Stuff!

1) Smerk!

Smerk is still a sweetie. And a hottie, even if it is Winter where she is.

2) Postdiluviousness

It was wet here. Town Creek runs through the back yard; ordinarily the creek is very properly behaved and mild-mannered. There's a small dam that has been here since the place was a tannery in the 18th Century; they used the pool created to rinse the hides in before and after the tanning process. I'd been working earlier this month on shoring up the banks of the stream with sacks of concrete, so as to keep the back yard from eventually eroding away. It's a good thing I did that, too.

Last night and this morning we had a rather impressive downpour. Thunder, lightning, wind, and lots and lots and lots and lots of rain. Abby (being the sensible cat that she is) hid under my bed all night. Marshmallow (being the silly kitten that she is) ran around outside in a panic until she remembered that she could come in through the pet door, whereupon she curled up under a chair as a little soggy lump and remained there for the duration.

This house is not all that far from the wellspring of the stream, so it's not as though there's all that much watershed upstream of here for gazillions of gallons of water to run into the stream. Even so, within a short time the water was all the way up to the old wooden shed that has been--at various times in its history--a tannery shed, a prison for an insane syphilitic, and now a workshop.

The waters eventually receded (as Genesis 9:11 foretold!), leaving behind lots of dampness, lots of mud, two disgruntled kitties, a very well-scoured streambed, and various odds and ends uncovered by the waters.

First was the bottom of an old ceramic jug, pitcher or bottle. Just the very bottom was left, so it was like a little ceramic disk. It was stamped with a maker's mark and the date 1793. I took it up onto the porch and left it on the table there; when I went back a few hours later it had vanished. The swarm of kids who had been running around the yard disavowed all knowledge of it, of course. . .

There were several interesting rocks, too. A smallish one had a rather nice dendrite on it. It looks sort of like a fossilised fern, but it is really a branching crystal of something like manganese or iron that has formed almost like a snowflake between layers in a stone. A bigger rock, one with lots of nice sedimentation layers, has what just might possibly be fossilised impressions of raindrops on it. I don't really know enough about those to be sure; it could possibly just be little blobs of other stuff that somehow got into the layer of sediment.

Also washed up was a Dutch 1 euro coin from 2002. Obviously the Dutch are spying on me, scheming folks that they are. There's probably a tracking device in the middle of the coin.

I haven't found any relics of the Lost Tribes of Israel or marooned sea-serpent larvae or anything like that. Yet. Who knows what I'll uncover next, though?

3) Battle of the Quacks.

No, this wasn't two "miracle weight-loss pill" merchants beating each other up in the middle of the street. Rather, it involved our fine feathered friends, the common mallard.

There are a number of ducks and duck families living around Town Creek. They like to lurk in the underbrush across the creek from the back yard here, and to come up into this yard to peck in the grass at the seeds dropped from the birdfeeders by clumsy finches and jays. So it's not uncommon to look out the kitchen window and see some ducks poking about.

Currently, there are two main family groups. One is a mother duck with her four young ducklings. We'll call her Aloysia. Then there is another mother duck with her own four ducklings, though those four are almost grown. We'll call her Zahar.

I had settled myself down on the porch around the gazebo, next to the stream, and was lounging about reading a book. I heard one of the duck mothers coming along the stream, quacking away to her brood the way that they do.

It turned out, though, that this wasn't just a family of ducks. It was both families, one coming from upstream and one from downstream. And just to add to the sheer duckiness of it all, a pair of adult ducks came waddling out of the underbrush and hopped into the stream. All three groups were converging on the low grassy patch of lawn in one corner of the yard where one of the birdfeeders hangs. All three groups came staggering out of the water into this grassy area more or less simultaneously.

At first they all just stood as the vertices of an almost equilateral triangle, eyeing each other. Then--completely without warning--Aloysia and Zahar launched themselves at the adult pair. There was much quacking and squawking and thrashing and probably very bad language in Duckese, and in the end the adult couple got chased off to the edge of the lawn.

Then the two mother ducks squared off, while their ducklings milled around in confusion. Aloysia ducked down her head (appropriate maneouvre, that), charged Zahar, and sent her into a backflip. Zahar decided that being goosed so was unducklike and retreated back to her young; together, they quickly waddled off a little ways and left the area around the feeder to Aloysia and her young. Aloysia stood watch while her four little ducklings ate their fill of spilled seeds, and then they waddled off to check out around some other birdfeeders across the yard.

Seeing the prime foraging spot vacated, the adult pair rushed into the lawn. . .and came beak to beak with Zahar. Once more the feathers flew, and once again the adult pair had to give way. This time they lost heart (and many feathers) altogether, gave up, and hopped back into the creek and swam downstream. Zahar stood watch while her nearly-grown ducklings pecked around in the grass.

