Some new photos

This is a mix of photos, a couple from the last days in Asheville and a lot from our new home in Marion, Ohio. (All but the truck photo and the couch photo will enlarge if you click your clicker upon them.)

This was what we looked at for the last two days in town. The truck parked on Lamb Avenue.
We blocked traffic for a good 12 hours over two days.
I am not convinced that Lucy really wanted to leave.

Below you can see a series of photos of the new house:

This is me in the kitchen. Lucy took this photo. Now we know why she draws noses the way she does.

This is Lucy in the dining room. It was taken with a wide-angle lens. It is not as big as it looks in this shot.

Here is the living room. Note the new TV. Kind of garrish, but I do love it so.
Again this is with a wide angle lens. It is kind of cozy really. We are getting a new couch and chair.
This is what the new couch will look like:

I will have more later. Today was the first real warm day we have had since I moved here in December. Hopefully it will last and I will have some outdoor shots that don't look too bleak.

The baseball fence and travel news

We visited Mansfield, Ohio yesterday.

We went with my inlaws to go to an antique show and flea market.
It was more flea market than antique show, but we had a good time.
If you would like a DNA sample or fingerprint from Lucy - check out the flea market. She touched everything.
Spent too long at Wal Mart today getting photographs. Don't get me wrong. It is amazing that you can get them in 1 hour - but you can't. It took 1 hour and 40 minutes. Lucy was not a happy camper for the last 20 minutes or so. And they didn't give us all our prints. That's the second time that has happened to me. Last time was at Rite Aide.
Some of the photos were of my baseball fence in Asheville.
I spent the better part of a summer working on the fence and never really completed it. Not sure what the new owners will do with it. If you happen to be in Asheville North Carolina and drive by 42 Lamb Avenue, look in the backyard and check on my fence.





The sunspots were unavoidable. We took the photos on the last day we had possession of the house and that was all we had time for.
Not sure what art project will occupy my time at this house. I am thinking about the baseement walls. I want to fashion the largest room into a library/pub. Stay tuned.

cash photo

This photo is actually on the Ashvegas blog. It links back to it and comes with a great story from the Beer Guy about Johnny Cash. I don't have a great Johnny Cash story. I remember that my brother and I had a copy of the concert he recorded at a prison. It was a pirated album that my dad picked up for us in Taiwan. I guess that made us pretty cool. It was a long time ago. Nigh unto 30 year.

Thinking about Music

The band I like the best but still have not bought a CD of is the Like Young
They are a husband/wife team from Chicago, he plays guitar and she plays drums

They have not decreased my ardor for the Tragically Hip or Martin Zellar.

Sunday morning

Lots of upsets in the NCAA tourney last night. We are all rooting for Vermont.
I am a little surprised that the Burlington paper has not done more. When I was in Asheville we went ablsolutly "to the wall" covering UNC-Asheville when it made to the field of 64.

Vermont has only been there for a few years. You would think it would still be a big deal.
But, I don't want to talk about newspapers today.
My inlaws are in town from Chateaugay, N.Y.
They are very eager to see Marion.
We'll do the grand tour.

Which consists of the Harding Memorial and the Bob Evans

Then I think we will be spending the rest of the day at Lowes and in the basement trying to figure out the electricity in our new house.
Clarification:
Over in the right-hand column I refer to a friend's blog as that of a crazy rock stacker.
He is not crazy, but even he will admit he is a bit odd.

new computer

The new computer is up and running and I am finally on broadband.
Welcome to the 21st century MR. Graser. So far, about 20 minutes. has been great.
I am sure I will start complaining about it before too long.
In-laws come to town tomorrow. should be fun. I really like them.
I will add more later... gotta figure out a way to get pix on this computer from my antiquated former system
TG

a couple of pix and some blog news

First of all I figured out how to allow people who are not registered to comment on posts.
I am normally against registratation of any kind so I think this is a good thing.
Ironically, one of the reasons I have this blog is that I had to register to comment on someone else's blog and then while I was there I figured, "what the hell."
When we went to Polaris last weekend we drove through Waldo, Ohio. Everytime I bring up Waldo to a local they say, "Have you had a bologna sandwich?"
I have not. I am waiting until my father visits. He is the only person I have ever heard talk about having a really good bologna sandwich. I mean, I know people like bologna, it's just not sometihing that you go nuts about, unless you are my father or live in Central Ohio.

Please click on the picture to see the full version of these photos.
Lucy took a picture of me in front of the office. More midgets should be photographers. She gets great angles without even trying.

buying a computer

We went to buy a computer yesterday and experience consumer hell.
No wonder people use the Internet. No incompetent sales people. I can tell when they aee faking it. I know they are not lying, but when one guy says he can get the out of stock item in two days and then disapears and everybody else (at other stores) says two weeks, you know something is up.
I have to do some work today and then, I have to get on the internet to do some shopping. I need a new computer.

