Early Summer Treats

We've gotten off to summer fun with  leaps and bounds. Here's a few snapshots:

Early spring digging led to...

...gorgeous April and May radishes.

Strawberries arrived early this year.

Jericho ate most of what we picked!

Jericho LOVES the water.

And watermelon!

SCOTUS and AZ Immigration LAw

As with most Supreme Court cases, there is often a lot of confusion regarding what the court is actually being asked to do. The majority of us are like my 8th grade history students who think the Supreme Court, like a common criminal court, gives out guilty and not-guilty verdicts choosing a winner and a loser. The reality is that the Supreme Court is generally ruling on a very narrow aspect of a legal argument. At the same time, and this is what is so amazing to me about the Supreme Court , the Justices are very much aware that narrow legal language has everything to do with regular people and real life. Rather than long harangues about so-and- so v. so-and-so, oral arguments seem to take the form of "what if"s and "a person would"s.

There's also a lot of general confusion about the facts. A majority of Americans are probably thinking that SCOTUS is being asked to decide whether racial profiling in Arizona is ok or not. What is actually being asked is whether or not the way AZ enforcement of existing federal immigratioin laws interferes with federal enforcement of those laws. The government is arguing that it does. The future of badly needed immigration reform is not at stake. In fact, the government counsel apparently conceded more than once in oral arguments today that S.B. 1070 does not involves racial or ethnic profiling. Should they be saying something different? I sense a legal strategy here. How can you prove profiling if the law hasn't been put into effect? Personally, I have to wonder if the way the AZ law is written will lend itself to widespread profiling and abuse. But today in court, that wasn't exactly the issue.

Jay Sekulow, an admittedly pro SB 1070 voice, writes:

In the run-up to today's arguments, there's been much written and said about how the Arizona immigration law is unconstitutional - that a provision that requires state law enforcement officials to verify a person's legal status when they're stopped on suspicion of committing a separate offense is somehow discriminatory and unconstitutional.

At the outset, the Chief Justice asked the Solicitor General if Arizona's S.B. 1070 involves racial or ethnic profiling. The government repeatedly responded: "No, it does not." The fact that the government conceded that the law does not involve racial or ethnic profiling is very significant because it undercuts an argument that's been repeatedly used to challenge the immigration measure.

http://aclj.org/immigration/jay-sekulow-supreme-court-supportive-arizona-law

The "when they're stopped on suspicion of committing a separate offense"  clause is a key bit of information easily lost in the din. So now the backroom debates begin between the Justices and we'll hear from them again in a bit. Prediction? This will be something between a 5-2 (Kagan obstaining) and a unanimous decision in favor of the right of Arizona State to enforce federal law.

Skittles

As one friend put it, "There was an unarmed teenager, and a man with a gun; the unarmed teenager died."

As facts and fictions continue to emerge in the explosive Trayvon Martin case, I have felt the powerful vacuum and a bluster of hot air that results from a thousand snap judgements. There was a tragedy. We all want answers. Hoodies, concealed carry laws, gated communities, self-defense, suspensions, black codes, skittles...

While watering my garden, the hopeful buds that survived last night's freeze, I saw the empty bag, torn and caught in the fence. I went inside to grab my camera, and came out. Two young boys skulked down the sidewalk, sought by two men, on the phone with the police.

Ron Paul Is a Mennonite

Free stuff!

I've always had trouble accepting free things. Most fundamentally it is a pride issue. But here's a few free things that you can get without any one ever knowing.
First Energy is offering a number of incentive programs, two of which I recently took advantage of. If you go to www.energysavePA.com you can fill out a home energy survey and they will send you a box of high efficiency light bulbs and a very nice power saving power-strip. I would guess the value of what they send you is over $50. The survey took about 5 minutes and now I can begin replacing all of the hot and in-efficient light bulbs in our old house.
The second incentive is that they will pick up your old refrigerator and pay you $50 for it. The idea is that they are getting an older and less efficient refrigerator off the grid. Since scrap prices for fridges are around $20, they are undercutting the market! I've got my pickup scheduled, which means I won't have to be the one to carry the fridge down my front stairs, out the front door, down the porch stairs and the sidewalk stairs and then all the way back to the alley, where admittedly, a scrapper would grab it in 30 minutes or less. You can sign up for the fridge pick up at the same web address, www.energysavePA.com

Mortise Lock Repair 101

Now the the big renovation is complete, I've been able to find some time to get to the finer details of owning a 92 year old home. A few weeks ago we installed a rice paper window film to the bathroom door off our kitchen. The previous owners had used a curtain to provide the necessary privacy but we wanted something a bit more modern. It looks great! One problem: the heavy solid wood and glass door naturally hangs about halfway open. Since it took about an hour of shimming, adjusting, and cursing to get the door to close at all, I wasn't about to try anything fancy. Another problem: the latch on the door was not working and I haven't yet been able to find the correct Corbin key for the mortise lock. If you haven't seen an antique mortise lock up close, see below. They are truly amazing little gadgets:

They just don't make stuff like this anymore. The lock that I am holding is close to 5 lbs. of probably brass. But something is missing... Can you find it?

The spring, which causes the latch to rebound after the door knob is released had broken. In the picture, you can see most of the spring attached to the stationary peg while a small part is still attached to the hook and lever controlling the  lock. Where could I find a replacement? Lowes had a few springs, the smallest of which was the correct diameter but more than twice the needed length.

The picture is fuzzy, but what you're looking at is the spring from Lowes, snipped in half and re-bent on the end to make a loop.

I slid the mortise lock back into the door, re-installed the door knobs and face plates, and...

Voila! The Bathroom door stays shut! You can see the privacy film clearly in this picture, although not really the rice paper pattern.

Jericho is One!

Jericho wears her hat proudly as she reads a book. Books are one of her favorite toys now, besides the necklace beads from Grandmother (Christmas present) and her Melissa and Doug standard size blocks from Mama and Papa (Happy Birthday coconut!).

Jericho looks up to her friend Jonny. They bonded last Spring when Jericho spent each weekday at Jonny's house. "Jericha," as he lovingly calls her, seems perfectly at home there, even now!

A mother-daughter moment.

Cynthia and Jericho get along great. Jericho watches Cynthia very closely and is always curious.

Lorelei can fly! Also wearing the B-day hat loud and proud.

Craft time!

Jericho's first-birthday cupcake: applesauce cinnamon with buttercream frosting! Jericho didn't know how to blow out the candle, but Jonny did, and was happy to oblige. What a pal!

The David Akers Story

Sometimes you don't know what you've really got until its gone. Great story from Rick Reilly at ESPN.
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7446366/rick-reilly-david-akers-amazing-year

Finishing the Kitchen

Sharpening a stick, on both ends...

Let the haters show their true colors. Here in Steeler country, I can already feel the rumbling in the woods. If Tim Tebow was slightly annoying with his smug Jesus stuff, he is positively unbearable now. Jesus himself is unbearable in many homes tonight!

I haven't looked on Twitter, or talked to a single Pittsburg fan yet this Sunday evening, but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I'm not right. Go Pats! Right?