Well, Maebius shared it in his Google reader, and I thought I'd bite. Here, take a read:
Causabon's Book. I think it's a good idea, and a challenge is always a good thing. We'll see how it goes. :)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Grandma Klein has passed away. All notes to the blog will probably be late while we deal with the fallout.
Thanks for your attention :)
Thanks for your attention :)
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
*looks wildly around for any last wildfires before posting* ...okay.
The squirrel is out of the chimney. The rope-down-the-chimney didn't work. The squirrel was not afraid of the rope enough to run out the hole, nor comfortable enough with it to climb it. Meme the mighty gathered his squirrel removal team, and ended up completely taking apart the coal stove and chimney. In the end, he reached in and grabbed the poor little critter by whatever was available (his head) and hucked him towards the door. Squirrel looked around, panicky, and then hit it out of the house. Harry the half-haired squirrel, as we've taken to calling him, has been back to the feeder and stuffing his wee little porky face with sunflower seeds, so he's okay. He's half-haired because when Meme was trying to grab him, the little guy was so stressed he would shed his way out of Meme's grip. There's some fur off his tail, some off his one side, and a little bit off of one shoulder, all where Meme tried to extract him from the chimney. He seems none the worse for wear, though.
The tree that fell in our yard has been cheerfully cut into a bazillion pieces by the crack chainsaw-and-reciprocating-saw-borrowing team. If we get a chimnea or firepit thing for the backyard, we'll burn it there or in the trash barrel, but I remember pine being bad for house chimneys.
My family health concerns have diminished considerably. My Dad had his surgery and is doing well. I'm no longer hacking up green-yellow crud and worrying about pneumonia. Meme got over his nasty case of food allergies(which we thought was a virus), and it's turned out to be that it appears he can't eat bacon anymore. Which sucks, because we all know Bacon is even Better Than Mom (tm). (Dougie in the house, yo!)
The double-charged-for-oil ($1600!!!! O.O ) check-bouncing-fees seems to have resolved (she said cautiously). I don't blame the oil company, it was an honest mistake in their trying to switch over from paper checks to an electronic system... but it still sucked massively. Banks get crabby when mortgage payments bounce.
Grandma Klein and Linda are doing better than I expected, although the loss of Grandpa will still take a long time to ease. I know it'll never go away entirely, but I hope they'll feel more comfortable as time goes on.
So. It's mostly quiet on the northeastern front, (she said knocking wood furiously) and Joe and I are going to give another go at the filming thing on Wednesday.
The squirrel is out of the chimney. The rope-down-the-chimney didn't work. The squirrel was not afraid of the rope enough to run out the hole, nor comfortable enough with it to climb it. Meme the mighty gathered his squirrel removal team, and ended up completely taking apart the coal stove and chimney. In the end, he reached in and grabbed the poor little critter by whatever was available (his head) and hucked him towards the door. Squirrel looked around, panicky, and then hit it out of the house. Harry the half-haired squirrel, as we've taken to calling him, has been back to the feeder and stuffing his wee little porky face with sunflower seeds, so he's okay. He's half-haired because when Meme was trying to grab him, the little guy was so stressed he would shed his way out of Meme's grip. There's some fur off his tail, some off his one side, and a little bit off of one shoulder, all where Meme tried to extract him from the chimney. He seems none the worse for wear, though.
The tree that fell in our yard has been cheerfully cut into a bazillion pieces by the crack chainsaw-and-reciprocating-saw-borrowing team. If we get a chimnea or firepit thing for the backyard, we'll burn it there or in the trash barrel, but I remember pine being bad for house chimneys.
My family health concerns have diminished considerably. My Dad had his surgery and is doing well. I'm no longer hacking up green-yellow crud and worrying about pneumonia. Meme got over his nasty case of food allergies(which we thought was a virus), and it's turned out to be that it appears he can't eat bacon anymore. Which sucks, because we all know Bacon is even Better Than Mom (tm). (Dougie in the house, yo!)
The double-charged-for-oil ($1600!!!! O.O ) check-bouncing-fees seems to have resolved (she said cautiously). I don't blame the oil company, it was an honest mistake in their trying to switch over from paper checks to an electronic system... but it still sucked massively. Banks get crabby when mortgage payments bounce.
Grandma Klein and Linda are doing better than I expected, although the loss of Grandpa will still take a long time to ease. I know it'll never go away entirely, but I hope they'll feel more comfortable as time goes on.
So. It's mostly quiet on the northeastern front, (she said knocking wood furiously) and Joe and I are going to give another go at the filming thing on Wednesday.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Been a busy... week? two weeks? Joey has two films for you, but the camera hack screwed them up. we're going to try and make a third today. pretty much, the films turned out to be too long, not have enough information in them, and the sound is too quiet.
Cut us a little slack, though. :) We just came back from New Jersey from spending the long weekend to see family who had had surgery... and we have a squirrel in our chimney. We lost most of our filming time today climbing up and down the roof, lowering ropes, building squirrel highways out of cardboard to no avail so far. As near as I can tell, there IS no animal control out here... I called a million places trying to find out who to call, and nobody knows. I'm thinking about calling a pest control people just to see if they can help get the poor little gal out. I'm pretty sure it is a mom who thought she found the sweetest place evar to nest.
