Future Poltergeist

Two things: We're about three months away from Christmas so please update your Amazon wish lists. They make it so much easier when looking for gifts. Thanks! And also, we're only about a month away from the start of NaNoWriMo . I'm looking to make up for my failure last year. The story is cooking away in my head and ready to come out! If you have ever wondered about ability to meet a hefty task, this is your chance! If, no when you finish, you'll be immensely proud.

A list found here . I think that the Burning Book one is my favorite but the whole bunch are very clever.

Today involved something of a baptism of fire for me today. I feel like I can now proudly call myself a full fledged daddy. Even when out on the town. ( Warning , this post involves unbelievable amounts of poop.) The weather started cool this morning. At least in our house. It lacks windows to the east and the southern exposures are pretty well covered so it stays very cool in the morning. Unfortunately this causes me to assume that it's about twenty degrees cooler than it is. So I dressed the kids for sleet and we went somewhere indoors. I don't want to name the location. I'm afraid someone from there will see this on Google. Which wouldn't be good. Anyway, we went to a mall that has an honest to God play area. It's not a place I'd been to before but I'd heard of it. So we went and walked around and finally found the area. Felix had fallen asleep so I got out the Kindle and let Relia play with the other little girls that were there. After about...

(Or possibly 'Relia-isms. In fact, yes, let's just go with Relia-isms.) McDonalds = McO'Donalds (I love that she felt the need to Irish this up somehow.) Wendys = Girl McO'Donalds (This makes sense to me but it had never occurred to me before.) Sierra Mist = Sanitizer (At least this was her reaction after a taste test at Target.) Death = The process by which we lose friends. (She's exploring the idea of mortality and the results are, um, interesting to say the least.)

On windy days (like today) there is a somewhat unique phenomenon here at the FP household. If the wind strikes the houses just right there is a loud, low moaning noise. It has some of the nasal sound of a goose honking and also a reedy quality. (What's the lowest reed instrument? The bassoon? Maybe we live in the bassoon house.) Anyway, the noise is quite startling the first time you hear it. It starts from the stairway area where there is nothing obvious making it. The sound bears a resemblance to some kind of low pitched alarm as well, making you wonder if you've done something wrong. I still remember the first time I heard it. The FP Gal was used to it and acted like nothing had happened. I had to ask she'd heard that too. Then she explained it and I calmed down. Knowledge is power, after all. This morning Relia heard it for the first time. I told her what was happening but I'm not sure she believed me. Should be an interesting day . . .

Found here . I got 44 of them. Can anyone do better? Remember, no cheating!

Ran across this article that talks about possible weather here in October during the baseball playoffs. The takeaway is that it's a touch colder on average but there is no special reason to think that any particular day would be problematic. Which sounds about right to me. When I think of October I think of warm afternoons and evenings that tend towards chilly. The occasional bit of rain and at least one bout of wind that knocks down all of the pretty leaves. First snow right around Thanksgiving but can be a bit earlier. However, do you remember when the first snowfall in Minnesota was last year? Well, according to my blog it was October 12th. To quote myself: It looked like a March blizzard. Beautiful, if totally out of place. Or at least out of time. The second week of October shouldn't feature snow that actually sticks to the ground. October 12th. Which, if you're scoring from home, is less than three weeks from now. Holy cats, I'm not ready for snow!...

(Via Lileks) This was my earworm for the day.

It starts with a blank stare. You can see the wheels turning but no automatic recognition. Then the eyes widen a bit. And one half of the lip drops . . . and there it is, the Felix smile. It takes a bit before everything clicks into place but man, no one puts as much into a smile as our little/big boy.

That very bright 'star' near the moon tonight isn't a star at all. It's Jupiter and this week it's the brightest it's been for some forty years. If you don't have the moon to guide you, it's in the eastern sky.

Hey, does anyone out there use Chrome? I've been using Firefox for a few years and have been mostly happy with it. But lately it's been very buggy. Lots of delays and pauses. Constant updates that don't seem to actually help anything. I thought this was maybe my computer but I've been hearing other people complain about the same things. Which leads me to think that maybe Firefox is going through some kind of problem phase. So I'm wondering if anyone out there is using Chrome? And if so, are you happy with it? I'm also open to other browser suggestions if anyone has any . . .

Sorry about not following up on last night's salmonella scare warning. We're all fine.

For a nice recap of the day, please visit the lovely FP Gal's blog here . The third and fourth pics are my favorite. As the FP Gal noted, I brought the telescope out in the backyard and Relia decided that she'd look at the moon through it. Yay! Give her a few more years and some more interesting targets and I'll get her hooked on backyard astronomy. I'd like to mention supper. Now, let me first say that my cooking skills are somewhat meager. I'm very good with toast and frozen pizzas. It's been a long time since the morning when I burned my Cheerios (true story), but I'm still no great shakes. But I'm working on it. A few weeks back I got a cookbook based on use of Campbells soup. Each recipe is simple, having a half dozen or fewer ingredients and only four or five steps. It's not Julia Child but it is a step up from drive thru. I had the FP Gal look through it and mark the meals that looked good for her. If I had done the same thing there...

At the MOA where there were hordes of lady scrap-bookers: Relia: That's more people than Facebook! Me: Did you say 'Facebook'? Relia: Yes, more than Facebook! For the record, I have no idea what she actually knows about Facebook.

One day behind but I'm still used to Thursday nights . . . In the past the FP Gal and I have been part of an office pool where we randomly select a Survivor before the season starts. That didn't happen this year so we randomly choose two people on our own. Our condolences to Holly and Chase since we've doomed both of your chances. Before I forget, here is Jeff Probst's first blog post about last night. There is a link in there to the Immunity clue if you want to try and puzzle it out. Last night was the first bit of Survivor in a year that didn't include Russell. Not the first season (or not just the season) the first episode . That's kind of amazing. There was a brief glimpse of Russell during a commercial. It was a collection of former Survivor contestants with a plea to fight cancer. I love the idea and the show really has committed itself to this over the years. However . . . when people like Boston Rob and Russell ask me to do something, even somet...

Today I dressed Felix (4 months old) in an outfit for 18 month olds. It was a little loose but not by much. He's kind of a chunk. If anyone out there is thinking of buying him so baby clothes, shoot for at least six months older than he is, please.

For roughly 200 years the only way for Europeans to get into Japan was through a small artificial island off of Nagasaki called Dejima. It was originally built for the Portuguese but for most of it's time it was controlled by the Netherlands. The Dutch could be on this small island but couldn't actually set foot on Japanese soil without strict authorization. This story follows a young man named Jacob de Zoet. He has gone to the Far East to gain his fortune so that he can be worthy of the woman he loves. Young de Zoet has also been tasked to help clean up the incredible amount of corruption that has taken place here at the far end of Dutch influence. His honesty quickly makes him a pariah amongst his fellows. Through his work he chances to meet a young woman who has been given the almost unheard of privilege of scholarship. Miss Asigawa was burned on one side of her face and is largely thought of as unsuitable for marriage, but de Zoet takes a liking to her. When her fath...