Nothing Happens At Ten

The Answer Is….

Posted on June 20, 2016 by kimerer_brian

OK. That’s enough time.

The answer is Abracadabra. Supposedly, every bloom is different, so you never know what you are going to get.

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morebeer

Posted on June 19, 2016 by kimerer_brian

OK. More beer.

I put up a batch of Honey Porter today to ferment. Yada yada.

But here is the real news! Check out this rose!

Yikes! That is in our rose garden!

Here is a quiz. What is the name of this rose? Pick one. No fair asking the Google.

Tigerus Stripus Rosus
Abracadabra
Memphis Music
Red N’ Yellow
Aberration Variegation
Mister Bean

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Okbeer

Posted on May 15, 2016 by kimerer_brian

I put up another batch of beer into the secondary today.

Yawn.

But here is some really exciting stuff! Look at this!

Ya! That is one big-ass screwdriver. We found it at one of those rummage sales where people dump useless stuff they want to throw away and people like me pick it up for keeps.

But that isn’t just some plain old regular big-ass screwdriver. Nope. If you turn it over, it extends itself out like this.

The business end that was hiding in the tube has spiral grooves in it from the tip

all the way up to the top

That makes it tip top to screw in screws by just pushing it up and down. As you push on the screwdriver, it makes the blade twist automatically. Pretty groovy. All you have to do is push on it.

In fact, you can see it in action in this really lousy, badly done animated gif.

If you look closely, you can see that the blade goes around only when I am pushing on it. When pulling on it, the blade does not turn.

Unless I switch it to work the other way. Then it works to take the screws out.

Cool, huh?

So, you keep watching that vid for a few hours to see if I ever get the screw finished. I’ll get back to you.

Disclaimer: My son actually found the screwdriver, and I took it. He can have it back when he inherits my estate. Heck that screwdriver could be the best part of the estate.

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First Dip

Posted on April 24, 2016 by kimerer_brian

Last week I walked down to the Canal off of Third Street to see how my geese are doing on their nest. They have been nesting in the same place now for several years, so I check up on them periodically. Here is what I found:

The nest was empty. Nothing but some shattered eggs. So I looked around and saw this:

They hatched! Six of ’em. Little, yellow fuzz-balls sitting on the rocks.

Shortly after this, Mom and Dad jumped into the canal and started to honk at the kids.

The kids didn’t quite know what to make of all this. They just sort of huddled together looking around. Finally, a couple of them jumped… well no… they actually tumbled… into the water.

Quickly getting the idea, they paddled out to Mom and Dad while their puzzled siblings got up the nerve to jump.

Eventually, all six of ’em figured out how to fall into the water.

Looks like Mom is counting heads over there.

I think I saw the first dip for these little guys. They seem to have taken to it like ducks to the wat ….. um…. wait…. no… more like geese.

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Alligator Seed

Posted on April 17, 2016 by kimerer_brian

Here is the latest addition to our stash of seeds.

That is an Alligator Seed.

Really. That’s what it is. You can tell if you look closer.

If you plant that thing in warm sand, little alligators will grow out of it. Really.

Well OK. No. I lied.

That is really the seed of the Metroxylon Amicarum palm. Check it out.

http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Metroxylon_amicarum

If you scroll down on that page, at the bottom you can see a whole passle of these seeds. You will also notice that the tree grows to 80 feet tall… or more.

So lets do a little math here.

80 foot tree + 8 foot basement ceiling = a problem.

P.S. Audry got a haircut, and I never did see those flowers bloom.

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Audrey Jr. Continues to Bloom

Posted on September 20, 2015 by kimerer_brian

Now that you have seen the strange plants at the CSSM, here is an update on one of our own Strange Plants, the Man-Eating-Plant that I have called Audrey Jr. The blooms have made considerable progress.

We have fed the plant several mosquitoes that made the mistake of coming indoors. That flower stalk in the middle has grown so tall that we not only had to add a penthouse roof over it, but we also had to cut a hole in the roof to let it out. The plastic cup is there to maintain the rain forest humidity that it needs to thrive. Here is a closer view of the flowers.

It looks like those are flower buds.

I will try to keep an eye on this so that I can capture what the flowers look like when they finally open.

Stay tuned.

