Let’s go for a walk in the back. I’ll show you around and tell you some stories. [Click on the photos for bigger images. This is going to take a while. If you’re busy, feel free to leave at anytime.] Let’s start on the patio. Here’s our little pond. It’s in a 3′ cattle tank […]
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Really (in two parts)
Tue, 29 Jun 2010, 04:36 PM (-06:00)
1. Really? “Are the rain barrels really full?” she asked from across the dining room table, gently questioning what I wrote. I was momentarily silent. Only the fair and industrious Trudy would know that it would take more than yesterday’s rain to fill up the two barrels on the south side of the house. “Well […]
Don’t Go Emptying Your Rain Barrels…
Mon, 28 Jun 2010, 08:45 PM (-06:00)
1. The Approaching Storm “Watch the radar,” she said. “Don’t go emptying your rain barrels until you know it’s going to rain.” The fair and industrious Trudy knows her husband well. So I sat at the keyboard periodically glancing out the window, eyeing the approach of black clouds from the west. And I watched the […]
Birds
Tue, 22 Jun 2010, 11:23 PM (-06:00)
1. Hummingbirds The Turks Cap has only barely begun to bloom in the backyard, the red flowers peeking out from the one plant by the Pine tree. I didn’t figure that we’d see Hummingbirds much until we had more of those red blossoms, but yesterday there was one flitting between the wild Sunflowers. I didn’t […]
A Sad Ending
Fri, 18 Jun 2010, 04:23 PM (-06:00)
He works in one place. I work in another far away from him. We’ve worked together on a project for several years. We were talking on the phone about an idea he had, something to fill in now that our project’s being cancelled. But it was an idea that didn’t work out, and so our conversation […]
Things Fall Apart
Wed, 16 Jun 2010, 04:13 PM (-06:00)
1. Coder. “He writes code,” he told me. A badge of honor in times like these. I was quiet for a moment, remembering old times. I remember when I wrote code. Those were good years. Golden years sitting at a desk with few distractions, few meetings, few teleconferences—with something concrete and meaningful to focus on. […]
They Took Off Their Engineering Hats
Tue, 15 Jun 2010, 06:42 PM (-06:00)
A hard problem to solve. Why don’t you tell me how your happy-talk can stop the spewing oil in the Gulf? Tell me how being a team player would help or how spin and PR will. Show me how the invisible hand will fix the glop and the death. Tell me how innovation that flows from unfettered profit […]
Not Knowing Where He’s Coming From
Tue, 15 Jun 2010, 11:35 AM (-06:00)
A long time ago, I am in the lobby of the building I worked in and my landlord comes up to me. He is a colleague of sorts and works down the hall, but I rent his house. He walks up to me and starts talking about a letter he got from the homeowners’ association, about […]
Hawks and Owls and Cranes
Tue, 15 Jun 2010, 11:27 AM (-06:00)
1. Hawk It was early morning. The sun was still low enough that the heat of the day had not yet risen, and there were clouds running low in the sky and even a hint of rain. We stood at the top of a hill at the edge of a Juniper thicket. Behind us, a […]
I Bought Some Land
Fri, 11 Jun 2010, 08:48 PM (-06:00)
I’m having trouble getting Dan’s code to run—well, not quite.  It’s running, but it’s not doing what I expect it to. So I’m on the phone with him, and I can tell from the way that he answers my questions that he’s really chomping at the bit to figure out what’s going wrong. I can […]