Subtitles

on Movies

Yesternight, I watched 3 parts of a series in French w/ subtitles. As a rule, I avoid foreign films. However, after Cinema Paradiso, I figured ' why not ? '.

The series is called ' Witnesses ' or 'les Temoins '. A detective seeks answers to a macabre routine of crimes. The bodies of dead people are displayed in model homes. Recently, exhumed from the area around the show home.
In the course of the investigation Sandra fights her own demons, her live-in partner's ( is he sleeping around on her ) and her ex - tutor and present co - investigator who brings a boatload of woe w/ him back to policing.

The truth is ' I normally play all movies w/ subtitles on '.

Sunny day, and close to 50 F , now at 8:00 AM

the Mirror of TV

well, shouldn't it be

Watching the series ' Madam Secretary '   ( Tea Leone and Tim Daly ) , the couple went through the ' we're good friends w/ the Rasmussen s, aren't we ? '. Through many cancellations due to Elizabeth Mc Cords State Dept committments, the McCords had cancelled 8 times on get to-gethers, the two couples had lost touch.

Oh so true ! 
Except we have no State Dept excuses. Just sloppy social skills

mostly mine, I think

Sun and cool is the order of the day

Gray and Threatening

the warm up starts in a day

In Baltimore, at JHU, this is Homecoming Week end. The boys in Columbia blue go after the Univ of Maryland, in a battle of the Crab, state bragging rights and # 7 vs # 2. The winner is top seed in the B1G championship.

UMD gets a triple O/T win at Homewood Field.

A cold day, the sun broke through for a bit. The warm starts to-morrow gradually building for the week.

Count Down

to four days ( minimum ) of 70 +

The forecast is for Sun going onward

1 st Waterproof Evaluation

guy showed up
Shaking his head

The estimate will come by email
He didn't want to even ballpark an amount

Crikey !!!

Oh, its been raining for 20 h and no leak ( yet  )

Big sun and warm w/ cool to cold breeze

Warm and Rainy

good days, overall right now

Rain to wash away the grime and dross of winter

Contact Made

A contractor that came highly recommended and did excellent work for us, has agreed to explore the problem and make sure that the problem is solved before he leaves.

Wow ! I'm sleeping so much better

However, he did not rule out digging to the foundation if the problem is not inside.
But the right guy is on the job

Downside, is
if the wall needs concrete repair the room mya be out of commission for a month or 2, to see if the leak is fixed

Yeah !

Netflix : Movie Review

' Sun Dogs ' - in the mode of  ' Alfie ' - 'Whats it All About '
A young adult needing to fulfill something in himself, seeks a career in the Marines. Ned is unfit for the military life and maybe most jobs in our world.
A flippant remark from a recruiter sends Ned off to become a 'special operative,  a Sun Dog ' for the Marines ( unofficially ) ( very unofficially ). He partners w/ a girl trying to be whole person, but having dismal luck.
The effort is satisfying emotionally but not so physically in the real world.
Ned fails and the girl succeeds
Ah Ha but in the end, Ned devolves to a career choice which suits him to a tee.

" Loving Vincent " the story of V. Van Gogh, artist and struggling human.
Rendered cinematically by using hand painted frames done ala Van Gogh. A whole slew of artists contributed these frames to tell of VVG s last days.
The story is told by a young man sent to deliver a wayward letter - Vincent to brother, Theo.

on Hold

like a person waiting to talk to a live contact at the calling centre

Still hoping for a visit from a contractor.

However, there is progress

I'm throwing out things

Doubles and triples of everything

Pathetic to see what we hauled out of that room
Let's hope way less goes back in

a drying room

the dehumidifier is producing, less and less water

good or bad
We shall see said the Zen Master

OMG, reading on line, that room could be a disaster
mold !!
mildew !

Eek !

