The temperature has been bouncing up and down for the last couple of months, but now that everything is green again we’re well into yard sale season. It’s been pretty slim pickings around here for the last five years or so. I think that a lot of the older families cleaned out and moved on when Finn was a toddler, which spoiled me for variety—walking through the sales with her in the backpack I was always able to drag home good toys, clothes, tools, and other excellent finds. I don’t recall being able to find much of anything last year, and the opening sales this year were just as meager: lots of glassware and kids’ clothes but not much else.
I wrote about my Boy Scouts finds a few weeks ago, and yesterday I hit a community yard sale a little north of here. Within a couple of minutes I scored a free(!) steel wheelbarrow from a couple who’d just sold their house and were looking to get rid of stuff. I’ve repaired our plastic wheelbarrow twice now and it’s on its last legs, so I can make one good solid unit out of two easily. Up the street I found a brand new portable Manfrotto tripod, which will replace my larger travel tripods, and a set of stainless steel restaurant steam pans. Those are great for car fluids of different kinds. As usual there were a lot of clothes and glassware, but I was happy with the stuff I found, and Hazel snoozed patiently in the passenger seat while I walked around.
My tomatoes are going nuts in the greenhouse, which is a pleasant surprise. All I did was mix some new soil in with the old stuff left over from a couple of years ago, add Tomato-Tone, and drop the plants in. Each one is growing fast, they’ve all started flowering, and three of the four have set fruit as a result of my hand-pollinating. It’s all I can do to keep myself from buying more plants to put out there, but after reading that tomato prices are supposed to spike upward, I’m second-guessing my hesitance.
Meanwhile, the peach tree I bought Jen last fall is covered in fruit, which is a great sign. We planted it on the top of the hill at the west side of the backyard and surrounded it in deer fence over the winter. It came back bigger and greener, and our nightly visitors haven’t been able to nibble on it, which means it’s going to grow big and strong, and my girl will have fresh peaches to make her happy.
Later in the day I dusted off my black suit and got myself churched up for a trip into DC with the family: my sister-in-law’s PhD hooding ceremony was scheduled for the same day as the Pimlico horse race and a Nationals/Orioles game along with about twenty other graduation events, so traffic was heavy. We got there just in time for the start of the event, and met up with the family at a Fogo de Chau to eat lots of delicious meat until we were all stuffed.
The weather forecast was supposed to be much different than what we got this weekend, which put a bit of the kibosh on my outdoor plans, but I was able to get some things accomplished.
Saturday morning the Boy Scouts were having their yearly yard sale at the church down the street, so I bundled Hazel into Darth Haul and we puttered down to check things out. I made a beeline to a stand where a family was getting rid of multiple bins of assorted tools, and spent a half an hour digging for treasure. I wound up walking away with a decent replacement toolbox for my electrical kit, which I’ve outgrown (and which never really closed securely), and filled the top section with a wide assortment of hand tools. I’ve found you can never have enough US-made screwdrivers, 1/2″ and 9/16″ wrenches, tape measures, and pliers, and I added some unique things like hose cutters, a bag of hemostats, and some specialty wirecutters and dikes, among other things.
Returning home, I picked Finley up and drove to the Baltimore waterfront near my first house, where a very unique ship has been docked for years: the NS Savannah, one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built. In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower launched the Atoms for Peace initiative, to show the world how nuclear power could be used for the advancement of man. the Savannah was one of the projects developed under that program, and was launched in 1959 as a combined passenger/cargo vessel to showcase America’s command of industry and science. In person, it’s huge, but compared to a modern container ship it’s a plastic bath toy. Designed before the advent of container shipping, it’s long and sleek and looks like an early 60’s sportscar.
Inside, we came aboard at the original passenger embarkation point, which had been restored to its original design. Descending down into the ship, the tour took us through the now decomissioned nuclear containment vessel, through the engine room, to the main control room, and back up to the passenger cabins.
The cabin we toured was actually pretty small and not that inspiring, if I’m honest; I would have expected something a lot more spacious and elegant. Most of the original furniture was gone, but they’ve done a good job of sourcing as much period-correct stuff as possible.
The Savannah will be decertified as a nuclear power facility this year, and her future is uncertain; none of the docents know what’s next for the ship or how long she might stay in Baltimore. So I was glad to be able to check it out while we did, and take Finn along with me.
