Hooo-Yaaahh

They're so pleasant when they're asleep.

I don't know when this was taken, but he sure seems to be enjoying himself.

Cindy's safe and sound at her folks right now. I'm leaving on Saturday - the house is big and lonely. I've been doing some yard work and cleaning, but it's definitely less hectic without kids around. E-mail me and let me know what you're all doing so I can arrange to meet up while I'm out - current phone numbers might be good too, since I've done a poor job of keeping those current.

Word.

I Am Alone

As most of you know, Cindy has left me. She packed her bags, took the kids, and went...But I meet up with her in a week for a much needed (and hopefully deserved) vacation. And boy howdy is our house big, quiet, and empty. It's quite unusual now to not have kids under foot. Those of you who knew me as the perennial bachelor of three years ago may find it hard to imagine, but I hardly know what to do with myself. I've embarked on some cleaning, need to do some more DIY around the house, and would love to do some yard work - if I could only stop sneezing for 5 seconds. I think I burst a blood vessel in my eye. What purpose is it that allergies serve?

Our hot, humid weather has returned, and with it the pollen is out in force. On Saturday the drive from here to Albany and back was made all the more beautiful by the gentle blue overtone of mountains and the state capital in their respective distances - all caused by the insane amount of moisture in the air. If I run the ceiling fans downstairs at full tilt and open windows on either side of the house, it's comfortable on the couch in the evening. But going upstairs to bed is like stepping into a sauna.

Here's some pictures - limited supply, Cindy has the camera. I don't know how much posting I'll be able to do whilst in Warshington, but I should have pictures of the trip when all is said and done.

Word


Adorable, idn't he?

Chomp!

To give some scale to the drill bits I posted pictures of a while back...

The angry look...

Watch out! He'll get cha! That rascool. Fortunately I don't think the thing could drill through butter - I tried it on some wood and it didn't do very well.

(Insert song lyrics here - I'm listening to jazz right now, so I don't have any catchy choruses running through my head like most of the time - skeediddlyboowop)

Uncle Saddam

I think maybe there's a sitcom in here that's just dying to get out...

Monday, Monday

I haven't posted for a while, I know. Connor managed to screw up our home computer for us. No home PC = no pics online = no posts. Also work's been slow = no sorting = no sedentary hours watching cells fall into tubes = no posts. I have fixed the computer myself - I'd tell you what was wrong, but it's probably means I'm stupid that it took me so long to fix it. I still have no new pictures, but I'll try to remedy that.

Father's day - wife and kids got me some nice things. Made me breakfast in bed. Went fishing with Ethan. Felt like a schlub - Mother's day I got Cindy chocolates and flowers, probably a day late. And she had to get up early to give the baby "MamaBaba." So we went fishing, and we both have nice farmer's burns to show for it.

Well. Keith has an interesting post over at his blog you should read. I took an ichthyology class in College, so I've done some of this stuff on a much, much smaller scale. But it can be fun, interesting stuff to do.

If there'’s a bustle in your hedgerow
Don'’t be alarmed now,
It'’s just a spring clean for the may queen.
What the hell was Robert Plant carrying on about?

It's Hotter Than A...

Geez, it's been muggy in my neck of the woods. I can't go outside and do much, because sweat runs out of like wine does from that magical fountain I have in my basement. Inside isn't much better, but at least we have ceiling fans to move the "air" around. The gardens are growing well - most of the plants are up. I need to replace my tomato plants, though. I saw someone with them planted in 5 gallon buckets during an extended walk yesterday, and that looks like a pretty good plan of action. We need a lawn mower - yesterday evening I opened the back door and distinctly heard monkeys chattering and the sound of far off headhunter drums. Seriously though, it's higher than my knee in many places, I don't even know if the average lawn mower could handle it.

And now the air conditioning in our lab is off again. I bid you adieu.



The INH I'm on for the thing I shouldn't talk about is starting to mess with me a bit, I think. At least there's no GI upset...Yet. Hooray for me!

If drinkin' coffee's your idea of really cool
You can't expect no crazy chick to notice you

The Things I Find At This Wacky House...

What Are We? v1.2

Okay, I've got some pictures of the assorted odds and ends that were left in the shop. Some of the things I'm about to post I know the function of, some I don't have a clue, some are just odds and ends that will be thrown out. Here we go.



Bits & Pieces...