Still waiting on a professional or experienced guy to evaluate the situation
I think that means drilling holes to peek behind the drywall

As well, I found a disaster hole or opening between the concrete of the garage floor and the asphalt drive.
A gap in the edge allows water to drop down ( right where the basement tool room back wall would be.

still fuming over the basement Leak

not fuming - I guess - more worried and wondering

Day 5 of the wet basement story
nothing much happening

room is drying - likely 5 gallons of water has been dumped from the dehumidifier.
patched the holes from the tackboard nails.
waiting for waterproofers to visit and give us an estimate

no Sleep for the Wicked

or me

Up and wandering around at 5:30

The next door neighbours used to be up at 4 AM
all lights on

Oh well, I'm drinking yesterday's coffee
and waiting

For ???????????

Netflix: watching the ' new '  - " Lost in Space " a Netflix original

hoarders - buried alive Me !

The wall to wall carpet is gone
and really gone, to-day, I'm off to the dump

A humidifier is going full blast down there and we're hoping for dry in 2 days.

Thus, I 've got my own version of the salt mines
And have officially become a hoarder

Everyone is finding stuff and going ' what is this for '
Dunno
In case
In case of what

?????

the Fix

or what we are doing

The watered area downstairs is my tool room / workroom.
Shelving everywhere - tools , odds and sods - in case ' you need it ' stuff
All moved out, into the hall downstairs.
Rug cut away from the wall / rolled and the underlay ( sponge ) cut and tossed. That was 6 hrs.
I bought a dehumdifier and its been running. All told, probably three buckets of water has gone out or evaporated but there could be a bucket or so to go. The rolled portion of the rug is 1 / 2 the area, there is big stuff that is hard to move and there is no place left to put stuff, anyway.
To-day, its cut the rug thats rolled and move some shelves over onto the cleared area and cut away the soaked pieces if I can.

Desperate - I called the neighbour and he came to help. I tried to cut corners and D said ' No, lets do it right '.
1/2 h later the toolroom is cleaned out w/ the dehumidifier running all out. I've added a heater.

A bare room is drying out. W/ 300 lb of carpet and underlay in the truck bed - bound for the dump
We'll save nada. All the wet stuff is going to the tip

Ice Everywhere

basically, our front yard walk and driveway was one continuous sheet of gleaming mirror last night.

Much better now. Rain is still falling and will keep falling all day

Last year, T.O. was 75 F and sunny

And we have water seeping in the basement from water running down the outside walls from the eaves ( overflowing )

Of course, its wall to wall carpet down there. And we have almost puddles.

2 True

exactly as predicted

We heard wind b/c pellets kept pinging off windows and roof.
And the driveway is paved w/ an ice snow mix similar to hard  packed dirt.
I cut a tire wide trench in parallel rows to maybe a) give water ( yes we'll get an inch or two of rain ) a place to run
b) maybe if the trench stays clear or more open then we'll have a track for our tires

Maybe ! I threw down limestone grit to provide some traction if the grit gets down to asphalt

And the kicker is the temperature will be 34 F starting this afternoon rising to 38 by evening and 48 F to-morrow during the day.

' I Get All the News

I need from the weather report '  you know, Paul Simon

That is our news for the weekend. Severe !
Rain, ice pellets, freezing drizzle, snow and sleet
The pattern culminates over night Saturday
Eases off Sunday afternoon.
Many culprits involved
Moisture from the Gulf and Great Lakes is aloft and cold arctic air out of the north

And exactly as promised............ ice coated everything
Trees are not drooping badly, however this evening may bring heavier drizzle and cold

Netflix : ' the Siege at Jadotville '. Set in the early 60 s in the Congo.
A province led by a General and backed by multi-national mining concerns breaks away from the country.
Unfortunately, a true almost story. I've always said that I dislike movies where I think it could be true ( even if fiction ).

The U.N. sends in a coalition of peacekeepers. An Irish Company is told to hold a remote outpost to protect transportation routes.
Unsupported and politically expendable, the Irish face French Legionnaire mercenaries and native army elements.

Holding out to the bitter end, out of ammo, they surrender. After a month, they are released.
At home, they cannot be recognized b/c the U.N. failed and failed badly. 

Threatened w/ charges of cowardice and dereliction of duty if they tell their story, they are referred to as failures.
But in the end, all is well.
In 2005, the Company was acknowledged for their sacrifice
See !
Wait 50 years and the world is your oyster.

