Having two workers in the house is somewhat off-putting. I desperately wanted to take a power nap yesterday around 3 (20 minutes, am good as new), but didn’t want anyone to catch me drooling in my chair. The guys were at the back of the house, but would come out now and then to ask for scissors, for example.

Me: Is that cheesecloth?
Worker: Yes.
Me: Why do you need cheesecloth to put tile up in the shower?
Worker: To polish the tiles when we’re done.

I thought if I got up and moved around, it would make me alert. There was a box of miscellaneous toys a son brought back from his college apartment. Inside were these hamster-like furry, clothed creatures an uncle gave both the boys, forgetting they were grown.

As I picked one up to take out to the garage, it sprang to life. Loudly. Really loudly. In an Alvin-chipmunk voice, it belted out some irritating song, and worse, it was trying to move around in my hand. I clawed at it, trying in vain to turn it off. I could not imagine what the workers were thinking.

(well, I sorta could)
Worker 1: You hear that?
Worker 2: Sounds like one of them singing squirrels.
W1: Nah. Man, does she listen to strange stuff.
W2: Is she like, wacko? She acted really weird when I told her to get in the truck so we could go to Home Depot.
W1: Heheh. How’d that go?
W2: She’s too short to get in the truck right. I reached my hand out, and man, she jumped back. I pointed out the grab bar, she finally got in. Am I scary looking or what?
W1: Haw. Them tattoos.

I fled with the thing to the garage where I flung it in a Rubbermaid box and closed it up.

We were out for a walk, he was out for dinner. Clearly, he thought little of my efforts to shoot his sleek and well-fed visage. Out in the sunnier part of the field, the two does and a fawn looked scrawny with their ribs showing.

Yes, I’m going to pop for that other lens soon.

They didn’t bring a boombox, and other than the hammering and the power sawing, they don’t make much noise. Because of the dust raised, I’ve been sleeping in a son’s room where one side of the bed seems to slope downward. Some balance mechanism in my head keeps telling me something is off. So I keep waking up.

After two nights of this, I am very sleepy today. Once in a while, I go back for a chat (they’re almost done), and all the tattoos kinda wake me up.

A selection from the deFocused site, which I’ve not fully investigated, but look forward to doing.

Unexpectedly, the handyman tells me I need to take a ride with him to pick out another shower fixture. Apparently, the boxes of bathroom gear we picked out ourselves on Sat. at another store was not the right stuff. He tried to explain, but even with the inferior products in his hands and gesturing, I could not understand plumbing speak. But I got the gist.

Home Depot is even busier on Mondays than weekends. Except all the buyers are pros, and they know exactly what they’re doing. Well almost all. He led me to the showerhead department. Once again, it was all a blur. He made suggestions. A family member favored the ‘brushed nickel’ look, kind of a dull finish, as opposed to the more common shiny stainless steel. Although one company’s stainless steel is not quite like another’s.

However the family member left it all up to me, and was absent. As I moved over to the dull finish section and started pointing, another pro immediately spoke up.

New pro: Hey, I wouldn’t go for the brushed nickel.
Me: Why is that?
Np: Hard to clean right. You’re gonna have to wax it.
Me: You’re kidding, right?
Np: Nope. If you don’t do it right, you’ll get scratches. Then it’ll turn black.
Me: What?
Np: Yup. Wax it first, then less problems. But once it gets scratched, it’s no good. I’ve had to go in and replace lots of this stuff when it gets black. Don’t get it, if you ask me.
Me: Okay.

I got stainless steel, the shiny kind.

There it was, just set down on top of the big desk by someone in front of me who was less interested. The garage sale was small, the seller motivated.

Me: How much?
Seller: $5.
Me: Sold.
Seller (hesitates): But I can only sell it to an adult.
Me: You are doubting that I’m an adult?
Laughter from nearby browsers.
Seller (embarrassed): Well, I meant, it can’t go to a household with small kids (indicates sharp point of sword).
Me: It’s okay. No small kids.
Seller: Then it’s yours.
Me: A little history?
Seller: It’s from either Thailand or Vietnam, belonged to a relative.

It’s heavy with a curving blade, and will be a great photo prop.

It is called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, and was given last September. Pausch died today of pancreatic cancer at age 47 .

A panel of experts at the Center for Environmental Oncology (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute) have drawn up a list of precautions. Most of them have to do with keeping the phone as far away from the body as possible, suggesting the use of the speakerphone function or a Bluetooth headset.

There it was, stuffing a California poppy in its mouth. What a way to start the day.

In yet another astounding find, a diner at a Nigerian restaurant discovered the prophet’s name in his food. Specifically, on the gristle portion of his beef. The inscription survived being boiled and fried. Further, in the kitchen, more beef with the name was found.

This brings up a multitude of thoughts regarding religious sightings on various foods, none of which are tasteful and appropriate. We Californians have been on the receiving end of enough smitings as it is, what with all the lightning-induced fires.

Usually, I complain about the heat coming from my Macbook Pro. Once in a while, when a giant fog bank comes in overnight and cools down everything, the laptop works well as a handy source of warmth.

One day this strange, but aesthetically appealing vessel appeared in one of my plum trees. No one knocked on the door to ask permission to put it there. It has liquid and a few dead insects inside.

When I remember to look again, it is usually in another spot. One of the branches was broken off one day.

Is it an experiment? I never hear a truck or vehicle stopping by, and have yet to see anyone with a ladder. I could call the city and ask. But that would kinda take the fun out of it.

