Home life

As the adage goes, "write what you know." I shall obey, because I know a lot about napping. Not academic knowledge -- first-hand, eyes-shut, direct experience. In fact, I just had a nap. That refreshment, combined with a cup of coffee, has stimulated me to share some of the napping wisdom that I've gained over many years.For I am not new to napping. In 1977, a few years out of graduate school, I began my second "real" job with the State Health Planning agency here in Salem, Oregon.I had a private office, being a manager. One of my first executive…

Oh, she's beautiful. But there are reports she could be deadly. Still, we've brought this high-tech Samsung washer into our laundry room, along with her non-malevolent dryer sister. Our nine-year old Maytag washer stopped working about a week ago. This kicked off an intense washing machine research effort, led by Laurel.She's the designated washer in our household, elevated to that position by virtue of (1) my incompetence in choosing the correct settings for washing and drying various types of clothes, and the related (2), Laurel's emphatic "just let me do it" when I offer to wash something that she values.So…

It's December 25. A perfect time to share our 2009 Christmas letter, the theme of which this year is disasters.Download 2009 Christmas Letter (its a PDF file)Actually, I always title our letter "Holiday Greetings." Laurel and I are, after all, politically correct Prius-driving latte-sipping progressive-voting vegetarian denizens of considerably godless Oregon, so the Christ part of Christmas is irrelevant to us.I do, though, worship the Great God Google. As noted on the blog post where my collected Christmas letters are located, I suffered a cyberspace shock five years ago when my "Christmas letter" Google search ranking dropped markedly after I…

Political junkie that I am, sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode from WTF craziness."I can't support the health care bill because it doesn't reduce costs enough," says one Senator -- who vigorously opposed the public option that would have saved Americans lots of money. Thankfully, Christmas letters are helping me preserve my sanity. They're a connection to the good old days (OK, maybe they didn't seem so good at the time, but now they do) when life seemed slower, simpler, less filled with aggravations.I hardly ever get actual letters in the mail anymore. Nor do I…

I've been using "love" and "happiness" a lot in conjunction with "iPhone." (see here, here, and here)Just did it again in this post. I'm loving XM satellite radio's Skydock for the iPhone. It makes me so happy to no longer have to listen to a handful of Portland stations in my car.Aside from Oregon Public Broadcasting, they're all filled with commercials. And most feature right-wing talk radio at the times I'm usually driving around. Plus, they don't come in very well here in the south Salem hills, especially after nightfall. My wife and I had been thinking we should get satellite…

At first I had the title of this post begin with "A real man..." But I don't want to insult a friend (who would go nameless, if I didn't reveal that it is Hans) who demanded that our $10 bet on the giant University of Oregon - Oregon State football game tonight include a point spread.I'm betting on the Ducks. Hans, on the Beavers. Last Sunday, when we got together at the Beanery coffeehouse to negotiate the deal, I argued eloquently that a real fan has so much confidence in his team, he doesn't need the crutch of a point…

What good is a blog if you can't rant on it? Hearing no reply from the cosmos except a no good at all! from inside my head, I shall rant on.Tuesday. It's grocery shopping day. I have a hyper-organized shopping list system. It soothes my left-brain soul to get everything on the list. And usually, not to get anything not on the list (my wife takes care of impulse shopping).I push my empty cart into the south Salem Fred Meyer. Organic bananas always are my first stop. They're behind the display of regular bananas. I angle toward them.But a 30-something…

So, what does a guy do when his wife says, "The kitchen faucet is dripping. Can you fix it?"I took a look at it. Yup. It was dripping, no matter how I turned the Kohler single handle faucet. I vaguely remembered that the faucet used a cartridge. And that the last time I'd tried to replace a Kohler cartridge, I ended up having to call a plumber to bail me out. With increasing age (occasionally) comes increased wisdom. Grabbing the Salem phone book, I called a plumber right off the bat. When he arrived, after having told his scheduler that…

