Feeling Like A Plumber

Last weekend, I decided to install the faucet of Ferlie's choice in our new home. Above is the "before" picture, with the cheap, leaky faucet that came with the house.
After several-dozen curse words, I arrived at the wonderful stage of having a mess, but no functioning sink.
Finally, the wonderful piece of Moen hardware was installed, and once again water is available, without ladling it out of the toilet.

We Joined the Honda Brotherhood

After owning exclusively American cars (most of them actually made in Canada, oddly enough) for years, today we bought this used Honda Accord. The safety ratings are good, and the gas milage, combined with Honda's record for superior reliability, made this a no-brainer for us. We test-drove a lot of different vehicles. Hopefully it will serve us well.

Solar Cars!

After mentioning Ed Passerini in the previous post, I wanted to find some links about his work with solar-powered cars. Here, and here, and here, and here. If you're inclined to read his tendentious book, here's a link to it.

He let me drive one of his cars in the early 90's, and while it was very low-powered, I was jazzed. It felt like a mixture of a Honda CRX and a battery-powered golf cart. Maybe I'll build one....someday. Passerini is a kook, but I genuinely liked him.

You can email him, if you're curious: epasseri@nc.ua.edu

An added note, one of the links refers to a man as "his longtime partner". He was chasing chicks back in the 1990's, so I'm not sure how "partner" was being used. Damn confusing modern-speak.

Finally (Mostly) Done!

Casa de Clemmons is taking shape. There is still some unpacking and arranging to do, but life is starting to be nice again. The blog is back!

Since we last went a-blogging, a big 'ole hurricane happened to the Gulf Coast. I've been blabbering about N'awlins getting itself destroyed since I heard everybody's favorite eco-nut Ed Passerini's lecture about this in 1991-2. I'm not surprised at what has happened, but I am saddened.

The leaders of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, and the federal government (past and present) all could have and should have done better.