Oops

Posted on February 2, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Oops.

Oops

Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

 

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Winter is Over

Posted on February 1, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Our neighbor across the street just took delivery on a brand new snowblower…. and it is a nice, expensive one too.

No more snow this year.

Yay.

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When Bread Goes Bad

Posted on January 27, 2018 by kimerer_brian

I have been experimenting with my Ciabatta bread, trying out some on-line suggestions to make it more tasty….. like letting it sit in the fridge over night…. which was a disaster….. or in this case letting it autolyse for an hour before adding the salt and yeast.  This experiment is not going well. Check out my latest result.

Holy Bread!

Yikes! I think it got over-hydrated or something. It was flat as a pancake when it  went into the oven. The holes on top are sort of out of control.

It even looks a little angry….

Grrr

It ain’t pretty when bread goes bad.

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Ewwwww!

Posted on January 17, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Dirt! Ewwwww!!!

Due to some allergy problems we have been having…..  and to deal with that New England Catarrh…. which appears to be one of the costs of living here in New England…..  I put an air filter in the basement.

It looks like this:

FilterYep. That’s right, it’s just a cheap box fan from the Big Box Home Improvement Store (BBHIS) with a cheap Heat/AC filter stuck on the back of it. It looks like this from the other side.

Ewww

When the fan is running, the filter sticks to the back of it. No mechanical connection is required. This setup cost me less than $30, and it replaces a HEPA system that sells for $800…. plus $200 for each replaceable filter insert.

I know it is working because after about a month and a half, the filter looks like this…..

ewwwww…. look at that old filter. I have put a new filter down next to it so you can see the difference. Gross! That filter is supposed to last for 90 days. This is what it looks like after half that time.

We’re breathing that?

Ewwww.

Well, I guess we aren’t breathing it any more because it’s stuck in the filter.

Oh, and here are the construction instructions…..

Go to the HarDware store and get:

  • Cheap 20″ x 20″ Box Fan – $16.96
  • Cheap 20″ x 20″ FPR 4 (MERV 8) pleated paper filters – 3 for $8.97

Directions: Turn on fan; put filter on back of fan; take care for proper air flow direction; enjoy clean air.

Even an old Software Guy can do this.

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Word of the Day

Posted on January 12, 2018 by kimerer_brian

The word of the day is….

“LITHOPS”

A lithops is  a little desert plant, also called a “Living Stone”, that looks like this;

Lithop

… or like this….

More Lithops

They don’t do much. They just sort of sit there looking like rocks or alien brains or something. But every now and then, they decide to bloom, and they do this.

Bloom

Pretty cool. Here is the official name of the plant that is blooming.

Name Tag

And here is a closer view of the flower.

Closeup

There are some amazing things in our basement.

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Chickadees

Posted on January 4, 2018 by kimerer_brian

The Chickadees were back at their house today to check it out.

Chickadee

The two of them come by occasionally during the Winter and take a look. They never go in, but they poke their heads in and look around…. and then move on.

Is it Spring yet?

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WAKE UP!

Posted on January 1, 2018 by kimerer_brian

Happy New Year!

New Years Resolution: Blog more.

It has been a few months since I blogged. Been busy. I will come back after I think of something clever to write.

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Back Up

Posted on October 22, 2017 by kimerer_brian

The Chickadee house is back up for the Winter.

Up Again

Say what? For the Winter?

Yah. We have seen the chickadees checking out the house all Winter long. They will stop by and look in the door, then move on. We want them to remember that the house is still there.

We put up one just one house this time to discourage those wrascally wrens from trying to take over the neighborhood again. We shall see how that goes.

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Book Review

Posted on October 20, 2017 by kimerer_brian

I usually don’t do book reviews on this blog. But this book was such a shocker that I thought I would pass it on. If you had told me a month ago that I would read a laugh-out-loud book about how lexicographers write dictionaries, I might have used the word “bonkers”. But here it is. I really did laugh out loud at this book.

Cover

Kory Stamper takes on the “peevers” who won’t let go of the nit-picking (incorrect) rules that they learned as children. She explains why the words “ain’t” and “irregardless” are, indeed, words and are therefore in the dictionary. Her excellent use of the language makes the book entertaining.

Anyway, give it a look.

Um. Is that correct English?

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Dees and Wrens

Posted on August 28, 2017 by kimerer_brian

Last Spring we had two pairs of birds staying in our birdhouses, one pair of Chickadees and one pair of Wrens. As it turns out, those two types of birds have different nesting habits. So I thought I would post some photos of the nests that I found during this cleanout.

Anyway, now that the frost is on the punkin’ (well sort of…. we are getting there.. sad, hunh?… where did Summer go?) it is time to clean out the houses to get them ready for the next season. Here are the houses, side by side.

The houses

The house that the Wrens shacked up in is on the left, and the house that the Chickadees used is on the right. I started by removing one side of the Chickadee house. Here is what I found.

DeeHouse

It is the usual moss-padded nest that Chickadees like to make. They do like their comforts.

The sticks are from the Wrens, who tried to take over the property after the Chickadees had flown the coop. We discouraged that so that they would not think that they own the whole neighborhood. They didn’t get very far filling this house with sticks.

The black spot in the middle is a spider who chose a lousy place to spin a web and didn’t make it. Here is a closeup.

Eww

Eww. At least it has expired so I didn’t have to fight with it to get it out of there.

So I cleaned out all the junk.

Clean

Then  I screwed it back together again.

Screws

Next, I tackled the Wren house. Here is what I found inside.

Sticks

Wrens like to make tall piles of sticks for their nest. Looks like a lot of work for such tiny birds. It doesn’t look very comfortable either. I think I am liking the Chickadee plan better.

I didn’t spy any spiders this time. I cleaned it out.

Clean

Then I put it back together.

Screwing

And here they are, ready for another season next Spring.

Done

We leave the Chickadee house up all Winter because the Chickadees come back often and check it out. I guess that is like renewing the lease or something.

When did I become a housekeeper for birds?

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