I took this picture of a tree when I was driving south of Ketchikan along the coast in November, 2009.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Month: August 2020
Caveat: Poem #1492 “Illim’s origins”
ㅁ The desert claimed the generations' lives, but over time great cities took their shape. Arising from the flanks of hills they gleamed, declaring people's steadfast will to live.
– a quatrain in blank verse (iambic pentameter), about the aftermath of one of the many wars in the imaginary land of Illim, a small nation among many on the planet Rahet.
Caveat: Tree #591
This tree seems more average than your average tree.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Poem #1491 “Landing in Beyem”
ㅁ The chill wind came off the frozen lake. The city lurked among its hills. A large ship rested, icebound. Still, the streets teemed with life. Columns of smoke rose. I walked along. Some birds spun. Sun shone. Lost.
– a nonnet set in a fictional city called Beyem.
Caveat: Tree #590
This tree is all alone in a plain of gravel.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: a very odd plant
I wrote this when I was in 5th grade, in 1976. I have transcribed all the spelling and punctuation errors as best I could, in the same spirit with which I would sometimes transcribe my students’ work when teaching in Korea.
Ms. Agailia Wumpledin’s very Odd Plant
The insect-eating plant sat in the window
of Ms. Agailia Wumpledins house. She was a little
old lady who’s only companin was her
plant. She called her plant Clyde, and had
even made clothes for her plant. Clyde
also wore a velvet ribon, and had done so
all his life. he had gotten the ribon when
Ms. Wumpledin had bought him.
Clyde liked to collect the lining out
out of old womens shoes. whenever Ms.
Wumpledin had geusts over, he would
reach over with one of his banches and grab off the closest
woman’s shoes then he would use his toungh
to rip the lineing out of the shoes.
the reason he did this is because he
liked the taste of the glue that held
the lining to the shoes. Ms. Wumpledin
thought that this was so entertaining,
that sometimes she would invite people
over for that very reason.
Clyde liked gold too although he
rarely saw it. Once when some people were visiting, after having taken
most of the womens shoes, he saw a man
talking, who had a gold filling in his
mouth. he imedietly reached over
and grabed the man by his neck,
pulled the tooth out of his mouth
shook the filling out, and then gave
the man back his tooth. luckuly, this
only happened once.
But the oddest thing about Clyde,
was wenever he was alone, he would
pull out a deck of cards, and play
soliter.
So, we must certainly conclud that
Ms. Agailia Wumpledin has a very
odd plant.
Caveat: Poem #1490 “The best course of action”
ㅁ I was walking there. I felt a rock in my sock. So I removed it.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #589
This tree has fallen and can’t get up.
[daily log: walking, xkm]
Caveat: where to be
I came across this quote.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
Maybe I’ll add it to the column on the right.
Caveat: Poem #1489 “Clouds as shrill teenagers”
ㅁ The clouds looked down, spoke: "Omigod! That spot is dry!" they exclaimed. And rained.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #588
This tree is taller than me.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Poem #1488 “Because rainforest”
ㅁ Morning brings pink stains on the rims of grim gray clouds where rain waits, always.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #587
Here is another tree from the past: this tree is in Kagoshima, Japan. The active Sakurajima volcano is in the background. I took that picture in April, 2010 – as you can tell by the blossoms on the tree.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Poem #1487 “A gradual decoherence”
ㅁ Memory forgets. The meaning of events fades. Sensation remains.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #586
This tree is in front of the public school I taught at in Hongnong Village, Yeonggwang County, in rural southern South Korea. I took it in May, 2010. My classroom is the rightmost visible window on the first floor.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Poem #1486 “Unsummer”
ㅁ This summer wasn't. Rain and overcast each day - just a few with sun.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #585
I took this picture of a tree driving on a road (wait, was I driving on the road, or was the tree?) somewhere north of Thorne Bay (Northeast Prince of Wales Island) in October, 2009.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Purple Screen of Death
I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts, lately – hard to pinpoint why.
So I decided to plunge myself into computer issues. Perhaps there’s something of my uncle in me, right? I started trying to build a “development box” using my old laptop that brought with me from Korea. It’s not (and never was) a very good computer. But I’m not looking for performance, here – just a separate machine where I can try to run things without messing up my main computer (which is the HP “Lemon” I bought in 2018 – a laptop, too, but with a useless battery and some other issues, but which I have repurposed as a desktop Linux computer and works fine as that).
The Korean laptop is a 2009 “XNote” – whatever brand that is. It had been running “Windows 7 Korean”, which was a hassle because Microsoft doesn’t let you simply change languages in an operating system: you have to pay them first, as if you were buying a new operating system. This is true despite the fact that the data to support such a change is already inside the computer. So for all those years, I had to cope with error messages and applications running in Korean. I suppose it was a good way to learn some Korean, but it was stressful when you have to get something done and you get an error message and you have to break out the dictionary to figure out what’s wrong.
