The Eighteenth of April in Seventy Five…

OK, how many of us remember the date only because of Longfellow’s poem?

Raises paw.

This Space Intentionally Left Blank

Do you ever wonder if any student really does start to panic when they turn the page in a standardized test booklet and see the above words?

Probably.

Content will resume tomorrow. I’m playing catch-up after spending yesterday afternoon plant-shopping.

Spring Cleaning: Or How To Kill Swiffers™

So, um, my allergies finally got the best of me. Saturday should have been cleaning day, but seven hours of Day Job prep sort of ate my time. And Sunday was nice enough I could open a window or four. After church and dinner, I grabbed the box of Swiffers™ and attacked the book shelves.

Advertisement

The Ides of April

Yep, it’s that day in the US.
From: https://consciouscat.net/2016/02/17/allegra-and-ruby-assist-wit-tax-preparation/

For a little tax-day levity, go visit “Allegra and Ruby Assist with Tax Preparation.”

I had to pay a little this year. The revised allowable professional deductions got me.

Howdy, Instapunderati! Welcome, and thanks for dropping by. 🙂

A Little Spring Bluegrass

Bluegrass is one of those American music hybrids that borrows from anything that can’t get away fast enough. There are very strong elements of Celtic music, African traces, English folk music, and a lot of competition between players. Like the religious music of the Upper South, the element of call and response and “lining out a melody” is strong. Like jazz, improvisation is required.

Small Self-Disciplines

“How did you get away with those pants?”

“Because the boss is gone and I’ve been avoiding [assistant manager] all day. Besides, who cares, right?”

I noticed. The first speaker was the only individual working behind the counter who was not wearing crisp, tidy khakis with a brown belt. The speaker wore grey, mid-calf-length pants, no belt, company shirt very loosely tucked with one shirt-tail in the process of escaping. The individual handed me my change and turned away to resume chatting. I counted the coins and bills twice.

The Last Raider goes West

Lt. Colonel Richard “Dick” Cole has gone West. At the young age of 103, the last Doolittle Raider slipped the surly bonds and went to rejoin his fellow raiders. Time to turn over the last cup.

The Doolittle Raiders’ goblets, and the bottle of brandy. An era has passed. Used under Creative Commons fair use. Click photo for link to original. Photo by Raymond Cunningham of the cups, kept at the US Air Force Academy.

Full of Sound and Fury… Or Not

Virga and real rain.

Spoiler – the rain stayed north of town, at least until after sundown. The blue-purple that is not reaching the ground is what is called virga, meaning a veil. It appears on radar, it looks dramatic in the sky, but it evaporates before it reaches the ground. It can also be very dangerous, because the cool, descending air can turn into a down-burst, a very strong downdraft that churns up dust and smashes airplanes (or flips them if they are not tied down.)

Servals

Felix is… infelix. Creative Commons use. Ben Williams photo from International Society for Endangered Cats.

Delighting in What You Do

Howdy, Instapundit Readers! Thanks for visiting.

For reasons unknown, I was thinking about Bob Ross and Julia Child, and what they had in common. People love their programs still, and enjoy learning from them.

Because both people had joy, real joy, in what they did.