Because it was so bloody hot outside this weekend, Hambone and I went to the movies in order to accomplish two goals 1) get out of the house and 2) not experience heat stroke
We went to the Columbia Mall, where I am constantly struck by the "whiteness" of it all. After frequenting Arundel Mills Mall, where we're the only honkies in the place, Columbia is like a trip to Stepford.
Anyway, we saw Clerks II and laughed ourselves silly. I mean, you have to really appreciate course humor and it is required to see Clerks I first. If you meet these criteria, the movie is dead on with the humor of the first Clerks.
But it's a dirty, dirty movie. Be ready.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Monday, July 17, 2006
Issues with Fungi (not Feng-Shui)
So in landscaping the yard, we opted this year for Scott's brand Black mulch. They say on the package that the mulch will never fade, and will keep looking great year after year.
What they didn't mention is the propensity to grow giant fungi all over the place. I'm not sure if the fungus comes from the heat generated by the black color or if the 80 bags we bought had spores already inside the bags.
Here's what we've got -- it starts out as this yellow stuff, then turns white, then starts BELCHING spores for days and days.
What they didn't mention is the propensity to grow giant fungi all over the place. I'm not sure if the fungus comes from the heat generated by the black color or if the 80 bags we bought had spores already inside the bags.
Here's what we've got -- it starts out as this yellow stuff, then turns white, then starts BELCHING spores for days and days.
Monday, July 10, 2006
More about Feeding Birds in the City
This is the top of our garage (see the photo, left) You can see the pigeons waiting there hungrily for me to refill the bird feeder yet again. Well that isn't going to happen. Not until they stop begging like mongrel dogs.
See the gap in the lineup there? That's because Hambone's buddy took one out with a B-B gun. See how the rest of them are undeterred?
As an added bonus, the birds didn't actually eat all the seed they had shoveled onto the ground, so now we have little plants growing under the feeder. It's quite a joy.
We did buy more feed over the weekend, but neither Hambone nor I am ready to recycle this set of events...
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wild Birds are HOGS
So we bought a larger bird feeder after I broke the one we had. (It tipped over when I was cleaning it out after the rain) I figured the larger feeder would help the seed last longer. But no, indeed that was not the case.
The birds, those sweet little sparrows and nuthaches and such are HOGS. They go to the feeder in flocks. Most of the birds sit on the ground, and the bird or two on the feeder SHOVEL the food with their beaks out of the feeder to the others.
We've watched the seed fling off of the feeder to 30 sparrows on the ground on a number of occasions. Then the pigeons come between the flocks of sparrows to gobble any remaining seed.
In our three weeks of 'birding' we've burned through 35 pounds of bird feed. I'm not kidding.
I really enjoy the birds, but this seems to have grown out of porportion. Has anyone got any ideas for how to manage this? I thought I was on deck for about 15 birds, but the flocking is really more than I had bargained for...
The birds, those sweet little sparrows and nuthaches and such are HOGS. They go to the feeder in flocks. Most of the birds sit on the ground, and the bird or two on the feeder SHOVEL the food with their beaks out of the feeder to the others.
We've watched the seed fling off of the feeder to 30 sparrows on the ground on a number of occasions. Then the pigeons come between the flocks of sparrows to gobble any remaining seed.
In our three weeks of 'birding' we've burned through 35 pounds of bird feed. I'm not kidding.
I really enjoy the birds, but this seems to have grown out of porportion. Has anyone got any ideas for how to manage this? I thought I was on deck for about 15 birds, but the flocking is really more than I had bargained for...
Monday, July 03, 2006
Rat Season 2006
It's July officially now, which means the rats are back. I'm not sure what it is about this time of year -- maybe their young are big enough to require more food than they did earlier in the year, but we haven't seen a rat since the beginning of last winter.
On Saturday (July 1) a rat dug under my Clematis, one of the three remaining after the rat/plant carnage of 2005, and snapped off all the vines.
I declared to Hambone that "It's ON."
He put out a trap that evening and by morning we had caught the culprit. Hambone's become quite skilled in this area.
