Category Archives: 725

temperature gradients are the spice of life

Yesterday I spent most of the day in long sleeves and slacks, and was reminded of the great joy of exiting an over-refrigerated Houston building to enter The Sauna that some people call outside and others put on the front of the newspaper like triple digits are rare in these parts. The news should be It’s the second week of August and this is the first time we’ve hit 100Âº!.

I also quite enjoy driving with the windows down and the a/c cranking (some to the floor vents) – and vice versa in the winter, nothing like a convertible with the heater cranking in freezing weather!

There’s always the sunning on a hot summer (or even early fall) day, then the jump into the cold watering hole.

Ahh, temperature gradients!

-b

Chives Bolting

So, I got a digital camera for my birthday. I’m sure i’ll be having lots of fun with it. Particularly to document my yard. I have several pots of chives in the back yard. You can always use chives when you cook. They grow like weeds here in Houston. But like all weeds, they must bloom, and with all the warmth of summer, they’ve bolted recently.

So, without further adieu, here’s my backyard and chives… Continue reading →

shower fixed

In the Mundanities of Life file, I’ve had a leaky shower for several weeks. Conn and I have been shutting the hot water off at the valve after using the shower, and turning it on again when we want to use it. A little annoying.

It’s an old claw foot porcelain tub with a faucet fixture that pokes out of it going up. The old one (I know now that I’ve take it apart) was an odd mixture of very cheap plastic and nicely machined metal. The one metal part that wasn’t the best was a very small one that the rubber gasket abutted to when it was closed. It had several chips out of it that caused the hot water to drip when “closed”. Over years I’ve had to increasingly tighten the hot water valve tighter and tighter.

Continue reading →