I was surprised to discover this tiny rose starting to bloom in our garden. I have always assumed that flowers only bloom in the spring. Clearly, I was mistaken. Either that or this bud is not going to open. I will report back if that is the case.
The farmer who harvested the corn crop behind our house seemingly captured every single stalk. Upon further investigation, I found one left standing and it had one remaining ear of corn. When I shucked the cobb, I discovered why the farmer had left this one behind. Most of it had been eaten by this little corn worm who had established residence within.
Starting last Friday, I began passing a kidney stone. The journey from the kidney to the bladder is the really painful part that ended late Saturday. After my soccer match on Sunday, I passed the stone, at the 9am position in the photo above, and all the smaller stones (really more like really big grains of sand with a few smallish stones) backed up behind it. In case you are wondering, these are captured with a device similar to a tea strainer. The primary stone measured 3.8mm L x 2.5mm D and was very pointy on both ends. I apologize if this is TMI, but since this is the journal of my life, I feel it is appropriate to document the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Hints of fall are in the air as are falling pine cones everywhere.
I don’t believe I have ever taken the time to really study a pine cone. They are really quite beautiful. This is a female cone. I am guessing most readers will be as surprised as I to learn that pine cones have gender. The entire subject of conifer cones is quite fascinating and I refer you to Wikipedia for further information.
Having lived in Concord for some 17 years now, there are two things I could have predicted with great certainty. First, that nothing would stand in the way of our Annual Town Meeting and second, that it would be conducted in strict compliance with COVID 19 safety regulations. What I could not have predicted is that they would use my soccer team’s home field on the day of our first league match of the season. Fortunately, we were able to gain access to an adjacent field by moving our start time up to 8 AM. Despite a lot of sleepy-looking players, we managed a nice start to the season with a 5-1 win over Hopkinton. I played for 2/3 of the match before tweaking a muscle. Nothing serious, but I thought it better to stop right away before incurring further injury.
Where’s Waldo Bonus: See if you can find me in the photo? This is far easier than the count the number of turkeys in the photo that caused so much controversy on a post last spring.
The corn crop that has been growing behind our house since the spring was harvested today. It was a three-person operation. One to drive the combine, and one each for the two trucks that make alternating runs back to the farm. If I had to guess, I would say that the farmer netted at least 20 truck fulls of corn feed. The degree of coordination between the combine and truck drivers was incredible. The entire operation was completed in less than four hours
At Digital Alloys, we print 3D metal objects from 0.89mm wire. Sometimes that wire is dirty or has developed an oxide coating rendering it difficult to use. We have a machine at work that was designed to clean wire but it is not very effective when it comes to oxides. This evening I built a quick prototype of a device that I am very confident will do the job. The wire is sandwiched between the sides of two grinding wheels (with inside labels removed). The shaft that holds the wheels has a hole in the center through which the wire passes and has a pair of lock washers that serve as springs to keep the wheels pressed against the wire (which can be seen poking out the end). Now for the fun part. The grinding wheels do not rotate. Instead, the entire assembly rotates around the wire as it is being drawn through it. On Monday, I plan to connect this creation to the flange on a hollow shaft motor we have at work to see how it functions. Total cost of parts: $28. Time to fabricate: <1 hour.
The home we are in the process of purchasing was built in 1952. Based on the blueprints we obtained today, a major addition was added in 1963 to accommodate the family’s rapidly expanding family (five children in total). Regrettably, we have not been able to obtain the plans for the original home thus far. The information they provide is extremely helpful as we plan out the renovation. Because the paper on which they were reproduced is so fragile now, l took the time to carefully photograph them for future preservation. The one drawing that is from the original house is the landscaping plan shown below.
Progress continues on our master bedroom walk-in closet project which involves connecting the previous closet to an adjacent room to make for a very spacious walk-in. Among the challenges, the original closet has a textured ceiling that will not blend very well with the smooth finish of the adjacent room. It is easier to give the textured areas a skim coat of drywall mud than it is to try and remove the texture. I am using a spackling compound that goes on pink and turns white when dry. I have been trying to put in one hour a day on the project and it is now getting closer to the end than the beginning.
Today, Jeanine and I had an opportunity to check out the Conantum community garden. Residents of our new neighborhood are welcomed to put their green thumbs to work here. I have little doubt that we will be spending time here in the years to come. In the background on the left is a baseball diamond although I suspect it is rarely used for that purpose. On the right, a meadow of wildflowers which I believe was planted to attract butterflies. Behind the meadow to the right is the entrance to a woodland trail that exits on the other end of the neighborhood close to where our new home is located. Other amenities of the neighborhood include three tennis courts and a boat launch where residents can keep their canoes and kayaks. We continue to temper our excitement about moving due to the year-long effort we are expecting for renovation.
