Month: February 2020
Caveat: A beach day
My brother Andrew and I went to Kasaan. There is a totem pole park there – a kind of outdoor museum of native culture.
Kasaan is possibly my favorite place on the island. It being winter, the cafe and indoor visitor center was closed. But we walked among the totems, saw the old long house, and had a kind of impromptu picnic on the beach.
It was a nice day, though quite cold – I think about 36° F (2 C), and windy.
Here is Andrew on the rocky beach.
Caveat: Poem #1308 “A painting by Turner”
ㅁ A rainless dawn presents its colors, here, revealing whitecaps racing down the bay.
Caveat: Tree #422
Caveat: greenhouse rising
My brother Andrew is visiting. I have a certain project I’ve decided to ask his assistance with – he has a much wider Alaska-appropriate skillset than I do, and is able to build things.
I bought a kit greenhouse a while back, because I want to have a greenhouse, here. The main building issue with setting it up is that it needs a kind of “foundation” to rest on – not a full structural foundation, but at least something to anchor it to the ground. That’s what Andrew and I are working on.
Caveat: Poem #1307 “Or cold coffee’s okay, too”
ㅁ My coffee's ready, waiting for me there. Now, can I not forget before it cools?
Caveat: Tree #421
Caveat: The storm like people
The Storm Like people emerging from a steambath, bending over, steaming from their heads and shoulders, the ring of the mountains from the Chilkat Range to the Juneau ice field as if in steambath towels of snow flurries; at their feet are foaming white caps of sea like water thrown on rocks steaming from the heat. - Nora Marks Dauenhauer (Tlingit poet, 1927-2017)
Caveat: Poem #1306 “The city as machine”
ㅁ The city's limbs were crafted stone and wood, extending out across the rolling plain. Thin vessels made of steel and copper wire assisted in connecting place to place.
Caveat: Tree #420
My brother Andrew has come to visit for about a week. So I went to the ferry terminal to pick him up. Inside the ferry terminal, I saw this tree, made out of a… tree.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: one who hamsts
I sometimes read a satirical linguistics blog called Speculative Grammarian. That blog often posts short, one-line jokes and such. Here are some that recently amused me.
What’s orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot.
Did you hear about the kidnapping at the nursery? He woke up.
This paradoxical statement is false.
The cannibal became a missionary because “if you can’t eat ’em, join ’em!”
What’s brown and sticky? A stick
What did the fish say when he swam into a wall? Dam!
hamster (n) 1. one who hamsts. Ex.: “I’m gonna hamst you up.”
Caveat: Best of Arhet, Week 3


Caveat: Poem #1305 “A metaphoric mess”
ㅁ I laid my metaphors to slowly dry. They dampened all the floor and stained my mind.
Caveat: Tree #419
Caveat: term of art
“Language is an art, like brewing or baking…. It certainly is not a true instinct, for every language has to be learnt.” – Charles Darwin
Caveat: Poem #1304 “A polaroid snapshot found in the ruins of Ur”
ㅁ Our knees were bent, our faces gazed, bemused. The table bore some cups, a bowl of fruit. Sumerian complaints escaped our mouths, but no one ever reached their statements' ends.
Caveat: Tree #418
Caveat: 음삭은 갈수록 줄고 말은 갈수록 는다
Here is an aphorism from my book of Korean aphorisms.
음삭은 갈수록 줄고 말은 갈수록 는다
eum.sik.eun gal.su.rok jul.go mal.eun gal.su.rok neun.da
food-TOPIC over-time decrease-CONJ word-TOPIC over-time increase-PRESENT
Food decreases over time and words increase over time.
This is a reference to the way that rumors are augmented as they are passed along person-to-person – unlike food, that is consumed as it is passed person-to-person. “Rumor grows as it goes.”
Caveat: Poem #1303 “The snow lacks conviction”
ㅁ The snow kept falling, failing, uselessly, barely blanking trees, melting on the ground.
Caveat: Tree #417
Caveat: a poke in the eye from the left
I had a kind of insight, recently, thinking about the Democratic primaries that are now playing out. Contrary to most of the pundits I’ve seen writing about it, I believe that Bernie Sanders has a very good chance of winning both the nomination and beating our current Space Emperor. Why? For the same reason The Oleaginous One himself was able to win in 2016.
People voted for Orange Julius Caesar not because of any of his policy proposals (which were both largely incoherent and have since been mostly ignored), but because it was a “poke in the eye” at the status quo. And in fact I think there are just as many people – if not more – on the left who think this same way, as compared to those on the right. They’re just fed up with the status quo and would like nothing more than to give the powers-that-be a good kick in the pants. Bernie can win because he’s a kind of “Drumpf of the left.” This is not true of any of the other Democrats running – not Bloombie, not Buttigieg, not even Warren.
You see, Sanders is basically a grumpy old socialist. He’s wholly authentic, and if his election wouldn’t be a good poke in the eye at the status quo, from the left… well, then nobody’s election would be.
What I’m listening to right now.
King Crimson, “The Court of the Crimson King.”
Lyrics
The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun
I walk a road horizons change
The tournament’s begun
The purple piper plays his tune
The choir softly sing
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
For the court of the crimson king
The keeper of the city keys
Puts shutters on the dreams
I wait outside the pilgrim’s door
With insufficient schemes
The black queen chants the funeral march
The cracked brass bells will ring
To summon back the fire witch
To the court of the crimson king
The gardener plants an evergreen
Whilst trampling on a flower
I chase the wind of a prism ship
To taste the sweet and sour
The pattern juggler lifts his hand
The orchestra begin
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the crimson king
On soft grey mornings widows cry
The wise men share a joke
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax
The yellow jester does not play
But gently pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the crimson king
Caveat: Poem #1302 “The water pump”
ㅁ The pump: we could not repair. Another pump for water put in there... hard affair.
Caveat: Tree #416
Caveat: worth doing four times
I installed and uninstalled the new water pump (see yesterday’s blog entry) four times today, troubleshooting various leaks. On the forth install, it seems to be relatively leak-free, so Arthur and I decided to call it functional.
I enjoyed feeling competent to finally get it working.
But it was quite difficult and tiring, too. Out there in 32° weather banging on pipes:
1. Carry pump up to cistern shed.
2. Place pump on shelf. Attach hose, tighten clamps, repeat x 3 hoses. Bolt down pump. Test pump. Identify leaks.
3. Unbolt pump. Loosen clamps, remove hose, repeat x 3 hoses. Carry pump back down to workshop. Clean out threads, mess with fittings, reline all threads with teflon tape.
4. Go to step one.
Each loop takes about 2 hours.
Caveat: Poem #1301 “Rainforest celebration”
ㅁ There is water everywhere, abundant and redundant, in the air... don't despair.