I'm that good kind of tired that comes from getting a lot accomplished during your day.

This morning I met a buddy for breakfast in a little diner down the interstate a ways. We caught up on what's going on with each other and then I headed home. The plan was to attend today's club rocket launch, but I never made it. Shame too, because it was a beautiful day.

Got home and decided to take care of a quick repair job on my truck. Twenty minutes later and a smidgen of epoxy and it looked that it was going to be good as new. Then my neighbor dropped by and asked about taking down that maple tree in my backyard. Well, of course I'm not going to head off for the day while he's doing me a favor, so we got going on that.

Something we saw right off was that the maple was bigger than either of us had realized. At the end of the day, we'd taken down every branch reachable with a fully extended 32' ladder, and there's a lot of tree left above that. We even managed to do it without dropping anything on a fence.

There's a nice pile of twiggy branches out in the common area that my son and I will be taking care of over the next week, and a fair pile of fresh cut maple logs to stack. They'll make nice fireplace and firepit fuel. We really opened up the yard with today's work (pictures to come), but the monster trunk and root system is still in the way.

We're tossing around the idea of taking down my back fence and using some tension ropes and come-alongs to just drop the rest in one swell foop. A couple of hours to set things up just right and fifteen minutes to actually bring the beast to earth. I'm also thinking about getting a tree company out here for an estimate, since we've done everything we can do safely and reasonably easy. The problem with that is that it wouldn't surprise me to get an estimate for a thousand dollars, and there's a lot of other home improvements I could do with that kind of money. Then again, I might just leave it for awhile and see how it's going to be. I'm not in any hurry now that the yard will get some reasonable sunlight.

Can you tell my mind is going a mile a minute? It's been a good day.

Posted by: Ted at 06:35 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 432 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Lucky for you the launch was post poned for Sunday!

Posted by: Maelstrom at March 12, 2005 08:09 PM (moQJN)

2 Say what? The launch was postponed?!?!?!

Posted by: Ted at March 12, 2005 08:26 PM (ZjSa7)

3 I just hope that you don't hurt yourself or anyone else when you finally take the rest of the tree down...It is a big tree!!!! See ya on Wed night By the way, Whats for dinner? haha.

Posted by: Robyn at March 12, 2005 10:52 PM (/AsC4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Standard for me:

Right front: pocket watch, loose change (if any)
Left front: keys
Right rear: wallet and comb
Left rear: handkerchief and Swiss Army knife

How about you?

Posted by: Ted at 06:22 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

His music career sputtered along until he was mentioned in a Garth Brooks song.

Chris LeDoux, a former world champion bareback rider who parlayed songs about the rodeo life into a successful country music career, died Wednesday from complications of liver cancer. He was 56.

He had a lot of great songs, but my absolute favorite was called Five Dollar Fine:

Five Dollar Fine

We're a fun lovin' crowd, kinda rowdy and loud
Our jukebox won't play no sad songs
So don't come in here, and cry in your beer
'Cause we don't care 'bout who done who wrong

Chorus:
We've got a five dollar fine for whining
We'll tell you before you come in
If it ain't on your mind to have a good time
Ya'll come back and see us again

Well we don't really care about your clothes or your hair
This party is open to all
Yeah we like a good joke, and it's alright to smoke
We got just one rule on the wall

Repeat Chorus

Now there's too many fools makin too many rules
That's one thing you can't say about us
Cause we all get along when we sing the same song
There's just one thing that causes a fuss

Repeat Chorus

Adios amigo, you were never appreciated enough.

Posted by: Ted at 12:15 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 224 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Heck, I didn't realize he was in his 50s.

Posted by: Derek at March 10, 2005 05:20 PM (wEVXE)

2 Never heard of him. I just lo-o-o-o-ve that lyric, though!

And, yeah, Derek. Liver death at 56. We can only hope that he had a great time and it was worth it to him.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 10, 2005 10:43 PM (XvLoj)

3 He sang a duet with Jon Bon Jovi. Therefore, I love him. This is a loss to the music industry, whether many people know it or not.

