Wednesday 20070530 - Rain - Japanese Garden Rain, Haruki Murakami; The Front Door - again and again and again; Golden Corral and June "Wired" - Private Rockets, polite lady; CVS; Home - check book balancing, write checks, stamps, HTML hidden graphic; Home - tra-la, tra-la. the wonderful world of planting; Tuesday's web page
(Web work - (Thu) 20070531-1915 / (Wed) 20070530 / (Tue) 20070529 + (Wed) 20070530)

Japanese Garden Rain Larger image

What a extraordinary photo. I just found it a few moments ago using the search word "rain" under Google. The larger version is spectacular.

The image is by Anton Shevchenko, who was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and moved to America when he was twelve.

The garden almost seems mystical, out of time and place; the habitat of shinto spirits. The Japanese author Haruki Murakami frequently writes of encounters with places that border on the surreal. Places found once, but not necessarily again.

(His book "Dance, Dance, Dance" is one of the most haunting books I've ever read.)

In my entry of contours provocations - journal - 2007-0412 - thu 1600 - "New Front Door", I talked about visiting Lowe's to discuss buying a new front door. But the understandable policy is to wait for the installer to examine the door before completing the initial process. The carpenter arrived contours provocations - journal - 2007-0514 - mon 2100 - (Sunday 20070513) - "Carpenter", and we went through what needs to be done.

Admittedly it is complicated: replaced the rotten sill, replaced part of the wood on either side, remove the old door, remove the old outer storm door; install the new door and install the new locks.

I got a call from the clerk at Lowe's on Tuesday 20070515 indicating he now had the cost. I visited and paid for the installation on contours provocations - journal - 2007-0516 - wed 2120 - "Lowe's - Trip 2".

The installer had been out two weeks with an eye injury. So I could understand his predicament. And I told him I did not want him to do anything that would cause him problems. And I realize that as he tried to catch up, he's got new folks wanting installation.

I've had a couple of calls from Lowe's to see if everything was alright, and I assumed it was. I got another call yesterday while I was out; I returned the call, but she had left for the day. I called this morning, and she asked if the installer had set a date. Of course, I said nope. She seemed concerned, and then told me, he was booked until July 4. And would be out at least a week in mid June. She offered another installer, but with all the special work that needs to be done, I don't know what the person would do.

My temptation is to be pissed. But I guess I'll settled for miffed. I finally told her the door had been there 50 years, so another month on so won't hurt. See how I managed to handle that in a adult, zen-like manner. Then why am I gnawing on my Teddy Bear? Gawd. Cotton filling taste awful.

I was back to the article on the private rockets' world.

Article is available at "Elon Musk Is Betting His Fortune on a Mission Beyond Earth's Orbit". Followed by an article "How NASA Screwed Up (And Four Ways to Fix It)".

Even at 1113, it was almost 60% full. There's one area that would be rectangular, except for what appears to be part of the kitchen that juts out. (Now that I think of it, that is an odd configuration.) The width of the area is not quite large enough to except two sets of tables. The inward line of chairs are always very close to the chairs of the table beyond the ell. I was at a single table in the section just before the ell. A lady sat down, and said "Can you get out, sir!" And I said, "No problem." When I left I thank her for being so polite to ask.

Another chance to entertain angels.

(In - Wednesday - 20070530 - 1113: $7.51 - Cash)

Why do I feel like I have to stop at CVS every three or four days?

Today it was for refills for G.E. Alprazolam (xanax) and Lexpro (escitalopram).

(Out - Wednesday - 20070530 - 1232: $43.99 - Bank Debit Card)

I don't balance my humble financial accounts on a daily basis, but since it's nearing the end of the month, I was fearful that I was running out of funds. And I try to avoid the dreaded "non-sufficient funds," since you have no idea the bank will do with that.

Using the 1-800 number, I quickly balanced against the ledger balance, the available balance and the pending transactions.

Next I wrote checks for the bills that had come in.

Then I faced the task of figuring out the postage. The postage for a letter until a couple of weeks ago was 39¢ then it jumped to 41¢. I had some 39¢ stamps left, and believe it or, a batch of 3¢ stamps. So that solved that problem and gave the PO an extra penny.

Now I no longer have any 39¢ stamp, but I still have some 30 3¢ stamps. I also have a couple of books, as keep sakes, of AIDS Awareness stamps at 29¢. The puzzle is a set of stamps with a rooster on top of a with a rising or setting sun behind. In wee print, written on each are the words: "The H Rate make-up stamp."

According to United States Non-denominated Stamp Values there have been/are a host of stamps with no designated amount. A most interesting page.

There's also a HTML oddity on the page. Immediately to the right of the words "United States" in the top block is a hidden graphic. If you are using IE, if you point your cursor at the area, you should see a tiny pop up that says "The Worm!" Curious. If you select the two lines of text, it comes out " United StatesThe Worm! Non-denominated Stamp Values". This is done with a simple technique; but I've never seen it done before.

The moved the other two box woods. Again, it was more difficult digging the new hole. I raked and cleaned the old bed and will plant the junipers in a day or two.

In the new bed, which as I've mentioned is against the store room wall and beneath the electric meter and main junction box, is a metal spike that, at some point, was using for grounding one of the electrical elements. But, last year when I first discovered it, there was no connecting wire to anything. (Wait, it was a forgotten lightning rod.) I tried to remove it to no avail. So I tried again, and dug and dug and dug, and expected to hear Mandarin at any second. But I finally succeeded. NO WONDER, it was difficult. It was over four-feet long.

With the search for graphics and links, and testing of each, plus composition and rewrites, Tuesday's page was fairly typical. Nothing as complicated as the previous day's one concerning the Dutch Flyers.

Smart Market (Mail South) Advertisement Package (junk)

(Out - Thursday - 20070531 - 2300)