bearing blog

bearing blog


bear – ing n 1  the manner in which one comports oneself;  2  the act, power, or time of bringing forth offspring or fruit; 3 a machine part in which another part turns [a journal ~];  4  pl comprehension of one’s position, environment, or situation;   5  the act of moving while supporting the weight of something [the ~ of the cross].

  • Night weaning, continued.

    Milo fell asleep while Mark was reading the boys a bedtime story, and Oscar soon after the lights out, so Mark wriggled out from between them and moved over next to me, leaving the boys snuggled together. 

    Sometime in the middle of the night I heard Milo stirring, then whimpering.  Uh-oh, I thought.  Might have to get up for this one.  A moment later he whimpered more loudly, and then I heard his little voice croaking, "Miiiiiiiiilllk."

    I waited a moment — sometimes he says one word and goes back to sleep — and then there was the thump of his feet on the floor.  I opened my eyes and started to get up, but Mark beat me to it.  "Hey sweetie, where you going?"

    Big thump. 

    Pause.

    "Are you just going to sleep there on the floor?"

    Whimper.

    "Come back to bed.  Come on.  Snuggle your dad." 

    Mark picked him up — "There, there" — and lay down with him, and instantly Milo’s breathing went slack and he was fast asleep.  The whole episode lasted maybe four or five minutes.   I think he’s going to be sleeping reliably through the night within a couple of weeks.

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  • Seen written on the wall of the women’s restroom in the coffee shop this morning.

    First writer:     I’M HOT.

    Second writer:  I’M HOTTEST.

    Third writer:  Damn!  You should look into hormone replacement therapy.

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  • Paternal opt-out.

    DarwinCatholic has some good commentary on a news article I’ve been meaning to mention.

    …in the man’s case, US law recognizes a traditional understanding of what sex is (an act that can naturally be assumed to be fertile) while in the woman’s case sex is merely considered an act which may bring on a transitional condition in which a woman has conceived yet has not yet decided whether or not she wants to actually be pregnant.

    Clearly, being pregnant (and caring for a child) is a far, far greater burden for a woman than for a man, so one can see how (thinking with its heart rather than its head) our country got itself into this position. But it’s still a pretty untenable position to be in.

    Obviously, it would be wrong to deny child support and parentage to children in order to be "fair" to the men who fathered them.  So in that respect, the lawsuit mentioned in the article is reprehensible.  On the other hand,  it highlights the illogical position we find ourselves in.   

    (And it points out that biology isn’t "fair" in the same sense that laws can strive to be "fair."  Must we apply "fairness" to situations that are inherently biologically "unfair"?  That’s a question that’s more general than just this one….)

    Unfortunately, if a court decided that, to be fair, laws must either allow fathers to opt out or cut back on abortion-on-demand, I have a feeling that many groups would choose to lobby for abortion over child support.

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  • Dinner conversation, the day after a snowstorm.

    Me:      Was it helpful that I partially shoveled the walk today?

    Mark:  Um, a little bit.  In some of the places you shoveled a few feet to the left of the sidewalk. 

    Me:  Well, I wasn’t doing it for you.  I thought the mailman would appreciate it.

    Mark:  Yeah, he probably did.

    Me:   Sorry that shoveling the top layer of snow away made me too tired to do any housework or cook the dinner except to make the salad.  How is the salad, by the way?

    Oscar (picking at it):  You shouldn’t mix the salad dressing into the salad.   You should leave it in a bowl on the table so I can put more dressing on.

    Me:  I guess I just can’t please anybody today!

    Mark:  Except the mailman.

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  • 3 AM linking.

    Sometimes, when you come downstairs for a sandwich at three in the morning and sit down to surf while you eat it, you come across an unusual gem.

    Thanks to a link at Asymmetrical Information, which was interested in the economics of his situation, I have discovered Thomas Mahon.  His blog, English Cut, is surprisingly fun to read.  In brief, Mr. Mahon is a relatively young top-shelf bespoke tailor of Savile Row (though his workshop is based in Cumbria, keeping his overhead low).  He blogs about the suits he’s working on, the trips he takes to meet clients in the US and on the Continent, what "bespoke" means, tips on how to use a thimble and sew a proper button, what’s so special about his particular shop, and how to tell a tailor from a cutter in the bars near Savile Row.   

    From this post about a trip to the US:

    I love meeting and making for all my customers. But there’s always that little extra joy when a customers try on on his first bespoke suit. It could be the successful young executive who’s just realized that bespoke REALLY IS as good as they say (Frankly, if it wasn’t, I couldn’t realistically stay in business). Or sometimes it’s the guy who’s decided that before he dies he’s going to have at least one real suit in his wardrobe. It’s a great moment to witness.

    And this bit, from a post explaining the three methods that tailors might use to create a bespoke pattern:

    ["Rock of Eye"] is the system I specialise in. This is where the second system, the above Drafting Formula is calculated mentally in my head, however I just cut the pattern freehand, using only my tape measure and chalk to guide me. This method is used for the jacket only- to draught trousers without a square and stick would be folly.

