Saturday Morning Brain Drain [27/3/21]

If you're looking for new stuff, you've come to the wrong place

What I Watched:  We watched “1969”, the ABC documentary series.  It certainly did a good job of getting into aspects of the stories they covered (Apollo 11/Chappaquiddick/Manson/etc) that aren’t as generally well known.  They interviewed a 100-year-old Katherine Johnson about her role in the moon landing; talked at length with some of the “Manson girls” about their experiences and their reaction to Manson becoming a celebrity throughout his prison sentence; really dug into how Ted Kennedy’s family power and family money allowed him to skate on the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, and on and on.

What I Read:  “The Making of a Miracle”, by Mike Eruzione and Neal Boudette.  This is Eruzione’s memoir, which came out a few years after the film.  It’s…fine.  I read it because it was given to me as a gift and I have a hard time just not reading something that was given to me (which is why I’m currently knee deep in a biography on Alexander Hamilton).  I fear that I’ll be asked to give a book report, so I just plow through it.  Ultimately, the book is fairly interesting and Boudette does a good job of putting Eruzione’s words in a readable format. 

What I Listened To:  My “recents” page tells me I’ve been listening to a lot of Ray Charles and Ana Popovic.

It’s sunny and in the 60’s here, so I’ll be spending a good part of my Saturday outside.  But if the weather is crummy where you are—or you just hate oxygen—then this is a great time to start your pepper seeds indoors.  @Loveshaq is covering that topic in today’s Dirty Business.

Whatchoo doin’ today?  Working outside, working inside, or working on kicking that rather troublesome valium habit from 2020 that you promised yourself wouldn’t get out of control?  Lay it all out in the comments below.

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About butcherbakertoiletrymaker 603 Articles
When you can walk its length, and leave no trace, you will have learned.

14 Comments

  1. Started watching The Sinner on Netflix – it’s intriguing but a little odd. I always like Bill Pullman – the star of my most favorite Xmas movie – While You Were Sleeping.
     
    I’ve mostly been catching up on Marketplace and Make Me Smart with Kai and Molly.
     
    Going to spend the rest of the day picking up some native plants I ordered from a local nursery, planting them and some hydrangeas and planting my new raised beds with pollinator seeds. It’s going to be 81 here today so we’ll see how long I last. 

  2. I wish I had access to all the good drugs, but nope. (DM me to provide.) Well, first, thank you for doing a Brain Drain, Butcher! I am on page 50 of 800 in Turbo Tax software, as threatened last evening, taxes, ouch. The plant delivery service we use – wait – quick disclaimer….

    OK – we have an small crowd of artsy, nonprofit, old hippies we are tangentially connected to. Good people. About four years ago, two partnered gentleman left a pansy on our porch to advertise their fledgling plant delivery service. They were  friends of the children of my best friend for 40+ years’ husband. So fast-forward four years, the business has thrived and expanded, but still offers greenhouse plants in excellent quality delivered to your door.

    Ours arrived today, for our front yard. And the point TL;DR is Creeping Jenny. We use it in pots for bright green umph – it lasts until fall frost – would be great in hanging baskets, too. Affordable and pretty. Our 14 plants arrived!!! We will need to wait until last frost next week to pant outside, but so exciting!

    Happy weekend, DeadSplinterati!

  3. Saturday! I plan on doing a crap ton of nothing until the cocktail hour, then more nothing but with dranks. We have overnight lows below freezing next week so no gardening just yet. Although, I might give my Bayberry a pruning, I imagine the blueberry pruning plan from last week will work?
    Watching/watched: All on Acorn, Mystery Road, Jack Irish, Bloodlands.
    Frantically trying to finish Charterhouse so I can start Sleepwalkers.
    And down the Ween rabbithole I went, damn you cheese song.

  4. I spent most of the morning cleaning up the front landscaping. Pulled out all the dead leaves, early weeds, and the phlox that didn’t survive winter. Tomorrow I guess I need to go buy new phlox and fresh mulch. 

    I’m currently rereading The Last Picture Show,I pulled it off the shelf last night when I heard about McMurtry. 

    Listening to Nick Waterhouse, my Fun Music Saturday pick

    B. Santa Ana, 1986

     

     

     

     

  5. Sadly I must retract my previous recommendation of Staged2. It didn’t live up to the first season. It was more obviously staged, there wasn’t enough funny banter between the two (too many cameos), and it didn’t feel like it captured daily pandemic life as well as the first season did.
     
     
    The animated Pacific Rim series didn’t have enough mech vs. monsters. I cringed so hard my toes almost cramped during a scene where the characters let loose and dance. Gah. Even typing it out makes me cringe.

  6. Reading – Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine. I had picked up the 3rd book of the trilogy at the Dollar Tree (I love their book selection… you find the oddest stuff), not realizing it was the end of the trilogy instead of the beginning. I tracked down the other 2 via my library and… it’s alright. It’s a sci-fi of the alternate-history/steampunk/space opera variety, but I can’t quite keep the suspension of disbelief required to really get into it. I’ll finish it, and probably even read the other 2, but I’m not as into it as I thought I would be. 
     
    Watching – I’ve been mostly leaving the tv on for background noise so it’s been a random assortment of Disney movies, X-files, Guy’s Grocery Games, Stargate SG1, and Nailed It.

  7. I finally got my laptop back!  Had a battery issue (internal battery swelled on Macbook) and had to wait seven bloody days to get it back.  It’s not the same conducting your online business on a smartphone.
    Watched documentaries mostly about how wronged people and rage… and how bad things happen.
    Spycraft
    Challenger (even though I studied it, but it still has some new info)
    Tread (one man’s seemingly unjustified rage vs a town)
    College Scandal (a real fuck up about class and the real meaning of education in US)

  8. Went to the botanical gardens today! I hadn’t been since last fall and spring time is so nice there. Ideally I go every 3-4 weeks this time of year because there’s lots of successive gorgeous blooms.

    Like daffodils are full-on this week and some tulips are blooming. The Japanese Garden is starting to have all the cherry blossom trees blooming and it was sublime. 

    All the azaleas start up in a few weeks, along with the rest of the tulips as well as the magnolias and rhododendrons. 

    A few weeks after that and the Iris Garden is gorgeous, then a few weeks later those are tapering off but the Daylily Garden is in full bloom and the Rose Garden is starting blooms. 

    tl;dr today I got to spend several hours with an old friend that also happens to be a botanical garden 

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