Serious moonlight

Some pics from last night's full moon.  Took these at approximately 8:30 last night.  The scene appears a bit lighter than it actually was, given the exposure time necessary for the camera to take the pic.  Still, it was an intense moon which rendered any artificial light source entirely redundant.

JPW-isms

Dad gave us a unique gift this year: a peek into his brilliant mind.  In the form of a page-a-day calendar, dad recorded what he dubbed "JPW-isms," which he defines as "[q]uips, adages, homilies, bromides, musings and other 'isms' that Jerry thunked up over the year..."  They range from humorous to introspective, and from the  reflective to the predictive.  Some take time to sink in, others disclose their meanings immediately.

Dad also provides a glimpse into his psyche in the form of notes/scribbles/doodles which he penned during his various and sundy office meetings.  These appear as headers for the beginning of each month.  Below is the header for January, followed by each JPW-isms for the month of January, reprinted here with the express permission of the author.  I will update with new JPW-isms as they occur, and as my schedule allows.  Enjoy - I know I do.

Friday, January 1, 2010

• "We don't become wiser so much as we come to worry less about seeming wise to others."

Monday, January 4, 2010

• "Procrastination evens things out."

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

• "Shooting one's age at golf is a bizarre aspiration."

Friday, January 8, 2010

• "Riding the bus gives license to the voyeur in us."

Monday, January 11, 2010

• "Spiders are true artisans."

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

• "The length of Mexican food menus is a practical application of what 6! means."

Friday, January 15, 2010

• The pace of change doesn't really care what you think about it."

Monday, January 18, 2010

• Vices gather momentum, as do good habits.  But good habits are less fun at the onset."

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

• "We cannot make inferences.  Philosophers can help us know if they were sound."

Friday, January 22, 2010

• "Weird ducks care least about being weird."

Monday, January 25, 2010

• "When changes happen in ill-fortuned ways, they tend to be more abrupt than with well-fortuned changes."

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

• Young people master remote controls because it never occurred to them that they couldn't."

Friday, January 29, 2010

• Women simply pay more attention.  Just watch them talk to each other."

Of frozen pipes and frozen manure

Today has been interesting.  We woke up to find that we have no running water.  I checked the well pump, and it is running.  However, the pressure going into the pressure tank is zero.  So...pump is working, but water is not making it into the tank.  My keen powers of deduction directed me to a single, unavoidable answer: the phone book.

Called the well pump guy who confirmed that the line leading into the house has frozen.  Before coming into the house, the line is tapped by a hydrant placed directly outside of the kitchen wall (in the courtyard).  This hydrant isn't working, so we know it isn't getting water.  We were relieved to learn that the frozen section of pipe is  outside the foundation, since we paid a lot of money to insulate the crawlspace and have the duct work vent into it for the express purpose of avoiding frozen pipes.  The hydrant taps into the main line down in a brick-walled well, which is not filled with anything.  This is the culprit.  The exposed pipe in this well is what froze.  The well pump guy suggests we fill that entire space in with gravel.  This will both insulate the pipe and solidify the shaky hydrant.  I foresee a trip to Lowes and many, many bags of gravel in my immediate future.

We also spent a good portion of the day continuing to muck out stalls.  Below is us spreading the wealth, if you will:

He can paint the town and he can paint your house!

Joel came up last week on Wednesday and worked on the house through to Saturday (thank you, Joel!!).  On Friday the three of us made our way into Richmond, Indiana, which is just 15 miles down the road.  We grabbed some dinner (and a not-insignificant quantity of beer) at a sports bar, and then headed for a dive called The Wheel.  The Wheel turned out to be pretty darn cool, except for the smoking...forgot that our neighboring states still allow their citizens to make my clothes smell like complete ass!  Other than increasing our respective chances of developing cancer, the night was a winner.  Next day...notsomuch.  Joel and Jessica appeared fine.  Not sure how I appeared, but I can tell you I felt only slightly better than death.  Totally worth it, however.

Back at the farm, Joel continues to wow us with his myriad home improvement skeelz.  Below is a quick compilation of just some of his painting work, which work is entirely bad-ass.  The kid never uses tape?  He just doesn't get paint on stuff.  I don't get it.  We are fortunate to have his help.

Dog Days of Winter

The unfortunate peahen episode aside, I DO condone duck hunting.

Congrats Buckeyes!

Bucks over Ducks, classic Big 10 play trumps west coast flash, #2 emerged as a a true dual threat, and all is right in the 'Bus.

Primer Invierno

My best guess at latin for First Winter. Putting it in latin makes it much cooler, fyi. Was a very, very pretty day.