The Watering Hole: January 14 – Puzzles

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When I was very young, about 9 or 10, my Grand Dad began to challenge me with puzzles. Most were simple like the tower of Babel. The solid cube and the three dimensional cross would cost me a second visit.

One he thought would drive me up the wall was how I would construct a perfect chess or checker board with a minimum of effort. I went across the room and drew out two sheets of construction paper in contrasting colors, some glue, a knife and a plastic ruler; and demonstrated how in about five minutes including cutting and pasting.

How did I do that?

What brought that to mind is my current project to build a cocktail table for one son, unfinished up to now, but it is a birthday present and I have a few months to go. The photo is a bit bad, but I shot it with incandescent light.

This is our Open Thread. Please feel free to add your thoughts on this, or any other topic (or puzzle) that comes to mind.

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169 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: January 14 – Puzzles”

  2. I also don’t play a musical instrument which is something that I am regretting as I move on in life.

  4. Predictably enough, the Wingnuts are whining about the Tuscon memorial service–certainly because the President made such a graceful speech. The reactions and commentary also predictably nasty. Read this piece at Washington Monthly, particularly the follow-up with Michele Malkin, where she models the Right’s constant pattern of lies and bullshit.

    This is a conservative classic. First, present a baseless, classless allegation. Second, run into facts that prove the allegation wrong. Third, pretend the allegation is correct anyway. Malin’s follow-up, in effect, is, “Oh yeah? Well, I have no proof, but I prefer to think I’m still right.”

  5. I try to do at least one difficult sudoku a day, or a NY Times crossword. I consider it my anti-Al’s Heimers effort…
    Every time I try to give Al his Heimers back, he tells me to go stuff it.

  6. as a black man-african american-colored-negro……whatever, i find the flap over the sanitation of Huck Finn a non issue. it’s part of americana, and a part of our history that shouldn’t be altered because it makes some politically-correct blue-haired WASP librarian out there somewhere uncomfortable.

    we’ve learned from our past and moved forward, and changing a classic like Huck Finn is akin to Texas rewriting science books sans evolution.

    JMHO…

  8. Awesome as always, Cheeseflap. :-)

    I love doing all kinds of puzzles. I do several Sudoku puzzles every day, and the daily crossword. And no Sunday is complete without doing both the regular and NYT crosswords.

    The right just keeps digging themselves deeper into the muck every day.

  12. Walt the Man…
    “How did I do that?”

    Perhaps you have the eye and the sense of order to create things out of what’s at hand.

    Soon I go back to the little adobe building where all my parts and pieces are stored.
    Tools, blocks of carving stone, unfinished wood working projects, jewelry equipment and elk antlers.

    Over the years I’ve collected and carted around raw materials that become pieces of the puzzle. I see a pattern in a gnarly juniper log, or what all those rocks could look like if they were assembled into something.
    The puzzle of life, if you will.
    Dreams and ideas that with time may all come together.

    After 9 months of “camping” on the job, I’m anticipating a few months of being back home and puttering around the shop.

  13. And I want to tell you everyone how large and lovely you all are…
    on the new LED monitor.
    Bazillions of pixels and contrasts and DPI’s and VGA’s and a lot of stuff I have no clue what to do with…
    I had to reinstall Internet Explorer in order to get the monitor programmed. The installation CD went straight to the internet. After 2 years of not using IE, the Windows updates took several hours to download.
    Corporate consumer clusterphuck.

  14. Raven, do you find the piece that called to you morphs before the minds eye; becoming something it wanted to be? (either just before or as you work on it).
    Or are you the fortunate artist that sees, knows and goes – shaping it into the, first imagined?
    ———-

    We’ll expect you at Music Night – now that you’re all ‘up to date’ with the “corporate consumer clusterphuck”. =;->

  15. The idea changes ebb, especially having the piece around for awhile.
    It may eventually be completed, but often becomes something else.

    As far as music night goes, my computer and internet is still overloaded after the first 15 to 20 You-tubes. It takes for ever to load, and eventually bogs down.
    I’ll make it for awhile tonight.

    • Congrats on the new monitor, Raven. My son gave me his old flatscreen about a year ago, and not only do I have lots more room on my desk, everything is bigger!

      BTW, I’m hanging out nearby — while I spend some quality time with my new Kindle. ;)

  17. Finally! Received the artwork for the book cover last week and have approved it. I should be getting the first printed ‘proof’ copy in the mail before the end of the month! After I approve it, the project should quickly launch!

  18. frugal, one is there – Mr. Green’s photos are up close and personal. The clarity. We are standing on the shore – looking!

  22. Actually Zooey, Denny uses a Nikon 10 MP with a 400 mm lens. Looks like a camera with a black elephant’s leg where the lens usually is. He does most of his stuff hand held, no tripod, uses only a seven foot long saguaro cactus rib walking stick to help stabilize.

  28. frugal, that is amazingly exciting. Anticipation must be in high gear at the chariot household!
    (we anxiously await ‘the word’ of the launch!)

    —————–

  30. ZX, that’s the lens he wanted, but he bought instead a non-Nikon version for about $7500 less. It’s a little bigger, a little heavier, but the resolution is more than satisfactory.

