Scout spent the summer on the couch on the sun porch watching the chickens. She became obsessed with watching them, and would even run to the living room windows to follow them as they walked around the house. Daughter Amelia was concerned about her dog's behavior, but it hasn't done any harm to Scout. We tried prohibiting her from the couch and that didn't work. No dogs are on the sun porch now because of the rennovations. The sun porch is here, but it is partially demolished and is being rebuilt. New French doors have been installed to go into the new living room. But with a wall gone on the porch, there is free access to the outdoors and these dogs can't be let loose (or they will disappear up the mountain). Scout is once again calm and behaving normally. The chickens are spending their days in the woods now so they seldom come around the house. Catgirl took this photograph with the Olympus Tough 8000. She also took the photo of her brother, Ironman, below. Got to love little boys!
I saw this pretty doe while driving home from the store. I couldn't decide which of the photos to share with you, so once again I have posted a slide show of all of the shots. In a couple of the shots, I swear that the hot doe (it was extremely hot) was panting. You may not be able to see this unless you view the slide show full screen. I hope you enjoy the show!
I got up early on July 7 to let the cats out while it was still cool. That's when I saw the raccoon tracks on my car's hood, windshield and roof. After the raccoons massacred chickens in late May, we had been, and still are, very watchful for signs of any more raccoons coming too close to the barn and house. It was very creepy seeing that a raccoon had climbed to the top of my car in the middle of the night. Was this a ploy to show dominance? To show that they could still sneak up on us? Since we had killed three of its comrades in May, this very well could be a show of strength.
It isn't paranoia that makes me think the raccoons have these motivations for stomping on my car. In reality, animals and humans have spent centuries performing dominance displays. There was no food on the top of my car for the raccoon to take. It seems clear to me that the act was a demonstration by the raccoon. It gives me a whole lot of respect for the critters. And it has taught me to be very careful when I go outside in the dark. It wasn't too long ago that there was raccoon rabies in the Northeast Kingdom.
I've always loved Macs. But the iPhone killed my adoration of all things Apple. If I had been able to get an iPhone in Vermont when they were introduced, I probably would have. (It was illegal, yes, illegal, to sell iPhones in Vermont. It was also illegal to go to Boston and bring one back home.) The iPhone frustration got me thinking and I slowly began to suspect that for decades I had willingly participated with Apple's marketing hype. I still enjoy my Macs (we still have and use quite a few), but now I wonder why.
I've never wanted to be one sheep in a herd that blindly and unquestioningly followed a master marketer so that I would buy what I don't need. But that's just what I did when I bought and desired Apple products. The pride of owning glittery computers that were admired by others was just what Apple wanted me to feel. I believed the marketing hype, I fell for the price decoys, high reference prices, and Mac bundling to rationalize spending $3,000 for a laptop computer. But Apple is too exclusive for me now; I want a more inclusive and less rancorous computer culture. Read How Apple plays the pricing game Creative strategies prompt consumers to buy, buy, buy. Now it's the Mac OS X operating system I love, not the machine. So I doubt that I'll ever buy another Apple product unless it is the OS (read Mac OS on a Dell? Dell Favors, Apple Opposes and read more about the Hackintosh here).
The components that Apple uses in its MacPro line are not the top of the line components that I had always assumed were used. Upgrades to bigger and better components are overpriced. I always thought that the components used by Apple were the highest quality, but they aren't. I can buy (and we have, recently) bigger, better and faster components to upgrade my PC system. You can't do this with Apple. (source: http://thenextweb.com/apple/files/2010/09/mac01.jpg). Click the image on the left to read the details in a new window.
Remember the old windoze jokes (if you are, or were, a MacAddict you do)? I'm not laughing anymore. Windows 7 is good (not spectacular) and Microsoft is not the evil empire. Read Why does everyone hate Microsoft?
My own experiences with Windows and Dell have been very positive. I am able to do anything I wanted to do on my Macs — and more. I can run Priime95 now (also GIMP, Electric Sheep and Apophysis). My photographs are not altered to Mac-only formats.
Last week, Arthur upgraded our two PCs with a 4 terabyte server. We were running out of room (because of the photographs) and having response problems. So for $500, Arthur configured a server for us and installed it. That is 12.5¢ a gigabyte. With operating system software. I couldn't do this with a MacBook or MacPro.
And to make this whole new PC experience better, I got new eyes! Finally after many years of ignoring my growing vision problems, I had to get new glasses. The lens fell out of my readers and I couldn't find it. Now I have progressive bifocal lenses. It took a week for me to be comfortable with them, but now I love them. Of course, I wonder why I didn't do this years ago! Do yourself a favor — get a new, cheap PC and new glasses and enjoy the hundreds of dollars that you can now spend on — well, whatever you want. Like groceries, firewood, or a savings account!
