Words Needed

With three tiles remaining in the virtual bag, here is my stick:

V, B, R, Q, L, F, K

Worst. Endgame. Ever.

Patio Progress

Here are three photos of current progress on the patio. Now the digging is done, so only the hard work is left. The three pics: a view from the garden, a view from the house, and a view of the relocated dirt.

Confident

Personally, I'd think twice before hiring whoever placed this ad in the Truth:

"I am baffled by technology, but do it every day. I struggle with each change. But because I care, I meet your computer needs. I will fix your computer for only $129."

Veterinary Science + Biblical Literacy

This is the sort of random question that occurs to me in the morning: is a cow, just prior to a particularly difficult birth, considered preprolapsarian?

It Begins

My goal for this late Spring is to build a patio under the pergola I built last year. Here are three photos documenting the progress. The first picture is what will be the path heading back to the garden. No, that's not the pergola.



This is the pergola. And the outline of the patio where it hits the house.






And this is the slope I'm digging -- from about 3" below the string near the house to about 7 1/2" below the string where the path starts to about 12" below grade where the path hits the garden. Though by the time I get to the path the drainage wouldn't necessarily need to go away from the house, but could drain off the sides. And that's less digging, so it's probably what I'll do.

You might notice that there are posts in the way. To make matters more difficult, there are currently grape vines growing up the posts, so I plan to leave about a 2' square area around the posts to accommodate post and vine. That area I'll build up with some sort of lumber to create little planter-type things.

Maybe "late Spring" is a good start date, but it looks like it might be tough to finish by late Spring.

Pentecost

Today I learned that the language Ewe, a member of the Niger-Congo language family, contains a bilabial fricative represented by the letter "w" in the name of the language itself. This bilabial fricative is formed by saying a "b" without letting ones lips touch each other so that what comes out sounds a little like a cross between a "b" and "w."

I learned this because I asked a Ghanaian in what language he was reading when he (with several other people) read a portion of Acts 2 simultaneously in various languages. Interestingly, and perhaps more relevant in the context of Pentecost, the result of this simultaneous reading was that rather than everyone in the congregation hearing the message in their own language, we heard it in many languages simultaneously, and therefore not at all. A second result was that I learned about Ewe. I'm certain neither of those results were the intended or anticipated one(s).

Sports Section Koan

From an article in The Truth on Wednesday, 07 May (taken from the AP Wire, I assume):

"Schilling has a tendon injury and possibly a damaged
rotator cuff, depending on the diagnosis."

If a tendon injury is misdiagnosed as a damaged rotator cuff, is it still a tendon injury?

Advertising

You know what I like? I like when a television station, let's call it "BCD," plugs a one-off program, seasonal or otherwise, let's call that "This Program We Will Never Show Again," by saying something like this:

"On Thursday night watch 'The Program We Will Never Show Again' at a special time: 8/7 Central."

What makes me chuckle is the implied notion that the program itself isn't billed as being particularly special, rather the time at which it is shown is what is special. If it is really worth watching, why not advertise it like "On Thursday night watch the special program "The Program We Will Never Show Again" at 8/7 Central?" What about advertising am I missing here?

Defense

Tonight my neighbor offered me a gun. For defending my property. I'm not entirely certain how many different emotions I feel as a result of this.