The Historic Quadrangle at the Univerity of Nevada, Reno is being transformed for commencement. Each chair is placed with remarkable precion, lined up with the string guides. On Friday and Saturday, those chairs will be filled with happy graduates and their parents. Commencement on the Quad is one of the outstanding perks of being a member of the Wolf Pack. These are uncertain times, but uncertain times are easier to face with the degree in hand. Congratulations to everyone graduating this May.
Today, we freecycled. For those who haven’t tried it, Google Freecycle and learn more. It’s like craigslist only everything is free and people are organized into local groups (makes it easier to exchange stuff that way). Today we found a home for 5 used, but very clean, litter boxes and a metal mailbox. The recipients needed what we had and we wanted to keep these things out of the landfill. It’s a win-win. 
Something very strange happened. It walked outside and it felt sunny and warm. The Christmas snow was meting, the sun was shining. I felt WARM. It was 48 DEGREES. That is not warm where I come from.
I guess my blood is thickening. 
Especially when months go by without a drop. That’s life in the high desert of Northern Nevada. It’s dry. And then the 10 inches of annual precipitation make a spectacular appearance with high wind or a dump of snow. It does make an impression.
You may remember a post from last year about my purchase of Steve’s Earth Engine Composter. A couple of weeks ago, we braved the elements and for the first time in my 5 (6?) years of composting, I turned the pile. I have always been a minimalist when it comes to composting — I just like to dump stuff in the bin and let it do its own thing. But the level hadn’t budged in weeks and the spring, summer, fall stratas were clearly visible though the sides of the bins. So we took off the front slats and forked out all but the bottom 10 inches or so. (I love my compost bin. Love it. It’s well designed and it’s held together well.)
Not too surprising for the high desert, both bins were a bit on the dry side. The good news was both had hot spots: compost was definitely cooking.
We re-layered the compost, watering it well and alternating with Gardener’s Supply Super Hot Compost Activator and Starter and some fresh kitchen scraps. Within a few days the pile sunk a good 8 inches. Yeah! Today we added several bins from our auxiliary piles that we created in the old dog run last fall plus free coffee grounds from Starbucks, more kitchen scraps and shredded paper and paperboard.* And a little more activator for good measure. I will report in after a few weeks.
* The most recent Sunset magazine has lots of tips for readers, one is composting shredded paper. I discovered that may heavy duty shredder will shred paperboard, too (alas, not recyclable in Reno). So it’s an experiment!
There are at least 4 former, current and future library buildings built on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. This is the entrance to the second library, the building now known as the Clark Administration Building. The others are the Jones Center (former), Getchell (current) and the Knowledge Center, literally the library of the future.
I paid a visit to the “Phil” yesterday, the Reno Philharmonic. On the program:
I loved the first piece especially. And I am a sucker for the harp. Jeremy Keppelmann is 14! He was featured in the local paper a couple of days ago. He had incredible stage presence.
I have to admit that my kind of orchestral music is more in the Laurie Anderson or Philip Glass arenas but this outing might just have created a new Duke Ellington fan.
I loved watching all of the musicians and the silent communication between different players and the players and the conductor.
As kids we lit sparklers on the 4th of July. I loved sparklers more than any other kind of fireworks. Who doesn’t want to be up close and personal with the dancing, sizzling light of a sparkler? Their only downside was that they never lasted long enough; they would go out too soon leaving you wanting more.
Some people are like sparklers. They light up the room instantly, making life glow and sparkle. Cole Campbell seemed to me to be a human sparkler. We only met by email–we planned to get together and talk about the web after New Year’s.
A car accident claimed his life yesterday.
Though we never formally met, I was fortunate to experience the sparkle. At Winter Commencement a few weeks ago, he was lined up with his fellow deans and other VPs for the processional. He was dancing in line, bringing life and joy and fun to the duty. I am sorry that I will not have more of the sparkler.
Enjoy the sparklers in your life; they will never last long enough.
Not really, as it turns out. I walked from the parking structure to my office with one Arizona coat on Monday. On Tuesday I wore a second coat on top of the first. I immediately ordered a long heavy coat upon reaching my office. It’s cold, my friends! There’s snow on them there hills!
Nevadans know how to have a good time: They have the Balloon Races, the Candy Dance, Good Vibrations, Nevada Day and Fantasies in Chocolate. FIC is a night of drinking champagne and eating chocolate. I skipped the drinking–in my mind, it just ruins the chocolate!