Anguished artist. Or tortured genius? I'll go with either one, though if I went full-bore with my inner Tortured Genius there's a risk I'd end up doing a Van Gogh and cutting off my ear.I did just get a haircut, though, so let's look on that gesture as a sort of performance art -- pointing to the pain my sensitive artistic soul has been suffering every morning this week when I get the newspaper, turn to a certain page, and feel like tearing my hair out.That page shows the results of the Salem Statesman Journal State Fair photo contest. I've…

Hopefully the California ground squirrels who have been driving us nutty have an Internet connection and read my blog. Because if they do, they'll realize that this mild-mannered PETA-applauding animal-loving long-time vegetarian has been driven over the "aren't they cute?" edge into a kill the bastards! dark hole. Squirrels, notice: I am not smiling. This is a photo of a non-natural born killer who has been reluctant to send your furry little souls to squirrel heaven, but was driven to this extreme by all the destructive digging you've been doing around the foundation of our house and garage.Yesterday, thanks to…

We're always learning something new about country living. Today, it was that our 440 foot new well, just three months old, can quickly accumulate 60 feet of silt.Who knew? It surprised even our well driller, Troy, who said that in his experience he's only had a couple of ten inch wells manifest this odd behavior. Unfortunately, it was our well and the next one he drilled. Unlucky us. But at least now we know what's going on, and how to fix the problem, thanks to some down-the-well diagnosing with a submersible camera.When Oregon Pump came by a few weeks ago…

It's hard to believe, but my gray hair (and driver's license) testifies to the fact: in a bit over a year I'll be 62 and eligible to start getting Social Security benefits. So a New York Times article caught my eye this morning. Reading "Collect Now or Later? Timing Your Social Security Benefits" I realized that no matter what the experts say, I'm strongly inclined to stick with my current inclination:Give me my freaking benefits As Soon As Possible -- ASAP!Now, I realize that others will decide differently. And that's understandable. I just wanted to share my philosophical take on…

I've had an interesting relationship with my off-and-on friend, Qwest. Back in August 2007 I was writing an irritated blog post, "Qwest, I'm waiting for DSL...still waiting...," about how the communications company was stiffing my efforts to get broadband to our neighborhood.Then in January 2008, after writing a pleading letter to the Qwest CEO, I got all ecstatic in "I'm the DSL King of the World!" I'd managed to get DSL installed in our rural south Salem area, freeing myself -- and many others -- from the frustrations of dial-up and satellite Internet.I'm still going through Qwest ups and downs.…

I realize that life can't be arithmetic'ized. Still, every time we come home from a vacation I mentally calculate the value of a numberless equation:All the rushing around to get ready to leave + dealing with all that has to be done when we get back - the relaxation of the vacation = how much reduction in stress? I'm pretty sure the value to the right of the equals sign is positive. Meaning, the psychological benefit of a vacation is worth all the work involved in the pre- and post- days. But leaving Maui and returning to Oregon last Wednesday…

If you have city water, you turn a tap and water comes out. Pretty simple. Out here in the south Salem (Oregon) countryside, each house has an individual well. And that's where things get complicated.Especially if you have super-crappy water, as we do. It takes four large tanks in our garage -- an ozonator, softener, iron filter, and ph adjuster -- to treat our current well water and make it suitable for indoor use (outside, the plants love the raw water with its iron, magnesium, and such).The equipment is sensitive, prone to breakdowns, and fairly expensive to maintain. So we've…

These well-drilling photos are a good reflection of our emotional state the past few days. Drilling a new well has its ups. It was a kick to see Troy, of All Seasons Well Drilling here in Salem/Keizer, making his rig do sit-up tricks as he maneuvered the hugely heavy truck into place over the gravel that we'd put down in front of the new well location. Next day he was ready to go. Amazingly, given the stories I've heard about how long it used to take someone to dig a well by hand, or with crude equipment, he was down…