Snowing again


That's me in front of the Harding Memorial.
I guess my hope is that one day I will be buried there. Even though, until now, my wishes were for my body to be thrown in the woods to be scattered by the animals.
It is snowing here again. From the looks of it, it has been snowing all night.
I am sure I will be making a snowman later this morning.

It is our first Saturday in the house with furniture. Mary was up late arranging the kitchen. Earlier we assembled some stainless steel shelves (two units). Because we were distracted Lucy got to stay up much of the night watching cartoons.

This is called "Avatar The Last Airbender" and she was actually getting into it. I think mainly because it features a six-legged flying bison. What little girl wouldn't love that?
I think we might go to Polaris this weekend and do a little shopping.
We have to fill a much bigger house than we lived in in Asheville.
Now I think will go see if I can stir Lucy and get the snow stuff out of the way.
Oh, also I have to read some stories for tomorrow's newspaper.


Lucy and the screwdriver

Lucy's first phrase was "heego."
She was saying, "here you go." Her pronunciation was, really, exactly how we said it. And we said it constantly, handing her toys, feeding her etc, "heego, Lucy, want some mushy cereal?"

I know she is apt to say anything at anytime.
Last Sunday night, the movers were unloading the truck into our house. To get the refrigerator in we had to take some doors off their hinges.
One of the movers asked me for a screwdriver. I quickly looked for Lucy.
Why? Because I used to take Lucy to the Kids Workshop at Home Depot where she made little wooden projects that we gave to her mother. You know, a crooked birdfeeder, a dangerous step stool, an ugly plant holder. Lucy was good at hitting herself in her face with the hammer (you have to be careful with your backswing) and with screwing in screws.

Anytime the word screwdriver comes up, here is what Lucy says:
"I know how to screw!" "I'm a good screwer!" "My dad taught me how to screw."
yeesh.

settling in

We have been in the house for four nights now. Aside from Lucy still being intimidated by its size and Mary being intimidated by the amount of crap three people have accumulated, all is going well. If you don't count the dog shit incident.
Let me tell you about that.
It is about 8.5 hours from Asheville to Marion. On Saturday we took a little longer. Mainly because we decided to take a break for lunch - usually we only stop for bathrooms and gas. Also we had an unplanned stop when Lucy decided to see what would happen when she touched the back of her tongue with her fist.
When she was a baby, people were always telling us that she looked like an Olsen twin. Now we know which one.
Anyway, by the time we got to Marion we were a bit done in. The only one who seemed unscathed was Sunny the cat.

We drugged him and put him in a cage. The drug wore off before we got to Marion but he seemed resigned to his fate and waited quietly for me to let him out. Or maybe I just had the music too loud to hear his complaints.
The previous owner of the house, Dave Rich, was waiting for us when we pulled into the driveway. I stopped in town to get some Champagne and Mary made some wrong turns so we got there at the same time.
Dave gave us the keys, answered a few questions about the house and left us to it.
I was worried about Sunny the cat, so I went back to the car to get him. I walked him through the house, up the stairs and across the length of the second floor, all the while marveling at the softness of the carpet. My plan was to release him in the large bedroom upstairs so that we could keep the doors open to the house while unloading the two cars.
"Tom," Mary yelled from top of the staircase, "are you tracking this in?"
I didn't think I would be tracking in anything. I had kept myself to the driveway while outside. I looked at my shoes anyway and of course stuck my finger in the substance on the bottom of my left sneaker.
"Dog shit!" I shouted forgetting that Lucy was standing next to me.
"What's dog shit?" Lucy asked. "Where do you get dog shit? What does dog shit taste like?"
I later discovered that the dog had dumped in the drive way. I will be looking for him. Believe me.

In Asheville

I made it to Asheville in 8 hours and 15 minutes.
I stopped in Ashland, Kentucky for burgers and bladder relief and then in Gate City, Viginia for gas. Gas for the car.
Lucy didn't get to sleep until after midnight last night. I don't think Mary has slept at all and the moving company gets here in three hours to begin packing.
Should be interesting

Get ready for the big move

I have pretty much finished up my big report. Now I just have to bundle it up and ship it off. And then pray to the cosmic muffin that we did it right.
Tonight I have to pack up all my Marion belongings and bring them down to the office for safe keeping while I travel to Asheville to get my family.
The weather is awful - snow and cold and cold and snow.
I also have to write a column and I am, as usual, stumped.
Perhaps something about moving - wait, did that last week.
mmmmm let me know if you think of something.

Hello March

It looks like a lion today - the snow has stopped and it's just a dusting but now it is frozen, windy and cold.
For about a year I have been receiving daily cartoons from a lab technician in Singapore named John Wong Hock Weng.
At first John's cartoons were editorial-like. He did some very funny cartoons about the Iraq war and the early days of the last elections.
Lately, however, John has started depicting rural life in Singapore. At least that's what I think he is doing.

This one is called "Man Sleeps on Tree."

This one is called "Crocodile Girl."

This one is called "Playing Barber."

I am not sure what any of them mean. I just hope they keep coming in my e-mail.