I'm going to find a blanket and and some cocoa while we wait the squirrel out. the squirrel highway has to have an open door or window at the end of it... and it's damn cold!
Cut us a little slack, though. :) We just came back from New Jersey from spending the long weekend to see family who had had surgery... and we have a squirrel in our chimney. We lost most of our filming time today climbing up and down the roof, lowering ropes, building squirrel highways out of cardboard to no avail so far. As near as I can tell, there IS no animal control out here... I called a million places trying to find out who to call, and nobody knows. I'm thinking about calling a pest control people just to see if they can help get the poor little gal out. I'm pretty sure it is a mom who thought she found the sweetest place evar to nest.
I'm going to find a blanket and and some cocoa while we wait the squirrel out. the squirrel highway has to have an open door or window at the end of it... and it's damn cold!
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Unfortunate News
Grandpa Klein passed away today after being admitted to the hospital three days ago. It was a peaceful passing, and he wasn't in any pain. The funeral will be early this coming week, and we will all be attending. Joe will miss a day of school to attend.
Grandpa had asked that no flowers be sent, but donations to his Lions Club would be kind. If you need any more information, please feel free to email me.
It's possible that the timing will just be wrong for a baking session from Meme this week. Meme has a business trip early in the week, and may be away. Our schedule won't be the most flexible this week as well.
Grandpa Klein was one of the first people in Dorky's family to be kind to me. I met him the first time I went to Ryan's parents house to meet everyone in one fell swoop. Labor day party? I think? He was gruff, sweet, stubborn, opinionated, and loving. He would act all crusty but you would catch him with tears in his eyes at odd moments. Even to the very end, it was really amazing to me to see how much he and Grandma Klein were in love. He was always better when she was near. I can only hope that Dorky and I are like that in the end.
Don't get me wrong, he wasn't all sunshine and daisies. He had a hard life, and did what he had to to keep his family fed and happy as he could... but he could also dig his heels in and be a royal pain in the rear. Part of the reason why I loved him so much was that he WAS stubborn and he WAS crusty. He would also defend us and care for us with that same ferocity.
He was a good neighbor, and a good member of his community. He and his Lions did many, many charity collections, sales, relief programs, and glasses collection programs. He was an upstanding member of his church and his religious community. His neighbors knew him well, and they knew they could count on him for help, and would help him when they could.
Grandpa Klein was a good man. He loved his sweets, so tonight, or whenever you can, have a bowl of ice cream ridiculous with toppings, and send a prayer after him.
Grandpa had asked that no flowers be sent, but donations to his Lions Club would be kind. If you need any more information, please feel free to email me.
It's possible that the timing will just be wrong for a baking session from Meme this week. Meme has a business trip early in the week, and may be away. Our schedule won't be the most flexible this week as well.
Grandpa Klein was one of the first people in Dorky's family to be kind to me. I met him the first time I went to Ryan's parents house to meet everyone in one fell swoop. Labor day party? I think? He was gruff, sweet, stubborn, opinionated, and loving. He would act all crusty but you would catch him with tears in his eyes at odd moments. Even to the very end, it was really amazing to me to see how much he and Grandma Klein were in love. He was always better when she was near. I can only hope that Dorky and I are like that in the end.
Don't get me wrong, he wasn't all sunshine and daisies. He had a hard life, and did what he had to to keep his family fed and happy as he could... but he could also dig his heels in and be a royal pain in the rear. Part of the reason why I loved him so much was that he WAS stubborn and he WAS crusty. He would also defend us and care for us with that same ferocity.
He was a good neighbor, and a good member of his community. He and his Lions did many, many charity collections, sales, relief programs, and glasses collection programs. He was an upstanding member of his church and his religious community. His neighbors knew him well, and they knew they could count on him for help, and would help him when they could.
Grandpa Klein was a good man. He loved his sweets, so tonight, or whenever you can, have a bowl of ice cream ridiculous with toppings, and send a prayer after him.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Finnley has completely recovered and is the spoiledest brat cat in the house, re-learning the ways of the rattle-can. Every time we walk past the bathroom he was getting fed in, he sets up such a ruckus that swift discipline (in the form of picking him up like a baby and administering many many kisses to the top of his ears-flat head) must be enacted. We finished his last dose of the med this morning.
We ran into our first pizza making anomaly last night. I don't know if Joe will write about it, but the dough was very very dry, and we ended up having to add about 2 T of additional water to get it to a consistency that could be kneaded. Also, my kitchenaid is going to bite the big one, Ethel. In order to get the dough to the consistency that it needs to be pizza, we have to let the machine knead for 25-30 minutes. The little motor casing gets SO HOT. I think I'm going to have to try and ask for help getting a new one. I think we'll get the Kitchenaid Pro 6, because that thing has one HELL of a motor on it. 575 watts, which is more than double the wee 250 we have currently. I will try and hold off, maybe wait until the little critter dies for real, but I hope we'll get paid between here and there.
