I've always wondered about this

Cleaning fruits and vegetables its not really surprising, just good common sense.

See whats going on here

glumbert.com - Can you count the passes?

Cool

Urban Hunter

I’ve taken up urban squirrel hunting, not as much for the love of hunting, but to rid the neighborhood of the tree rat. With many walnut trees in close proximity to my property the nuts draw them in, them being the “Red squirrel” (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) they’ve ran out all the fox and gray squirrels and have taken over the habitat….more to come.

Eye opener

As I drove east on Cleveland to turn north on Ravenna road and drive the last 10 mile leg of my 40 mile commute, I saw something remarkable. What I saw from a distance, at first confused me, a truck backing up in the opposing lane. As I drove near the truck came to a stop and a boy of 10 or 11 hopped out to help an elderly gentleman who was struggling to pull his trash cart to the curb. Driving by and watching the boy and the old man work together to move the cart made me think. Would I have done the same? Sadly, I don’t think I would have. What bothers me most is I’m not sure why I can say that.

LOL

I can't even remember where I snagged this picture from, but every time I see it in my photo I laugh. Hope you laugh too. Click to enlarge.

UPDATE: Go here and read more about Birdman weapons systems, I did and laughing even harder than before.

Saturday

Ross and I went up to my folks Saturday with a couple of objectives in mind. One was to convert the electrical system on the old 8N tractor from 6 to 12 volt. That went well; of course I didn’t stop there. I became frustrated at the inconsistent flow of fuel and pulled the tank. Of course it was full of crud, mostly rust flakes, no big surprise the thing is 54 years old. Pressure washing the inside helped, there’s still rust in the tank; the only other solution is to replace it or have a radiator shop acid wash and coat it, both costly. I guess I can live with a little rust in the sediment bowl.

Secondly, I wanted to shoot dad’s new revolver, he hadn’t even shot it yet. What a beautiful weapon! Taurus model 617 total titanium in .357 Mag, he started out 7 rounds of .38 special, after shooting through that we went to .357 Mag, he was impressed to say the least by the difference between the two rounds. This weapon is amazingly accurately, for a 2” barrel, much better than the Ruger SP 101 in .357 Mag that I used to carry. Go here to check out the specs.

Beer snob

Dog days, it’s that time again in Ravenna when anybody who’s anyone in town gathers at the park for an evening out. There’s food, fun, beer, and music at Ravenna’s Dog Day’s.

I must not be anyone or just anti-social because I’ve lived here for 14 years and the other night was the first time I went. The kids always go, its two blocks away and they love playing the games the church always sets up.

The kids had been down there for a while, I thought I would amble down and have a look’ see. Well it was everything I imagined it to be, the kids were engrossed in the games, the band was playing and people were having a great time. I made my way towards what I believed to be the beer stand, it was a token set up so I found a near by booth and bought a $2.50 token which I soon turn into a $2.50 Bud light.

Yes I’m a beer snob, I only bought this beer out civic duty, and it goes to the Lions Club. I can’t remember the last time I had such a tasteless beer. I normally choose to drink draft beer if at all possible, Guinness, Heineken something with taste. I sat at a picnic table watching the kids nursing my can of pilsner, it was soon gone and I had had my fill of dog days. I headed home, packing some of the loot the kids had won.

Turf pest

This is my first ever "hand kill" of my lawn nemesis Scalopus aquaticus AKA "the mole"
I had noted the grass around the pool was getting long and trim. Not wanting to use the weed whacker near the sides of the pool I opted for the traditional hand shears. Bending down to begin the job, I saw movement in the grass and the unmistakable fur of this varmint. With little hesitation I skewered the pest. My aim was true, right thru the center between the shoulders. As I lifted the creature, still run thru on the shears it showed little life and quickly succumbed to its injuries.

This is my 2^nd kill for the year. Walking across the front lawn this morning I saw evidence that there’s been a replacement for my earlier kill. Fortunately these pests are very territorial; one in itself can wreak havoc on your turf.