    This method does sound slightly vague, because it is. However as Mr. Hallbery told me, on my first encounter in the Anderson & Sheppard cutting room, “Show me a right angle on a man and I’ll let you use that square”.

    It’s a fun blog.  Read some more.

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  • Snow day!

    It is really coming down — and sometimes sideways.  There are maybe seven inches of snow on the ground.  Driven snow encrusts the screens on the kitchen windows; we can’t see the birdfeeders only six feet away.  MnDOT has asked Minneapolis residents to curtail unnecessary travel, Mark reported when he called me from his car (me: Why are you calling me while you are driving?!?  him:  I’m only going two miles an hour!) to suggest that I stay home.

    The original plan for the day was busier than usual:

    8:00 get kids up

    9:00 leave for music class

    10:15 drive to Melissa’s, about 20 minutes into the suburbs

    1:30 drive to a different suburb for Oscar’s class at a nature center

    3:30 come home

    Now it looks like we’ll be home all day, unless it clears up by early afternoon and the nature center isn’t closed.  I wonder, should we do schoolwork and housework as we might if it were Tuesday (one of my at-home days), or should I say "Snow day!" and let Oscar sleep in, turn on cartoons, make canned soup and hot chocolate, for lunch, maybe send them out galumphing in the heavy, wet, springtime snow until they come back in soaked to the skin?

    Maybe a little bit of both.  If I can find any mittens, that is.

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  • Camera caper.

    This is one of the most bizarre posts and comment threads I have ever seen.

    H/t Number 2 Pencil.

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  • Defiant Birth.

    A moving article about a new book.  Read it.

    H/t Dawn Eden.

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  • Some thoughts on fasting.

    At Square Zero, a newish blog by Eric Scheidler.  Since he switched rites fairly recently from Roman to Byzantine (Ruthenian, IIRC), he has a take from a different perspective. 

    For example, Catholics in the Eastern rites fast from dairy products for the whole of Lent, which leads to (a) something called "Cheesefare Sunday" and (b) gastrointestinal distress.

    Read and enjoy.

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  • In which I use “clatter” and “placenta” in the same sentence.

    Mr. and Mrs. Darwin just had a baby at home, and they post a short birth story here.  I can relate to the ending:

    Postscript: I opened the freezer the other day to get something, and there was the placenta, bagged up and large as life. I’d completely forgotten about it. We don’t plan to barbeque it, just so you know.

    We had each of our placentas in the freezer for a while. Occasionally, because of the many casseroles stuffed in there to nourish us through the newborn period, opening the door of the freezer would cause a placenta to clatter to the floor in its ziploc bag.

    Eventually each one was transported to Ohio where we buried it under a fruit tree in Mark’s parents’ orchard.  Each boy likes to visit "his" tree when we go to see Grandma and Grandpa.

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  • Getting out of the business.

    Bettnet has a series of posts up (here’s the first) about the recent decision by Catholic Charities of Boston to get out of the adoption business rather than comply with a state antidiscrimination law that would force them to place children with same-sex couples.

    Catholic hospitals, Catholic pharmacists, Catholic medical professionals, Catholic lawyers, Catholic organizations and employees of all sorts, take note:  Sometimes the law requires you to do something contrary to your principles, something that is wrong, or else to "get out of the business."  Sometimes your job requires you to do something that is wrong, or else to be fired.

    The only right thing to do, when all appeals are exhausted, is to get out of the business, to resign, to refuse to take the case, perhaps to be fired.

    It isn’t pretty, it isn’t fun, but it’s better than doing wrong.  We are not allowed to do evil so that good can come of it, not ever. 

    Invariably, when someone refuses to bring about a good by doing wrong, critics bewail the loss of the good that might have been, and blame the one who refrains from wrong.  It’s hard criticism.  Stand firm.

    If you do, another door to do good by doing good might open: 

    Within an hour of the announcement, Gov. Mitt Romney said he planned to file a bill that would allow religious organizations to seek an exemption from the state’s anti-discrimination laws to provide adoption services.

    Or not.  But stand firm anyway.

    (Wording alert:  This AP article appearing in the Star Tribune says that CC of Boston "would stop providing adoption services because of a state law allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children."  Question:  Is it because of a state law "allowing" adoption by gays and lesbians, or rather, because of a state law "forbidding" adoption agencies to restrict themselves to placing children with married heterosexual couples?  There is a difference, and if it’s the latter, then the article is misleading.   I haven’t been able to find the text of the law.)

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  • Amy Welborn in Rome.

    This week Amy Welborn is trying to give a flavor of her recent visit to Rome with her husband and kids.  It’s all good — go to her blog and read some of the entries.  They’re not just a travelogue, but commentary on pilgrimage, and also some great posts on traveling with a teen, a toddler, and a baby. 

    Here’s a link to one about the Coliseum, and another to one about the Capuchin Crypt, which reminds me how much I love all that is, well, corporeal about Catholicism.

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