Posted by: dawn at March 14, 2005 01:04 PM (bNYuK)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I try to stay fairly professional in the workplace, especially the more formal setting I'm in now. I'm also careful about my language around folks I don't know, because it's the polite thing to do. Lately I've noticed that my co-workers have used a few curse words in my presence. The comfort level must be going up.

They probably got a clue the other day when I was shouting at my computer, swearing up a blue streak, in German.

Posted by: Ted at 12:07 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Really. Now there's a factoid about you I don't recall reading about. German, eh? Das ist gut!

Posted by: Cindy at March 10, 2005 06:54 PM (MMDER)

2 Not much more than some swearing and random words left.

Posted by: Ted at March 10, 2005 07:00 PM (ZjSa7)

3 I used to swear in French. Until someone popped up the head like a gopher over the cubby wall and told me pronunciation sucked.

In French.

Heh.

Posted by: Elizabeth at March 10, 2005 11:09 PM (rRxxN)

4 I generally use indirect pointers, shouting things like "The seven words you can't say on television" or "language that would make a sailor blush" rather than calling up the actual words.

Posted by: triticale at March 14, 2005 07:52 PM (KBUhr)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

In my HTML class we're going over images, and the instructor told us that the "alt" attribute on the "image" tag was so that special browsers used by the visually impaired could read a description of what the image was since they couldn't actually see it. This falls under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act:

Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation.

So once again Rocket Jones is on the cutting edge of social issues by posting things like Porn for the Blind.

Other than that though, I'll probably just continue to use the "alt" attribute to attach sly little jokes to the images on this site. Having a conscience doesn't mean I have to be fanatical about it.

Posted by: Ted at 05:51 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 173 words, total size 1 kb.

Tamales.

Look for a couple of Rocket Jones original recipes coming soon.

Posted by: Ted at 05:49 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.

There's a case to made for travelling light, toting nothing more than your bindle with the wind at your back. But for some of us, bringing along the essentials means at least one extra piece of luggage.

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 04:31 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 53 words, total size 1 kb.

...and blowing straight sideways through Virginia on it's way to West Virginia.

A pair of cross-country skis and a sail and I'd be home in 15 minutes.

Posted by: Ted at 11:58 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

This morning on the commute to work, we had that perfect set of conditions where the darkness and headlights and misty rain and rolling tires combines to make each vehicle look like it was trailing smoke.

Glancing to my right to make sure my wingman was covering, I eased in behind the Fokker. Apparently oblivious to my presence, the range closed until I could practically knock the bloody hun out by throwing rocks. Instead, he got a long burst from my Lewis gun. I saw the pilot slump as his plane sideslipped down and away.

The lumbering Heinkel was easy pickings. Either the tail-gunner had been killed by a lucky long-range shot, or his gun was jammed, because there was no defensive fire coming from his rear arc. I had to throttle my Spitfire way back to avoid overtaking him, and when lined up perfectly I let loose with everything I had. I was close enough to see large pieces of his plane break free under the withering fire, and within seconds the starboard engine was trailing smoke. He veered away in a shallow dive, heading back across the Channel to his base in France. One less kraut making his delivery to the shipyards at Liverpool.

What a farrago! Everywhere you looked the sky was full of planes, twisting and turning, occasionally trailing a dark plume as he made his final dive. I saw a chute open below me, and noted that the pilot would come down to the south of the Yalu. A MIG flashed by in front of me and I snapped off a burst. He was gone too quickly to assess, but I had other problems, as another Red was trying to turn inside me to get on my tail.

I have no idea where he came from, he was just suddenly there in my sights. Before I even had target locks I was squeezing the trigger, and we were joined by twin beams of light. I saw a plume of flash frozen atmosphere erupt from behind the crew compartment, and they suddenly decelerated. As I rolled past them in a defensive vector, I wondered whether that crew had been suited up when the hull was breached.

Some mornings you don't even have to turn on the radio.

Posted by: Ted at 05:45 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 395 words, total size 2 kb.

