There’s not much to report on the Scout front, but I did do a little sleuthing the other day and found that the license plate light does in fact work–the ground I’d attached it to is lousy. I unscrewed the ground wire and as soon as I touched it to the release knob on the tailgate, it lit up. So I have to run the ground wire back inside the tailgate and hook it up to something more substantial. Other than that, she’s running strong.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
The summer of 2014 has been relatively temperate, which means we’re able to do a lot of work in the front yard that would have melted us into blobs of flesh-colored goo in years past. I planted our third cherry laurel on Saturday, and then worked hard to dig out a dying rhododendron by the driveway. I set the sprinkler up for Finn to run through while Jen and I dug and mixed and moved decorative plants to fill the space, and we spent the bulk of the afternoon together in the sunshine.
That evening I took Jen to dinner at Wit & Wisdom in Baltimore, which has been the subject of fawning reviews. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the Four Seasons in the Inner Harbor, set right next to the water. After threading our way past drowsy Otakon and Oriole traffic downtown, we were seated next to a window and then waited about 10 minutes for a drink. After that slow start, we enjoyed stellar service and delicious food, but the atmosphere was tainted by a poor choice of music–there’s a fair amount of dissonance when ordering a $35 entrée to the soothing sounds of Welcome to the Jungle–and retail-store-bright lighting. Way to set a mood, guys. After dinner we were caught up in a choke point of traffic as three weddings, Otakon, and a Heart concert at Pier Six all converged at the same time in one small place. So: go for the nerds, stay for the wine selection, but don’t expect an intimate setting.
Sunday morning I drove over to a Lutheran church right inside the beltway to shoot photos for a web project I’m working on; this being the summer and the middle of vacation season means I labored hard to make thirty people look like three hundred. I’m going to gave to return in the fall when it fills out, but that’s OK. The bones of the site are live but I’ve got to start working on the layout to stay on schedule.
In the afternoon we went out to take advantage of tax-free shopping while it lasted; Finn got some winter boots, Mama got some rain boots, I got a cheap case for my iPad, and we all got dinner at Wegman’s before returning home to watch Nanny McPhee until bedtime.
A picture I took of Hillary Clinton is on VICE. I don’t know whether to be happy or irritated with them–but at least they gave attribution (to WRI).
I’ve been enjoying having Hefeweizen on tap for the last two weeks, but obviously, I have much more sampling to do, according to this list.
There is little in the way of mental rest. Being a freelancer means never turning down work when offered. You don’t skip a gig because of vacation or anything like that, because you know that’s leaving money on the table. You can see the money burning in your head.
–Drew Magary, one of my favorite bloggity authors, on Deadspin
Word has come through the IH community that Kentrol, a long-time maker of fiberglas body tubs for the Scout, Jeep, and Early Bronco community, will be ceasing production of all of their fiberglas parts at the end of September. While I knew they wouldn’t make new tubs forever, I hoped they’d keep going until I could pony up $4K for one.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
My neighbor has been perfecting a backyard auditorium for the last couple of weeks, and he’s got it working pretty well. He stretched a viewing screen across the back of his garage and ran power and sound through two ports in the wall (he’s an electrician), so all he has to do is drop his projector on a picnic table, hook up the cords, and it’s showtime! Friday night was a screening of Monsters University with friends, which was better the second time accompanied by a cold beer and some Junior Mints.
We have a lot of unfinished projects at the Lockardugan compound. On Friday I parked the catalytically-challenged CR-V next to the pile of brush I’d cleared two weeks ago, and resolved to make it disappear. I started stuffing it into the Scout on Saturday morning and cleared out about 2/3 of it in two trips, which helped make the driveway look a little less ghetto. That job was cut short in the early afternoon by social obligations: the local co-op was holding a beer tasting a few blocks over, and we had some friends meeting up with us to check it out. The event itself was fun; there were about 15 homebrews lined up around the backyard with some snacks and a live guitarist playing under a canopy. While Finn played with some neighborhood kids, I chatted up a number of the brewers and was invited to check out a couple of the local clubs, which sounds like it could be fun.
After the event we followed our friends to their place for drinks and dinner. We’ve not visited with them before but easily felt at home, and Finn fit right in with their kids. Several beers, Moscow Mules, and hours of conversation later we ordered some dinner and stayed out late on the back porch amongst the crickets and the stars, which was a lovely way to end the day.
I started Sunday by fixing a leaky water feed to the fridge, which had sprung a leak after being moved a few weeks ago. Repair meant replacement, so I picked up some new hose and ran it down to the basement. Then I moved outside, where the cherry laurels we bought months ago have been waiting patiently to be planted in the front bed. After a good rain on Saturday night, the ground was soft and pliable, so the first hole was easy to dig. I mixed some conditioner in with the soil and moved on to the second, which required the removal of a clay downspout and a stand of peonies. Hopefully a couple days of watering will help the cherry laurels settle in well, and we can keep a bunch of the plants we moved to make room for them.
Dinner was a feast of local produce and a thick grilled steak; we doubled up on our CSA to make up for being gone last week, so Jen spent the better part of the afternoon stuffing the fridge full of fruits and vegetables. We have a lot of food to get through before next weekend, but luckily Jen is a pro at making menus out of anything.
Bill Weir, CNN host, commenting on a Fox News “news report”: “Weather is not climate, you ignorant fucksticks“. Priceless.