Sometimes I HATE Being Right

 If you saw my post yesterday, you know our new water heater quit working.  

The plumber said the strong north winds had blown the pilot light out.  I didn't believe him - it never happened with our old water heater, not even during hurricanes - but he was confident, and he did get it back on.

The problem was that it only burned for about an hour, enough to get the water warm but not really hot, before it went out again.

We called him back, and after he called the manufacturer they are overnighting a new heating unit that should be here by noon.  They don't just send thermocouples - what I thought was the problem all along - these new heaters use a sealed system replaced as a unit.

Pilot

 Our water heater quit working yesterday.  It is a Rheem brand propane-fired heater that was installed as part of the repairs on our house - less than a year old and still under warranty. I figured that the thermocouple was bad, but since it was under warranty, we just called the plumber who installed it.  

He had it going in less than five minutes.  He tells us that the strong north wind blowing across the chimney vent yesterday had blown out the pilot.  When I asked how often that might happen (it never happened with our old water heater in over 40 years) he said it really wasn't all that uncommon.

We lit our old water heater with a kitchen match, but this one is a sealed system with glass peep hole and electronic ignition.  The principle is still the same, but I found a "How to" video on line in case it happens again.

Adam's Rib

 

You can find just about anything on the internet if you have enough time to waste.  

Today, I found an article with an interesting take on the story of Adam and Eve. Dr. Ziony Zevit, a professor and noted biblical scholar, suggests that Eve was formed, not from Adam's rib, but from his baculum, or penis bone.   

His logic is that men have the same number of ribs as women (and the same number on each side of their bodies) but although almost all primates - including gorillas and chimpanzees -have a baculum, humans do not.  He claims that it stands to reason that if God removed Adam's baculum then subsequent generations would be born without one.

Deep Thoughts on an Early Morning

 

I searched for knowledge far and wide

But never was I satisfied

In Tao or Torah or Upanishad

In Gospels the answer was not to be had

Not from the Mother or the Son

Or the revelations of St. John

Plato, Spinoza and Descartes

Nietzsche or Whitehead, Hawking don’t start

To fill the yearning in my heart

 

Now it has occurred to me

How much better it might be

To be a Mantis, a Beetle, a Slug

Some insensate variety of bug

Just live and eat and breed and die

And never have to wonder why

Turning Angel

 

I read a lot, and since the beginning of the pandemic, I have re-read a couple dozen books, but I never had an experience like what happened last week.

 If asked, I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that I had read everything Greg Iles ever wrote - or at least, everything he had ever published.  Then last week I rescued Turning Angel from the bottom a a ragged cardboard box in the garage.  The book had obviously been around for years - had seen better days - it looked like it had been  read a dozen times.

Most of the characters were familiar from other tales Iles wrote about Natchez, but I would swear that the story was absolutely new.  I don't know how, if I had owned it since 2005 (and read the books that came before and after) I could have missed it.

My memory probably isn't what it used to be, but I don't think it has deteriorated to the point I could re-read a book for the very first time.

White Eared Squirrels

 

We have about a gazillion squirrels here at the Boggy Thicket - mostly typical Eastern Gray Squirrels,  Sciurus carolinensis.  I recently noticed that some - about a third of them - have White Ears.

The belly fur of the white-eared squirrels seems to be whiter than their more ordinary cousins. That may or may not be true - it's based on a few of each who have stood up and faced me in the past few days.

Gray squirrels are really more tan than gray, and a place we used to camp near Romayor, Texas, had a large colony of gray squirrels that were completely black.

Vote and Get shot

 

Busy day yesterday - and yes, the headline might be misleading.  

In addition to casting our ballots at the Crosby Community Center, we went to Walgreens so Honey could get her Flu shot.  I had already got mine at the doctor's office on Monday.

For those who read my last post and might be wondering, I did not vote for myself.  Once I was in the voting booth, I just couldn't bring myself to waste my vote.

Vote

 

If you, like the kid in the picture, can't stand either of the presidential candidates, I have an alternative.  

Vote for Me!

I didn't pay any filing fees, don't have a vice presidential running mate, and I don't even have a platform. Still, I'm announcing my candidacy.  If you haven't already voted early, you still have time to vote for me as a write-in candidate.

If you can't stand what the Democratic Party has become, and you'd rather vote for the Anti-Christ than cast your ballot for Donald Trump, then I'm your guy.

I don't expect to win - don't know what I'd do if I did - but I do hope to out-poll that perennial write-in favorite, Mickey Mouse.

Insult to Injury

 

This aerial photo of a residential area of Lake Charles was taken Thursday, just 24 hours before Hurricane Delta hit them again.  All that blue you see is tarps covering roofs that had not yet been repaired after Hurricane Laura hit on August 26.

I don't know who to feel sorrier for, the folks who had just completed repairs, or the ones who were still waiting for  repairs to begin.  

Meter

 Several months after we were first notified, Entergy got around to replacing our light meter last week.  

The new one is digital - no more spinning ring behind the glass - and it is capable of reporting usage on its own.  Our meter reader came by today and told us she will continue to do so until they get the meters communicating via satellite.  Once they do, she will be out of a job.

The Difference Between Lie and Lay

 

I was in eighth grade English class when our teacher, Mrs. Strong, decided to try to demonstrate the difference between Lie and Lay.

I should probably mention that she was drop-dead gorgeous and I had a bit of a crush on her. Although she was probably in her 40s, she still had the face and figure of the teenager who had grown up surfing in Hawaii.  She liked me, too, and when I finished assignments early she would give me a hall pass even though she had to know I was heading up to the roof to smoke.

On the day in question, she cleared the top of a table at the front of the classroom. She climbed up on the table and said "Look, class. I lie on the table." which she then proceeded to do. After a few moments she got down, grabbed a book and said "I lay the book on the table." and did that.

Everything was fine to that point, and even the dullest bulb in the class had probably got the point.

But---

Then she said "If Robert were big enough, he could lay me on the table." and I immediately announced "I'm big enough!"

The classroom erupted in laughter.  Poor Mrs. Strong turned as red as a box of Valentine candy and left the room.

She eventually came back and class returned to normal, but our relationship was never the same.  I didn't get any more hall passes, but she did recommend me for honors English the next semester.

Cheese Sandwich Flashback

 I wasn't feeling particularly creative at noon yesterday, so for lunch I had a plain cheddar cheese sandwich on white bread and a  banana that was about a day past perfect ripeness.

As I ate, I realized that I had probably not had that combination for over 70 years.  

The last time was on the train to Austin when my fourth grade class took a day trip to visit the Capitol.  The only thing missing was the slightly-less-than-cold-enough milk in the little cardboard container.

Honey tells me that her class took that same trip a few years later, but neither of us can remember who sponsored those trips or how they were paid for.