Anyway, I had set up linux (ubuntu 18.04) a few months ago, deleting the Korean Windows altogether. So now I ambitiously set out to replicate on this little laptop the same configuration I run on my server (the one that lives in a California “server farm” where this blog and all my mapping websites live). This is possible, as long as one isn’t concerned about speed and performance issues.
But I messed something up. I was trying to install Ruby – a programming language environment used for some of the mapping website software – and got stuck on a permissions problem. These are very common in linux, which has a pretty arcane and strict system of file permissions. In trying to repair that problem, I broke the operating system – certain files require certain permissions, or the whole apparatus comes tumbling down. I lost the ability to run root-level commands (called “sudo” in ubuntu) and furthermore, on reboot, the system hung before fully loading. End of operating system.
Microsoft’s Windows was famous for many, many years for presenting a “Blue Screen of Death” when it crashed. This was called the BSOD, and was more common than anyone liked. Well Ubuntu linux has its own BSOD, except it’s more a dark purple rather than blue. And it’s even less informative than Microsoft’s version.
So I had to start over. Tomorrow I go to work. I might not now make progress on this project until Thursday or Friday.
Caveat: Poem #1485 “A simple meal”
ㅁ The bugs visited. They made repast of my skull. and later I itched.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #584
This is another of my “pile of rocks” pictures that happens to have a tree in it.
It’s been my turn to suffer some computer problems. Not sure quite what: seems like I’ve just gotten my hard drive too full and need to clean house. I get upset when Arthur has his computer problems – but I see that as being because of how he starts cussing and carrying on about it. I try to remain more calm, but there’s no denying it can put one out of sorts.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km]
Caveat: Poem #1484 “Just you wait and see”
ㅁ Sometimes I just stand, and look around and think stuff; the world is patient.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #583
This tree awaits momentous changes.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Fishing Report #(n+14)
Like yesterday, Arthur went out with Jeff. He left at 6 AM with valet service to our dock. At 6 PM, he called and I went over to Jeff’s to pick him up with his fish. He was very tired.
His descriptions of the experience were vague and laconic. But he came home with 1 small coho, 2 halibut, and some black bass.
Year-to-date totals:
- Coho: 22
- Halibut: 5
- Lingcod: 1
Caveat: Poem #1483 “Reflected glory”
ㅁ The world exists twice: Once above the lounging sea; Once somewhere below.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #582
This tree caught some rays.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Fishing Report #(n+13)
This will be a much shorter fishing report, but I’m including it for completeness.
Arthur went out fishing, but I did not. He went out with his friend Jeff, who has a bigger boat and runs charter fishing trips. Arthur was hoping to get some halibut.
Apparently, he did! That’s good. They went out on the open ocean, where I dare not go with the smaller boat. He said there were 10 foot swells. Sounds swell. Anyway, Jeff helped Art get some halibut, apparently. Art was very vague on details, as is his way.
The coho continued playing hard-to-get, though – so it’s not just us. Everyone’s having a hard season, salmonwise.
It was very convenient: Jeff drove his boat over from his house to our house, picked Arthur up at the dock at 6:15 AM, and dropped him back off at 4:30 PM. Valet service.
Jeff and Art are going out tomorrow, too.
Year-to-date totals.
- Coho: 21
- Halibut: 3
- Lingcod: 1
Caveat: Poem #1482 “There”
ㅁ There were some gray clouds. There were some small bugs buzzing. There was a seagull.
– a pseudo-haiku
Caveat: Tree #581
I found a forest of 2-inch-tall alders.
I made some progress on the treehouse. I finished the cables to the new bolt in the eastern tree. I tightened them up and got the eastern support beam lifted off the bolt under its center. Because it was windy, this produced an impressive result: the eastern end of the treehouse platform began to swing, ever so slightly, back and forth. But the corner cables remained taut, so the platform felt securely anchored. I felt pleased with the result.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Poem #1481 “Twenty-third stanza”
ㅁ Kiamon sat on the shore of the lake, watching the water that danced with the wind, narrowing eyes from a face that had thinned, barely remembering desert and ache.
– a quatrain in dactylic tetrameter, but with a different rhyme-scheme than previous quatrains on the topic of Kiamon.
Caveat: Tree #580
This young alder experiences an unexpected hole in the summer’s eternal overcast.
[daily log: walking, 3km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Tell me something. I don’t care what.
The Stone’s Throw Tell me something. I don’t care what. Tell me despair is a dress that opens; The nail, doubtless, is driven straight down Into the twisted cedar post. Say death is listening at the door. Tell me how, between opposites, to tell The relative from the absolute; Why the creek sobs out at the start of spring, Though the spring sun, among stars, is undistinguished. Paper rose, stone’s throw: show me the smallest necessities Joining to complete the world. - James Galvin (American poet, b. 1951)
Caveat: Poem #1480 “A busy day”
ㅁ The morning had sun. Later, it rained, with some wind. I watched, as I do.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #579
This is the eastern tree of the two treehouse trees, now with its new “upper bolt” holding the cables. I think this works much better – anyway the platform now feels more securely anchored to the trees.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km; retailing, 8hr]