On Sunday I did some work around the house and countersunk a set of rear seatbelt mounts into the Travelall before driving out to Frederick to pick up a used Mirra desk chair from an estate showroom. This was to finally replace a disintegrating 18-year-old IKEA chair that’s been giving me a sore butt for a year or so now. New Mirras go for stupid money, so I was happy to score this one for a fraction of the price, and I think it’ll last a good long time.
Then I headed up to a Travelall aquaintance’s house north of Frederick to look over a truck he’s selling—not for me, but for another fellow Travelall owner I met through the YouTube channel. I shot some video and caught up with the seller before heading home to buff the paint on the hood of the truck, and when it got dark, headed inside to edit video.
It’s Sunday, the last morning of a four-day break. We filled it with quiet, peaceful pursuits, laying low and recharging in our own ways. We all enjoyed sleeping in, even Hazel, who let us hit the snooze button and stay in bed long after our usual revillie. The basics got taken care of, but I’d wager we spent more time in PJs than street clothes. Jen and I caught up on the final season of Stranger Things, and watched the third Knives Out movie, which were both fantastic. I listened to the Sean Combs documentary while working on the Scout, and had to stop several times to make sure I heard some of the details correctly (I did, and they were horrifying). Our Christmas was lovely, although the stack of return boxes was large this year—mostly due to size and color issues, not displeasure over the gifts. I think we’re taking the tree down today in preparation for a frantic January, which makes me sad (I love the smell of real pine wafting through the house) and then it’s back to the grind tomorrow morning.
Oh, and apparently we invaded Venezuela. That’s just great.
- I hauled 32 frozen turkeys in the Travelall to a local church on Jen’s behalf, which made me feel good for multiple reasons.
- Then I drove her all the way out to Reisterstown to pick up a vise for Brian, who’d won it in an auction. My top speed in the truck is 60MPH with the gears it has. The brakes were fine getting all the way out there, but somehow started locking up on the way home, so I’m not out of the woods yet.
- Then I loaded a bunch of broken concrete up into the Scout and hauled it all the way to the only County landfill—on the opposite side of the city—that will take it.
- Thankfully, the landfill is right down the highway from Dan’s house, and I stopped to look at one of the Scouts out in his backyard. The weather was gray but it wasn’t a bad day to be out there, and I didn’t pick up any ticks this time.
- Back at home I did some maintenance on the OG-V, the Travelall, and the Scout.
- Jen got back from Lexington Park late, so I ran out to get the fixings for White Russians and a bouquet of flowers. Mmmmm White Russians. I’ve pretty much cut beer out of my weekly diet, so it went right to my head.
- Sunday morning, Jen and I got a good 2-mile walk in with Hazel and caught up in the sunshine.
- I drove out to Brian H’s house to help him brace his floor with some Molly columns.
- Then, he, Bennett and I worked on removing the broken door on his Hudson.
- Back at home, I suddenly realized I could use the miles of legacy coax cable I’d run in 2006 to connect three TVs to a single digital antenna—one over my workbench in the basement, the one in the den, and one in the bedroom. Given that I only watch TV for football during the season, I was really trying to avoid spending money on this, but with a $8 splitter from Amazon I don’t need to keep messing with antennas in each room.
- I got a little welding done on the second version of my cupholder design for the red bus, and shot it with etching primer.
- Then Hazel and I scooched together on the couch in front of the Sunday night game while I cut video footage from the last two weeks.
I’m down on the coast of Florida for a football weekend with the extended Dugan family: 15 cousins and uncles, tons of beer and food, and more laughing than I’ve done in months. Given the issues with the airlines right now I may have to hitchhike my way home, but it’ll have been worth it.
News from the State Police: They approved my application for concealed carry. Which basically just means I’ll be OK to drive to and from the shooting range.
Last night I wrapped up a course designed for Creative Directors and taught by a CD at Ogilvy Canada. I went into it thinking it would be good to talk with other people at a similar age and experience level, gain some insight, and share any strategies or wisdom. The class size was close to 100 but seemed to be made up of younger Art Director-level creatives, with some newly minted CD’s looking for guidance. So I found myself to be one of the old heads in the virtual room offering advice more than I was learning. And because the course was taught by and for agency-style creatives, I felt a bit disconnected, being an in-house leader at an NGO. Still, it was inspiring, I did learn a few things, and my LinkedIn profile is full of connection requests.
