Sounds like a great opportunity to practice Bach and other Baroque composers using only finger legato! Even Schumann recommended that pianists do some organ study to improve legato and learn finger substitutions.

Basically have 2 Henckels, 6 and 8 inch, stainless, received as gifts. They’re OK but I can never seem to keep them as sharp as I’d like. I don’t sharpen on my own; I take them to people who supposedly know what they’re doing. And I touch up on an old steel which ain’t that great either. I have 2 or 3 others that languish in a drawer that maybe could be made useful again. Also a big Cutco that is anything but sharp and a Cutco serrated, used for bread. Supposedly Cutco will sharpen them for free forever if you send them in. I haven’t tried.

Israel's Iron Dome has spectacularly failed against Iran, so it is only logical to conclude that we need one and should have it. Alrighty, then.

Social services suck. This reminds me of social workers. Social workers suck. This reminds me of non-profits. Non-profits suck. They are private businesses in all but name. They give themselves very large salaries and help people in need in a nominal way. Charities suck. Same set up. They give themselves very large salaries, etc There was a St. Pete con artist who started a non-profit LLC to manage $100,000,000.00 in pooled trust assets for the disabled and their families. He walked off with $100,000,000.00. He was sued but the money was gone. The disabled individuals and their families recovered nothing. I can easily see social services abandoning a child. I'm not buying the stupid non-explanation. Fwiw, I think about how much money non-profits take in and consider the fact that society's problems they are meant to mitigate if not solve not only continue unabated but continue to worsen. I'm reminded of when hospitals dump patients in the street under cover of darkness. We seem to live in a vicious society that feels the need to hide its true nature with a false veneer of caring for its own sake. Social insurance programs are what work and those are being attacked here and in Europe in various ways. Why? Greed, once again. I'm not trying to be cynical. This is only what I have observed over several decades.

What a great concept!

I love higher order insects.

@Steve-Miller said: But the garage would be so worth it!

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Bless him. May he rest in peace. And all day I thought it was this damn time change. Huh.

Spring won't start until March 20th. Even now it's what I would consider early summer weather. 83° or 84° can easily end up being 86° or 87° inside. Nothing noteworthy here until Thursday when it will be 75° with heavy rain and moderate wind.

@Steve-Miller said: Have you visited that store, Al? Yes, I have. I was in Philadelphia on business once and finished in time to visit the store and meet Rich in person. A second visit was a piano party that he hosted there a number of years ago. Big Al

Even though the angles are set by the block, the angle is really determined by the steadyness of the hand. The other thing with rods is that they are good at maintaining an edge, but tend to introduce a wavy edge more than a flat over time. I didn't notice until I started using the rolling sharpener. One issue with the rolling ones I didn't think about was that many thinner knives won't stick up over the magnetic block without some fooling around. Not a dealbreaker, but something to work through. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJRF3S7T?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1 I went with a cheap one first to see if I liked it. The better ones offer the option to replace grits.

I'd take one of the grand pianos. I'll have my private secretary call them Monday. Upright & grand pianos https://share.google/nUhoCgM4ODZUqqQuQ 🤪

Darn. I like his stuff less now that I know that.

Not exactly a bloom, but we emerged from winter this week and I found this little tree. Yikes! [image: IMG-5311.jpg] It’s a dwarf weeping Altas Cedar. It came through the winter of ‘24-‘25 just fine, but the cold snap this winter may have killed it. What? Don’t cedars grow in Alaska and stuff? Nursery guy says it’s probably fine - that it will drop the brown needles and grow new ones. Sure enough, the branches are still pliable so maybe there is hope.

I'll read this! I couldn't sleep, at all, last night. It was insomnia, not a disturbance in the neighborhood. (My neighbors on their best behavior). So, I took two naps today. I had to do it. But how will I get to sleep tonight? And then tomorrow we have that stupid time change, meaning it will be in effect tomorrow morning.