Afterward, I found out that he had been 'baiting' rats and pigeons by pouring seed on the ground because he missed shooting things in the yard. For those of you considering bird feeders in the city, you may want to keep the bird seed in the feeder. You'll also want to keep the seed dry -- when it gets soggy it produces *quite* a stench, which draws some of the undesirables from the neighborhood, if you know what I mean.
Yesterday we bought a new feeder that's a little more water proof. I'm waiting for them to make one "Hambone proof."
On Saturday (July 1) a rat dug under my Clematis, one of the three remaining after the rat/plant carnage of 2005, and snapped off all the vines.
I declared to Hambone that "It's ON."
He put out a trap that evening and by morning we had caught the culprit. Hambone's become quite skilled in this area.
Afterward, I found out that he had been 'baiting' rats and pigeons by pouring seed on the ground because he missed shooting things in the yard. For those of you considering bird feeders in the city, you may want to keep the bird seed in the feeder. You'll also want to keep the seed dry -- when it gets soggy it produces *quite* a stench, which draws some of the undesirables from the neighborhood, if you know what I mean.
Yesterday we bought a new feeder that's a little more water proof. I'm waiting for them to make one "Hambone proof."
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The Joy of Birds
Six weeks ago Hambone and I and one of my associated Hams and her Pre-Ham went to the Flea market to see what there was to see.
I stumbled across a bird feeder for $4 so I bought it. Mostly I liked the shape of it, and wondered if there was such a thing as wild birds in Baltimore City.
Three weeks later, we bought bird seed for the thing. Evidently, getting the right kind of seed to attract the right kind of bird is a bit of a science. Luckily Lowes did most of the work for us by putting pictures of the kinds of birds we would attract with each variety of seed. Hambone and I pointed at the birds we'd like to see in the yard, and presto -- A $25 bag of seed was ours.
I filled up the feeder last week, and at first not a whole lot happened. Then the sparrows started to arrive, much to my enjoyment. On the 7th day of bird feeding, the pigeons arrived, which nearly caused me to pull the plug on the whole deal.
What a sight that was, with sparrows on the feeder and big dumb pigeons standing on the ground below the feeder begging like dogs.
However, the doves and the sparrows seemed to drive the pigeons off over time -- perhaps sensing my disdain at their presence. Now the main visitors to our yard are "nice" birds, and I can't begin to explain the change in our yard.
When we sat outside for coffee on Sunday morning, we were serenaded by wild bird calls and we could watch the birds playing and eating on the feeder. Even Maggie was transfixed.
These days she lays by the back door watching the birds all day instead of waiting by the front door for Hambone and me to come home all the time. We all sit outside (when it's not raining) after work to watch the birds. Hambone and I share a bottle of wine, and Mags chews on her rawhide. So peaceful.
I stumbled across a bird feeder for $4 so I bought it. Mostly I liked the shape of it, and wondered if there was such a thing as wild birds in Baltimore City.
Three weeks later, we bought bird seed for the thing. Evidently, getting the right kind of seed to attract the right kind of bird is a bit of a science. Luckily Lowes did most of the work for us by putting pictures of the kinds of birds we would attract with each variety of seed. Hambone and I pointed at the birds we'd like to see in the yard, and presto -- A $25 bag of seed was ours.
I filled up the feeder last week, and at first not a whole lot happened. Then the sparrows started to arrive, much to my enjoyment. On the 7th day of bird feeding, the pigeons arrived, which nearly caused me to pull the plug on the whole deal.
What a sight that was, with sparrows on the feeder and big dumb pigeons standing on the ground below the feeder begging like dogs.
However, the doves and the sparrows seemed to drive the pigeons off over time -- perhaps sensing my disdain at their presence. Now the main visitors to our yard are "nice" birds, and I can't begin to explain the change in our yard.
When we sat outside for coffee on Sunday morning, we were serenaded by wild bird calls and we could watch the birds playing and eating on the feeder. Even Maggie was transfixed.
These days she lays by the back door watching the birds all day instead of waiting by the front door for Hambone and me to come home all the time. We all sit outside (when it's not raining) after work to watch the birds. Hambone and I share a bottle of wine, and Mags chews on her rawhide. So peaceful.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A Little Soggy, But Basically OK
I am sure many of you have heard about the torrential rain storms here in Baltimore, Washington and Philly. Yesterday found me in some of the worst traffic *ever* as I tried to make my way to the Mansion on O Street to give a speech to the Woodrow Wilson folks.
