Monthly Archives: October 2012

Be Careful for What You Wish

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Sand Spider

This particular beastie seems well camouflaged within its environs. It is only with the magic hour light of the setting sun that this much contrast can be extracted from the sands. Small enough to go undetected beneath crushing barefoot feet, it is still a predator and as such it is always on the hunt. I like many people find spiders a wee bit creepy, but it seemed a suitable graphic for this Halloween post.

Yesterday, I was walking at lunch with my work buddy Dan. I don’t remember how we got on this subject, but Dan related to me his jury duty experience. He was on a capital murder trial, here in Saint Louis. He was sequestered, cutoff from the outside world for a week. The trial started on a Monday and they reached a verdict Friday evening. They found the defendant guilty. Writing about his experience, I don’t remember hearing whether or not the death penalty was involved in this trial.

Hearing his story, I told him that I have never been called for jury duty. I’ve been eligible to serve for over forty years, but I’ve never been called. Anne has been called two or three times since we moved to Saint Louis and has even sat in judgement. I must have expressed some interest in serving, because I distinctly remember Dan’s warning, “Be careful for what you wish for.”

Spiders and bats were scary as a child, but what still gives me the willies is unexplained surprises, at least not the pleasant surprises. There was a letter waiting for me when I got home last night, a summons really, a summons to report to jury duty. I hate it when fate plays a trick like this on me. I like most people much prefer the unexpected treat. In December, I will report to the county courthouse. I may be called to serve, or I may not. Sitting in judgement of another person is a truly scary thought to behold on this holiday to fright, even more so on how it came to pass.

Bathroom Humor

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Pike’s Place Public Restroom Mosaic

I immediately loved the humor in this public works artwork. It advertises this particular Pike’s Market public restroom. All the way on the right, a father is rushing to the bathroom, carrying his infant child with arms outstretched. Presumably the baby is already a leaky vessel, hence his hurry. On the left-hand side of this tile work is another father with another child, his knock-kneed son. Here too time is of the essence. Center stage in this mosaic is a mother and daughter pair. Each one is portrayed with one foot popped, this also speaks of haste. Is there a common theme here? Finally, all the way on the left is this restroom’s maintenance man, toolbox in hand, this is the guy that keeps everything else moving.

It was no laughing matter in our bathroom on Sunday afternoon. After spending all week having our main sewer line replaced, I was in no mood for any additional plumbing projects. Our toilet had another opinion though. Its ballcock had been steadily showing increasing signs of senility. Our hard water takes its toll on all plumbing fixtures. As failing patients tend to do, it went quickly at the end, right after we returned from our Riverlands adventure.

After we got home, I almost immediately turned around and headed out again to Home Depot. Per Anne’s instruction, I bought a dual flush system. This system has one lever with one water drop on it and another with two water drops on it. Number one and number two, get it? Getting the old ballcock off was difficult a bitch, even with Anne’s helping hands. Afterwords though, getting the new hardware up and going again went lickety-split.

Maybe I made a poor choice of terms there? I guess that plumbing, is like child rearing, a job that you never get finished with. Anyway, I think the Pike’s Market photo is the more arty choice, rather than a look down shot of our toilet tank’s new hardware, but that’s just me.

Ellis Island, Riverlands

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Male House Finch

On Sunday morning, Anne and I went to Ellis Island. No, not the famous NYC Ellis Island, but the one in the Saint Louis area Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary. This Ellis Island is not even an island, it is actually a peninsula. It is situated between the Mississippi River and Elkhorn Slough.

We went to the Riverlands to see a duck decoy exhibit that is showing there. The show opened this last weekend. In addition to the exhibit that will run to the end of the year, there were a number of vendors of decoys, bird call whistles and bird related art that were on display.

I was a little underwhelmed by the exhibit, but I’m not a hunter, so keep that in mind. The decoys on exhibit through the end of the year are primarily older ones. Some of them are antiques. On display only through Sunday were several vendor tables full of newer decoys. They were for sale. In addition to the decoys there were also displays of duck calls. Some of the duck calls were quite pretty.

After viewing the decoys, we drove across the Mississippi to Alton, IL. We were looking for a nice breakfast place, but sadly on a Sunday morning nary one could be found. The one open establishment that we could find was Mac’s. Mac’s is an off-track betting establishment. It is also a sports bar and boasts a patio that allows it to circumvent Illinois’ no indoor smoking laws. Mac’s represents a trifecta of human vices, but it also had a decent Sunday buffet.

After lunch, we returned to the Riverlands and walked Ellis Island. We had the island all to ourselves that is except for the many birds that we saw. In addition to mallards and Canada geese, we saw many Great Blue herons, pelicans and the first two Trumpeter swans of the season. The Riverlands is a great wintering spot for these swans. Here is a link to my movie of two years ago, Trumpet of the Swan. The above finch was the only decent photo of the day.