    What tickles me most is that when I first met Denny some 49 years ago (1962 — we were both taking the same herpetology class at ASU), one of the things that he said he wanted to do someday was photograph nature. I’d say he’s living the dream.

  32. Geez Zooey I thought you were having a fling with your Kindle and already your drooling over that camera. So fickle.

  33. 1962 was not 49 years ago. Get the hell outtahere. I am not that old. And I don’t want to hear any math fact out of you people. :evil:

  34. Yeah, I still struggle with the price tag to try and take things to the next level. I don’t want to be a pro photographer in the least (unless I can just find a way to sell prints of what I choose to take). So it’s hard to justify even a $1500 lens.

  35. Shayne, if you desire, use Roveian-math!
    And
    if you were born in ’62 – young pup! Some posters were born in the late ’40s and others in the ’50s.

  37. Zooey, I do believe we can place some blame on House – as far as being an ‘enabler’ of Shayne’s need for a menagerie – so place him in charge of land acquisition.

  40. Zx, I think it took one whole Social Security check to pay for that lens! That tidbit would piss off the current crop of wingnuts to no end, wouldn’t you think?

  41. No RUC I just want to hear him quack. They’re so cute. I want chickens to, but lots and lots of chickens. Just for eggs and fertilizer. My husband said I could never have them because he’d never get to eat chicken again.

    • My husband said I could never have them because he’d never get to eat chicken again.

      My sister and her hubby have just enough land for a couple of cows, so he wanted to raise a couple for beef. I told him not to bother, because those cows would die of old age — my sister is an animal lover.

  43. I’m from ’42, about ten months after Pearl Harbor. I’ve long presumed there must have been a nightly blackout in southern Minnesota in the month or two following the attack — you know, in case a Japanese submarine or two had gotten into one or more of those 17,000 lakes.

  45. (sheepishly looking at you) that was me – the zoo baby site. but, but, but House linked to the cute Heidi the opossum video.

  49. Well, Shayne, I do have a brother and a sister, 12 and 9 years older than me, so I gotta wonder. Like in that Monty Python “Meaning of Life” movie where the old fellow looks out the window at the house across the street with a yard full of kids, “Bloody Catholics. They think every time they do it they’ve gotta have another kid.” His wife looks at him in puzzlement and says, “Well, we have two.” :)

  54. Shayne, I know this is complicated but you can limit yourself to eggs if you just don’t get a rooster. It’s tricky, though, because when they’re teeny it’s impossible to tell. I know my friend Bob has never gotten around to killing the two cocks that slipped through the initial screening process. There are some sex-linked breeds, though, that are much easier to separate.

    OTOH, I’ve never gotten a fertilized egg from Bob, so perhaps the cocks are too busy crowing and preening to get any action.

  57. I like lizards. Snakes, too, but the part about feeding the snake baby (or grown) mice or rats is tough. I actually had a pet rat who had survived about a week in the tank with my girlfriend’s boa. He was always pretty jumpy.

  59. Just get the baby chicks already hatched out, and watch them grow up (check my blog for examples). Then get new baby chicks next year while the first bunch is popping out eggs.

  60. If you think about it, if we weren’t intended to eat chicken eggs, why would they lay so many? Other birds seem to only lay them in the spring. Or is this something humans have taught them to do?

  61. We had a daycare in the house back in the early 90s. One little girl was named Muscles, another was Neon Blue and a little boy named Blue Ray. Fuckin’ hippies. I would bet Blue Ray changed his name in about 2006.

  63. hooda, I’d bet chickens weren’t taught to lay lots of eggs, but bred for it, weeding out the non-producers.

    I’m still waiting for a Vegan to explain why eggs (or butter or cheese or honey) is bad.

  70. I like goats well enough, but they’ve got weird eyes. Creepy.

    My sister kept a goat as companionship for her horse, which I thought was weird but is apparently not uncommon.

    Horses do not have creepy eyes.

  71. Sheep are good grazers and will keep the grass mowed! oh, and some great cheeses come from sheep’s milk!

  74. There are quite a number of people in Oregon renting out goats, as well. I think it’s very cool.

    2ebbandflow, yup. Lots of outstanding sheep cheeses (and goat).

    • gummitch, we had some absolutely amazing local goat cheeses with Thanksgiving dinner at the Sylvia Beach Hotel. I can’t remember the name of the place, but OMG were they good.

  75. Same with the Bay Area – the old fashioned way: sheep and goats.

    ——-

    Don’t forget the sky (should a small air strip be required) – we can ask my cousin to help keep the airspace free of birds that may clog the planes.

  76. hooda, you’ll have to keep a close eye your conures – just keep them away from the air space around the landing strip – and all should be well ;^)

  79. Catching up …

    I knew a fellow at JPL, Dale Achey, who named his dauhter Terry … Terry Achey …

    And about guinea fowl, I had some friends look into them for a while as a means of controlling the ticks in their yard. They are apparently very good at such things and they will roost in the tree branches, out of the reach of foxes and coyotes.

  80. Most of the local goat dairies are tiny, and sell a lot of their product through farmers’ markets (go farmers’ markets!!!). One of them makes what is probably the best feta I’ve ever eaten in my life.