See anything useful? I'll send it to you!

Que?

I am large and metal! I am large and Me-uh-tal!

Trepan drills for elephants? What other use could they possibly have - in my house, anyways.

I don't have anything but a few crooked nails to store my tools. Why yes, those are old pairs of my underwear in the picture.

Seriously. Let me know what some of these odds and ends are, so I can use them when I build my time machi...Erm, ultra lig...Ur, lawn mower.

Here's the wood eating baby!

He kept mumbling around it. Adorable, I tell you, absolutely adorable.

Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey.
Gold star to the fist person to name the album that comes from.

My Weekend Was Fine, Thank You

And I have pictures to prove it. The weather was fine, the gardens still planted. We need a lawnmower, and I'll be weeding from now until the snow falls. Here ya go:


Hi. We're orchids, aren't we?

Are we apple blossoms?

We smell good. Say, is that a smudge on the camera lens, or have all of the picture subjects so far been imbued with a saintly aura?

The boy and the perennials.

We were tomato plants. Then we were given too little water. Or too much. Woe to the tomatoes!

Lovely Brandon's lovely wife, showing her love in lovely loving ways.

I really need to get up to more interesting things.

Sorry.

Jai guru deva om.

Friday, 2:00pm, Where's My Weekend?

Yeah, another slow week, so there haven't been many posts. Silly pHd's and there cancellations. Of course today Simon's out of town and there's a million and one things going on in the lab. But I've got to be over here at the sorter, so everyone out their in the internets gets to enjoy my presence for a few minutes.

Does anyone know much about tuhmaytuhs? I had some nice starts that I transplanted to the garden that are dying slow and agonizing deaths. I've kept them watered. It's been warm. They get plenty of sunshine. The cats (there's now at least three that hang around the house, still only one that craps in the shop) don't seem to be eating or peeing on them. Hmmmm...

Looks like a slow weekend's in store for me. At least the weather's supposed to be decent, so I won't get rained on while I tearfully pull the dead tuhmaytuh plants out of the ground.

Here's a plethora of pictures from the last week, yo.

HULK SMASH!!!

He didn't keep them on long enough for us to get a picture from the front. He put the first one on by himself, with no prompting from anyone. It was funny.


Before...

After...

And the weirdo that rode by while I was doing it...

Apparently Memorial Day was the Couch Potato Bike Tour of TL. Those two guys rode past while I was trying to improve the silly walk thingy (I hate hauling rocks) to the front door. They had tons of gear piled on their bikes, were pudgy, and relatively sweat free. Which leads me to believe they hadn't peddled far - they went by 2-3 times. I would have taken a larger picture - because it was humorous to me - but I didn't want to piss them off with the flash. Like ridiculing them on my blog wouldn't.


He can stand on his own now, walking's right around the corner. I, however, can't operate a flash.

He can also get into lots of things...

Okay, that's all for now.
Hasta la pasta.

Also, I went to a specialist yesterday for the thing I'm not supposed to talk about. He was exactly what a small town doctor should be - large glasses, bow tie, slacks that were just a bit too short, told me way too much about what I was there for. Long story short, 6 mo's of antibiotics, possibly meaning no beer for that time - mixed reviews. Doctor said "Drinking's okay, alcoholics are the ones contracting TB, do you think being on antibiotics would stop them?" But everyone else I've talked to says no to the ethanol whilst the antibiotics you take. I've even heard that one of the ingredients is the same thing they give to boozehounds so they get sick if they touch the stuff. We'll see. Don't blame me if I'm cranky while I'm in Washington, blame the absence of barley, malt, and hops...

Hasta la pasta.

I Know That The Guy Is Funny...

..But this crap has gone too far. In the town where I live, you can pick up hats, shirts, bumper stickers and other auto details, etc. ad nauseum. People actually buy them! Too much! Once the weather stays nice, am I going to see 350lb sled necks wandering around wearing flannels with sleeves cut off, muttering the infamous phrase to each other between sips of PBR? Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

If the weather didn't stink, I'd be outside right now. Possibly trying to kill a gobbler. GitRDone.

Super Exciting Saturday Excitement!

The weather wasn't too bad yesterday, so's I worked in the yard. Here's a pictoriagraphical representation of my labors...


Hoed and rowed.


Complete with toad.


And now it's been sowed.