Enter Abby, all innocent and unsuspecting. She knows very well not to get close to a momma duck when the ducklings are around, so she wasn't going anywhere near them. She just wanted to come see what I was up to on the porch.

Even so, the ducks decided to vacate the yard and return to the safety of the stream. Zahar and her young flopped down into the creek on the far upstream end of the yard, while Aloysia and her brood dashed in comic waddling fashion to throw themselves into the water a bit further down the stream.

Unfortunately, this meant that they came into the water on either side of the adult pair who were still paddling around in the water, nursing their battle wounds. Cue once again gratuitous amounts of quacking, squawking, thrashing, flopping, and feather-plucking.

The adult pair tried to retreat from Zahar who was upstream of them, only to run into Aloysia. So they bounced up and downstream between the two mother ducks, like avian pinballs in an overly violent pinball machine. Each time they neared one of the mothers, the mother duck got even more frantic and violent.

One of Aloysia's little ducklings got scared and confused, and bolted upstream. This ended up putting the adult pair between himself and his mother. Aloysia did not approve of this arrangement. She went completely berserk and turned into a birdie buzzsaw of destruction. She flung herself onto the adult pair, while her other three ducklings charged back and forth across the creek peeping in dismay and confusion. Eventually their momentum sort of carried them over the heaving mass of feathers that was their mother and the adult pair, and they were reunited with their lost sibling. Aloysia dashed over to check on them, and the adult couple took advantage of her distraction to flee downstream at full speed.

At this point, I think they were all exhausted. The last I saw of them, the adult pair was headed in the general direction of the park that is a hundred yards or so downstream, Zahar and her kids had settled down onto a mudbank a bit upstream of this yard under some trees, and Aloysia and her youngsters had found a nice sheltered place to nap on the grass under the trumpet vine on the creek's bank.

Abby had watched the whole second part of the ordeal from the porch, looking totally horrified and awestruck, then quietly slunk away and hid herself in the garden.

4) Bluegrass and white flour.

A few days ago was a bluegrass concert at the mill, to help raise money for its further restoration. I decided to go check it out and see how the food and the music and the food and the atmosphere and the food was. The music was a bit of a disappointment; a number of performers played on the stage (actually it was a flatbed trailer, but close enough to a stage), but only the first group--a duo with guitar and fiddle--actually played any bluegrass. They played it well, too, and without the really nasal quality that bluegrass often seems to involve.

The rest of the acts, though, were all people either playing Gordon Lightfoot or Bob Dylan songs, mixed in with their own attempts at Ligthfootesque and Dylanesque songs. And none of them were all that good.

So after the first guys, nobody paid much mind to the music and wandered around instead, and by the time the third act came on stage (a Dutch guy) about half the people had gone away.

The mill was open to the public for the event, and I took advantage of the opportunity to poke around in it to see what was to be seen.











Wheels and things!



Fireplace.



A family of ducks seems to have moved in.



The main gears.













The place was made of some rather good-sized beams and boards.



This series of belts and wheels connects to the main gears and goes up. . .



. . .to this grinding bin.



And this is a sort of crane for picking up millstones (which can weigh up to 3,000 pounds at this mill).



And a few views of the waterwheel from inside.





The mill was built in 1790, though it has been upgraded repeatedly since then. It is one of the oldest gristmills in the country, and especially one of the oldest ones still standing. The big waterwheel was an overshot wheel; the water came down from higher up the mountain and was channeled through a trough (that's not there anymore) to the top of the wheel, rather than running underneath the wheel to turn it as undershot wheels do. Overshot wheels are more effect than are undershot wheels; whereas the undershot wheel is powered only by the force of the water current moving under it, overshot wheels use both the force of the current and also gravity pulling the water down. Overshot wheels are harder to build, though, especially in flat lands.

During the American Civil War, the same raid that burned the salt mines in Saltville also passed by the mill. The wheel was torn off the building and the mill set on fire, but just then an especially strong rainstorm came along and kept the fire from doing much damage. The wheel was soon replaced, and the mill went back into operation.

Today the mill obviously doesn't run the big wheel anymore. It still does produce some small amount of flour for the tourist trade, though this is all from small electric or hand-turned grinders. The mill is owned by an organisation that hopes to raise money and get it back completely into working order. As you can see from the pictures, this will take a lot of work.

5) Music makes the world go noisily.

Every now and then I get asked, "What sort of music do you listen to?" or, "Do you listen to [insert band or musician name here]?" or some other query of that nature. So, in order to pre-emptively answer such questions I provide the following more-or-less comprehensive list. Note that this list only includes musicians whom I have an entire album of; if somebody appears only a few times on some sampler disc, then I didn't list him.

