Category Archive for Ramblings
September 11, 2004
It's a long, long way from Key West
I used to be a parrothead in that my wife and I were happy co-habitants with several avian companions over the years, but I'd never call myself a "Parrothead" in the capitalized sense. I do however, work in the great city of Boston and my regular parking spot is in fairly cloe proximity to the hallowed pasture that is Fenway Park - this allows me ample opportunity to witness the perpetual migration of Sox fans both to and from the park. Yesterday I was a bit, well let's say disturbed, by the apparent mass-infiltration of the Fenway / Back Bay area by countless minions of the man from the Keys who sings about cheese(burgers). The always superb (and recently renovated) blog crafted by that literary pundit of the technorati, Andy Ihnatko has a hi-larious take on the whole Buffett shebang:
There's just something about being wild and cutting loose and expressing your individuality -- but doing it in exactly the same way that 30,000 other people are doing it -- that I find highly suspicious. 30,000 similarly-attired people in a stadium doesn't say "rock concert." It says "cult mass-wedding." There's a hollow, desperate undercurrent to the proceedings. I just don't see these people as deep, abiding fans of Buffett...or of anything, really.
read Andy's whole spiel right here.
Posted by Turfdigger at 3:57 AM
September 9, 2004
The Mountain
So we finally climbed to the top of Mount Washington last July after a summer of training hikes in the Blue Hills. We decided that rather than make another attempt at last year's route on the eastern side (Tuckerman Ravine) that we would make a bid for the classic western loop - this loop consists of an ascent via Ammonoosuc Ravine trail to Lakes of the Clouds in the col between Mounts Monroe and Washington, then Crawford Path from there to the summit; the intended descent is via Gulfside trail across to the junction of the Jewell trail just below the summit of Mount Clay, then Jewell trail down to the trailhead. If we had left a couple of hours earlier, we might have had the stamina and daylight left to make the descent, but after climbing for about five hours and reaching the summit at about 3:39 PM, we knew that we didn't have the steam or the time, so we ponied up the dough and took one of the last Cog trains to the base.
Check out the pictures here.
Posted by Turfdigger at 9:11 PM | Comments (1)
September 7, 2004
Was that the chair creaking, or...?
Great googly-moogly!
After just posting the bit about vacation pictures I realize that it's now after 2 AM here in the 'burbs of Boston - and I've turned 36. It's oddly comforting knowing that despite my cricks and creaks, I can still manage to be awake and alert after midnight. Then again, maybe I wouldn't have these cricks and creaks if I went to damn bed for a change...
- cue obligatory Beatles track -
Come on...you'd better damn well know which track - don't make me come over there...
Posted by Turfdigger at 2:04 AM
Goin' Up the Country - The Return
After much in the way of hemming, and just a tad of the haw-ing, the first installment of pix from our summer's journey north are ready for consumption. Once again, our destination was the unsurpassed White Mountains region of New Hampshire, our tax-free neighbor to the north. This first of two picture posts covers our trip on the Conway Scenic Railroad's Notch train.
The pix are here.
The upcoming second gallery will tell of our intrepid adventures on the flanks of that great giant, Mount Washington - 6288' above sea level and home to the worst recorded weather on earth.
...cue ominous timpani roll...
As an interesting aside as we rev on up to the hoopla that is the upcoming presidential election - the journey north through Crawford Notch passes right through Hartt's Location, the first area to vote in the country in each major election.
Posted by Turfdigger at 1:50 AM
September 1, 2004
What About the Students?
It occurred to me today as I watched the annual discombobulation that is the return of college students to Boston that the city has it all wrong - instead of all the hoopla and restrictions placed on anything and everything prior to the DNC, maybe the folks in City Hall should have been considering the inevitable wackiness caused by the city's population suddenly increasing by over 100,000 in a two-week period.
As if Boston traffic isn't normally a bitch.
Man. I shoulda gone into the U-Haul business.