It took about two and a half hours to get from here to there, roughly double the normal commute. However, compared to all the others who had their rides quadruple in length, I felt pretty lucky. Many of the attendees were hamstrung by the two closed metro stops down town, and yet others were stuck on the wrong side of the mud slides on the beltway.
In Baltimore, we're wet, but not strangely flooded like DC. THEY really got hit hard. We don't even have water in the basement, if you can believe it.
Go Baltimore!
It took about two and a half hours to get from here to there, roughly double the normal commute. However, compared to all the others who had their rides quadruple in length, I felt pretty lucky. Many of the attendees were hamstrung by the two closed metro stops down town, and yet others were stuck on the wrong side of the mud slides on the beltway.
In Baltimore, we're wet, but not strangely flooded like DC. THEY really got hit hard. We don't even have water in the basement, if you can believe it.
Go Baltimore!
Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Best Ribs Ever
In our home, it's not unusual to see Hambone walking through the back yard with a half a hog on his back. Last weekend, for instance, he went hog shooting with one of his friends.
He came back from the trip quite cheerful and wanted to butcher the entire boar right away. However, our next door neighbors who are polite city-folk were having a little cookout with their kids and their parents. We were pretty sure they wouldn't understand about Hambone lugging in 200 pound hunks of boar with the spine and legs still attached.
We went for nachos instead.
He wound up hauling the meat in under the cover of darkness. The "stealth redneck" approach.
We prepped and froze most of the meat the next day, and Hambone made his special secret Rib marinade -- 7 limes, 7 lemons, 17 cloves of garlic, a yellow onion and 1/2 bottle of whiskey.
We let the ribs marinate for 3 days, and last night we grilled it up. As we lifted the ribs to put them on the grill, all of the rib bones fell out into the pan. We slathered the meat with BBQ sauce and grilled them for about a half hour. The meat needed to be removed from the grill with a fork because it was so tender.
That's some good rib eatin' there, man.
If you ever wind up with a whole rack of ribs, let me know how it works out for you!
He came back from the trip quite cheerful and wanted to butcher the entire boar right away. However, our next door neighbors who are polite city-folk were having a little cookout with their kids and their parents. We were pretty sure they wouldn't understand about Hambone lugging in 200 pound hunks of boar with the spine and legs still attached.
We went for nachos instead.
He wound up hauling the meat in under the cover of darkness. The "stealth redneck" approach.
We prepped and froze most of the meat the next day, and Hambone made his special secret Rib marinade -- 7 limes, 7 lemons, 17 cloves of garlic, a yellow onion and 1/2 bottle of whiskey.
We let the ribs marinate for 3 days, and last night we grilled it up. As we lifted the ribs to put them on the grill, all of the rib bones fell out into the pan. We slathered the meat with BBQ sauce and grilled them for about a half hour. The meat needed to be removed from the grill with a fork because it was so tender.
That's some good rib eatin' there, man.
If you ever wind up with a whole rack of ribs, let me know how it works out for you!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Becoming a Pod-Head
With all of the hullaballoo going around about iPods, I really wanted to hate them. It's a compulsion with me, where I become contrarian about anything that people rave and rave about.
In a coincidental occurrance, Hambone and I found iPod Nanos on his AMEX rewards list, so we had one sent to us. When it arrived, I snubbed it for days. I wouldn't even take it out of the box. And when I did open the box, I mocked the packaging.
I loaded the iPod up with all of the CDs I already had, thinking that would be lame. But no.. no that wasn't lame. That was... the gateway to a new addiction.
Initially, I enjoyed the shuffle -- everything was on shuffle and I listened to it through the car radio adapter kit. Then I started with the ear buds. Then I started noticing I got anxious when it was not within my grasp.
I have become...
a Pod-head.
The horror.
In a coincidental occurrance, Hambone and I found iPod Nanos on his AMEX rewards list, so we had one sent to us. When it arrived, I snubbed it for days. I wouldn't even take it out of the box. And when I did open the box, I mocked the packaging.