Interesting flowers

I've yet to try to identify these small flowers, in this picture, if you look closely you should be able to see the bee collecting nectar. Click on picture to enlarge.
Update: After a bit of research it turns out that this a very interesting plant. Monotropa Unflora, the ghost plant, also known as Indian pipe.

Happy 231st Birthday America

As I was hiking this morning I came across the remnants of this birthday celebration. The scale of this mess is not captured by this single photo Not that I was surprised by this total disregard for the environment, just bent me the wrong way.

A few weeks ago Ross and I spent a few days in Grand Marais, staying with my folks at woodland park. Above is a shot from the roll away(log slide) at Grand Sable Dunes, 300 feet above Lake Superior.

While waiting on the dock in Munising to take the Pictured Rocks boat tour, this plane landed, do you call it that in the water? picked up a passenger and took off. The weather that day was prefect, practically no wind out on the lake.

I was taken on this same cruise when I was Ross's age, I think I enjoyed the sights more now than 30 years ago.

My only regret is the lack of a quality camera, these photo hardly do this scenery justice.

This outcrop is Indian Head, yes it sorta looks like a Indians head, use your imagination.


This is spray falls, the captain said this was a bonus to see they normally don't cruise this far but, due to the great weather the boat made good time. I would recommend this cruise to anyone with a few hours to spend in Munising.

Camouflage

Looking for mushrooms today at my folks I almost stepped on this little guy



I know mom was nearby, we saw her cross the drive from that spot when we pulled in.

Go fly a kite!

Sarah got a new kite at Menards today, about 10 minutes into flying it the wind seemed to die and we struggled to keep it airborne. Unfortunately tomorrow’s forecast calls for little wind.

Homework

I’ve been avoiding it all week, but it’s almost Friday and still I have a major work load and my entire day tomorrow is booked with design reviews. So I’ve been working since I came home at six-thirty, my VPN connection is thru Oslo, Norway so speed is just not happening; however with two computers running here I’m getting quite a bit done.

A test I didn't study for

I received an odd phone call this morning, the gal in HR asked me to come to her office.
I had been selected of a drug screen. No worries here, I’m clean, I don’t do drugs…..anymore. Just glad I could go and didn’t have to wait around. When I worked at AutoDie years ago they had the same random testing. They would send you to the clinic right across the street for your test, when I worked afternoons there was a guy who sat there for almost six hours before he went, nothing they could do about it.

Whats going on

Not much going on my way this week so far. I’ve been staying late at work, finishing up designs I have reviews for on Friday . By the time I get home at 6:30 or 7:00 have some dinner, well lets just say I'm done for the evening. I’ve left my laptop at work the last couple of night just so I don’t spend all night working, even thought I found my self researching H8 fits for a 28^mm hole this evening, which by the way is +.033^mm its hard to stop.

House cleaning, literally

On the northern exposure of my attached garage was a nasty film mildew, dirt and who knows what. I don’t have this problem on any of the other northern walls, could have been caused by the close proximity of a recently removed spruce tree. The pressure washer made short work of this unsightly mess.

I have no morels.

Hiked a few miles this morning in search of morels, only to return empty handed. This has been one of my most disappointing seasons so far. Years ago I never found them this early, but the last few years I have, my hope is that its just not happened yet.

Day off, sorta

After falling asleep around six this morning my wife brings me my cell at 7:30 saying its been ringing, messages from vender's. Make a couple calls and back to see the sandman. 11:00 rolls around and I'm up again and out of bed. I have a new laptop with a VPN (virtual private network) card which allows me to work from home, too slow for serious design work but lets me access my work email and files. So I spent a couple hours taking care of business. Ross had his school work done, so we drove over to Gross park. Nice walking trails cover the park land, we spent an hour or so hiking around. When we finished up there we drove to a vender that I do work with to look at a couple of jobs. All and all, a nice afternoon, now I have to go finish a few jobs outside, my work is never done!