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CSSM

Posted on September 12, 2015 by kimerer_brian

No, it isn’t another acronym for an Adult Entertainment.

Well, it kinda is, but not like that. It is the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts. We went to their annual show and sale today, and we saw some of the strangest plants ever.

This blog is really long, and it has tons of photos of the plants. Before you start, I want you to know that I know all of the scientific names for all of these plants (lie), but if I typed them all in, then reading them would slow you down too much (another lie) and the blog would violate the 15 second rule (“If it takes more than 15 seconds to read this blog it is too long”). So to speed things up (lie), I have simply posted the photos (truth).

So, it is a long blog, but keep scrolling. There are some plants in here that you might not have seen before. Like this:

Yeah. That…. is a plant. Really. It is a plant…. and it is alive. Here is another one very much like it, but shorter.

Pretty cool. Not much color in it, but look at this:

Yikes! Red to green all in one plant!

Here is a strange specimen.

Layers of flat things.

Some of the plants were very round.

Some of them were tall.

That one is hugging a rock.

Some of them were just lounging around.

The following ones are strange. They are called “Lithops”. That means “living stones”.

They don’t do much. It’s sort of like having a Pet Rock.

Which ones are the rocks?

These are easier to tell apart from the rocks.

This is kind of like a rock too.

And it just gets stranger.

What the heck? Here is the bottom of it.

Hellooooooo, Dr. Seuss!

Another rock-bottom

Swirls…

and curls….

and…

Butt…. that can’t be a plant!

Lazy days of Summer….

Hello, Dolly!

Keep scrollin’!

Circle of life.

That’s it.

I hope you enjoyed this brief journey into some strange looking plants. We had a blast.

All kidding aside, it was a spectacular show. If you missed it this year, make a note to go see it next year.

It is the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts.

Bravo!

Posted in Art, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment

News Flash!

Posted on August 9, 2015 by kimerer_brian

MAN-EATING PLANT MAKES BABIES!

Well, it hasn’t actually made any babies yet. It is just about to bloom. Here is a closeup of the “flowers”.

And, it doesn’t actually eat men either. Recently it has been eating mosquitoes that had the audacity to try to bite us. We knocked them out and dropped them into the plant. The plant apparently likes the menu because it has put out those potential blooms.

It looks like something out of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I think I will call it “Audrey Jr.” If that fiddle head opens up with the faces of mosquitoes in it, I am going to run away.

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Takeover

Posted on August 2, 2015 by kimerer_brian

We seem to have been taken over by Black Eyed Susans.

That bunch is on the South side of the house by the air conditioners. If you go around the corner to the path into the back yard, you see this:

More of the same.

Then, after you get into the back yard, all around the patio there is this:

Far as the eye can see…. nothing but Black Eyed Susans.

Well, except for that plant on the pole.

A Man-Eating plant on a stick….. out for a walk. Hope it catches some of the bugs out there.

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The Next Big Thing

Posted on June 27, 2015 by kimerer_brian

I think that I have just seen the Next Big Thing.

I ordered a set of battery boxes from Amazon. The boxes are little plastic boxes that I use to store my AA and AAA rechargeable batteries in so that they won’t roll around in the desk drawer and get lost.

So I ordered some from Amazon. They only cost $3.50… with free shipping. After the order was placed, the estimated time of delivery was some outrageous date, like July 27 ( I ordered the boxes on June 14). Yikes!

When I researched it, I found that the shipper was Yanwen…. which is based in…. Beijing… China….. seriously. The entire order was for $3.50 for some plastic boxes… free shipping.. and they are shipping them directly from China!

Well today, way earlier than they had predicted, my battery boxes showed up. Here is a photo of the label on the package.

Yep. That certainly looks like it came from China. Here is the stamp.

Cool. These two characters from the stamp:

mean “Middle” and “Kingdom”, which is the ancient name for China. I can see where they get “Middle” out of the one on the left. The other one is a puzzle.

Anyway, here are the boxes.

They are exactly what I expected.

So I guess the Next Big Thing is that not only is everything Made in China… but it is shipped directly from China as well.

How did they do that for $3.50?

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The Answer Is….

morebeer

Okbeer

First Dip

Alligator Seed

Audrey Jr. Continues to Bloom

CSSM

News Flash!

Takeover

The Next Big Thing

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