Chambana has shut down. This morning a blizzard came in to dump a half foot of snow with another six inches expected today. Winds have reached 30 mph, and the snowflakes are crashing headlong into one another before flailing wildly away in all directions. All schools have been canceled, and all nonessential workers (i.e. the librarians and ( Read more... )

Fortunately, I just missed our president speak, but I was able to hear James Webb tear the man a new one. I don't think I've ever heard such a feisty worded rebuttal, even if the man delivered it rather blandly (at least that's how it sounded on the radio; perhaps he showed off his marine biceps on the big screen ( Read more... )

Music ( Read more... )

C'mon Democrats, don't let me down like you always do ( Read more... )

In lieu of my typical whinging- which I really want to be an actual word, and to which the Brits in these parts I hope can attest to being the case- I'll cut to the other very part-time work of which I've recently partaken- dental dictionary definer. No, I'm serious, and not just because the alliteration is sweet. After weeks of non-engagement ( Read more... )

I just finished a brief conversation with Emma about noodling. The whole concept was wholly foreign to us both, until I came across an admiring article in the Economist, of all places. Then last week I caught the film "Okie Noodling," as close to a first-hand encounter with the art of bare-handed catfish catching as I, or any of my effete liberal ( Read more... )

The long-neglected 99 c LP roars to life with the sound of the balalaika and the Commie chorus of the Red Army Ensemble (it's on Angel, and it's in mint condition, so I HAD TO buy it!). It goes without saying that the sounds of "Songs of the Plains"- "Soviet soldiers ride through the green plains of their beloved land singing joyfully; all is ( Read more... )

It's time for some serious job-update excitement. With my back, quads and hams in less pain right now than last week at this time, I feel happy to report that I'm now three days deep at Blue Moon Farms. I've managed to get my ass up in the 5:30 darkness, drive out to the flat rural Champaign County cornfields, and subsequently spend eight hours ( Read more... )

The hot and humid days and explosive midwestern thunderstorm nights have given way to cool, rainy days, pleasant relief after spending the last week sticking to my chair (and we have air-conditioning, which tells you something both about my cheapness and love of the "fresh air"). Also, my fingers are on fire. Not literally, of course- although ( Read more... )

I'm sitting here by my lonesome in my one week old house on E. Oregon St. in Urbana, IL, Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits (and Some That Someday Will Be) playing on this old bookshelf system, a 2-disc dollar purchase from serious early Saturday garage sale shopping- pathetic, I know, with me starting up again so soon and all, although I justify it by ( Read more... )