  82. Goats are better than sheep for lawn care. They have a wider dietary inclusion and sheep have a tendency to crop too close to the ground. IIRC this was one of the reasons for the sheep/cattle wars in the Old West.

  83. Lush mountains rising up from the river – there must be places to kayak! And fish; And swim!
    Waterfalls must be among the features!

  88. “They’d never know we’re there Zooey.”

    Let’s prepare the lair in BC, shall we?

  90. We just might be able to pull it off – Shayne’s wild animal park, and all:

    British Columbia’s land area is 944,735 square kilometres (364,800 sq mi). British Columbia’s rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres (17,000 mi), and includes deep, mountainous fjords and about six thousand islands, most of which are uninhabited.

  93. “…import of Corona?”

    That may be considered blasphemous – better to stick with the local brew – we don’t want to call attention to our enclave (at least not at first)

  100. I liked Molson Export Ale when I was in Marietta. Haven’t had one since 1988, though.

    Don’t expect me to acquire property up in BC, I wouldn’t know the territory well enough. I was going to help acquire the stock. That I’ve had experience with!

  102. No need for a big lottery win – I think we can ‘blend in with the trees’ quite well’
    There appears to be a great deal of land ‘undiscovered’ (wink, wink) of course after the place is established we’ll pay taxes in chickens; eggs; pigs….oh wait that’s the U.S.A way.
    We’ll have to learn the Canadian bargaining way .

  103. House- that’s what we’ve been saying all along: you and Shayne acquire the live stock.

  108. Good thing ebb reminded us we’re going to need lambs. Widdle baby lambs. And baby pigs. My daughter is convinced she wants a teacup pig here in the suburbs. One of the thing I read is that they sell you these pigs they promise to stay really small. Then when they get too big they tell you to bring it back and they’ll give you a different one. Like you’re going to give your pet pig back to those bacon merchants.

  111. I knew some people with a potbelly pig that learned to use a cat box in the house. Otis got pretty damn big and started looking really good to me.

  112. My husband has a walleye boat but when we retire I’m insisting that I have a pontoon boat. So Canada or Minnesota or Michigan or ….

  114. I think there are very few places where you can commercially fish for walleye. It is really good mild fish with a great texture. It freezes well but we freeze it really fresh.

  115. House can acquire the livestock. I better stick to acquiring pets. Heck I’m all for us doing dog rescue. There’s already enough of you who can cat rescue. We’re going to have a combination farm, commune, petting zoo, pet shelter, honey store. We might as well throw in a brewery and a bakery.

  116. Ed Schultz just picked the Jets to upset the Patriots!

    I’ll babysit the pig. I have the experience.

  117. The Native Americans fish walleye for commercial sale in WI, I believe. Of the North American freshwater fish, it is one of the tastiest. I like perch as much. As to catching, walleye tends to be rather boring in comparison to other species. Not nearly as much fight, ounce for ounce.

  118. I think Native Americans are about the only people allowed to fish commercially for walleye. Good for them.

  120. I went up the inside passage once from Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert. Perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever seen, in a very green wet kind of way.
    There were waterfalls of hundreds of feet cascading down the lushly forested cliffs into the sea. Orcas and seals and birds in abundance.
    I drink Corona.

  122. I’ll need bigger a kayak then.
    I figure if we stay 4 or 5 miles out we’ll get through.

  125. I had one here in the house for about ten years. Four years of that was after my wife moved out. There’s not much I don’t know about taking care of a pig.

  126. Only when you don’t come back from your run to Portland for something better gummitch.
    Perhaps we’ll just have to brew our own and be happy with that.
    Sockeye Stout, Pine Knot Pilsner, Abalone Ale… the possibilities are endless.

  127. I can find good beer in BC, or slip across the border into Washington. Not sure I want to go back to brewing my own, but there is an extremely fine maltster in BC.

  129. Gummitch you and I baby, beer is a food group dude, eh?

    (I’m practicing blending in with my surroundings by using ‘eh?’ liberally)

  134. In my quest to watch all the Oscar Best-Picture winners, we’re up to 1966, and a movies called A Man For All Seasons. It is the story of Sir Thomas More, King Henry, and Oliver Cromwell.

    A gripping story just on its own, but it was superbly done. Starring Paul Scofield (won Best Actor), Orson Welles, Leo McKern, John Hurt, Robert Shaw, Susannah York. Highly recommended. Streamable from Netflix.

  135. zx, you must go through a great deal of popcorn!
    Do you watch more than one movie in a sitting?

  136. About one a week on average. Many of the movies we have to wait for the DVD to show up (and I’m only on the 1-at-a-time plan). And while my friends would love to do it more quickly (they’re more after the bragging rights of saying they’ve seen them all), for me it’s about seeing them; and savoring them.

  137. The old classics have substance and depth.
    There are movies that stick in the mind and others that just drift away after one viewing.

    I used to pull this film out every couple of years:

    The Gazebo

    TV writer Elliott Nash buries a blackmailer under the new gazebo in his suburban backyard. But the nervous man can’t let the body rest there.

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