This just in. Japanese pinup star Yuki Aoyama has just been informed of my previous announcement, and we had a photographer on hand to capture her reaction.

She looks pleased.

(click photo for superbig most-happiness size - safe for work)

Posted by: Ted at 06:30 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Aah, she's into rocket thrusts!

Or, rather, rocket thrusts are into... nevermind.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 06, 2005 07:26 PM (R9/S3)

2 You know Ted, I've been trying to ignore your medical update statement simply because there's a witty and amusing response that I've just been unable to put into the right words. Give me a few weeks, I'm sure something will surface.

:-)

Posted by: Cindy at March 07, 2005 06:29 AM (MMDER)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Sensible:

One secret of good managers is to keep the people who hate you away from those who are undecided.

The first thing I thought of was pirate captains.

Posted by: Ted at 09:50 AM | category: Square Pegs
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

This morning I let oldest daughter sleep in a little bit before having her follow me over to the tire store. Despite getting there an hour after they opened on a Saturday morning, the wait wasn't too awful.

Talking to the guy at the counter, I told him I wanted the cheapest steel-belted radial possible in that size. I'm planning on trading in the truck this spring, and can't see spending lots on a new tire right now. Besides, there's good tires already on the beast.

The guy tried to talk me out of buying a tire. The only one they had in stock is a really crappy tire (from a good name). Lots of problems with it, blowouts and sidewall failures, and they won't sell them anymore once the current inventory is gone. Wasn't a very good price either.

But it was convenient and I didn't feel like making this an all-day event to save a few bucks, so I told him to check the flat. If it could be repaired, then do that, otherwise I'd take the new tire. We told them we'd be back in a half hour to see what was up and walked next door to the grocery store.

I bought another brisket. On the way back, oldest daughter asked why she was carrying this gigantic slab of meat, so I started in with the double-entendre jokes about my enormous meat. My meat is so big it needs it's own seat in the car, and other juvenile comments. I also called my wife at work and sang Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" to her - loudly - in the parking lot. Oldest daughter finally tired of the public humiliation and drove back home, with instructions that my enormous meat was so valuable that she was to immediately put it in the freezer.

The tire guys showed me where I'd picked up a screw that caused the slow leak. Easy repair, for about 1/8th the cost of the new tire.

So if I'm singing the blues, it's 'cause I wanna.

Posted by: Ted at 07:58 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 357 words, total size 2 kb.

Mookie has been expressing an interest in classical music, so when mom and I saw a multiple CD collection arranged by composer, we had to get it. Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin (I explained that it was pronounced "show-pan", Vivaldi, a couple of the Russians (that I won't bother misspelling here), and even one of Gershwin.

She's been working her way through the set, and I had to smile when she said her biggest problem was knowing where she left off, because right now it all sounds pretty much the same to her. She'll figure it out, and she seems to be giving it a real chance, which makes me happy.

In related news, I became so disgusted with our local "classic rock" station that I took them off the main buttons in the truck and replaced them with classical. It's been a nice change.

What did the classic rockers do? Besides the most annoying collection of DJ's I've ever had to spend time with, they've decided that the Beatles and Rolling Stones are responsible for 30% of all classic rock worth listening to. That gets old fast.

Adios Ringo and Mick. Hellooooo Wolfgang.

Posted by: Ted at 04:35 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 203 words, total size 1 kb.

Apparently my "medical announcement" brought some unexpected responses. Oldest daughter has a web site that I didn't know about (and I've been asked not to search for, since it's a rant and vent place), and she linked to that particular post. Later, she got a phone call from her roommate from last year - different college, different state - that was directly about my announcement. I'm sure much "ewww"ing was involved. *smirk*

All I can say to the roomie is, young lady, that the one time I met you, you were drunk, passed out and about half-dressed. *bigger smirk*

Posted by: Ted at 07:43 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 107 words, total size 1 kb.

1 heehee... **covers mouth and turns away**

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 05, 2005 06:24 PM (JrbKW)

2 Hmmm...I bet finding Robyn's webpage would be pretty easy. Just google I can't believe my father did this today! and it'll probably pop right up. Your only reason for living is to embarass your kids, isn't it?