Told you - I hate the true stories

Hi Ya !

to you

Ah yes, ups and downs
the Yin and Yang

The ebb and flow
the to and fro

Such are the byways and myways of life

' We had it all
just like Bogey and McCall '
or the lines from Key Largo ala Jimmy Buffet

I've been listening to the music of Ennio Morricone over the last 3 years. EM wrote the score for ' Cinema Paradiso ' circa 1983.
I ordered the video from Walmart and picked it up on Tuesday.

I watched the CP, tonight. The Tema di Amore or love theme from Cinema Paradiso plays throughout the film. Outstanding.
Also known as, ' Profumo di Limone 'or ' Se ', I've heard tens of renditions of this lovely piece.

The film is in Italian w/ English subtitles. The story is about the < Nuovo Cinema Paradiso > in a small Sicilian town.

Winner of Best foreign language Oscar and many more European awards, CP is considered a classic.

P.S. also penned by EM

1) Gabriels Oboe from the Mission ( aka Nella Fantasia )

2) Once Upon a Time in the West, love theme

3) Saccho and Vincente

^ ups and v downs

When God closes a door, he opens a window

Old saying
But the saying doesn't cover the fact that you were carrying a piece of furniture and needed the door width and height

Alright, I'm nit picking
Still an open window doesn't come close to a door
except its  harder for burglars to get in a window

In Europe, floor to ceiling windows are common
fantastic breezeways exist through homes

North American homes tend to small windows and poor alignment of openings

Something Happened, Alright

I copied a ' paste ' from the CBC website

The window popped up ' mixed media may impair the ability of the page translator ' 
basically, I blew it

Same old , same old weather pattern if you've been following along
which I assume that you are

Fallout from the attic adventures
the hall ceiling is cracked
along the seam lines for the drywall

I think that you are supposed to walk on the studs and not the boards in the attic
big Oops, there, I guess

The JHU BlueJays surged and defended their way to a 13 - 11 victory over Ohio State U.
The Jays are 8 - 2 ( losses to N. Carolina and Loyola )
In the B1G Conference, once the Big 10, now over 16 schools
or somesuch, the Jays are 2 - 0.
In fact, the 2 wins guarantees a B1G play-off berth.
Left to play are Penn State and Michigan and Maryland
Michigan, PSU are top 20 in the nation and UM is # 2

Something Happening, Here

lyrics from the ' Buffalo Springfield ' song

This is the day report from CBC WEATHER

Visibility: 24.1 Km
Sunrise: 6:45 AM
Sunset: 7:53 PM

Wind: WSW 10 km/h
Humidity: 67%
Pressure: 102.2 kPa 

' There'll Be a Change in the Weather '

there'll be a change in me '

Goes the lyrics
but not here

The same old , same old
Sun - mostly - and colder than normal by 6 - 10 degrees

The pest guys came and removed the one way door. The boss dude left bait station boxes to place in likely places. I'm supposed to try the furnace room. The mouseys like the warm.

Netflix: ' Fallet ' a crime series. A trigger happy Swedish cop and a over bumbling English detective are thrown to-gether. Both of their bosses can't wait to dump these two. Lovable in their own way but not team players. A murder in Sweden, has an identified Englishman as victim.
To prove that incompetence is international just watch this baby !

For the first time, while watching Epsiode 5 or some such - a window pops up on the screen  " Are you still watching ' Fallet '.
If you don't check ' YES ',  think the system shuts off.
As in, ' did you fall asleep ? '

To finish the pest control dilemma, I needed to go into the attic. The vent opening was wired shut w/caging material. But experimentation showed that somehow the duct connecting power fan to the roof vent was not connected.
The roof is high but the cross beams are about three feet off the attic floor. Thus, I was on my knees for 40 ft across the attic.
The original assessment had the vent as the entry point and if so, the duct ( plastic reinforced w/ wire )must be broken.
Unfortunately, the duct was loosely hanging at the vent in the roof top. As well, the duct was not attached at the fan either.
I went out and got aluminum tape to seal duct work.
Back into the attic.
For approximately, 45 minutes I worked in the shallow space up there. I reattached both ends and more importantly shortened the plastic duct ( by 4 ft ! ). You see, I had left extra duct in case. In case of what ? Dunno !
I came back alive and cramped. And in the house proper, ceiling drywall popped loose from my weight up there in the attic.