Was it someone's birthday? No, Cindy needed change for delicious lattes, so she bought a fake giant hamburger. Why yes, the middle layer was meat-flavored cake.


That damn troll that lives in the basement snuck up and took a bite out of it. He also ate all of the fake French fries. I've really got to get some troll spray to bomb the basement with.


The cat that's adopted us. I feed him, he poops in my shop. We've got a good thing going.


We may name it Dirt. Or Turd. Or Ash. If Cindy lets me keep it. Opinions?


If I knew people back here that threw dinner parties, they could sample my delicious tortilla soup and the famous giant pizza. Anybody want the recipes?


Here's the gumdrop tree in our backyard. Note the enclosed fire pit, Peter. Doesn't the yard look nice now that there are leaves on the trees? Oh, the raking I'll do! BTW - anybody care to guess the real ID of the tree? I can take a close up of the flowers and leaves to post.


I've been taking a few guitar lessons in my free time. But the instructor I have doesn't speak very clearly. And he doesn't seem to know how to do anything but bash the open strings. Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for...

Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?

I'm So Bad, I Make Pipes Sweat

We have the plumbing issues resolved. After twisting off a pipe, several trips to the local hardware stores, and attaching all of the necessary ingredients for the dishwasher, we thought we had it all done. Hah. Then the hot water valve broke - so no water to the kitchen. After several more trips to hardware stores, I finally cut the thing out, replaced it, and soldered it into place. Pipe soldering - ie "sweating pipes" - was new for me. It was kind of fun - capillary action is cool. I'd say I can't wait to do it again, but that would mean more broken plumbing.

A word of advice. People at hardware stores are @$$holes. Sorry for the language. But we were told several times, with much confidence by the "experts" what we needed, and it was nearly always wrong. We had to return several things. Bad advice really prolonged the process, I should have just done it the way I originally envisioned it. So if you work at a hardware store, have no formal education or wealth of hands on experience, STFU, I don't want to buy your crap. Sorry for the language.

Keep on rockin' in the free world...

Wednesday, 12:45pm, Where Is My Mind?

Busy times at my house. We're currently attempting to install our new dishwasher, but trouble keeps cropping up. First I twisted off a pipe and had to replace it. Now we can't get the hot water to flow into the kitchen again - a broken valve, maybe. And I've still got to figure out how to wire it. So that was part of last weekend that's still happening this week. Here's the rest...

I had to make a hole for the dish washing moo-chine to have a home:

Demolition is so satisfying! I'd totally do more of it if I could only afford that whole rebuilding thing.

I did some work outside:

I had a rock hauling competition with myself. I won.

I planted one of the garden plots in the Three Sisters Style:

I've got another plot that's *almost* ready to plant in a more normal style.

We got some potatoes planted - they're in pots with clean potting soil because I've heard potato bugs are a bit of a problem around here. That's Poe-Tay-Toes:

The regional pronunciation is "Buh-Day-Duhs," said really quickly. Try it.

Those two rocks at the bottom of the picture have fossils in them. That means my yard used to be covered in water and sea creatures. Here's some close-ups:

Neat!

What made the circular hole that the weed is going through? I hope it was some kind of prehistoric, stone eating moon snail.

The rhubarb's a growin' - so are the dandelions.

I'm going to attempt to make rhubarb wine. I think. I've got a spare carboy.

Finally, the frog likes Kleenex:
'
Mischievous grin...

Tee Hee...

I need pictures of E again.

This Post Has Been Edited For The Sake Of Not Getting Me Into Trouble

I'll keep you posted.

Here's the frog!

Just this mo'nin'!

Teef!

Hooray For Me!

It's been an exciting day. I gave blood for the first time. I was given two T-shirts and a CD player for the shower, along with all the pizza I could eat by the good people at Fisher Scientific. One of the shirts is hideous, though. Anybody want an XL "Fisher Athletics" shirt in awful early 90's purple? I'll sell it really cheap!

Can I Get A Tapeworm From A Tuna?

Inspired by the sushi feast of last Friday, we made our own a few nights ago, using only the freshest of ingredients. I'm still worried about worms and such though. Dr. Sayles, what say you?

Good Lo'd Tha's a Lotta Calliforny Rolls!

And here's some pictures of the squirt and me.

Guten tag!

Chubby knees rock!

Stay Classy!
Justin, Nick, Tammy, Will, Starr, Deena; I haven't been hearing nearly enough from you guys...