The Finksburgian: Affordable, Sustainable Housing

July 2011 Update

July 2011 Update

That's a mason bee house in the picture. Whether my poor honey bees survive this year or not, I'll be making a major comiittment in 2012 to import and nurture Mason Bees. ///// The garden has really taken off with monster squash plants eyeballing the house for additional support. Unfortunately, I've had a major change in lifestyle over the past 2 weeks as a miscreant EKG test led me to a triple artery heart bypass and it has fully crimped my ability to do anything requireing physical activity, even watering the garden. Debbie has done her best to keep up with things but I have to admit I created a monster of a garden - al with the intent on my devoting 1/2 my time to it. I can't even lift the sugar water buckets to feed the honey bees, although they seem to be having a good old time playing in the assortment of fruits, vegetables and flowers arounf the place. Funny, I can't get anyone to volunteer to feed those bees! ///// Hopefully things will return to near normal in a few weeks and I'll atone for my wayward gardening obligations and the bees.

No Extra Charge for the Snow

No Extra Charge for the Snow

So Debbie and I decide to go to Williamsburg, Va. for the umpteenth time but the first time ever on Christmas day in 2010 and wowsa on Xmas eve we catch a rare snowstorm that paralyzes the north East but wallops Glouster Counter, Va. with over a foot of snow. The Williamsburg Inn can't figure out how to charge guests extra for it so everyone makes the bset of it and has a good time. It is....beautiful. Quiet, uncrowded, people are are polite, staff are making the best of it, cresste fires are burning in the old town along with some street fires. The silence and snow scene is a real rarity and beyond a price. I'm going to post some before and after pictures below. The after pix are compromised by my shaky hand and a cardboard camera with electrical tape over the flash. Flash doesn't work so well on landscape pix...apparemtly a shaky hand does't either.

May Harvey be with you

May Harvey be with you

Throughout my last 4 years of employment with the County I pretty much worked alone, that is in an offive with no one supervising me and no one to supervise. I managed my own time and projects, came up with my own ideas, work schedules, and promotions. Some people who passed by though I was talking to myself but they didn't know about Harvey, my 6'3" closest friend and Pookah. Harvey was left to me By Mr. Elwood Dowd in his will when he passed in 2002, that's him in the picture with Harvey. Harvey has sustained me in the most difficult of times with some of the best thoughts on life and companionship when I needed it the most, like when I got into the ATV melee as Zoning Administtrator and when they told me I have leukemia. He does have a penchant for getting snockered around 3:30 every day on abisinthe but there are worse habits. He loves to spend time in bars with other folks, just listening to them talk about their woes. The great thing about Harvey is he can always be there for you too when you need him - he'll never actually leave me though.

Hard Times In The Job Market

Hard Times In The Job Market

First things first, I am very thankfull to former County Commissioners Julia Gouge and Dean Minnnich for being stand up individuals who honored my contract with the County and paid me the severance and leave allowed for in that contract. They are now taking a shellacking in the press most undeservedly and are not being given the credit they deserve for all the good things they did for the county while they were in office, Dean for 8 years and Julia for 20. The number of things to their credit are many but the big one I must mention is that they opened up government to the public - I participated in it and assisted in it - it was their mandate from the year 2002 forward and the changes were huge. I am sorry that their decision to do the right thing by me and three other County managers has put a damper on the story of their successes in their terms in office./// Well cry me a river, I left, or got lefted from, my County job on December 1st 2010 and I haven't found a job yet! The fact that I'm 61 years of age, have a slight medical problem involving some fugged up cells in my bone marrow and a bad wheel (recalled hip replacement) hasn't helped. Add to that, it's not unlike when I was 18, I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up, again. I have a few clues, some of which sound like self-employment but also require money, spell that debt - something that I don't ever need again in my life, particularly after a little surprise incident 3 years ago that liked to have killed me and the person who created it. Besides that, I can see me taking the first pfou, pfou latte de creme that some 20 something would complain about and pouring it over their head so that cafe / music thingy idea probably wouldn't work out too well. So if you see me sitting out alongside MD Rt 140 selling Cozy Custom Cuckoo Cottages don't be surprised. It's either that or I finally buy that racehorse that my Dad always wanted. I could name it Chicolini after my favorite character in the Marx Brothers' Movie Duck Soup. I want to hear the track announcer call the race: " And hereza come Chicolini downa the stretch. Looka that horse a run. Heza passin' all the other horses. By golly it's Chicolini to winna by a nose. Chicolini he winna the race!

Life in the slow lane

Life in the slow lane

Well ain't this a bitch. Three weeks out of a job and I'm ready to go nuts for sure. There appears to be something wrong with my right wheel and that has to be settled before I get serious about looking for a new job. Either my hip replacement has gone bad - the best possible evil - or the leukemia has oozed out of the bone, which it ain't supposed to do. Meanwhile my home desk is so tidy I can't stand it, my notes are neatened up and anything I write past this point is sure to get me in trouble. I have actually established a daily routine! Ugh! Soon it will be Christmas, who cares. My new blog, Chaos In Carroll.com is up and running but I have it on hold as I'd rather not nit pick and second guess the new Commissioners, figuring they will provide plenty of material in due time worth writing about. So I guess I'll be cranking up Cornelius' Cottage shack sooner than expected. Stay tuned for some new Art Deco designs.

Who is this Man?

