Time out! A timely, linguistic Curio!

 

Just sitting here wondering and reminiscing about a word from my youth. Were you to visit my hometown ... Saint John , New Brunswick.....at this tme of year ..... and be having breakfast in any diner or greasy spoon  ..... and tuning in to the local yokels' conversations around you , you would hear one word recurring over and over again. The word is "freshet "! This  word has a high frequency rating in late April and early May in and around Saint John..... and , to boot , it's in Webster. I know of no other place in the English - speaking world where  this word is still used. How about you ?

Flood Update 2008 !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After playing cat ad mouse with us for four days , la Rivière Jaune showed its true Spring colours yesterday evening after supper...... setting all three pumps in motion....... spewing water from the sump shafts back outside where it belonged. I stayed up all night to watch over the pumps ....... ready to troubleshoot any snags that might occur....... replace burnt out motor by another new one , make sure floaters don't get tangled , adding a second pump to shaft should inflow become too much for one pump , etc Anyways I made it through the night .... kept the water out of the house.... and shall sleep like a hibernating bear tonight. The river settled back into its arroyo - like bed around one oçlock this afternoon ..... still high though.... and the pumps are now silent, Buíochas le Dia !

This flooding business could be getting a bit hackneyed .... even boring for some readers ...... so I do not expect you to make any comments. This is mainly for my own logbook info in general..... as next year I will have an " aide mémoire " when dealing with next year's aquatic challenge. Thank you for your patience.

P.S. Pics taken this morning of the falls , cascades some 400 meters upstream from our home........ the current picks up speed here and literally flies by some 10 meters from our house. Great fun !!

Jusqu'ici ça va !! So Far , So Good !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given the vast stockpile of snow still in the hinterland and the exceptionally hot weather of late .......... our swollen friend , the Yellow River , has been flowing by our backyard .....almost to spillover level ..... for the last four days and nights. Our pumps stand in readiness and click on every now and then . This whole situation recalls the story about the guy who jumped off the top of the Empire State Building .... and who was heard muttering  as he passed by the 64th floor ,  , "So far so good !!"This anecdote expresses my attitude as I write these words this evening as the big threat usually follows the breaking up of the ice in some 20 - 25 lakes way upstream in the backlands. In the meantime we are staying alert .. watchful .... an ready to respond to any emergency. We'll keep you , our friends , in the loop. 

Arm in arm with all the aquatic fun and adventures I have been potting dahlias and  gladioli out on the sundeck and having a ball . My "meowmix "is particularly potent this year and I shall add the sheep manure when transplanting them into the flowerbeds sometime in early June. Ihave bought quite a few new dahlias lately ... and have posted a couple of pics above.

It is at this point that I wish to ask forgiveness of my blog friends and buddies..... I do not often make the rounds commenting  on your excellent creations . I'll try to do better once the imminent danger  that set afloat Noah and his gang has passed us by.. 

 

Multitasking : Manning The Pumps And Potting Dahlias !!

 

Although the Yellow River had peaked last night , levelled off somewhat for a while overnight and then  dipped maybe a foot early this morning...........the poetic babbling brook is presently bubbling over with enthusiasm and Spring hormones once again. During the day the best vantage point from which to keep a close eye on the nearby creek is our sundeck. So yesterday aftrnoon I set up shop.... mon chantier ..... on the deck where so far I have managed to pot some 40 individual dahlias and also about ten flower boxes of gladioli and baby dahlias. My "meowmix " which I have named in honour of our dear McDuff is my own special recipe of lime , earth , peat moss and sheep manure. Crazy , eh ? Gardening with still a meter of snow on the ground !!! You all remember my greenhouse buried under deep snow barely three weeks ago ! And just seeing my rocking lawnchairs appearing out of all that snow after all these months truly warms my heart.  Might be another busy night , my friends.  

P.S. I received a call from the Pope while on deck earlier today.   

It's 1 : 30 am and water is slowly seeping into the sump holes .... not yet risen high enough to activate the floaters to set the pumps in motion.

The Annual Aquatic Challenge !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Rivière Jaune.... Yellow River.... somewhat akin to its Ohio twin , Doan Creek...... is rising quickly now after a number of very hot days. The Big Thaw is in full swing and I shall probably spend the night making the rounds of the five pumps you see installed at strategic places in the basement and likewise at the back entrance. So this will be an ongoing blog until the creek falls back into its normal bed . Last year the Big Night .... Overnight Vigil..... took place on the night of April 21st..... and the year before that .... 2006..... on April 13th. In fact , in 2006 I opened the pool , cut a hole in the ice and went in for a quick dip....... with picture as proof ! Back later..