I loaded the iPod up with all of the CDs I already had, thinking that would be lame. But no.. no that wasn't lame. That was... the gateway to a new addiction.
Initially, I enjoyed the shuffle -- everything was on shuffle and I listened to it through the car radio adapter kit. Then I started with the ear buds. Then I started noticing I got anxious when it was not within my grasp.
I have become...
a Pod-head.
The horror.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Paper Moon -- Nachos Thumbs-Up
Last night one of the hams and her boyfriend "the Warrior" invited Hambone and me to Nachos at Paper Moon, which is one of their favorite hangouts.
I have to give Paper Moon's presentation a thumbs-up for real cheese and delicious guac. They lost a couple of points because the salsa was from a jar and the chips were pretty broken up at the bottom of the pile of 'good' chips. Maybe our plate of nachos was made from the last few in the bag or something.
The other thing that's cool about Paper Moon is that it's decorated with something like 50 mannequins. And little army toys. My personal favorites were the ceiling fans that had hundreds of tiny buttons glued to the blades.
Me Gusta Paper Moon. Yay!
I have to give Paper Moon's presentation a thumbs-up for real cheese and delicious guac. They lost a couple of points because the salsa was from a jar and the chips were pretty broken up at the bottom of the pile of 'good' chips. Maybe our plate of nachos was made from the last few in the bag or something.
The other thing that's cool about Paper Moon is that it's decorated with something like 50 mannequins. And little army toys. My personal favorites were the ceiling fans that had hundreds of tiny buttons glued to the blades.
Me Gusta Paper Moon. Yay!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Adventures with the Roomba
So the bloom is off the rose with the Roomba as far as Hambone is concerned. He thought the idea of buying it was silly from the get-go, but I still have faith.
I have found that using the Roomba is much like hiring a relative to vacuum for substandard wages. If you're sitting there watching, then they do a good job. As soon as you leave for work, look out.
When I leave, the Roomba finds unfathomable things to get hung up on for long enough to drain its battery. Yesterday afternoon it was a sock stuck in the brush. Last night it was tangled in Hambone's Atari cords. God only knows what I will find it tangled in tonight.
At one point, the Roomba shut off right at the top of the stairs, ominously claiming another of Maggie's favorite haunts. I feel a power struggle coming on.
I have found that using the Roomba is much like hiring a relative to vacuum for substandard wages. If you're sitting there watching, then they do a good job. As soon as you leave for work, look out.
When I leave, the Roomba finds unfathomable things to get hung up on for long enough to drain its battery. Yesterday afternoon it was a sock stuck in the brush. Last night it was tangled in Hambone's Atari cords. God only knows what I will find it tangled in tonight.
At one point, the Roomba shut off right at the top of the stairs, ominously claiming another of Maggie's favorite haunts. I feel a power struggle coming on.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Branding through MS Word?
Have you ever noticed that Microsoft Word tells you every time you have misspelled one of their brand names? For instance, if I type powerpoint into a Microsoft Word document, it puts the squiggly red line below that indicates a misspelling. When I ask it for suggestions, it always recommends PowerPoint, which is the branded typographical spelling of PPT.
I have always found that strange.
I started goofing around and realized that Microsoft Word also helps to brand Google as a proper noun. Everyone knows that a google is also a number (1 with 100 zeros behind it) so why does it show as Google the proper noun in my editor? I mean, it says I've misspelled it if I leave it lower case.
Ironically, Microsoft does not know its branding for the MSN content network online. If I type "msn" into Word, the program doesn't flag it as misspelled at all.
Any ideas?
Anyone else see this going on?
I have always found that strange.
I started goofing around and realized that Microsoft Word also helps to brand Google as a proper noun. Everyone knows that a google is also a number (1 with 100 zeros behind it) so why does it show as Google the proper noun in my editor? I mean, it says I've misspelled it if I leave it lower case.
Ironically, Microsoft does not know its branding for the MSN content network online. If I type "msn" into Word, the program doesn't flag it as misspelled at all.
Any ideas?
Anyone else see this going on?
Re-Dysoning
If you will recall from my other blog, I have had a love affair with my Dyson Animal and their telephone support lady, Diane, for about a year now. I have picked up drywall dust, hair, nails, and even some surprisingly large rocks with my Dyson and haven't had more than the passing complaint.
