Birthday Wish

I recently celebrated my birthday, and I knew what I was going to get as a present. On my flight to Indiana I lost my hat. Not just any hat, it was an unique, custom tailored secondhand hat. What sorrow when I realized it was gone, but I was confident my mother would get it back for me by calling customer service or lost and found. And it would be the perfect birthday present. Unfortunately, the hat was never recovered. I think the kid sitting behind me had his eye on it, and quietly took it from my head when I was taking a nap or something. Well, you know what the good book says - if a man takes your cloak, give him your coat also. So, he has my hat, and I would like to offer him my birthday wishes also. May he enjoy the hat and have a long, prosperous life.

Dog Poll

I offer my sincere thanks to those who participated in the dog poll. It seems most voters like mutts, huskies, and retrievers golden and labrador. So I guess I'll get a mutt that is a mix of retrievers and maybe a little husky in him too. Now, I know it's hard to name a creature without seeing its face, but if any reader would like to suggest a name for the mutt please post a comment. If no comments are posted, I might just name him Karl Barx.

Marmot

There's something you don't see everyday. A medium-sized mammal strolling through my brother's back yard. I thought it was a beaver at first, but it didn't have the paddletail. It must have been a marmot. Wikipedia states that the marmot carried the bubonic plague, which makes it the most notorious killer of humans second only to the mosquito. So watch your back around these things!

Battle For Yumness

My brother's family came into town near the end of our stay in Indiana. It was delightful to find that they are still a happy family. My brother's kids drew and colored on pieces of sheet rock and on the sub-floor of the house. One of my favorite drawings was the "battle for yumness" in which vegetables and candy are physically attacking each other to determine which of them is yummy. I think the candy is winning, although the vegetable doesn't have a sword like the candy does so it's hardly fair. My nephew also drew pictures on scraps of sheet rock including a self-portrait and a car.

Indianapolis

My little brother, Link, and I came out to Indiana for the week to help my older brother, Ignacio, work on a fixer-upper. Step 1 was demolition. We took out baseboards, crown moldings, wood paneling, bricks, and some insulation. When I realized how much work we have ahead of us, it hit me like a ton of bricks. But we have a few more days to work on it. The house is in a great location and after it's all done, it's going to be a keeper.

Ultrapure Water Corrosion

I was told by a sagacious professor of chemistry that ultrapure, de-ionized water will corrode stainless steel. You can't blame me for wondering why. I always pictured water as a passive solvent. But "H2O" in its purest form can indeed be corrosive. Copper, glass, plastic, and stainless steel will all slowly lose molecules to the pure liquid. Highly insoluble metals, i.e. pure tin, are the only materials immune to water's alluring properties. But, if the gaseous oxygen is removed from the water before it is stored, you're ok to use whatever typical storage container you want. I still don't know why this happens, but I imagine it has to do with huge osmolarity forces coupled with the chiseling action of electrons on dissolved O2 molecules.

Call Me a Pour Sport

Yes, at last we poured the foundation and we are so happy with how it turned out. The stars really aligned for us. It was delivered and mixed for us, which saved an unthinkable amount of work. A family friend came over and helped us figure things out. And the surface is about as smooth as we could have hoped for. Except, of course, for a little decoration provided by my sister and mom.