Who is this Man?

Damned if I know. Never met the guy. He sure ain't Jose Jimanez. He claims to be Brooks Emmory from Union Bridge and he corresponds, if only telepathically, with me pretty routinely. Well, he certainly raised a bit of a ruckus with his blog, Chaos Comes To Carroll County over the last year and scored one helluvalotta hits every week. Unfortunately, he didn't make so much as a dent in the results of the election, despite all the ruckus and disclosure. Brooks now tells me that he may continue to write on about matters in Carroll post the election but that he doesn't mind if I go on and try my hand at it too and borrow from the name of his blog, so I am. Look soon for a new blog with a link to Brook's at www.Carrollinchaos.com

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Everybody needs a theme song. I finally found mine. Here I was, feeling sorry for meself with a wee bit of cancer, I got the IRS on my ass over the one winning bet I made at the OTB last year, I've been suspended from work for having a sense of humor, 1/2 the gawddam appliances in the house are broke from a lightning strike to a lovely copper trellis I made out in the veggie garden and along comes this 2nd bolt from the blue as a song. I tell you its a miracle it is! People have been telling me to cheer up and not let all the bad news drag me down. By golly they're right! [you may have to cut and paste the link to your browser which will knock off this silly blog but it's bloody well worth it] http://pythonline.com/youtube_archive/always-look-bright-side-life

Two Queens from Hilo and their Wop Workers

Snow. More Freakin Snow!

Snow. More Freakin Snow!

This is one of the guys up on the roof. It's the 7th of February 2010 and I just finished digging out the mailbox for the second time and I'm puffing like this guy. We recieved between 26 and 30 inches of snow and where it felt like drifting, like in front of the garage doors and on top of the deck it was an easy 48 inches. Gotta feel for the wildlife. Pine branches breaking sound like rifle shots. Very pretty but very hard to find a place for it all.Now if you want a great laugh at it all, click on the first pic and watch Herr Hitler flip out about the snow int the bunker scene from "The Downfall" with some new subtitles! [Editors note May 2010, the SOB's took the video down because of complaints from the original film maker who obviously didn't see the humor in it all]

Cheap Wine Talk (aka Talk about Cheap Wine)

Anybody can talk about expensive wine. Hell at $40 to $120 a bottle the damn stuff better have a boquet of ripe blabberberries fine Corinthian leather and taste like Cleopatra's derriere' on a spring day in Sicily after it was rubbed in olive oil and aged honeyberries.
The challenge for the rest of us is to find a wine that tastes like well aged grapes of one sort or another that will go down well with pizza, spaghetti, burgers, subs or calamari. Or a rack of lamb for that matter.
For now check out the marvelous wine ratings below until I can figure out just what and where I'm going to post the CWT column permanently. And don't hesitate to send in your suggestions for cheap wine sampling!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Affordable, Sustainable Housing

[Edited with new pix 3-10-10] Hey, everybody has to do something in their spare time. Me, it is largely wagering on slow horses but when I'm not I doing thatI try to lose myself in making various types of birdhouses out of "scrap" lumber. I started using left-over siding from our house, which is cedar and made awfully nice houses but eventually I ran out. Before I started pulling boards off the back of the garage two friends, Judy Smith and Don West, fortunately came along and offered some scrap they had left over from home improvement jobs and some old fencing. It'll be a while before I have to start scavenging off neighbors houses at night thanks to them.

I know all the faults of each house I make but not a bird has complained to me as yet. I'm no carpenter and my inspiration comes to me from my partner at work, Harvey - the Pookah. He's not much with a hammmer or saw but he does have a good imagination. Unfortunately he drinks more than me and is pretty well snookered by 3 PM most days so I have to have him sketch his ideas out before then. He's terribly fond of Ruby Port, he is, and I don't argue with him about it because he does put up with all my fussing and fuming about matters local and what not.

So here's a few pictures of what Harvey and me have cooked up for the neighborhood birds. I really do hope to see a Pileated Woodpecker take advantage of one of those with the 3" holes someday.

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It's a Cockatoo World

It's a Cockatoo World

Larry, Whitey (Harpo), and Cuddles Run the Show Here. Larry arrived as a baby bird from a pet store despite advice from a good bird veterinarian to never get a Cockatoo. Then along came Whitey as a rescue adoption. Then there was Cuddles, an 18 year old whose owner had died - another adoption and now we had to move out of out breakfast nook to make room. Fostering and adoption is the way to go through Phoenix Landing. Click on Larry for their web site. Large birds are not cheap, nor are their cages, food requirements and regular veterinarian bills. They are challenging rewarding pets that will outlive you and need to be provided for accordingly. Don't rush into an impulsive purchase or adoption. Think about it - then go do it !

Yeah I did it!

Yeah I did it!

A word of caution about cockatoos, don't turn your back on them. Our pal Harpo here figured out how to take advantage of a loose screw on his cage this week and escaped his cage through a food service door while we were weeding the garden. Within 45 minutes he managed to destroy 1 entire wooden door frame and 1/2 of a window frame. Chomping and splitting wood is what cockatoos love to do most. When we came back in the house and discovered him and his little surprise he started his little "look what I did" dance on top of his cage while Larry & Cuddles screamed with joy, like he was the player who hit a grand slam home run. You can't discipline a bird for doing what he was born to do. But you you can sure tighten up the screws on all 3 cages!