Baldur

Bravo, I did enjoy reading it again.

Robindcr8l

Well, Robin spent the better part of her day out in the freezing wind watching the last game ever of 12 year old football. The boys lost, darn it, putting them in 4th place overall in the whole league. 2 key players were down with the swine flu, and a couple of refs with bad eyesight didn't help the game either. Now it's time to get warm in the bath, and take a nap before work tonight. Not in the mood for my usual overabundance of exclamation points today. Hands are too cold.

marius

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exclamation points for Robin!
Hope they cheer, since doubtful they can warm the hands!
Going for a walk before it gest too cold and dark! Yippee! THere is nothing like the sound of walking in leaves!

Baldur

Is everyone have a happy housecleaning day like we are having here at Chez Baldur?
I even washed and dried (with a lint-free towel) the gigantic faux gemstones in the foyer.
Baldur Vacuumed what could be vacuumed and swept the stairs and the other floors.
In the meantime I made a bowl of potato salad, a small pot of chicken soup and some homemade veggie burgers.

Baldur

Baldur took all the plants off of the console table in the foyer and dusted. Then I removed any dead leaves and put everything back.
The huge mirror miraculously didn't need doing. Baldur will give it a good cleaning before the holidays.

Dragon

Ooo, that reminds me, I need to send Roomba around the house. Sigh, I wish all my housework could be done by robot.

Baldur

How long can Roomba wander around without being recharged?
I think they are very cool but I'm not likely ever to get one. Baldur is very old-school.

Baldur

Has anyone seen that short video on YouTube of the cat riding around on top of the Roomba?
It's pretty amazing, she just sits on it and rides back and forth as it does it's stuff.
I believe it's called 'cleaning cat rides Roomba'.

polenta

I want to share something with you. Tomorrow Oct. 25th there will be elections for president and legislative power in Uruguay. There is a very common thing here that we call CARAVANA or motorcade. Thousands of motorcycles, cars, trucks etc. drive around parts of the city with flags etc.

Here you have a CARAVANA of the FRENTE AMPLIO coalition.(in office)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DD27N1LkSc&NR=1


Here you have a CARAVANA of the opposition party PARTIDO NACIONAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx6C0kiCUm4&feature=related

Baldur

Heavens Polenta, while it does look exciting it also seems like Baldur would hate living in a house that this would be driving by.

Baldur doesn't like his solitude invaded by outside noise.

I know when I myself lived in the city we would occasionally have a single vehicle drive by slowly with huge speakers attached to it's roof urging people to vote for a certain candidate. Several times Baldur went out onto the street and asked that the driver leave. He looked at me like I was denying his freedom of expression. I asked how he would feel if he worked nights and had this noise keeping him awake during the day.
They would mumble an apology and continue on their route.
I would then call campaign headquarters and lodge a complaint, but nothing ever changed.
At least for some part of the voters what they are doing is counterproductive. If I get annoyed by the campaign it's not likely I will vote for the candidate.

What you are showing us from Uruguay seems more like a slow moving carnival. Fun if you are part of it, not necessarily fun for the mothers trying to get their children to nap, or people with migraine headaches.

Robindcr8l

Baldur, I suspect that if this is a common occurance with elections, that the people on those streets are aware of it and either accept it or would not buy a house there. Here in Boise there is a lovely old street with HUGE mansion-like homes on it in the heart of the north-end. These are among the oldest homes around here (nothing like east coast, where homes are several hundred years old, but probably anywhere from 100-150 yrs old). Anyway, only the very wealthy could afford these homes. At Halloween, there is a tradition for everyone in the whole state apparently to trick-or-treat on this street, Harrison Blvd. These people get anywhere from 500-700 trick-or-treaters every year! The police are there directing pedestrian traffic, and there are just mobs of people at every house. I took my son one year, just to say we had done it. It was fun, but he was little and I was terrified of losing him in that crowd! All of the neighbors there seemed to be having a ball, and really enjoying the experience. Meanwhile, I was thinking this would suck to live here and be expected to spend all this money on decorations and candy every year for people who don't even live in my neighborhood!