We have a humane trap used to catch and relocate the always rampant squirrel population. It is a big one, but not the biggest made. Last night, I dreamed it closed with that familiar metallic sound, and something was screeching. Then I awoke, and the screeching went on.

Some nights I hear the clatter of small feet on the patio outside the door. Most nights I go back to sleep. This time, the clatter was preceded by thumping, skittering down the trees and something bumping against the flowerpots. The screeching (more of a toned down churring, but persistent) continued, now coming from more than one source. I got the flashlight and went to look.

Of course, having read several page-turning crime novels recently, I enlisted the aid of a family member. In the beam of the flashlight, a couple of raccoons ran into the garden. Wait, two more. The cries got louder.

My plums and apples are just the right size for such varmints. I got ready to chuck a few rocks, but was restrained by the family member. We were outnumbered by disease-bearing creatures of the night. I told him to turn on the sprinklers.

On they went. To no avail. The raccoon family had climbed a pyracantha bush, and indeed there was one of their family members in the trap. Out came the hose. To no avail. More loud alarm sounds from their entire family unit.

The motion-sensing lights came on as at least one of the raccoons headed back to their home tree. I went back to sleep. Much later, the family member released the one in the trap because the alarm cries kept him awake.

In the biz, we stock photographers try to stay ahead of the game. Sometimes, the agencies tell us what they need, sometimes we guess right. Some of it is common sense, as anyone can figure that photos related to energy conservation will sell.

Predicting trends can be about as tricky as picking the next hot stock (the financial kind). People do that all the time, and make an incredible living at it. People fail at it too, and they tend to be in the doldrums, especially this year. But if you are of a mind, you won’t need to pay for theme park thrills. Just buy into the stock market for the ride of your life. Stocks are dirt cheap nowadays. But I’m not saying you won’t lose your wallet. It can vanish at what you thought was the peak experience.

Which reminds me, a third kind of stock has been on my mind as well. I saw a picture of a steer recently, and I can sure understand the whole vegan thing, face on food and all that. However, the idea of a veggie stew, for example, does little for my appetite. Which is why I’m having pot roast tonight.

A stack of movies from which to choose, and here’s how it went: Wild Hogs, billed as the ‘comedy event of the year’, on the box, it uses the word ‘madcap’. Nah. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, want to see it but not on a Sunday night. Unleashed, Morgan Freeman and Jet Li. Violent killing machine. Not on a Sunday night. The Kite Runner, no. Scoop, did it get any good reviews at all? Hence K/U. Good choice, very funny, very well done, good dinner movie despite a couple of morning sickness scenes.

Surely by now, you realize I don’t bother to review the movies. Others do that much better than I. However, if you have to double up some of your activities due to time constraints, I’m here to help.

I bought a package labeled ‘pangit noodles’ this morning. Never heard of them, but they looked interesting. The internets told me they were likely ‘pancit’ and easy to fix. And they were.

Last weekend, I did some walking in the hills. The fog was just leaving the green hills in the distance, but came back in. It’s a good thing I went, because those areas are now closed to the public due to fire danger.

Are you going to line up at the Apple store tomorrow for a new iPhone? Do you keep the packaging that Apple products come in because they are so well designed? Did you know that packaging for said iPhone is made from potato starch?

I won’t be there, although the heat is supposed to ease off, and even though I know there is this device in my future. But I do keep the boxes of all things Apple.

Info via Popgadget.

At 8:30 a.m. the webcam shows thick, luscious fog obscuring the bridge. Tourists might not be pleased, but you can bet the rest of us are jumping up and down to see fog finally showing up after another heat wave. The forecast is still for the 90s inland, but there’s hope.

It may well be that when you view the page, the fog may be gone. But it was here, and it was abundant.

My Mac dashboard reports the Cupertino weather, which seems to be closer to the Sunnyvale forecast than the Mercury News or SFGate. But it keeps changing. Now it’s up to 99° for today and tomorrow. SFGate said inland areas will exceed 100°, and a quick glance at Sacto, Redding and Fairfield temps bear this out.

Meanwhile, the fires keep burning. Now in addition to the exhausting work, many firemen are having to deal with poison oak covering them from head to toe.

Excellent photos via the Chronicle can be seen here.

A whole week of temps in the high 90s brings joy to the heirloom tomatoes that are suddenly towering up to seven feet. However, those of us who are not fruiting vines cast a wary eye outside and note that it’s going to be hell if you aren’t in air conditioning. Especially with more fires murking up the already bad air quality.

There is one a/c unit here, but this being an open-plan house, there is no way to seal off rooms for maximum cooling. It makes the heat a bit more bearable, and keeps the laptop cooler, but that’s it. Nights can be stifling.

With mostly floor-to-ceiling windows, where to put a new a/c becomes a big problem. I will consult with the handyman who will be here tackling the dry rot problem later in the week.

In New York, they are hard at work designing ways to hide your unit.

Today and tomorrow promise to be noisy and incredibly distracting. The crew has been here since 8, and I thought they’d be done with the prep by now, but looks like they’re here for the duration.

When I glanced out one of the few windows not yet taped over, I could see what appeared to be a microwave in the ivy. No, I thought, can’t be, must be some machine that just looks like a microwave.

Later, I noticed a plastic container with a fork on top. Yes, I think they’ll be here a while.

After dinner, we checked out the air quality there. Much better than the last visit. The golden light from the smoke was great for photos last week, but not so fun for the upper respiratories. People were depressed. Tonight the fog was heading in, but not quite in the hills just yet, the joggers and walkers all smiley and cheerful.

The hawk kept its post for a long time. Perhaps I’ll find it again this weekend when I try to shoot in better light and not at dusk.