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 Jeremyah bizes a lotta feeldzes!
1 Dis iz da wurd dat comded to da Jeremyah kitteh frum teh Ceiling Cat. It comded ten yeers aftur da King Kitteh, Zedukeeah (he were duh king-o-judah) 2 Teh war kittens o dah king kitteh o Baibeelon were doin teh beseejin oh dah holiez boxes, jeruslm. Jeremyah wuzz dah futur seer (not dah bullfrog lol!) n he wuzz made to sit in dah lawnz o dah securty manz iin dah palaz o judah. srsly. 3 Now, zedukeeah, dah rulah kitteh o judah maded him sit der n saiz, "what wit yur futur seen?!? SRSLY! u be saiz, 'dis iz whut Ceiling Cat saiz: I r gonna giv dis box to dah rulah kitteh o baibeelon n he gonna cap yur flag! 4"'Zedukeeah, u iz nut gonna be goin no werz, u gonna sai hai to dah utter rullah kitteh, n he gon seez u wit hiz ayz! 5"'teh Ceiling Cat saiz, he gon takded u to dah baibeelon, n u gon stay der wit him till ai deel wit him, jus go, srsly.'" 6 Jeremyah kitteh sai, "Hay! B kewl! dah wurd o teh Ceiling Cat cameded to meh!: 7 "Haynamel, sun o shahlum, ur cuzzin iz comded to u n sai, 'purchasez mah feeldz! cauz itz yur dootiz! fyi!' ai knowed day dis wuz dah werd o Teh Ceiling Cat; 8 So mah cousin Haynamel camed 2 meh in da cort ov teh prizin accordin 2 teh werd o Teh Ceiling Cat, an sed to meh, buy mah feeldz, dat iz in anathoth, which iz in da cuntry ov Binjahmin: 4 da rite of inheritence iz urz, an teh redempshun iz urz; buy it 4 u and ur friends. Den ai knew dat dis wuz dah werd o Teh Ceiling Cat an stuffs. 9 An ai botted teh feeldz frum mah cuzzin Haynamel, an givved him teh munny, seventeen shiny things.
1 U dat iz in seekrit box wif Ceiling Cat iz under All-Pwnzer 2 Sez uv Ceiling Cat, iz mah under-cowch an bukkit, an i gots trust in him 3 Iz gonna saev U frum teh spyderwebz an frum teh vakuum cleenr. 4 Him iz can cuvr U wif fethrs an under hiz wings U iz safe (Ceiling Cat iz burd?) Hiz truth is can be ur bukkit. 5 U iz not skeerd uv big skaries in nite, r the bad kittehs in the day 6 Or teh dogz in teh drkness, r of bafftiem. 7 1000 can haz fall dwn, 10000 goz bum, but not u! Srsly. 8 U just see teh bad kittehs getz pwnd, k? 9 C u maded Ceiling Cat ur howz (hez mah bukkit, hez so kewl); 10 No bad stuffz can pwn you lol, no herpiz up in ur houz 4 real. 11 He iz making hiz angels watch ovr u wif mad skillz, dey keepz u safe evrywhere (even on teh toilet!) 12 Dere pawz iz holding u up so u don getz owiez. 13 U can stomp teh lions and teh lolruses, teh baby lionses and teh vakuum cleenrs u can squish dem wid ur paw. 14 C, he setted hiz luv on me teh Ceiling Cat, so il save him kthx. He can haz top of shelf cuz he noes mai naym. 15 Wen he sez "Hay r u dere?" il be liek "Oh, Hai!". In teh bad tiems il be dere, il save him an giv cookies. 16 He can haz nine long liefs an c wen i saveded him kthxbai.
1 U think u iz saef in Zion an up on Mount Samaria. 2 U iz so rong. 3 U think "I wil taekz caer of dis tumorro." 4 U lie around all day eatin cookies. 5 an jammin on teh guitar. 6 U getz drunk an putz on suntan loashn LOL. 7 U will be teh first to go.
6 But godliness wif contenment is great gain. Srsly. 7 Fur we brot nuthing into dis wurld. an we can taek nuthin out uf it. 8 But if we has cookies an a coat of fur, we wil bee contentz wif dat. 9 Cats who wantz too many cheezburgerz faw intu timptashun an a trap an into miny fewlish an hawmfewl desiwes dat pwunj cats intu ruin an distructshun. 10 Fur de wub uf cheezburgerz is teh rewt uf awl keyndz uf evul. Sum cats, eegr fur cheezburgerz, hav wanderd frum teh faith and peerced demselvs wif many greefs.