Now that we have made good on our objective to purchase an appropriately sized home for our retirement years, we are getting more serious about selling furniture that is either too large or of the wrong style for our new residence. This will include some of the wonderful antiques we acquired when living in Indianapolis. I spent a few hours this morning working on our updated walk-in closet project and a few more in the afternoon photographing our collection of antiques which included these two pieces among many others.
Maya and her boyfriend, Bryce, drove back from Wisconsin where she spent the last week on vacation there with his family. They returned with 3-year old, Maisey, the family’s magnificent husky who will live with them for the next several months at the home they are renting with four other Olin students in Medford. Maisey and I had fun in the backyard playing fetch with a corn husk which she found extremely entertaining. Jeanine tried to curry favor by feeding her leftover salmon. It is pretty clear, that Jeanine and I will be adding a dog to our family once we have both retired.
Located 1/2 mile from our new home (situated but not visible in the lower right-hand corner of the photo above) is Fairhaven Bay. I anticipate that it will be a frequent destination for kayak outings once we have settled in. Massachusetts has 8,229 miles of river, of which less than 2% are designated as wild and scenic including 10 miles in either direction of our new house.
“A more lovely stream than this, for a mile above its junction with the Concord, has never flowed on earth.”
– Nathaniel Hawthorne
Because it is on the way to work, I have taken to stopping in at our new house every morning to see what there is to see. Today, I found a cormorant perched on the same submerged branch as the imaginary bird from yesterday’s visit for an upgrade to the composition.
I swung by the new house on the way to my early morning soccer practice to see what kind of wildlife I might find. I encountered two blue herons, the regular assortment of turkeys, and for a moment I thought I spotted a bird perched on a partially submerged tree branch in the river. The silhouette was deceptively similar, but closer inspection revealed a non-avian composition. With the mirror-like reflection in the still water, it made for a nice photo none the less. Jeanine learned from a new neighbor that a bald eagle is often seen in our section of the river. We are both very much looking forward to our first encounter, should we be so lucky.
The full moon of September was known as the Corn Moon by some Native American cultures because it arrives at harvest time for those essential crops. It will be interesting to see if the farmer who manages the cornfield behind our house subscribes to this schedule. Because it is corn destined for animal feed, Jeanine says it will not be harvested for quite some time. There is no doubting a woman from Lebanon, Indiana in matters related to corn. Apparently the corn kernels need to dry on the cob. I plan to obey the moon and will harvest a cob tomorrow and see what it tastes like.
My team continues to make steady progress at work. We printed this part on our 3D metal printer in H13 tool steel. It is 70 layers tall, our highest in this material to date. Each week we continue to achieve larger and larger prints and hope to be printing our first commercial parts very soon. We have a backlog of orders and will start filling them as soon as we possibly can.
This morning my soccer team traveled to Nashua, NH for a pre-season scrimmage. Masks were mandatory off the field and optional on the pitch. I chose to wear an N95 mask at all times out of an abundance of caution. I did not feel as bad as I thought I would, given how out of shape I am right now. We used a 3 man rotation for the two wing-midfield positions which meant I could rest for 1/3 of the match. Our opponents scored in the first minute which did not exactly get things started on the right foot. We did not panic and methodically scored four unanswered goals of our own for the win. I had one shot on goal, a rocket from 25 yards to the upper left corner. Their diving goalie managed to get a few fingertips on it, enough to deflect it into the crossbar. Despite wearing a mask and all the modified rules meant to increase player separation, it felt great to be on the field playing again.
With the remnants of hurricane Sarah producing a very rainy day, I spent most of it indoors working on our walk-in closet project. The first order of business was moving much of the shelving and cabinets into the master bedroom so we can continue to have access to our clothing for the remainder of the project. I then moved on to wallpaper removal, a job which I have little passion for. Progress has been slow but steady and as long as I tackle it in small increments it has not been too bad. Next up will be adding drywall to the areas previously occupied by the wall separating these two spaces.
Maya continues to intern at Formlabs, where her team enjoyed a company-sponsored whale watching outing yesterday. Despite bad weather, the excursion was a great success and many whales were spotted including, Shuffleboard, Silla, and Salt (mother of 14 calves. )
Today, I learned that the photo above of my visiting cousin Vinny played a role in his second marriage. I took it in 2014 during a family reunion in Wisconsin. It turns out that he used this photo for his online dating profile and it caught the attention of the woman to whom he is now married. Despite the fact that she lived in Arizona at the time while he in California, she showed the picture to a friend and said this was the kind of man she could see herself marrying. This makes for the second marriage, I have helped to facilitate. Perhaps I should start a little Yenta work as a side gig..
