Autumn skies

Driving home in yesterday's sun and showers, I could see that the sky has taken its turn toward autumn. It is, recalling Emily Dickinson, that slant of light, and the cold air above that's a richer blue, even as the thunderclouds roil upwards. We'll get our share of hot days, to be sure, but they won't last. The shorter daylight hours can't sustain a heat wave. It's definitely fall on the way. You can see touches of red and orange on the swamp maples.

Sandra's driving to PEI today. She called from the border and reported a good trip so far. She'll visit with her parents and return with Marley on Monday. We'll spend the next two weeks at the camp. We have a day trip to Boston planned; we'll meet a long-time friend of Sandra's whose daughter is starting at BU. We also have one day planned in town for a doctor's appointment for me.

Work is going well. I made a presentation at my boss's staff meeting yesterday. For those who care about such things, I demonstrated how one can make a graphical representation of the topic layout in a FrameMaker document. I've been able to work full days this week for the time in quite a while.

Late yesterday I received a background clearance form from the recruiter who's been handling my latest job prospect. I'll take this as a sign of progress. I don't think that they'd be doing a background check if I hadn't passed the first couple of rounds of interviews.

The FDA is considering regulations regarding the use of leeches and maggots. Leeches, maggots, Washington bureaucrats: <Insert your own joke here.>

I bought my first $40 tankful of gas yesterday. When I was a teenager, the school lunch, a pack of cigarettes, and a gallon of gas were about the same price (close to 25¢). Kids would skip lunch and buy one or the other.

Outside the gas station, a guy had a guitar and small amp and was singing Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, his voice as out of tune as his guitar.

What does this thing do?

So we now own a boat. It's a 17' Larson with a motor big enough for water skiing. We still have some paperwork to complete on the registration, followed by a trip to the Registry. (In order to obtain a registration, you're supposed to have a pencil tracing of the hull identification number. The ID number is etched faintly on an aluminum strip on the stern.)

We bought the boat in a private sale from a co-worker. He arranged for his dealer to clean and deliver the boat to us. Sandra waited at the camp all day on Friday while the dealer didn't deliver the boat (and didn't call to let us know) because the seller hadn't been paid the dealer for the cleaning. Finally, on Saturday morning, the dealer sent Homer and Jethro to deliver the boat. They got the truck stuck as they were pulling the empty trailer from the water. Jethro and I pushed the truck out, although Jethro was smoking a cigarette and doing mostly heavy leaning. After they left, we found something that looked suspiciously like a drain plug in one of the cup holders. In the meantime, we noticed that the bilge pump wasn't keeping up with the water coming in. We learned in phone call to the dealer that we needed to get the plug into place immediately or we'd ruin the motor and, that, yes, they took out the plug, but it wasn't their responsibility to put it back in. ("If you had purchased your boat from a reputable dealer, you wouldn't have had these problems." Anyone know of a reputable dealer?) We located the drain hole, put in the plug, and resumed pumping.

As the result of a labo(u)r dispute, the CBC has locked many of its workers. As a result, we have to turn to the BBC to learn about Canada's antics in the high arctic, sending two warships to assert its claim over an uninhabited island that's also claimed by Greenland (Denmark). The CBC web site in PEI hasn't provided news for several weeks. The locked-out employees are preparing plans for a strike web site. In the meantime, we can still rely on the Guardian ("Covers Prince Edward Island like the Dew") for our Island news. The first gay couple married on the Island last Friday.

After reading Pat Roberston's latest screed, that we should assassinate Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, I thought it important to find some sane resources on religion. The Theology Resources (via Lockergnome) site is one of the better ones that I've found, including lots of good reference material.

Last week we learned that the husband of a former co-worker is gravely ill. We use our spare moments to reflect on our gratitude for what we've received, knowing how quickly things can change.