Posted by Turfdigger at 7:15 PM
August 10, 2004
Been A Long Time
No. Not since "the rock and roll", but rather since my posting here.
Always makes me wake up when:
a) I look here and see that my postings have lessened to the point of my columns appearing all whacky-like.
b) I've been on vacation and have photos to post (posting is imminent - sorting through 287 vacation photos for the wheat from the chaff is a bit, well, time consuming and all.
c) I hear about a great new blog like the one currently in residence at east3rd.
At any rate, here's a new post. And check out the great photos at east3rd. Dave is really onto something there.
Posted by Turfdigger at 2:38 PM
September 18, 2003
Any Other Kind?
Tuna. How is it that we have come to refer to this staple of the sea as "tunafish"? We know it's fish; is there a tunamammal somewhere? Or perhaps a tunaplant? Codfish is another example of this. I don't think I've ever heard any other seafood referred to in this manner, where the given, perfectly usable species name somehow "needs" to have the obvious "fish" monkier attached therupon. Salmonfish? Orange Ruffiefish? Flounderfish? I don't see these terms in common use. Swordfish, yes. Blowfish, yes. One sorta "needs" to have the "fish" aspect of these particular buggers specifically clarified, otherwise...well, you get the picture. Strange stuff floating in the brainflow at this early hour...
Posted by Turfdigger at 3:51 AM
August 31, 2003
Bear Country
Once again, some vacation photos. Our last trip north brought us to Clark's Trading Post to check out their 75th anniversary proceedings and take in a bear show.
Posted by Turfdigger at 3:00 AM
August 2, 2003
Headin' North
So I finally got the album of vacation pix together. We went up to New Hampshire at both the beginning (7/5-7/6) and end (7/25-7/27) of July.
Here's the link to the photos.
Posted by Turfdigger at 11:57 PM
February 18, 2003
So THIS is what shoveling is...
Wow.
This is a lot of snow, plain and simple. I was around in 1978 when we got hit and I long for the days of being 10 years old again...with NO shovel.
I just spent about FOUR hours digging my car out, and I can only hope that the plows and heavy equipment don't sock me in again. I also just read that Logan Airport recorded over 27 inches of snow this time around...this is the most snow ever recorded in Boston, and they've been keeping track since around 1892.
I chuckle to myself when I think of what my parking lot in Boston looks like right now. Typically, the snow in this lot gets plowed right up against the buildings that surround it, causing 38 spaces to park more like 20; I'm thinking that this time around, 38 spaces will park more like 10. It's THAT laughable...and strangely so, since I probably won't be able to park there at all for the rest of the week.
So where do I put in that request for a cessation of wintry travails?
Posted by Turfdigger at 3:16 PM
The Blizz
So we got whomped. I watched a neighbor walk across the small lawn outside my living room window and the white stuff was up to his knees; this guy is over 6 feet tall, so I'm guessing that the flat accumulation without accounting for drifting is around 18-24 inches.
Here's a before and after:
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 |
Before |
After |
Yow. I'd better start shoveling soon.
Posted by Turfdigger at 10:47 AM
Blizzard of '03?
It's been snowing here in Eastern Massachusetts for about 19 hours.
As I peer out into the early morning darkness I can see the snowfall continue, backlit by the streetlights. I need to look out of one side of the window, as the frosted cap on the bushes that I normally see over has grown so much as to encroach upon that outlook.
Looking from my living room vantage point onto the parking lot, I see not much other than the scale mountain created about 10 hours ago by the plows and the bobcats. Without seeing it, I know that my car is buried by a drift.
Man...I hate shoveling...
Posted by Turfdigger at 3:24 AM
It's about time
Well. Here's a blog.
Something new for SLP...
So after the demise of the Online Links Society, I went off to tweak an existing site and author an entirely new one from scratch. This ultimately led to my wondering why I spend so much time working other folks' domains instead of my own. Hence, this blog.
Stay tuned, kids...
Posted by Turfdigger at 2:50 AM