The Art of the Midnight Snack

A few weeks ago I was in bed at 11ish and I could not sleep. This is not uncommon for me. So I got up out of bed and got myself something to eat. This is still a some what usual occurrence.

Where I diverged from the usual is the elaborateness of my snack. It started with a salad theme on Grandma's china.


Added toast and milk.




And then did a little snack and hulu action

That was a snack worthy of blogginess.

Keith Time: The International Impact of Keith Part III

Coffee Table Books, No Coffee Table.

Tried to take care of a few things today after school. One thing was to take some books and toys to the attic. I love books. I am not a voracious reader, like my wife. I love to read, but more than that I just love to have them around. When I was in college, if I went on a weekend retreat, I would usually bring 5 books with me. Not school books, mind you, just books. I would then wind up buying 4-5 more books at the retreat. This probably explains why our bookshelves are so overcrowded.

One problem we have with our bookshelf is that we have a number of coffee table books, and no coffee table. The problem is that these coffee table books are over sized and don't fit naturally in any of the book shelves, save the bottom ones. This of course is a problem, as puppy can easily take them out of said shelves.

One partial solution I have found to the book over crowding is a little thing called paper back swap. It is an on line paper back (and hardcover) exchange system. Today, I took a number of books from our shelves (many purchased at those weekend retreats) and listed them at paper back swap.

If someone wants a book. I mail it to them at my expense and then I get a free credit for a book. I listed 15 books an hour ago and already have 1 book to send out.

My wife doesn't see this as much of an accomplishment. As I am either spending money to get rid of books or adding more books to the household.

So far, all of my "purchases" have been on school books I would have needed anyway. Today was an especially good book as I was able to order a book that has been out of print for more than a decade. Our co-op skits class is using one of the stories from the as a final project this fall and another one this spring. This way we won't have to borrow it from a local college library. I will blog more about this book once I get my hot little hands on it.

If you look directly below you will see a link to the books I am giving up.






Well, that's enough about books and exchange rates and all that. Have a great evening.

Keith Time: Time For Jeopardy

Not Much. what's a woodchuck with you?

On the way home from Awana today, my son asked me why a woodchuck is called a woodchuck. I told him, I did not know but would find out.

And the thing is I did . . .




groundhog day! Originally uploaded by NapaneeGal


I originally thought that woodchuck was just an informal version of Wood Charles. It turns out, a woodchuck is just another name for a groundhog. It comes from the Indian name for groundhogs and other similar animals, wujak. The name evolved into woodchuck. I don't believe the animal evolved, but I can believe the name did.

I also found out that woodchuck isn't the only alternate name for groundhog. There is also Land Beaver and Whistle Pig. It reminds me of that old tongue twister (I just made up):

How many names would a ground hog have if a ground hog could ground names?

Keith Time: Memories From the Funeral Part I