We experimented with using the breadmaker for one of the dough batches, and it was really interesting. The bread machine kneads the dough hardly at all, and the pizzas we made with it (and strombolis) came out really puffy and kind of bready. I think we could use it to get the ingredients together (you have to understand, the kitchen is SO SMALL that having the bread machine run in the dining room while we work in the kitchen frees up 1/3 the space ) but we'd end up kneading it in the kitchenaid anyway. You can forget kneading it by hand... that would take hours to get similar results. Regular bread, not really a problem, you want some gluten, but not the crazy level you need for pizza.
Hehehe, I'm really looking forward to what Joe brings back from his lessons with Meme. Then Joe will get to teach ME what he learned on the Wednesdays.
Maybe I'll get pictures of the kitchen so you all can see where the magic will be happening, although the pizza tossing pictures showed some of it. A lot of you have already seen it, but hey, it's part of the thorough documentation, yes?
Brenna is feeling neglegted, though, from all the attention Finnley has been given. Just today, she has mightily slain three pairs of socks from the laundry basket and brought them to me with the mouth-full meow. Yesterday, it was one of Joey's gloves, two pair of socks, and two singletons. The singletons were from different sets, of course, one from a pair of fluffy white socks, and one lucky frog sock. She also brought us a live mouse one day(from the garage, i think). The mouse was scared poopless, but totally fine. (She's bringing me a pair now, that's what made me think of it.)
...okay... I managed to get a test video done with the program, but it really sucks. you can see it, but no laughing! Open this URL with Windows Media Player, please (warning: file = big! I tried to reduce it, but i haven't learned all the compression stuff yet. i think it's around 8 and a half mb)
http://www.zenporch.org/monkey/ripleyhigh.wmv
Hey. What can I tell you? Dorky wanted me to video tape the kitties for his co-workers. The flickering in the Mimi dancing scene is because the visual effect I used was a user-created one that I found on the net. I'm hoping that I'll be able to import other visual graphics using the title screen, and it's pretty flexible on what sounds I can use, but I feel the special effects department is kind of lacking. I could have put flames in there, too, but that was about it. I think... hmm... I think I might be able to get an animation file in there, too, if the graphics themselves don't work. I'll keep messing with the program, counterintuitive and "buy THIS expansion pack to get these effects!" as it is.
We ran into our first pizza making anomaly last night. I don't know if Joe will write about it, but the dough was very very dry, and we ended up having to add about 2 T of additional water to get it to a consistency that could be kneaded. Also, my kitchenaid is going to bite the big one, Ethel. In order to get the dough to the consistency that it needs to be pizza, we have to let the machine knead for 25-30 minutes. The little motor casing gets SO HOT. I think I'm going to have to try and ask for help getting a new one. I think we'll get the Kitchenaid Pro 6, because that thing has one HELL of a motor on it. 575 watts, which is more than double the wee 250 we have currently. I will try and hold off, maybe wait until the little critter dies for real, but I hope we'll get paid between here and there.
We experimented with using the breadmaker for one of the dough batches, and it was really interesting. The bread machine kneads the dough hardly at all, and the pizzas we made with it (and strombolis) came out really puffy and kind of bready. I think we could use it to get the ingredients together (you have to understand, the kitchen is SO SMALL that having the bread machine run in the dining room while we work in the kitchen frees up 1/3 the space ) but we'd end up kneading it in the kitchenaid anyway. You can forget kneading it by hand... that would take hours to get similar results. Regular bread, not really a problem, you want some gluten, but not the crazy level you need for pizza.
Hehehe, I'm really looking forward to what Joe brings back from his lessons with Meme. Then Joe will get to teach ME what he learned on the Wednesdays.
Maybe I'll get pictures of the kitchen so you all can see where the magic will be happening, although the pizza tossing pictures showed some of it. A lot of you have already seen it, but hey, it's part of the thorough documentation, yes?
Brenna is feeling neglegted, though, from all the attention Finnley has been given. Just today, she has mightily slain three pairs of socks from the laundry basket and brought them to me with the mouth-full meow. Yesterday, it was one of Joey's gloves, two pair of socks, and two singletons. The singletons were from different sets, of course, one from a pair of fluffy white socks, and one lucky frog sock. She also brought us a live mouse one day(from the garage, i think). The mouse was scared poopless, but totally fine. (She's bringing me a pair now, that's what made me think of it.)
...okay... I managed to get a test video done with the program, but it really sucks. you can see it, but no laughing! Open this URL with Windows Media Player, please (warning: file = big! I tried to reduce it, but i haven't learned all the compression stuff yet. i think it's around 8 and a half mb)
http://www.zenporch.org/monkey/ripleyhigh.wmv
Hey. What can I tell you? Dorky wanted me to video tape the kitties for his co-workers. The flickering in the Mimi dancing scene is because the visual effect I used was a user-created one that I found on the net. I'm hoping that I'll be able to import other visual graphics using the title screen, and it's pretty flexible on what sounds I can use, but I feel the special effects department is kind of lacking. I could have put flames in there, too, but that was about it. I think... hmm... I think I might be able to get an animation file in there, too, if the graphics themselves don't work. I'll keep messing with the program, counterintuitive and "buy THIS expansion pack to get these effects!" as it is.
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