Posted by: Victor and his seventeen pet rats at March 07, 2005 08:00 AM (L3qPK)

3 Of course not, Victor. That's just one of the perks.

Posted by: Ted at March 07, 2005 09:09 AM (blNMI)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I work early hours so as to avoid traffic. I'm in the office before 6am and scoot out at 3 in the afternoon. Usually it works pretty well. Today though, as I walked up to my truck, I saw the right front tire was mostly flat.

I've had this truck for almost 5 years now, and never have I had any problems with it. Not even a flat tire. But what the heck, that's a simple thing to take care of, so I took off my tie (yep, all dressed up), and got ready to get it done.

Everything went fine until I'd gotten the flat tire off and went to put the spare on. Problem was, the jack was fully extended and it wasn't up high enough for the wheel to fit back over the lugs. Couldn't fit the flat back on there either, because it wasn't a complete flat so it had regained it's shape without the weight of the truck on it. I think the jack is broken and won't extend as far as it should.

As I was standing there laughing (my car insurance coverage includes this kind of situation, but on a Friday afternoon it'd take forever. I was resigned to it now.), a coworker walked by and suggested one of the guys in the office who drives in (most everyone - except me - takes mass transit to work). There ya go, I borrow his jack, get the tire on, and I'm outta dodge.

Done, done and done. With very little additional complication, I pulled out of there an hour late and right into the teeth of weekend getaway traffic. My normal 35 minutes drive took an hour forty-five, thanks to a couple of accidents way south of where my exit was.

And I'm still in a good mood. We had dinner, and then Liz and I went to the grocery store together to get the hell away for a little while. We haven't done shopping together in ages, so that was nice.

Tomorrow morning I'll take the tire to the service station and see if it can be fixed. If not, I'll get a new tire. Ho hum. Not a problem. No sweat. No biggie.

It's not gonna spoil my weekend either.

Posted by: Ted at 09:25 PM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 387 words, total size 2 kb.

I have no problem getting an erection.

Hey, it's important to me.

Posted by: Ted at 04:53 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

Last night I told my wife that I was thinking about taking down the big maple in the backyard. She surprised me with a hearty "go for it", then she mentioned that it was going to be expensive.

Heck, we are men with chainsaws. What is this "expensive" nonsense?

I took a closer look at the job, and it's not an unreasonable do-it-yourselfer, but it will take some care and planning. And my neighbor has to help. I'm pretty sure he will, because it involves chainsaws, and he's that kind of guy.

I'll talk to him, and might get started with the pole saw and rope saw on lower branches. Taking out the stump and roots is going to be a back-breaking couple of weeks of evenings, but it's cost free if I do it myself, and that's what the backyard is all about. It's my garden/landscaping playground where I test ideas and learn new skills like masonry and rock wall construction and now, maybe, tree removal.

Liz is already thinking small Japanese maple or dogwood to replace the monstrosity.

Posted by: Ted at 05:17 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 200 words, total size 1 kb.

Another "snowstorm", another bust for the local weathermen. I'll give them this, with all the major rivers, the coast to the east and mountains to the west, this area is a real Meteorological crapshoot to predict. Still, just claiming "sunny" every day would result in about the same accuracy rating in the winter.

But this morning the roads are an icy mess in our corner of the world, so I called in and took the day off. My job is cyclical, so this week I could do that, next or last week I wouldn't have had the option. My wife works for a medical facility, so she doesn't have that choice either. I made sure the sidewalks were de-iced and scraped the snow and ice from her car and walked the neighborhood a little bit to check the roads. She made it ok, but it was icy dicey until she got to the main drag.

Mookie is on day six of her weather-enforced pre-Spring break. She spent yesterday online looking at college information and found a place similar to Monster for theatrical jobs and internships.

For every star on Broadway, there's a thousand hardworking people behind the scenes who make them look good.