I met a doctor who lives on that street and asked him about the Halloween fiasco. He said that when the realtor showed them the house, she asked them, "You DO know about Halloween here, don't you?" They kind of warn the people so there's no buyer's remorse come November 1st! LOL

There is another neighborhood around here that does a huge contest over their Christmas decorations every year. Jake and I call it the Griswold neighborhood, because every house in that subdivision looks like the house in "Christmas Vacation" ! There are tour buses and limousines that give tours through that neighborhood every night for the whole month of December. You would have to wait in a traffic line to get to your house in a normally quiet, secluded neighborhood. Most houses are on cul-de-sacs and it is funny to watch the ridiculous Hummer limos trying to negotiate around those circles! I know a doctor who lives there and refuses to decorate his house because the traffic bugs him so much. Apparently HIS real estate agent didn't warn him like the one on Harrison Blvd. did! LOL

matthew

I know how you feel... I have been trying to have a quiet evening at home, but keep getting radio Baldur updates... Sigh...

Baldur

In the case of Providence, RI the campaign vehicles went up and down EVERY residential street. Perhaps with the exception of the better neighborhoods where the residents knew influential people who could just say 'No' and it would stop.

What was most amusing about these noise blasting trucks was that the speakers were rather antiquated, really just bullhorns on steroids. You really would have a hard time trying to understand what they are saying anyway. But if you looked out the window you could easily see the vehicle draped in patriotic bunting with the candidates name emblazened all over it.

Baldur

matthew, turn down the volume.
Especially important since the Primrose Thong Brigade is queuing up to do an interpretive dance in the next few moments.

Baldur

Ladies, Gentlemen and matthew...
May I present the Primrose Thong Brigade and Harp Orchestra doing an extra special interpretive dance to:
'Zing Went the Strings of my Heart!'

Baldur

(by James F. Hanley)

Never could carry a tune, never knew where to start
You came along when everything was wrong and put a song in my heart


Dear when you smiled at me, I heard a melody
It haunted me from the start
Something inside of me started a symphony
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

'Twas like a breath of spring, I heard a robin sing
About a nest set apart
All nature seemed to be in perfect harmony
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

Your eyes made skies seem blue again
What else could I do again
But keep repeating through and through
"I love you, love you"

I still recall the thrill, guess I always will
I hope 'twill never depart
Dear, with your lips to mine, a rhapsody devine
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

<instrumental>

Dear when you smiled at me, I heard a melody
It haunted me from the start
Something inside of me started a symphony
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

'Twas like a breath of spring, I heard a robin sing
About a nest set apart
All nature seemed to be in perfect harmony
Zing! Went the strings of my heart

Your eyes made skies seem blue again
What else could I do again?
But keep repeating through and through
"I love you, love you"

I still recall the thrill, I guess I always will
I hope 'twill never depart
Dear, with your lips to mine, a rhapsody devine
Zing! Oh, Oh, Oh went the strings of my heart

Baldur

(devine -e +i -divine)x2

Baldur

That song is just absolutely perfect for Radio Baldur if I must say so myself.
It could be our theme music.

Robindcr8l

Agree with it being our theme music! Let's have a sing-along!

So, here is a pic of one house here in Boise at Christmas. This house is way up in the foothills, and this is only the front yard shown. The back yard is on a large slope and they have an angel outlined in Christmas lights that is literally probably 2 acres large! The angel can be seen all over the city, because that hill faces out to the city. However, only if you follow the beacon of lights up into the subdivision of million-dollar homes, can you see the ridiculousness of the front yard. A couple of years ago there was an article in the paper that said this guy's electric bill is like $1500/ month during the season! I am obsessed with all of these lights...we had no such display in Buffalo NY when I lived there. I take people up there and through the Griswold neighborhood at least 5 times every December! The natives here in Boise often don't even know these places exist til I tell them!

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2006/12/18/image2274944x.jpg

Baldur

Robert loves Christmas lights, Baldur goes with the minimalist approach when it comes to electricity.
I love boughs of holly, tons of ornaments, candles, wreaths etc.
What I can do without are strings of lights everywhere.
On my tree I use white miniature lights with a dimmer (found a dimmer meant for table lamps at a major hardware store and plug the tree lights into that). Generally I knock the lightys down to half power so the effect is rather like subtle glitter rather than blinding incandescense (+6 points).