The final assignment was to pitch a project as if we were in a room with the client, which I’ve always been good at doing. I looked back through my history and did a pitch for the billboard I designed for Deutsche Bank in New York City, when I was at an agency. Thankfully I spent a bunch of COVID sorting through and organizing my digital files so I knew right where to find it on the server in the basement. I set up the camera and did a quick pitch on tape, then overlaid some photos and video of the project in the final edit. I keep forgetting that we won a couple of Addys for that piece.
On Thursday I’m headed to Florida for a football weekend with a bunch of my uncles and cousins, which should be a blast. Dugans are flying in from all over, and we’re meeting at my Uncle’s house for the Bills/Dolphins game on Sunday. I have no idea what to expect here; my cousins and I are all older than our parents were when we were gathering for holidays regularly, so there is a very good chance we will all be asleep by the end of the third quarter. My days of drinking an entire case of Milwaukee’s Best during a football Sunday are long over, so I’ll have to pace myself and bring plenty of ibuprophen. And hopefully my Dugan’s Beer shirt will be here before I have to leave for the airport!
I’m back in Maryland after a great week in Upstate New York with my family. It felt good to spend more than a couple of days wrapped around a holiday to visit, eat good food (so much good food), help Mom with a bunch of winter chores, see my sister, and also to just sit and relax. I also did something I wish I’d done more of while Dad was alive: I asked my Mom questions about her life before she was married, how she met him, and what their life was like before they had us kids. I’ve got more questions to ask but I learned some things I didn’t know about.
New York State is beautiful at this time of year. I drove up on a Sunday afternoon and it was getting dark before I made it to central Pennsylvania, but over the next week the leaves around us began to turn. My sister lives up on a hill at a decent altitude for that area, so the winding road leading to her house was flecked with golds and yellows and oranges, all brilliant in the bright sunshine. I started for home early in the morning yesterday, so I was in the middle of Pennsylvania’s peak colors by lunchtime.
I think my only beef with the whole trip is that the radio stations along I-81 only play bible study, country music, or conservative talk radio on Sunday afternoon; it’s like the Steelers or Eagles don’t even exist.
The weather this last week has been mercifully cool and dry, and I’ve tried to take as much advantage of it as possible. Saturday morning I got the girls up and moving, supplied them with fresh pastry, and drove us over to Patapsco State Park for a 4-mile hike through the woods. This is the trail Rob and I used to bomb down on mountain bikes back in the day, and apart from a section at the bottom being closed and re-routed, I remember almost all of the obstacles along the way. Hazel was happy to chug along at the head of the pack and probably did about 3/4 of the work getting me up the hills.
I spent all of my time last week shooting interviews for a project at work, and used the experience to dial in a setup for the new camera system. I bought us a matching pair of Sony A7siii rigs after COVID and have been learning the ins and outs of their operation, which has taken some time, but I’ve got a system for shooting video and audio that’s much less complicated than the one I inherited ten years ago. I’ve been experimenting with S-Log settings for color grading and I’ve got a good workflow for that now, and using an audio limiter in Final Cut to balance out the sound. It’s almost like I’m a professional.
I also rented a DJI Avata 2 drone for the week with a set of FPV goggles, figuring I’d use it to shoot B-roll at some of the locations I was on, but it took time to set up and understand its operation. It’s a small unit with enclosed blades and a 4K stabilized camera, and takes about one minute to power up and initialize. From there, you get about 15 minutes of flight time per battery, depending on how hard you fly it. I spent a couple of hours flying it around a parking lot on Sunday, using the Scout as a subject, and I came away (mostly) impressed. The first trial run was thwarted by a controller that wouldn’t calibrate properly, which meant the joystick control only worked in 3 axes. And the SD card I was using wasn’t fast enough, so it only captured 2 minutes of footage before crapping out.
I used that time to familiarize myself with the system and went back out at dusk after charging the batteries again, and had more success with a better card. I think there are a few more settings I need to learn—there’s a way to fly it and use your head to independently move the camera that I need to figure out.
For Jen’s birthday, I got her a bird feeder with an integrated camera like the ones my Mom and sister have. I bought her a birdhouse with a camera mounted inside last Christmas, and we finally watched a family of sparrows hatch a clutch of eggs early this summer, but the camera isn’t as clear as I was hoping for. This one is much crisper. I mounted it on the post outside our back door and filled it with seed; the birds haven’t found it yet, but I’m hoping they’ll catch on soon.
