

Since what I'm doing is a new twist on an old thing, I think that makes me an entrepreneur.

And for the moment (or until the cards need to be reordered), I'm the Owner.

Wandle Fawn

2010-05-31T19:42:41Z

This week also saw a fawn visit us.

Yep, in the middle of a suburb, near a busy road and right on a busy intersection, a very new fawn spent the day in our flower garden.

There are some woods a couple of blocks north on Southwick and some more woods a couple of blocks west of Broadway (and over the railroad tracks). But still, this was quite surprising to see a young fawn just sitting by the side of the house all day.

You can see my excavations nearby as I had started work on the sidewalk widening project. We had planned to go fishing that day, but wanted to adjust the dehumidifier before setting out. So I jumped in the house, checked things out, then went to close and lock the door. It was then that I saw the little guy, took some pictures and had the kids come check it out.

Of course, I had to Tweet about it and it got picked up by a couple of people.

Never did I think that it would still be there when we came back for lunch, some interior cleanup, painting and general getting-things-ready and then dinner and S'mores later on.

Mom must have come by that evening and retrieved it because it wasn't there the next morning. At least that's what we hoped happened.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fawn.

Wandle Rose

2010-05-30T22:20:13Z

Our tenants left us very little other than holes, scrapes, marks, scrap tires, 20 gallons of paint and broken glass. (Oh, we did find the quarter behind the mirror; we'll give that as a credit.)

One thing they didn't desecrate was a rosebush. (They probably didn't know it was there.) This week, while I was working outside near it, the bush bloomed.

I had planned to widen the sidewalk near the flowerbed a few years back and had installed a 4"x6" beam border as a promise to myself to add brick pavers there.

A different group of tenants relocated the border and I found myself moving it 9" back to accommodate the brick pavers we had salvaged from Wandle Avenue when they ripped out the brick and installed concrete.

We have dozens of these pavers left, which is a good things since I estimated that I'd need over 30.

All those years ago, I'd dug out to 5-6", laid out some plastic sheeting and added chipped limestone as a base. This served me well since it was exactly what I needed. As soon as the 4"x6" beam border was back where it belonged, I was set.

The rose chose this time to begin blooming.

I'd warned our youngest not to pick this one; to restrain her urge to lop off the head of any pretty flower and present it to her mother. A noble deed, no doubt, but one that is tiresome when the dining room table is full of drinking glasses with decapitated flowers and the garden is bare.

I was busy and working against the sun clock as the shade I enjoyed on the west side of the house became threatened by approaching noon. So I didn't actually see much of the rose opening—I smelled it open.

It was an odd pair of days. I'd wait until it was decently late to begin chipping concrete off pavers and then rush until the area I was working on was drenched in sun. All the while I dealt in dripping sweat, dry crushed limestone, chips of red, flint-smelling brick and the light, sweet smell of this rose.

How it had survived all these years, I do not know. But survived it had.

The buttercups and thistles and maple, buckeye and oak volunteers had not crowded it out, nor had the children climbing in and out of the windows squashed it.

It had survived and it was beautiful to behold as well as a scent to enjoy.

Maybe someday I'll post a picture of my beautiful sidewalk expansion. It's really quite plain in comparison.

Fishing along the Buckeye Trail

2010-05-27T23:08:51Z

The Buckeye Trail passes along the eastern shore of Shadow Lake in the South Chagrin Reservation. This is in the Bedford Section of the Trail and from here it is possible to hike (north) all the way to Lake Erie or (south) into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

This little lake is stocked with trout each year and while it may be possible to catch one, we have not. (We have seen them, however!) Perhaps one's luck is better in the winter, ice-fishing.

The lake is approximately 3.3 acres and the trail approaches the lake from the south, passes along the eastern and then northern edges of the lake before turning back into the woods at these steps (pictured).

We almost always catch something here, usually Bluegill Sunfish, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Redear Sunfish or the odd Rock Bass.