I looked outside a bit ago and it was snowing again. Huge fluffy, slow-falling flakes. Absolutely beautiful, but it was spoiled a bit by the cars parked everywhere you look. There's a reason Currier and Ives always pictured the Vermont countryside instead of Virginia townhouse suburbs.

But I'm tired of winter. I have a new gardening book, yet another "small space gardening" reference, and a renewed desire to turn my backyard into a peaceful green retreat instead of the dirt covered expanse of dense shade that it is. I did almost nothing last year out back, needing to take a break from my continual attempts to make it something beyond a handy place for the dogs to take a dump.

Part of me says that this is the year to finally take down the maple tree that dominates the back half of the yard. It won't completely open up the space to sunlight, because the neighbors on both sides have huge trees in their yards as well. But my maple drops those accursed monkey balls year round, and much of it's root system is at ground level, meaning I had to build a makeshift retaining wall around it's perimeter in order to hold enough soil for a few scraggly hostas and succulents. I'm tired of the tree and it's awkward location, and the entire space would be open to infinite change if it were gone.

Something to consider, I'll have to talk to my wife about it.

So that's my day in a nutshell. Pondering garden projects and happily sweating under the April sun. Planning and anticipating the renewal of spring.

And laundry.

Posted by: Ted at 08:52 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 482 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Ted I have to admit that our snow predictions here on the mountain at almost 2000 feet are a bit easier.We actually got our predict of about 7-8 inches.If it's even calling for a chance of snow we usually get some.Back in I believe `93 we had three big storms that all dumped over three feet on us.The one dropped over six feet.I used to have tons of pics of it all but when I left the job I was working at at the time I left them in my locker.
I am lucky in that we have a relatively undeveloped area here especially since the park is right behind us.I've got 6 million acres in my back yard.It makes for quite the winter wonderland.However,it's not the place to be at all in a severe ice storm.Out through the woods beside my house,about 3-400 feet away,there's a path that cuts through the woods.If you actually could run through those woods in an ice storm I would bet $500 that ya can't make it from my house to the path and back alive.
One thing that you can count on(I'm sure you'll agree)is the humidity during the summer.Just about the only thing bad about it.being the kind of person who just loves rainy nasty weather I really think i'm gonna move to Bergen,Norway.The City of Rain.Rains there an average of 9 of every ten days year round.That's why Nordic kayakers are so good.Lot's of whitewater there.Plus,all of the gals are blonde haired and blue eyes and everyone speaks english.I'm there,dude!Someone give me a ticket.
Well thanks for letting me rant.

Posted by: Russ at March 01, 2005 03:01 PM (kh5am)

2 That's what the comments are for, Russ. Feel free any time.

Posted by: Ted at March 01, 2005 07:45 PM (ZjSa7)

3 *LOL* Sounds like you have the Aaron Gene, Ted! ;-)

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at March 02, 2005 11:59 AM (2qdm2)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Not sure what happened, but I've been unable to get logged on (or anywhere near logging on) all morning.

I did find a new trackback spam. But you won't. *evil grin*

Later.

Posted by: Ted at 10:43 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Ditto--I suspect either the trackback assault took us down, or Pixy did to stem it.

Death penalty for spammers!!!!!

Posted by: Susie at February 28, 2005 11:59 AM (eJ86P)

2 I have some news. Check the picture gallery on vforcerocketry.com, page 2, caption: VIPs.

Posted by: Maelstrom at February 28, 2005 04:36 PM (9zeuj)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

It must be oldies week here at Rocket Jones, only I didn't get the memo. I've suddenly gotten a flurry of comments and email about that series of posts where we built a Box Hockey game. I've also discovered that somehow, somewhere, the last part of the series has gone missing. I can't find it in the archives, so I'll recreate it and post it here in the next day or so.

Build your own box hockey game part 1

Build your own box hockey game part 2

Build your own box hockey game part 3

Final part coming soon!

Also, this is a variation of box hockey that a lot of folks remember playing as kids. It's not what my plans are for, but it looks fun too.

Posted by: Ted at 08:07 AM | category: Square Pegs
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 155 words, total size 1 kb.