Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2018 by kimerer_brian

DG says, “Happy Thanksgiving“.

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted in Cooking, DG | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving

Tiny Flowers

Posted on November 17, 2018 by kimerer_brian

I was introduced to an interesting new SPOTH recently. This one has the smallest flowers ever. Check it out. Here is the plant.

The plant

That is a pretty small plant, but it’s blooming. See the flower? No? Look a little closer.

Closer

Now do you see the flower? Not yet? OK move closer.

Still Closer

Now you can see it.

So, exactly how small is that flower? Here it is next to a millimeter ruler.

Ruler

Each of those huge lines marks a millimeter, so it looks like this flower is about 2 mm across. I wonder what sort of insect would pollinate this plant.

In case you are wondering what the name of the plant is, here is the label.

Label

As you can see, if your plant has teeny, tiny flowers, it also must have a teeny, tiny label.

Cute, and certainly not as scary as Blue.

Posted in Plants | Comments Off on Tiny Flowers

Leaves

Posted on November 13, 2018 by kimerer_brian

We have been quiet for a while, but that is because we have been busy.

Our property contains a large number of mighty oaks, and the mighty oaks make a mighty huge bunch of leaves in the fall. So we have been busy moving all those leaves into the compost area so that they can Rot In Pieces (RIP).

DG was chomping at the bit to go out and do battle with the leaves, but when he got out there, the situation seemed more intimidating than he had imagined.

Raking

He gave it his best shot, but in the end, I think he might have surrendered.

Buried

 

Posted in DG, Plants | Comments Off on Leaves

Smoke Alarms

Posted on October 27, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Well……. the Smoke Alarms went off again… with another false alarm… in the middle of the night. There was no smoke, no fire, no dust, no dirt, no painted-over louvers……  no deaf spiders crawling into the housing. Just lots of terrifying noise.

Awakened

As usual, DG was awakened from his beauty sleep (which he desperately needs). For some reason, these alarms always seem to happen in the middle of the night. This one would not stop, regardless of what he tried.

DG was not happy.

Angry

So, he went to the basement and found the Smoke Alarm Silencing System (SASS), which he used effectively to stop the screeching, flashing, screaming, unholy racket.

Then, he was finally able to get back to his slumbers.

DG asleep

And the best part is……. the smoke alarm is just as effective in its current state as it was when it was pulled brand new from the box.

Posted in DG, Miscellaneous, Projects | Comments Off on Smoke Alarms

Beep

Posted on October 21, 2018 by kimerer_brian

We were having a nice dinner the other night, when something went “beep”.

It was just a little beep.

Just once. Just one little “beep”.

….. from somewhere in the house, we couldn’t tell exactly where.

Beep

The question that came up was, “What just beeped?“. Which piece of technological cruft had just sent us an audio message? I mean, everything beeps now. The stove beeps, the car beeps, the microwave, the cellphones, the fridge, the smoke alarms, the coffee machine…..the washing machine, the telephone. Was that beep just the cellphone beeping to tell us that it  received some SPAM from the interwebs, or was it the smoke alarm telling us that its battery is dead and we are all going to die the next time I cook pizza?

Puzzle

DG thinks that this is a terrible situation, and that the FCC should create a brand new Bureau, called the “Beeps Of Technology” (BOT) bureau to regulate the semantics of all the beeps. If we had a standard beep for emails and another standard beep for the oven being left on it could save us a lot of grief.

Aha moment

I’m not sure how well that would work out.

Posted in Cheap Philosophy, DG | Comments Off on Beep

Yep. In there

Posted on October 18, 2018 by kimerer_brian

We have confirmation that the Wookpeckers are in the house.

Looking out

Nice view from the front porch.

Looking down

Checking out the quality of the woodwork.

It is a couple too. We saw the female hopping around the house while Mr. Wookpecker finishes up the interior.

Posted in Chickadees | Comments Off on Yep. In there

And the answer is…..

Posted on October 17, 2018 by kimerer_brian

The answer is that the Chickadee house apparently is now a Woodpecker house. There are rumors of sightings of the woodpecker going into the house to finish his work from the inside.

Here is the result of the renovation.

The finished product

And here is a closeup of the new entry way.

Closeup

That clearly is no longer a Chickadee sized hole.

Posted in Chickadees | Comments Off on And the answer is…..

Interloper

Posted on October 15, 2018 by kimerer_brian

We have a new interloper looking at the Chickadee house. First there were the wrens, then came the English sparrows, and now this guy shows up.

Woodpecker

That is a Downy Woodpecker, who is doing a major renovation on the house.

Working bird

As you can see, he is busy making the hole large enough for himself to fit through. I’m not sure how the Chickadees are going to feel about this change. This could get interesting.

Posted in Chickadees | Comments Off on Interloper

Zipper

Posted on October 7, 2018 by kimerer_brian

There is a chill in the air, so DG finally had to dig his jacket out of the closet.

Of course, the zipper got jammed.

Oops

This always frustrates the poor guy.

Grrr

It’s as if the zippers have it in for him.

Can't get it off

None of the standard “zipper tricks” seem to help.

Take it off

So, DG came up with his own unique solution.

Buttons

I suppose that now he is going to go through life thinking he invented buttons.

I told him to take it easy….. that it isn’t personal. After all, some of my favorite people are zipper challenged.

 

Posted in DG | Comments Off on Zipper

Here’s looking at You, Kid

Posted on September 26, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Recently I was shown this very strange plant, which apparently is blooming…… in our house.

The Plant

The black dot at the top is the “flower”.

Just to creep you out a bit, here is a closeup.

Closeup

Now, is it just me, or does that look like some sort of creepy, monster-movie eyeball?

Oh, and if you want to get a little more creepy, here is a flash photo to show off the angry, red center.

Red eyeball

Sleeping in a house with that growing in it is problematic.

So here is what you want to look out for.

Plant name

In case you can’t read the handwriting, the name is Dorstenia Benguellensis .

Sleep well.

 

Posted in Plants | Comments Off on Here’s looking at You, Kid