I'm fairly certain that Katie is showing a Redear Sunfish in this picture. There's a barely perceptible red spot on the trailing edge of its "ear" in a close-up picture.

Anyway, Katie is ecstatic with her catch, her first, from casting to landing.

She's using a fly jig with a weighted head and a nice juicy (thick-skinned) maggot. Seemed to work that day since we were pulling them in one after another.

Glacier Ridge District Dinner

2010-05-14T14:29:47Z

This week was the Glacier Ridge District Dinner and my wife and I attended, partly to get out of the house but also to introduce her to some of the Scouters I hang with when I'm out of the house.

Last year's dinner was fun—I was awarded the William D. Boyce New Unit Organizer Award for starting up Pack 4 at St. Paul's Episcopal. You don't see many of them out there as part of a Scouter's "fruit salad". I originally wasn't going to apply for it, but after all the work that was put into it, I figured I had earned it! (Starting a new unit can be really, really hard.)

Pack 4 continues to meet, go on outings and thrive. We could do with a little more advancement, but that will come in time. (All the Tigers are expected to earn their Tiger badge before the end of the month!)

I had also completed my two years as a Cub Scouter and was eligible for the Cub Scouter Award, but for some reason, it didn't come through in time.

Well, this year it arrived. I learned this past year while coaching Pack 4's Cubmaster that I'll never be a Cubmaster—it's just not a role that I can perform—I'm very much the Den Leader type! The Cub Scouter is the one of only three Cub Scout leader knots that require two-year tenures and Cubmaster is one of them (Pack Trainer is the other). I could see myself as a Pack Trainer after the current Tiger moves on to Boy Scouts in a few years.

So that was exciting to receive this year!

Before my loyal readers dismiss these as meaningless "bling", I'd like to point out that by working on the knots, performing the required activities and training, etc., a leader can't help but provide a good program for the boys. It's just not (knot?) possible. So yes, many leaders do it for the "bling", but in reality, we're doing it for the boys. They get a better program when all these things come together.

It was also extremely fun to receive my Tiger Cub Den Leader award, one I had worked on this past year with my current Tiger.

I had questioned my eligibility but my Unit Commissioner insisted that I had met the goals. It had been a rough year as I wore multiple hats (the work of building and maturing Pack 4 continues). We need a strong Bears leader and I will be taking them into Webelos on June 1st.

(Yikes! That's just a few weeks away!!)

The real surprise, though was the District Award of Merit. Rob Fischer, the Cubmaster at Pack 71, was the first to receive his. It was loads of fun to hear them announce his accomplishments, list out all he has been doing for his Unit, the District and Scouting in general.

I was particularly proud because he's a Cub Scouter: all too often we're (perceived as) minor members of Scouting. And Rob Fischer is a worthy recipient for all he has done with District Day Camp over the years. I was proud to add my applause to the resounding thunder.

What surprised me was the second award. At first, it sounded like it might have been another leader at one of the units I serve (Packs 2, 4 and 11), but it soon became clear that they were listing some of my accomplishments (committee chair, den leader, WRC director, trails coordinator, unit commissioner, district trainer, round-table guy, unit organizer, etc.). Fun, embarrassing and rewarding, all at the same time.

Well, I lived through it and now have to decide how/if to sew them on. I have four already (Eagle, Den Leader, Webelos Leader and Boyce) and getting another three jumps me to a third row. I might leave one off for a while.

I'd better get out the needle.

42 Posts

2010-03-15T13:03:04Z

As if I didn't have enough going on in my life, my family and my career, I thought I'd track a roll of quarters over at 42 Posts.

One introductory post, one post for each Bicentennial Quarter in the roll (40) and one concluding post. (Yes, there are only 40 quarters in a standard roll.)

Earlier this year I had mailed a completed roll to my mother (why do this?) and it never arrived. So it appears I needed to start over again.

It should be kinda fun. There's a map of each find, pictures from the scene of the find and snippy little comments about how each was found.

Since there's a defined (and limited) number of posts, you can afford to add it to your Google Reader list!