Aaron Copland
AC/DC
Acoustic Alchemy
Adolphe Adam
Aerosmith
Afro Celt Sound System
Alacranes Musical
Alexandros Xenofontos
Alfredo Ramirez Corral
Ali Farka Toure
Alice Cooper
Altan
Amr Diab
Amy Grant
Andreas Vollenweider
Andrés Segovia
Andrews Sisters
Andy Williams
Angele Dubeau
Angelique Kidjo
The Animals
Anja Lechner
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anonymous 4
Anton Bruckner
Antonin Dvorak
Antonio Rosetti
Antonio Vivaldi
Apocalyptica
Aram Khachaturian
Arcangelo Corelli
Aretha Franklin
Artie Shaw
Asha Bhosle
Atreyu
B. B. King
Babatunde Olatunji
Baltimore Consort
Banda Guasavena
Barenaked Ladies
The Beach Boys
Beastie Boys
The Beatles
Bedrich Smetana
Bela Bartok
Ben E. King
The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos
Benny Goodman
Bette Davis
Bianca Ryan
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Blow and the Bushwhackers
Billie Holiday
Billy Branch
Billy Idol
Billy Joel
Bing Crosby
Bjork
Black Sabbath
Blue Oyster Cult
Bo Diddley
Bob Dylan
Bob Kindler
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Bobby Darin
Bobby McFerrin
Bon Jovi
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buddy Holly
Buena Vista Social Club
Buffalo Springfield
Buju Banton
The Byrds
Calicanto
The Calling
The Cambridge Singers
Camille Saint-Saens
Capercaillie
Carey Bell
Carl Nielson
Carl Orff
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Carlos Montoya
Carole King
The Carpenters
Cat Stevens
Cesar Franck
Charles Gounod
The Charlie Daniels Band
Charlie Mingus
Charlie Parker
Charlie Rodriguez
Charlotte Church
Cheb Mami
Cheikh Lo
Cherish the Ladies
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Chet Atkins
Chick Corea
The Chieftains
Christopher Parkening
Chuck Berry
Cibelle
Clannad
Claude Chalhoub
Claude Debussy
Coldplay
Cole Porter
Congotronics
The Corries
The Corrs
Count Basie
Counting Crows
Cranberries
Creed
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Crowded House
Csaba Nagy
Csokolom
Dan "Daddy Squeeze" Newton
Dastan Ensemble
Dave Brubeck
Dave Holland
David Bowie
De Dannan
Deep Blue Something
Def Leppard
Default
Devo
Dhol Foundation
Diana Reyes
Diana Ross
Dick Haymes
Dido
Dire Straits
DJ Cheb i Sabbah
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dobet Gnahore
Domenico Scarlatti
Don McLean
The Doors
The Drifters
Duke Ellington
Duo Nova
Eagles
The Early Music Consort of London
Eddie Cochran
Edvard Grieg
Edward Elgar
Edwin Starr
Ehab Tawfik
The Elftones
Ella Fitzgerald
Elvis Presley
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emmanuel Chabrier
Ennio Morricone
Ensemble Galilei
Enya
Eric Clapton
Erik Satie
Erno Dohnanyi
Escalay
Etta James
Eva Cassidy
Evanescence
Eve 6
Everlast
Faramarz Payvar
Fats Domino
Fats Waller
Fazil Say
Federico Mompou
Felix Mendelssohn
Finger Eleven
Finntroll
Fire in the Kitchen
The First Detached Model Orchestra of the Defense Ministry of the USSR
Fiona Apple
Fleetwood Mac
Foo Fighters
Francis Poulenc
Frank Sinatra
Frank Yankovic
Franz Liszt
Franz Schubert
Fred Waring
Frederic Chopin
Fredo & the Flybaits
Gabriel Faure
Gabriel Yared
Gene Autry
Georg Telemann
George Gershwin
George Handel
George Winston
Georges Bizet
Ghazal
Giacomo Puccini
Ginny Gibson
Gioacchino Rossini
Giovanni Kapsberger
Gipsy Kings
Giuseppe Verdi
Glenn Miller
Goldspiel/Provost Classical Guitar Duo
The Goo Goo Dolls
Gordon Lightfoot
The Gotan Project
Green Day
Grupo Naidy
Guns N Roses
Gustav Holst
Gustav Mahler
Gyuto Monks
Hakim
Hamza el Din
Harry Belafonte
Hector Berlioz
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Henry Purcell
Henryk Gorecki
Herb Alpert
Hesperus Early Traditional Ensemble
The Highwaymen
Hobart Smith
Hootie and the Blowfish
Howlin' Wolf
Ibrahim Ferrer
Igor Stravinsky
Il Divo
India
Intocable
Iron Butterfly
Iron Maiden
Isaac Hayes
Itzhak Perlman
Ivan Khandoshkin
Iz
James Brown
James Cotton
Jamiroquai
Jan & Dean
Janette Fishell
Jean Sibelius
Jeff Beck
Jim Brickman
Jim Chappel
Jim Croce