OK ! a job done

We still haven't heard a sound from the attic other than me.

This day was perfect for working in the attic. The temperature up there must have been in the 50 s and no wind.

play in the Sun

wearing your long underwear

Plus, I could hear the wind echoing through the trees earlier.

Netflix winner : the Zookeepers Wife
w/ Jessica Chastain
grim parts but happy ( ish  ) ending. I mean Warsaw in 1945 post - pogrom, uprising and liberation
In real life, 300 escapees hid at the zoo. 2 died after being turned in by fellow citizens

big Snowflakes

fell through the morning

41 F and raw, wind is slight

icing Sugar

sprinkled all around

Yes, the white stuff is on the ground but 

And a drop in degrees as well

On the buds, last night, an interview w/ the Pres of Soybean Growers ( U.S. ). He represents an export value of 4 B $. The announced Chinese tariff on soybeans estimated by an university economic group, to have an effect of dropping exports by 40 % and losses in dollars close to 70 %.
China imports almost a 1/3 of its soybean demand.
CORRECTION ?

On CBC online, the value quoted by the U.S. Soya Bean Growers
is  14 BILLION $
Why the discrepancy ? Cuz, I was 1/2 awake in the night
or maybe the guy represented the Western soybean growers b/c he was in Iowa

And full sun for the afternoon


Mouse Tales
Well, the pest guys come back to-morrow. They will take away the one-way door cage and re-attach the screen.
We have not heard a sound from the attic since they've been.
We have not caught a mouse in 2 weeks.
However, next door. The appraisers and adjusters were in again, to-day. The house has been vacant for 5 months. the water is off and the agents were using our washroom.
While waiting their turn, one told Margaret that the house is infested w/ mice. As in the mouseys are everywhere. 
Their opinion is that the house cannot be sold until fully de-moused.

RAW

say is all re:our weather out there

The wind did roar last night, and the ground is soaking wet

Sunny Not Too Warm

and rain is possible
and worse, the call is for snow / sleet ?????

Out of the blue, so to speak, guck will happen, likely overnight

The awful stuff held off for the daylight

On our main tube service, broadcast ( I guess ). A BBC series called " Unforgotten " highlighting a cold case unit out of London, UK. was on the last 2 Sundays, something like a mini-marathon. They are showing 4 episodes in a row.

B/c its British, if you've seen enough Brit Drama, the same actors keep appearing.  Like old home week, for devoted Brit crime followers.

The rain came w/ foul conditions. Strong winds, in fact warnings are out for power outages across the region.

We bought a mattress and box spring at Sleep Country Canada aka the Walmart of bedding in Cda.
Also, new ergo - something pillows that resist disease, stay cool and spring back to shape after being beaten to a pulp.
Plus, a mattress cover that is everything proof. Oh, tucks in very well.

We got the newbie in a week. They agreed to wait til we got the spare room ready. It means that I need to pick up and clean. The queen ( old ) mattress and spring will obliterate the room. But we'll have an extra real bed for B and M out of Akron. When they come to stay this summer.

Netflix news : I watched the " Circle ". this film could have been named < FaceBook gone berserk but can be controlled and made better. >

1990

post # 1990

Sun for us
Clouding over at 11 AM

A revelation - I've been saying the name wrong, my whole life.
Tycho Brahe  or " tie ko - o bra "

Actually , pronounced " tik - o bra - hee "

Oh well, I'd never heard but rather read the name

Health talk : I arrived home overweight ( for me ) a tad above          # 181 
Slowly, the number has fallen to #176 ( as at this morning )

The real problem : my whole life no matter what my weight ( the number ) - somebody has always said ' You need to get in shape '

I guess that there is something about the way that I look. 
Chunky looking ?
Chubby-kins ( as we use to say )
Chubby little creature was another fav

Thus, I'm looking out of shape - I'm sure

No scurrying sounds
No bodies in the traps