When the bathroom in the primary (formerly master) bedroom was remodeled 20 years ago, I had the contractor put in a closet access panel behind the shower valve. I knew that someday the panel would be needed. Today is that day.
The plumber should be here in a couple of hours. He said it looks like an O-ring failure.
Exciting Update: It’s fixed. As I suspected, the plumber who worked on it about nine months ago screwed up. I also suspect he may have done a lousy job deliberately because he was pissed off that I ended up not needing him for the dishwasher installation. The new guy I’ll be using from now on showed me exactly what was done wrong.
Folk singer and actor Burl Ives was a Communist sympathizer who cooperated with HUAC; however, Ives’ most enduring legacy is almost certainly his narration of 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
A tip o’ the Dog Rat toupee to twinster Jeanie Beanie for letting me know that Rudolph is returning to NBC after decades at CBS, for a special 60th anniversary airing.
Jean and I have a possible connection to Burl Ives through our maternal grandfather. Our parents met at Eastern Illinois State College, where our grandfather, Eugene Waffle, was an English professor and later chairman of the department.
Eugene Waffle, Eastern Illinois State College (now University)
The connection with Ives is explained at this link:
However, during a “Beowulf” lecture in his English class, Ives decided to stop pursuing his degree and he wanted to become a singer. He left in the middle of class. Allegedly, the teacher made a nasty remark about him as he left and Ives slammed the door behind him, shattering the glass.
A few of you have seen how overgrown the grapevines have become on part of my property. With loppers and a pruning saw in hand, I have been aggressive in my grapevine attacks, now that I can reach the roots.
No, there aren’t any grapes, just the vines and leaves.
Considering how the chemotherapy turned my facial hair thin and gray in a few weeks, now that it’s been two months since the treatments ended I wondered if the change was permanent. After keeping myself clean-shaven, I’ve been letting my beard grow back in and, so far, it pretty much looks and feels like it did before the chemo. I don’t really care one way or the other, except that it’s significant as a possible indicator of my recovery.
And now, this other bearded man has something to say. He’s wearing Audio-Technica ATH-M20x headphones. I have a pair, and I can tell from Jon’s headband that my cranium is a lot bigger than his.
I was going to post this picture yesterday, but I was busy undergoing a nuclear stress test of my heart, before taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to get some outdoor work done.
Thanks to the new families in the area, we had the best ever Halloween turnout on Thursday. Besides my usual front porch decorations, I projected a familiar movie onto the garage door. It’s the original 1977 version, not the 1978 “Part Four: A new Hope” re-release or — ugh! — any of the “special editions.”
A little boy, probably five or six years old, exclaimed, “Obi Wan!” He ran up to the garage door, patted the image of Alec Guinness and proudly explained to the group he was with, “That’s Obi Wan!” He’ll make a fine Jedi Knight.
Regarding my stress test, the results showed a healthy heart with no indication of coronary artery disease, let alone scarring from a heart attack. Yay. I had been told that my many years of long distance running was the probable cause of my a-fib, but yesterday’s results showed there are also definite benefits to running.