Joan Jett
Joanie Madden
Jacobus Vaet
Jimi Hendrix
Joaquin Rodrigo
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Strauss, Jr.
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Ockegem
John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band
John Coltrane
John Denver
John Frizzel
John Horner
John Mellencamp
John Phillip Sousa
John Rutter
John Turner
John Williams
Johnny Cash
Johnny Horton
Johnny Mathis
Jonathan Biss
Jose Alfredo Jimenez
Jose Suarez
Joseph Haydn
Jubilation Sykes
Jules Massenet
Julia Fischer
Junior Wells
Kal
Ken Kolodner
Kenny G
Khaled
The Kingston Trio
The Kinks
Kiran Ahluwalia
Kitaro
Kodo
Kraftwerk
The Kronos Quartet
Kylie Minogue
Lacuna Coil
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Leadbelly
Led Zeppelin
Lenny Kravitz
Leo Delibes
Leon Redbone
Lesiem
Lila Downs
Little Richard
Loreena McKennitt
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Los Tucanes de Tijuana
Louis Armstrong
Ludwig von Beethoven
Luigi Boccherini
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Maggie Sansone
The Mammas and the Pappas
The Manhattan Transfer
Manitas de Plata
Manuel de Falla
Marc Anthony
Marlene Dietrich
Mary Fraley
Mason Williams
Mastodon
Matchbox 20
Matisyahu
Maurice Jarre
Maurice Ravel
Mazizo Musical
Meat Loaf
Megadeth
Melissa Etheridge
Metallica
Metqâl Qenâwi Metqâl
Michael Lee Thomas
Mikhail Glinka
Miles Davis
Miller-Rown Consort
The Mills Brothers
Miriam Makeba
Moby
Modest Mussorgsky
Mohamed Abdel Wahab
Monster Magnet
The Moody Blues
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Morten Lauridsen
Motley Crue
Motorhead
Muddy Waters
Munir Bashir
Muzik Tarian Malaysia
Mychael Danna
Na Palapalai
Nat King Cole
Natalie Imbruglia
Nirvana
Nickelback
Nicolo Paganini
Nikoli Rimsky-Korsakov
Nino Rota
No Doubt
Northern Arizona University Wind Symphony
The Norton Sisters
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Orla
Otis Redding
Osamu Kitajima
Ozzy Osbourne
Pablo Casals
Pat Metheny
Patrick O'Hearn
Paul Dinletir
Paul Whiteman Orchestra
Paul Winter
Pearl Jam
Peggy Lee
Pete Seeger
Peter Fletcher
Peter, Paul & Mary
Peter Tchaikovsky
Phil Manzanera
Philip Glass
Pietro Mascagni
Pink Floyd
Placido Domingo
The Platters
The Pogues
The Police
Professor Longhair
Queen
Queen Latifah
Quincy Jones
Ralph Carmichael Orchestra
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Rammstein
Randy Edelman
Rare Air
The Rascals
Ravi Shankar
Ray Charles
The Red Army Choir
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Regina Carter
Richard Hill
Richard Rogers
Richard Strauss
Richard Wagner
Ricky Martin
The Righteous Brothers
Ritchie Valens
Robert Johnson
Robert Schumann
Roger Miller
Roger Whittaker
The Rolling Stones
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Runrig
Salif Keita
Sam Moore
Samuel Barber
Santana
Saor Patrol
Sarband
Scorpions
Scott Joplin
The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
Seal
The Seatbelts
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Seven Mary Three
Shakira
Shania Twain
Shaun Davey
Shauna Rolston
The Silk Road Ensemble
Siti Nurhaliza
The Sixteen
Ska Cubano
Smashing Pumpkins
Smokey Robinson
Soundgarden
Spyro Gyra
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Steeleye Span
Steppenwolf
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Wonder
Sting
Stone Temple Pilots
The String Dusters
Taj Mahal
The Tannahill Weavers
Teatro Lirico
Temple University
Tex Ritter
Thelma & Erika Peterson
Thelonius Monk
Third Eye Blind
Thomas Tallis
Three Dog Night
Three Doors Down
Tina Turner
Tingstad & Rumbel
TLC
The Tokens
Tomaso Albinoni
Trans Siberian Orchestra
Trevor Jones
U2
Valeri Kikta
Van Halen
Van Morrison
Vangelis
Vertical Horizon
The Verve
The Verve Pipe
The Village People
Vusi Mahlasela
The Wallflowers
Warda
The Weavers
Weird Al Yankovic
Whitesnake
Will Millar
Willie Nelson
Wolfgang Mozart
Wolfstone
Woody Guthrie
Woody Herman
Wynton Marsalis
Yanni
Yo-Yo Ma
Yungchen Lhamo
Zumi-Kai