I’ve been scanning and organizing old photos.
This is from teaching summer school at Cleveland Heights. The photos look like one of those “White savior” teacher movies where the young White woman is teaching the urban kids that society has given up on. She sees something of value in each and every one, and somehow, ignites a love of learning.
Teaching a bunch of Black kids at an urban school wasn’t like that, but if they make a movie, I want to be played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
That’s a bad sign.
Stacked wood attracts mice and mice attract Sparky. He likes to sniff behind the racks. When I saw the leash sticking out of one side of the rack and Sparky sticking out of the other side, I knew something happened.
Somehow Sparky slipped out of his Inspector Gadget jacket.
Sparky came back, so I let him run around naked for a little while. With the snow and cold, there wasn’t much danger that he would go on walkabout.
My brother has been watching a Youtube channel called, Popcorn in Bed, so I tried it. A cute, mid-30’s woman reacts to a movie she is watching for the first time. Cassie is chatty, sweet and naïve.
For my first frivolous purchase, this boot dryer is great. When I tell Sparky we are going out for a walk, I turn it on. By the time Sparky and I have our jackets on, the boots are warm. Putting on warm boots is like putting on a sweatshirt that just came out of the dryer.
After the walk, the boots get a dried for 10 minutes.
If you thought there is no way that Señor Piglet is going to get his fat ass under the fence, you’d be wrong.
On Sunday, President Biden repealed the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision. Since I will start getting a windfall, being frugal is pointless.
Tramping around in the snow with Sparky, I get wet boots. Two weeks ago, I knocked up a drying rack for my boots using shelf brackets, scrap wood and my CPAP machine. It folds up for easy storage.
Now that the SSFA is passed and frivolous spending is encouraged, I spent $45 on Amazon to get a boot dryer like regular people use.
I am eager to try it out.
It’s always fun to watch dogs in snow deeper than their bellies. Sparky does that leaping run, so he doesn’t have to bulldoze his way through the snow. I can’t tell if he enjoys it, or is just getting on with all the things he has to investigate and urinate on.
There are times when Sparky just isn’t into it. Maybe he’s been lounging by the fire, but has to be taken out before I leave the house. Or maybe I’m just putting this on Sparky, and I’m the guy who doesn’t like trudging through the snow. Either way, after plowing the driveway, I plowed a path through the yard, orchard, woods and church parking lot.
The powdery snow plows easily since it hasn’t melted and it’s supposed to snow for a few more days. I did the entire loop.
It wasn’t difficult, but when finished, it seemed like I might be turning into one of those people who pampers their dog.
But seriously, look at this mutt. He’s just too cute.
My new approach to breaking up chest congestion is an old idea. Steam from a wet sauna, humidifier or pot of water is a traditional way to help with bronchitis.
I build a steam hookah, or stookah to generate steam. A CPAP hose slips right on. Boiling water generates air too hot to inhale and melts the hose. Instead, the water is heated to a comfortably warm temperature.
If I take a break, the lid has to be removed from the pot to keep the hose from melting.
The stookah works quite well. It breaks up the chest congestion while I screw around online or watch TV. A more robust hose would be good, but this works fine if I’m cautious.
Cleaning up a bit, the intent was to toss Mr. Moose into Sparky’s crate. It landed on top, and he immediately went to retrieve it. Since Sparky started working from the inside, I wanted to see if he’d try from the outside when he got stuck.
If Mr. Moose is thrown under the couch, Sparky will go behind the couch if he can’t reach it from the front. I’ve seen him switch strategies when necessary, but the crate was too much. I had to coax him out of the crate and on to the trunk.
I am impressed with his diligence. Most of the video is at double speed, and Sparky was working on it for a little while before I started recording. He was trying to get Mr. Moose for almost 3 minutes, and never came over to have me bail him out.
My head cold is down to bronchitis. I’ve been considering innovative treatments to tip the balance of power.
I have a nebulizer, and thought that might be useful. A nebulizer is an aquarium pump that blows air through a small chamber holding medication. The medication evaporates and is inhaled as vapor.
The air isn’t heated, so water doesn’t evaporate. I tried vodka. The alcohol would evaporate, and hopefully make life less comfortable for the virus.
There was only about a quarter-ounce of alcohol in the chamber, so I wasn’t too concerned about intoxication. It worked, but did little to alleviate symptoms.
© 2025 Big Stick Physics
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