Home life

Over on my philosophical blog, Church of the Churchless, I wrote yesterday about "How our non-easy-care yard enlightens me." I don't really believe in enlightenment. But I'd still like to be enlightened. Just seems like a cool state to be in. Akin to stoned, I suppose (a state of being I'm much more familiar with), but without having to imbibe psychoactive substances.  So I like to think that our yard is enlightening me, chore by chore. After 25 years of taking care of our non-easy-care property in rural south Salem, Oregon, I've had plenty of time to ponder the Meaning…

Because I started off using Macs, switched to Windows machines for a while, and then returned to the Cult of Apple, I still suffer from a bit of Post-Traumatic Operating System Upgrade Stress whenever I click on the "install" button that's presented to me when Apple comes out with an OS X update. Today's Yosemite update to 10.10.3 went as smoothly as usual. Before initiating it I reminded myself that those Blue Screen of Death days are over. I've never had a significant problem with Apple system upgrades. Now I trust that my Macbook Pro will install the software just…

Recently I had to take my 2011 Mini Cooper S up I-5 for a service appointment at Mini of Portland.  A month or so earlier I'd been there for scheduled maintenance. Which came with a surprise: a technician discovered that my Mini's computer system needed to be reprogrammed/updated so it wouldn't think that I had a non-existent brake problem. The service advisor told me that it could take up to four hours, so I told her "I'll come back on another day." That day turned into two, irritatingly. Rather than sitting in the waiting area, I'd gotten a ride to…

Wow. Hard to believe it's our 25th anniversary today. But it's easy not to forget, like I said in "14th anniversary -- take that Dr. Laura!" We had the smarts to get married on St. Patrick's Day in 1990, which means that as soon as I start seeing mention of green beer in the newspaper or on TV a small still voice in my head starts speaking... “Anniversary, anniversary, anniversary.” Laurel looks particularly beautiful in this photo. A wedding brings out the glow in a gal. We got married at our newly-bought house, which entailed a whole lot of scrambling…

It was like seeing a ghost. Except, the ghost was me, and I'm still alive. The first startling image that popped up in my Facebook feed yesterday was of the 1970 (I believe) wedding of my best friend in elementary and high school, Ken Hart. There I am, standing to the groom's right in the photo, all bearded, long-haired, and dressed-up.  I have absolutely no memory of the wedding. I haven't given a single thought to it, so far as I know, for as long as I can remember. Yet... I obviously was there. Well, let's put it this way:…

The two-wheel itch just had to be scratched. A week ago I blogged, "Folding bike! I need one to make my life complete." Today the family dog and I drove to Eugene, a hour from our rural south Salem home, to see the folding bikes made by Bike Friday. Yes, right here in the good old U.S.A. In fact, in the same building as the showroom. Bike Friday has a pleasing industrial-chic vibe. Nothing fancy about the place, aside from the wonderfully well-crafted bicycles. Tip to those who visit in person: pay more attention to the map on the Bike…

I'm a firm believer in the power of material things to make me happy.  While other people volunteer at homeless shelters, go on pilgrimages to India, and spend more time with loved ones, I'm buying stuff! Hey, works for me.  To offer up a few examples, Apple products make me way happier, as I've blogged about here and here. Ditto with my 2011 Mini Cooper S; as I predicted, it has made me super happy. And closer to the subject of this post, I'm happily addicted to a way-fun outdoor elliptical bike, the Streetstrider.  Now... I can feel my pleasurable…

Though there will be many important issues to address on this blog in 2015, I wanted to make my first post of the New Year on a truly significant subject: What sort of dog is our Zu Zu, a mixed breed of unknown origins? (we adopted her from a shelter) We have learned a probable answer thanks to the Wisdom Panel 2.0 DNA Test. It took us several years to decide to do this.  For while we are frequently asked, "What sort of dog is she?," it's been sort of pleasurable to preserve her air of mystery.  Generally we'd reply, "A Shepherd…

All good things must come to an end. Even the humorous, well-written, captivating, wise, and inspiring Collected Christmas Letters of Brian and Laurel Hines -- which are composed by me (unless you find some of them tasteless and boring, in which case assume those were written by my wife). This year, 2014, our holiday message is an explanation about why we've bailed on our usual Christmas Letter.  Download 2014 Christmas Letter PDF I realize, or at least desperately hope, that some people's meaningless lives are made minimally bearable by looking forward to receiving our annual Holiday Letter. To them I…

For those wondering how Laurel is doing after her rotator-cuff shoulder surgery this morning: the surgeon, Dr. Dan Sewell from Salem's Hope Orthopedics Center, told me fixing the detached tendon went beautifully. A torn biceps muscle couldn't be fixed, but a flap was cut off to stop it from...I don't know, flapping around, or something. I couldn't understand everything Sewell told me while Laurel was in the recovery area. The before and after images of her shoulder were mystifying to non-physician me. They all looked like black and white photos of the moon, albeit with different shadings. So the reassurance…

It's a lazy warm sunny Oregon Sunday, a day past the summer solstice. TIme to browse the iPhone and dig out some unshared photos of what we -- me, wife, and dog -- have been up to recently. Such as...walking along the Metolius River in central Oregon near sunset. The Metolius has to be one of the most beautiful rivers in the world. Sure seems so to me, anyway. . I wasn't aware of the beam of light when I snapped the photo. A bit of natural "divinity." Hiking to the top of Black Butte, an ancient volcanic cone that sits…

"You're crazy." When people say that to me, or when I say it to myself, I realize that we're not talking about clinical craziness.  I'm in touch with reality. I can relate to people appropriately. I don't hear voices inside my head, other than the usual chattering of my own mind (a topic I wrote about on my other blog). No, the sort of crazy being referred to is different. It's main quality, I'd say, is an imbalance that doesn't make sense to other people. And sometimes to myself. For example... Today I did some major mowing. We have a large…

I don't know exactly when it was I decided that having a land line in these cellular days is akin to listening to music on an 8-track tape player.  It might have been -- and, now that I think about it, probably was -- when I was crawling along in our mouse-infested crawl space, tracing two phone lines that lead from our outside Century Link box, looking for chew marks or other signs of a damaged cord. The exercise came to seem more and more unnecessary to me. Even surreal. Here I was, proud possessor of an iPhone and Macbook…