Hambone has recently confiscated my Dyson and brought it to his construction company for their new-construction home cleaner to use.
I was sad about that for a little while, until Hambone bought me a new one this weekend. This one has a furniture attachment, so as soon as Hambone brings our furniture back from display in his model home, I am looking forward to testing it out.
=)
Dyson Rules.
Hambone has recently confiscated my Dyson and brought it to his construction company for their new-construction home cleaner to use.
I was sad about that for a little while, until Hambone bought me a new one this weekend. This one has a furniture attachment, so as soon as Hambone brings our furniture back from display in his model home, I am looking forward to testing it out.
=)
Dyson Rules.
Why is my blog here now?
I bet a bunch of you are wondering why I sold out and went to Blogger instead of continuing to host my own blog.
I'll tell you why -- there is a dirty rat scoundrel hacker out there, who for some COMPLETELY UNEXPLAINABLE REASON hacked my blog down to its underpants and not only deleted the whole thing, but broke the code so badly that when I rolled the server back to the last time the blog worked, the server kept breaking the blog.
Not only that, but there were some spam robots installed that instantly posted 450 comments on the blog as soon as I posted any new entries. AND those comments only showed as "14" on the first page of my blog. The server was swarmed.
So you dumb turkey, I am over here now. If you start spamming me here, at least it's not on my server.
Jerk.
I'll tell you why -- there is a dirty rat scoundrel hacker out there, who for some COMPLETELY UNEXPLAINABLE REASON hacked my blog down to its underpants and not only deleted the whole thing, but broke the code so badly that when I rolled the server back to the last time the blog worked, the server kept breaking the blog.
Not only that, but there were some spam robots installed that instantly posted 450 comments on the blog as soon as I posted any new entries. AND those comments only showed as "14" on the first page of my blog. The server was swarmed.
So you dumb turkey, I am over here now. If you start spamming me here, at least it's not on my server.
Jerk.
Adventures in Vacuuming
This weekend I cajoled Hambone to by me a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. After our success with the Dyson, I am optimistic about new innovation in vacuuming.
The Roomba is a cute little thing that beeps cheerfully when you set it to do the most mundane task in the house (next to dusting, but so far there aren't robots for that). It reminds me of the game "Simon" from the eighties. Happy sounds, blinking lights, what's not to love?
I put the Roomba down in the middle of the living room, in view of its infrared docking station where it can recharge itself and then immediately start vacuuming again. I went outside and had a glass of wine, and when I came back it was still happily roaming the floors.
Its suction isn't much, but it was very successful picking up the tumbleweeds of dog hair littering the living room. I liked that very much.
Maggie is a little less in favor of the Roomba and eyes it with great suspicion. When it runs, she likes to perch on the very top step and watch it to make sure it doesn't cause us any harm.
Yesterday I set it to run all day while I was at work, which was a little... less successful. Evidently, it got stuck on Maggie's favorite rug and ran until the batteries wore out. This made Maggie so upset that she threw up. The barf ran all down the stairs, which ironically the Roomba can't clean.
Ah well. I still like the Roomba. Today I am testing it upstairs.
The Roomba is a cute little thing that beeps cheerfully when you set it to do the most mundane task in the house (next to dusting, but so far there aren't robots for that). It reminds me of the game "Simon" from the eighties. Happy sounds, blinking lights, what's not to love?
I put the Roomba down in the middle of the living room, in view of its infrared docking station where it can recharge itself and then immediately start vacuuming again. I went outside and had a glass of wine, and when I came back it was still happily roaming the floors.
Its suction isn't much, but it was very successful picking up the tumbleweeds of dog hair littering the living room. I liked that very much.
Maggie is a little less in favor of the Roomba and eyes it with great suspicion. When it runs, she likes to perch on the very top step and watch it to make sure it doesn't cause us any harm.
Yesterday I set it to run all day while I was at work, which was a little... less successful. Evidently, it got stuck on Maggie's favorite rug and ran until the batteries wore out. This made Maggie so upset that she threw up. The barf ran all down the stairs, which ironically the Roomba can't clean.
Ah well. I still like the Roomba. Today I am testing it upstairs.
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