Srsly Tim 11 But u fawlo Ceiling Cat so runz away! Dey hidez, but findz teh rite, godlines, faith, luv, enderens, and gentwlenes. 12 Fihwt da g00d fihwt of teh faith. U sayz you getz eeternal liwf n we allz here u, so holdz on or it getz away. 13 Rmembr Ceiling Cat who madez all tingz and watchz u, n Christ Jebus who pwnd Ponchus Pilot, cuz 4 dem I sez 14 do what Ceiling Cat seyz all time until Christ Jebus cumz back 15 cuz he'll do that when Ceiling Cat feelz lik it. Ceiling Cat who pwnz n haz teh most cheezburgerz, 16 who livz 4eva in teh brite lite no one seez n can't seez evn if haz cheezburger. We givez him cookies all time. Ahmen.
lettr 2 teh rich 17 Charge dem dat r rich in dis wurld, dat dem be not high mindd, trust in da living Ceiling Cat, hoo giveth us richly things 2 enjoy; 18 Dat dem do gud, and be rich in gud werkz, ready 2 distribute, willing 2 speek; 19 Lay up in store 4 demselvez gud foundashun, dat dem cud lay hold on eternal life.
19 I will tell u a storee. Wonz upon a taim der wuz a rich kitteh hoo had minee cheezburgrs. 20 But anudder kitteh hoo livd neer him (udder kitteh wuz calld Lazarus) had itcheez all ovr, 21 n he wuz hungree 2 and had no kibbulz of his own; and nastee doggeez were alwayz comin and licken him. Srsly. 22 But den Lazarus kitteh dyd and went to kitteh hevun wit de anjel kittehs and Abraham kitteh! Srsly! Oh, n rich kitteh dyd 2. 23 Ded rich kitteh did not go with anjels, tho, he went to de bad plase insted. He cud see Abraham kitteh and Lazarus kitteh far awaee, laffin n lookin happee n stuff. 24 Ded rich kitteh yelld, “Hey, uz guyz, srsly, cud Lazarus come bring me sum nip and kibbulz 2? I be sad kitteh down heer in dis heet.” 25 But Abraham kitteh say, “Excuz me, WTF? U spent ur erth time havin gud thingz and not sharin wid Lazarus. Tings sure b diffrent now, huh? Don’t liek it so much now, huh? 26 Anywayz, even if i wantd 2 i cudnt hep u. Duznt work dat way, sry!" 27 Den ded rich kitteh sed, “Mayb u go visit my erth famalee den, and give dem warningz? 28 I got 5 bruders hoo still b on erth. Dey don’t want 2 burn, srsly." 29 But Abraham kitteh say, "Dey got a copee of de rulz from Moses kitteh and Ceiling Cat alrdy, just liek evrybdy else!” 30 Ded rich kitteh thot a warning from a gost kitteh mite do da trik, tho. 31 But Abraham kitteh sed no. “If dey don’t lissun to Moses kitteh and udder profet kittehs, dey will not lissun to gost kitteh eether.”
8:1 HAY GAIZ bring dem bonez of dem Kings uv Judah, n uv teh princes, n uv teh priests, n uv teh prophets, n uv the inhabeebents of Jewrusalem owt uv teh ground.
8:2 Put dem in teh sun all spread out liek, so dey can see de moon, and teh heavens, n all the pwetty stars, whom dey hab luvd, n whom dey hab servidid, n after whom dey are walk, n whom dey sees, n whom dey workshopped: dey should stay outside too, don't bury them, dey liek little turds of justice on mah littur box, da urf.
8:3 N teh gaiz left will kill themselves, at least whur I been, so sayeth Ceiling Cat. Yay.
8:4 Say to dem gaiz, Thus spracke Ceiling Cat; Yuo gaiz gonna stay down or wut? U gaiz gunna turn de udder weigh?
8:5 Why u gaiz going backwards n stuff all teh time? Dem guys hold deciets, they said we no return.
8:6 I hurd, and was liek, YAY! Den dem guys were stupid. Dey were stoopid n00bs, always saying wut I done? Dey all went on course, liek a Horse! Yay, dat rhymes!
9:1 [a]oh, dat mah head wuz sprin ov watr An mah eyez fountain ov tears! I wud weep dai an nite 4 da slain ov mah peeps.
O hai ceiling cat, dem catz wot dont think uz iz real haz done they busnez in your houze. Them ded kitties wot did give you stuffs hav bin given to teh animalz in teh ceiling, teh bodyz of ur holy kitties to teh animalz on teh urf. Teh bl00d they has lost iz gone like wen you iz really firsty, and lick it up reeeel fast, and they had no kitty to dig them holes. We no like our neighbourz no more. you shud srsly pwn them. How long you no likes uz for? You shud be angry at them wot dont believe in you and their h00manz. They haz eated jacob, and let his house go all nasty. Forget wot we did waz bad. Forgive us pllllllllz Say you no care wot we did waz bad no more, for ceiling cat's sake! Wot sez them kitties wot dont believ in you? Wheres their ceiling cat? Let them no by pwning them. Let them priznorz wot shud be dead liv. Coz u can do that coz u is awsm. And pwn our neighbours 7 tyms worse than wot they pwned you. So uz kitties of yours will say kthnx for eva, and tell our little kitties and their kitties.