1:20 in the morning and all is well ..... river still withinn its banks , although near the rim . No sign of water welling up in the sump holes downstairs. Just saw a couple of ice floes go speeding by with help from super light. This means that some ice is breaking loose from falls 400 yards upstream. . 

3 am and all is still well..... it'll be far worse when the 25 lakes back in the hinterland break up since all discharge into the Yellow River an use it to drain away  the superabundance of water and ice during the Big Melt. It looks like a long night..... Fluff 's getting her beauty rest while McDuff and I watch over the pumps and the night-prowlers... raccoons , skunks , stray cats , etc

5 am bells are sounding and srill no water in the basement,,,,,,,,,,,nor even a drop in the sump holes where the pumps are set up. So far , so good !! Daylight is not far off so I shall soon get a better idea of how the whole stiuation outside is shaping up. 

No Box For This Old Codger , Barb !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my reply to my good friend , Barb 's comment on my blog " De Senectute....... About Aging !! " Hugs , Barb !

" I am thinking you have a partner who is a weee bit younger than you, so I just bet she will take especially good care of you in the years ahead, no matter what fun things getting older may have in store. You could end up in a box just like McDuff! " Barb Nutopian

A Few Dahlias 2007

Winter Hiver 2007 - 2008

De Senectute......About Aging !!

 

For me aging is an irreversible process .... and a challenge..... which begins at birth and we celebrate its progress once a year until we die. Of late I've been dusting off and reading a few of the old classical Latin authors , especially Marcus Tullius Cicero..... statesman , lawyer and all around great thinker. I consider myself one of the lucky ones ...... part of the last generation of those who not only studied Latin for itself as a language during my formative years but who also used Latin as a medium for studying other subjects such as , philosophy , theology , logic , patrology , history , canon law , etc As I look back fondly on that period  with hindsight now that I have reached the safe haven of my mature years I feel that there might still be some unfinished business to attend to ....... tidbits of wisdom to be gleaned and reflected upon from authors too quickly visited and not fully understood back then.

At the present moment I am perusing Cicero's De Senectute ...... About Aging....... and loving every word of it. Although written in 44 BC ........ more than 2000 years ago......it still remains highly pertinent in today's world. 'This work takes the form of Plato's Dialogues wherein three "straightmen " ( Scipio , Leleus and Cato ) question a wiseman ( Cicero himself ) about the great truths of the universe and mankind. At the beginning of the treatise Cicero mentions the four major reproaches that society , on the whole , makes to aging or old age.

" 5. Etenim, cum complector animo, quattuor reperio causas, cur senectus misera videatur: unam, quod avocet a rebus gerendis; alteram, quod corpus faciat infirmius; tertiam, quod privet fere omnibus voluptatibus; quartam, quod haud procul absit a morte. Earum, si placet, causarum quanta quamque sit iusta una quaeque, videamus. VI. A rebus gerendis senectus abstrahit. Quibus? An eis, quae iuventute geruntur et viribus? Nullaene igitur res sunt seniles quae, vel infirmis corporibus, animo tamen administrentur? Nihil ergo agebat Q. Maximus, nihil L. Paulus, pater tuus, socer optimi viri, fili mei? Ceteri senes, Fabricii, Curii, Coruncanii, cum rem publicam consilio et auctoritate defendebant, nihil agebant? "

"Cur senectus misera videatur "..... "Why old age might be seen as miserable " ..... 1) it hinders taking care of business or removes one from active life 2) it renders the body feeble and weak 3) it deprives the elderly of almost all pleasures and 4) it brings us closer to death. Cicero answers each objection in a positive and often humourous manner , especially number 3) dealing with life's pleasures and more particularly those of the flesh. It is his opinion that wild or illicit sex and politics make bad bedfellows as seen in the following quotation from the text ,

"40. Hinc patriae proditiones, hinc rerum publicarum eversiones, hinc cum hostibus clandestina colloquia nasci " ...... "thus betrayals of the fatherland , thus upheavals of political life , thus take rise secret talks with the enemies "..... While Cicero was listing a few examples from his own era I couldn't help but think of our own North American political leaders of recent times and their sexual slip ups or blunders while in office......

All in all it has proved to be  most interesting and pleasant reading on a timely subject. History marches on ...... and aging as well !!