Odd n Ends

Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cori_w/104838937 Be sure and follow the link to the yarn--whoever would have thought that yarn would knit up so pretty?? Not me!

On a more depressing note, this appeared on the Maine Coon Cat list: "FDA now admits that at least 4150 dogs and cats have died from eating contaminated pet foods. And there is now a historically huge hold on food products imported from China. See the article at: http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2007/04/30/pet-food-recall-the-fda-puts-out-some-numbers-at-last/ It summarizes the USA Today article about this. And of course, the melamine has made it into the poultry eaten by humans....it's not just pork anymore...."

Body temp 96.0 this morning--95.7 on the digital. Talk about brain fog; I could barely find my way to work. Finally got into gear around 3, though I fell asleep when I got inside this evening, and I'm still under 97.0 (96.7 on digital).

About two days ago the ash tree was leafless; tonight I nnoticed that it's fringed out with new leaves.

It's supposed to start raining tonight and rain the rest of the week. I wish it wouldn't. Tonight and tomorrow, okay, but I need time for things to dry out before I let the dogs into the puppy pen. Since it's supposed to be watered in well after you put it down, I threw down an entire bag of Gardens Alive! fertilizer and weed suppressant after work. Well, actually, it's a pre-emergent weed killer, but I figure it may help keep all those dandelions from reseeding. I'll be spending a couple of weeks hand-weeding out there. Some Dutch clover has somehow made its way in there, and I don't mind at all--for one thing, it helps fix nitrogen in the soil.

Cut back the copper shawl; gonna start over (why does that sound so familiar?). For some reason one side of the triangle kept getting longer and pointier than the other side. I checked the publisher's website to see if there were any errata, but didn't find anything for this project. I *think* I know what the problem is--I'm going to experiment tonight.

I've been going through a Band phase since November. I'm grateful to the people who post rare concert clips on YouTube, and wish I had a faster connection (I'm on dial-up). Anyway, after some hemming and hawing (did I really want to give Robbie more money?) I got The Band: The Best of A Musical History in the CD/DVD version, mostly because I wanted the DVD part, which I'll have to comment on later because I've only watched it once--spent too much time last night fighting with Blogger (WHY do I have such a hard time with the spacing when I use pictures???), then downloading WinZip so I could send log files to Registry Mechanic, then fighting with WinZip until I got mad and turned the computer off (note: I did not close the computer, I shut the expletive-deleted thing off. I hate that computer). But I've listened to the CD a several times. It's a very weird collection of tunes. The playlist:

Who Do You Love? Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks- pretty much what you'd expect from Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks; no surprises there.

He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart) - Levon and the Hawks - very "early 60s" (liner notes say recorded 1965), kind of r&b blended with a little jazz, great drum break by Levon, good vocal from Rick.

Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? Dylan with the Hawks (single version)

Ain't No More Cane (Richard drums) - will always make me think of the clip on YouTube from Festival Express, with Rick, Janis, Jerry Garcia, and Bob Weir, Rick smashed out of his mind; this version is considerably more together.

The Weight - from the brown album.

Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast) - I first heard this as the demo version on the extended CD of Big Pink better, stripped down to great vocal and piano from Richard with low-key bass support, probably from Rick. I think I like that version better; this one, with the full Band, is too dressed up, too jaunty.

King Harvest (Has Surely Come) - from the brown album.

All La Glory (early version) (Richard drums; Levon guitar) - I hadn't heard this tune before. It's obviously sort of a lullaby from Robbie to his daughter Alexandra, and the liner notes say Levon is singing it, but I don't think it is. I think it's Rick. It's much lower than Rick usually sings, but the phrasing is very Rick. Once in a while a word sounds like Levon, and where you'd expect Rick to switch to his upper register in the bridge he doesn't--but boy, to my ears it sounds like Rick. And there's one of those Robbie msytery lines--"Feel so tall, like a prison wall" kinda comes out of nowhere and seems really--odd in this context. (Just listened to it again. I don't know. It could be Levon... Or it could be Rick.) Now I'm curious to hear the Stage Fright version.

Stage Fright - from Stage Fright

I Shall Be Released - from Music from Big Pink

4% Pantomime (with Van Morrison) - another I hadn't heard before, and it's great. It's one of those outtakes that has a false start, then they start again and Richard and Van really get into it, and at the very end amid the laughter you can hear Garth say "That was spectacular." I think that's very cool.

Don't Do It - a studio version, not nearly as fiery as the version on Rock of Ages or Last Waltz

Life Is A Carnival - from Cahoots

Slippin & Slidin (live) - from The Festival Express and you can find a vid of it on YouTube. Richard just burns up the piano keys, Rick's bass work is amazing, and Garth takes it home with pyrotechnic organ. So much energy, you'd think they could power their amps sheerly by their music. There's some speculation on YouTube that Robbie's mike was on (*cough*). I'm really glad to have it on CD.

Endless Highway - from Moondog Matinee
Share Your Love With Me - from Moondog Matinee

Forever Young (Dylan with the Band) - from Planet Waves

Twilight (song sketch) - Er--Twilight is Robbie and piano, recorded in his Malibu house. 'Nuff said.

Home Cookin' (Richard drums, Levon bass, Rick guitar) - Home Cookin' is a Rick Danko song recorded in 1976, and it's okay, but you know, not *special,* though it's one of those everyone-swap-instruments songs the Band was so good at. I wish I liked it better, since it's Rick's. I don't think this was ever released anywhere else, so it was nice of Robbie to put it on this CD.