1 Srsly gaiz, I sez lawzt of goodz stuf shud befor evrywunz — 2 evn for teh pwnrcatz n dare frenz, so we kin be liek evrytinz kewlzorzlawl. 3 N teh Ceiling Cat sez itb kewlz0rzlawl, 4 cuz hezliek gaiz, u ned to b kewl n no whddfxup. 5 Cuz derz won Ceiling Cat n hiz boikitteh, n tahtz geewhiz, 6 u no, teh gai wat sez "imma dy fr u now kthxbai!!!!" 7 So now iz liek, im heer lisn to meh n u getz all teh cheezbergrz EVAR. yeh wai!
1 Jebus told his lolcats, "There was a rich kitteh whose manager was said to have wasted his cheezburgerz. 2 So he went to teh manager and wuz lyke, "WTF? Give account of management cuz u FIRED lolz. 3 The manager sayd to himself, "Oh noez! Wut I do now? Me is weak so can't dig hole, and me no dog so me can't beg... 4 ..O wait I can do stuff so peepl still lyke meh." 5 So teh manager called the one of peepz who owed the rich kitteh cheezburgerz. He was lyke. "How many cheezburgerz u owe teh rich kitteh?" 6 Kitteh numbah one said, "Eight-hundred cheezburgerz." Teh manager was lyke, "OMG that's too many! I say u owe him 400 cheezburgers k?" And kitteh numbah one couldn't argue bcuz if he did he would get h4x0rd LOL. 7 Den he ask kitteh numbah 2 da same queshtun. He are said, "The numbah of cheezburgerz I owe him is OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And the manager was lyke, "ORLY?" And kitteh numbah 2 was lyke "YARLY!" So teh manager said, "Well now you only owe him 800 cheezburgerz k?" 8 Teh manager pwn3d teh rich kitteh cuz teh rich kitteh was meen. Teh kittehs of da wurld are meen to others of da wurld and not teh holy kittehs. "I wuldn't be meen to holy kettehs either, dey might smite meh!) 9 So lyke, use ur cheezburgerz to getz u sum frendz, so when ur cheezburgerz get eated, you still gotz teh friends, k? 10 If you be trusted with kid-sized cheezburger, you be trusted with supahsized cheezburger. But if you no trusted with kid-sized cheezburger, you no trusted with nuttin LOL. 11 So if you can't be trusted with ur suff, you can't be trusted with other stuff. 12 And vice versa. 13 No cat can be in 2 ceilings. Either he hate one and luff teh other, or vice versa. You can't serve both Ceiling Cat and teh cheezburgerz. It one or other, not both, k?
Way back I planted an ordinary yellow onion in a pot to see what would happen to it. I posted about it here, where it looked like this when I potted it:
December 2009
I posted about my onion again after it had grown a bit and looked like this:
February 2010
You can see that it is now huge! I was thrilled to see the flowers on it. But the flower head was covered with a papery skin, just like the onions are. As the flower inside the skin grew, it finally burst the skin and emerged, as you can see in the photos below:
A "bud" covered emerging from its papery skin.
The buds are free of their wrapper now.
The lovely, onion smelling flower has now bloomed.
I have a photograph of a lovely moth on this flower, but I can't find the photo yet. I will as I continue to get caught up on editing photographs. The flowers are dying back now because of the frosty nights. Eventually I will dig up the original onion to see what happened to it. Try this yourself, but make sure you have a huge pot!
I haven't spent the time to identify these sphinx moths (just as I didn't identify the bugs earlier). To see the full size photo of each moth, click on the photo and it will open a new tab.
Click any photo to view it full size in a new window.
Nasty fly
I enjoy photographing these flies and spiders. I'm not that good at it yet but I'm getting better. I have not bothered identifying any except for the deer fly (the identification has been confirmed by entymologists). The deer fly is nearly translucent.
My daughter, Amelia, made waffles one Sunday but had one left over (can you imagine having leftover homemade waffles?). So she tossed it outside for the chickens. Later that morning, in front of my computer in front of the window, I heard a huge, and I mean huge, commotion. I saw three hens chasing a fourth hen around the yard. The first hen had something large and golden in her mouth. The others were squawking as loud as they could. The chickens ran around the house yard, into the woods, out of the woods, around the wood pile, through the gardens, and around the driveway ! They eventually all got a piece of it, but not before I got some great shots! I decided to use Flickr's slideshow feature for this post. It's funnier if you run the slideshow fast but I couldn't find the code to do that. I hope you enjoy this romp as much as I did! Thank you for visiting today.