Late last night, my second cousin Vinny (left) and his son JD arrived at our home. JD will be a freshman at Boston College this fall and his dad made the trip to help him get settled in. They both tested negative for Covid before leaving their home in Manhattan Beach but we all wore masks out of an abundance of caution. When he moves into his room later this afternoon, JD will not be allowed to leave again until he receives another negative test and Vinny will stay with us through Friday to make sure that everything goes smoothly. When we lived in Indianapolis, we would stop in to visit Vinny’s family every year on the way back from our annual family retreat at Bay Side Camp. We are thrilled to have them staying with us.
For a couple of weeks now, my team at Digital Alloys has been working to perfect a heating system for our printer. Today, we were able to register a small victory when we heated this block of steel to its melting point. The system is essentially an upside-down induction cooktop.
Nicolai is due to return home tomorrow after covering 11,000 miles over the course of 6 weeks on his cross country road adventure. He has traveled coast to coast visiting family, friends, and soccer teammates. One of his goals was to figure out next steps in his teaching career in light of the dramatic changes that Covid-19 has introduced into his profession. He has an offer from CCHS to teach World Cultures for the fall semester and has been approached about doing private tutoring for small pods of local students. I am not sure where he took these photos but he noted that the smoke in the air was from a forest fire.
Kyle prepared a lovely dinner for Jeanine and I this evening. We had freshly picked sweet corn (which is as good as I have ever tasted), roasted potatoes, cheeseburgers, grilled chicken, and a green bean and asparagus salad. He cooked in large enough quantity to provide food for the next week which is a real lifesaver for Jeanine who is up to her ears in work challenges.
For the last two years, Jeanine and I have been on the lookout for a new home. Although we have enjoyed living in our current one, it is twice the size we would like for our rapidly approaching retirement years. We wanted something in a natural setting with an exceptional view above all else. For 16 years we have thoroughly enjoyed the view of our field every day. Our new home is situated on the Sudbury River, located just around the bend in the photo below. Our view across the river includes wetlands and a hill covered in deciduous trees (think autumn splendor). Looking upriver to the right is the long view featured in a photo from earlier this week. These views can be enjoyed from inside the house because of how it is situated on the 1.8-acre lot. The house was on the market for a total of 9 days and our offer was substantially over asking price to win a bidding war with two current residents of Conantum, the Concord neighborhood where the home is located. Our closing date is tentatively set for October 15th.
Ikebana, “arranging flowers” or “making flowers alive” is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. The tradition dates back to the Heian period when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, they were placed in the tokonoma (alcove) of a home. Ikebana reached its first zenith in the 16th century under the influence of Buddhist tea masters and has grown over the centuries, with numerous distinct schools extant today. The arrangement pictured above was created by my mother during a Zoom class which she participated in along with my sister who organized the activity. She never ceases to amaze us with her artistic talent which apparently does not extend to photography. I may have to request that she take another picture without the fire alarm, nature sign, and lighting sconce in the background.
This image is of a component we will be using on the latest revision of Digital Alloy’s metal 3D printer. I thought the tooling marks left from the machining process were quite beautiful.
Despite our decision to postpone house hunting until the market returns to something approaching sane, I found a property that features an incredible river view. We will be bidding against several other interested parties and I put the chances of our coming out on top at 25%. Once again we will be grappling with the same question we face on every home that we like. What is a view worth?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CD9b5ocpEoh/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
A couple of videos from Nico’s Instagram account. To see the second one, click on the right arrow in a circle located on the right side of the frame. It is scarier than the first. It should be noted that one parent will lose sleep thinking about these very risky exploits. The other wishes he had the skill and courage to join in the fun but shares the concerns of the responsible parent.
Maya and her college roommate, Lauren, pose in the home they have rented for the fall semester. They will be joined by four other Olin students in the three-floor house in Medford. Maya has elected to extend her internship at Formlabs rather than to attend the fall semester at Olin under the current Covid-19 restrictions. Maya chose Olin for the project-based, hands-on, collaborative learning approach, much of which cannot be realized while adhering to the schools appropriately conservative temporary safety policies. Jeanine prepared a nice meal for the girls which we shared with them while visiting this evening for the grand tour.
