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RandomPalaver: Snowy Sunday Morning in Woodley Park

RandomPalaver: Making 80 Look Easy

Today my father (above, in Bayonne, NJ) turns 80, though you'd never know it from the way he still covers a tennis court.  You'd think he was on roller skates.  Happy birthday Dad!

Updated to add color commentary from my dad:

Love that picture because it reminds me of my many happy days as a kid on 11th St. in Bayonne. It was probably taken about 1939. Look how free of cars the street is. All but one of the homes shown were two-family with no garage and very few people there had cars or knew how to drive. Within the next 10 years we had WW II and its aftermath which produced cars everywhere and traffic which made the streets less of a playground. -Dads

RandomPalaver: A Golden Anniversary

This little girl didn't know, while playing piano in her living room in Jersey City in the early '40s, that she'd one day meet this young man, shown here enjoying a beer while serving in the army in Munich in the early '50s.  But they did meet, on a blind date, and later married, 50 years ago today.  They've both been smiling -- and making the rest of us smile -- ever since.  Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

IrishPalaver: White House, Green Fountain

AP Photo         

A new St. Patrick's Day tradition.  Brilliant!

RandomPalaver: EEK!

I'm living in an execution chamber.

The night before the inauguration, because it was very, very important I get to sleep early, I had insomnia.  I got up about 1:30 and went in the living room, and from my desk I saw a mouse run out of my hall coat closet.  I chased it back in to keep it from running into my bedroom.  I tried to sleep, but took little comfort from the rolled-up towel I stuck along the bottom of my bedroom door, as I've read that mice can squeeze through a hole the diameter of a #2 pencil.  They are the Eugene Victor Toomses of the rodent world.

I spent the next few days living in abject terror of a creature smaller than a Baby Ruth bar.  On Friday the exterminators came, and things got worse.  I now have 15 traps (that I can see) scattered around my living room and kitchen. You can't go two feet without coming across one.  Some are snap traps and some are those sticky boxes the mice go in and get stuck and God knows what happens next.  Mice are nocturnal; unfortunately, so am I.  But I figure when I'm up stomping around the place with all the lights on watching the Australian Open my friend is not likely to show his whiskers.

But once I start turning off the lights I'm put in a mind of a scene in Bram Stoker's Dracula where the count's carriage is racing toward home while the sun sets.  Once it's dark and I'm in bed, I can't stop listening for the sounds of capture and the resulting horror.  I had no idea how many snapping, shuffling, and squeaking noises my apartment makes.  Several nights I was certain I heard something terrible happening out in my living room, but in the morning found no evidence.  I've tried putting on the radio to block out any sounds, but was afraid the dulcet tones of the British announcers on The World Today would just lure Mr. Mouse into my room.  If I had the know-how, wherewithal, and gumption I'd devise some humane way to capture him and let him out into the wilds of Rock Creek Park.  But I don't.  (And can house mice even live in the wild?)  At any rate, I've asked the exterminators to remove the traps on Friday.  I'd rather live with a live mouse than a dying one.

It could be worse.  If I didn't make this up, my sister-in-law's brother (my brother-in-law once removed?) once heard what sounded like a rat running around the attic, so put a big rat-sized trap up there. He came downstairs, and soon heard "THWAP! . . .  SHWISSSH, CLUNK, SHWISSSH, CLUNK, SHWISSSH, CLUNK."

And with that thought I'm about to turn off the lights.  SHIVERS.

RandomPalaver: Merry Christmas 2008!

I wish I could say that's the last time I saw that look on my brother's face.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

RandomPalaver: Shipping, MacGyver style

One of the unpleasant chores of last-minute holiday errands is standing in line at the post office.  If you've got a printer, a scale, and packing material, you don't have to.  On usps.com, you can pay for and print a shipping label, tape it to the box, and leave the package for the mail carrier.  I wish I'd figured this out ages ago.  Hang onto a couple of amazon boxes or keep a roll of brown paper in the house, and some packing tape, and you're good to go.

The only problem I've had with this is when I used Internet Explorer with the pop-up blocker activated and the shipping label would not pop up.  I switched to Firefox and had no problems. Alternatively, you might just need to disable pop-up blockers.  Evidently usps.com was having some technical problems last week due to heavy volume.  They sent me an email suggesting that customers having problems with the site can use Endicia.com and Stamps.com for their online shipping needs.  I used usps.com tonight with no problems (I hope!).

If you must go to the post office, and you live in northwest DC, keep in mind that the Friendship station at Wisconsin and Upton has long hours, including being open on Saturdays and Sundays year-round.  You can locate a post office and check hours here.  The main post office across from Union Station has even longer hours, but if you're arriving by car parking can be a hassle there.

Photo courtesy of Yukon Archives. Anton Vogee fonds, #259.  Caption: Line in front of post office [A line up of miners waiting to enter the post office on Pearl Street.]

ObamaPalaver: Shiny Happy People in a Jeep

If this image ain't rockin', give it a click.

RandomPalaver: Jeepers

One sure sign of advancing middle age is having to wear reading glasses just to read a mystery on the beach.  What's worse is peering over the tops of your glasses to see what's going on around you.  You're one step away from yelling at sonny to go get you a packet of Benson and Hedges Light 100s.  Fortunately, peeperspecs.com has a solution:  bifocal solar reading glasses.  Admittedly, "bifocal" doesn't exactly scream "youth," and frankly, the ones I got aren't particularly stylish, but the bifocal part isn't that noticeable, and it's worth it to be able to read (above) and check out the lifeguard (below), without squinting.

Peepers also carries regular reading glasses and non-bifocal sunglasses, in scores of different styles (most in the $13 to $17 range).  Their service was very quick -- I ordered a pair on a Thursday morning and they arrived at our beach house before I did two days later.  (These photos were taken on an unusually chilly July day on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.)

RandomPalaver: Community Building

My nephew loves playing city-building simulation games such as SimCity and Poseidon (above).  (When he asked my sister for SimCity she said "Sin City?!  What's that rated?!")  But sometimes it's best to build a city the old-fashioned way, with Lego guys and Lincoln Logs and an ice cream cone from your little sister's play kitchen.

Aerial View

Apartment Building

Church

Ice Cream Shop

Old Town

Park

Factory

Uncle Bob