Night of the Return of the Son of Rocket Jones

Not Pining for the Fjords

2012-02-07T19:59:00.002-05:00

Been working elsewhere for a while now, some on projects that may see the light of day, and others that may never.

I've also revived this place. If you used to write there, and might like to again, drop me a line.

New Story

2011-12-20T11:13:00.003-05:00

Over on the right, the link for "Quiet Tales" is my other website for fiction and other artistic outlets.

I've been toying with an idea for a 'universe' where I can set stories, and I posted a short and as-yet-untitled introductory tale. Give it a look and leave feedback. Good, bad or indifferent, it's always welcomed.

Thanks.

Highly Recommended

2011-12-13T19:42:00.003-05:00

Veil War. Us vs. Them, taken to the extreme. New chapters each Thursday. Up twinkles.

One Thousand Ships

2011-12-08T06:22:00.001-05:00

It's a goofy little song, but my toe taps each time I hear it.

La-di-dah-di-dah.

Now if only there were three wolves on the back...

2011-12-07T17:44:00.002-05:00

Get yours here.

Um, Ok

2011-12-07T17:37:00.001-05:00

It's raining to beat the band. That makes no sense, but it's what they say.

Trip Report - Shenandoah NP - Corbin Cabin

2011-11-19T21:53:00.003-05:00

Spent four days in Shenandoah National Park, from last Sunday to Wednesday. Above is one of the highlights, the climb up to and views from Mary's Rock.

Other highlights were spotting a black bear and several deer, and the very cool Corbin cabin.

Check out the photos.

Feasting in the Great Outdoors

2011-11-06T09:45:00.003-05:00

I have another backpacking trip planned for week after next. A co-worker and I have reserved a primitive cabin in Shenandoah National Park for three nights. We'll be using it as our base camp as we spend the days hiking in the area.

By primitive, I mean it has a wood stove and fireplace, and there's a privy outside, but that's about it. We'll get our water from a nearby creek and cut our own firewood. I'm really looking forward to it.

This trip is a little different, in that I don't have to carry everything the whole time. With the cabin, we can leave most of our gear behind as we traipse up and down the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. This definitely made a difference when it comes to packing food.

Here's a picture of (most of) what I'm going to take for four days.

I've divided it up with a grid to make a little sense of it. Each column is one day. Along the topmost row are breakfasts, next down is morning snacks, next comes lunch, afternoon snacks and finally dinners. Empty grids mean I don't need to pack for it, for instance, the first day's breakfast will be eaten at home before leaving. Not everything is there, I'll wait a few more days before picking up fresh fruit, and the tortillas will be eaten over the course of the whole trip.

So the first day - Sunday - I've got some dried cranberries, then a couple of tortillas with peanut butter and honey for lunch. Powdered gatoraid is a staple for lunch to help replace those electrolytes. Gorp* for my afternoon snack, then for dinner I'll heat a pack of Chicken taco meat. Wrapped in tortillas with some cheese and sliced avocado (not shown) and I'll be one happy camper. There'll be an orange there too, if I want desert.

Later in the evenings, there's always tea, hot chocolate, instant soup or good scotch to top off the day.

Ok, day 2. Breakfast looks scant, but it's an illusion, because there will be two hard boiled eggs and an apple to go along with that cheese and tea. Snacks will be cookies and gorp, and lunch is a walking taco, which is instant rice, dehydrated ground beef and taco seasoning. I'll add water at breakfast and it'll be ready by lunch. If the day is warm, I'll just eat it cold after adding some diced cheese and a handfull of fritos. I'll be eating Thanksgiving dinner that night, with a pouch of chicken going into stuffing mix with extra dehydrated veggies added, plus a handfull of dried cranberries. Cookies for dessert. I don't usually eat dessert when camping, but it's nice to have the extra pick-me-up if needed, and it certainly can be a morale booster during a crappy day.

Day 3 - Tuesday. Breakfast will be dried hash browns with some dehydrated red and yellow peppers, and a diced spam single mixed in. Tea makes it civilized. Snacks are the ubiquitous gorp and a Rice Crispy treat, and lunch is the aforementioned peanut butter and honey on flour tortillas. Dinner will be homemade dehydrated chili mac, followed up by instant vanilla pudding and cookies.

For our last day I'll have some rice pudding with raisins, and tea. Gorp and gorp for snacks if needed, and lunch will be cheese and an apple (not shown), maybe wrapped in the last of the tortillas. We'll be home in time for dinner.

That looks like a lot of food, and it is. I tend to pack too much anyway. But also remember that this is to fuel me for eight hour days of hiking, plus chopping wood, etc. Also, I wouldn't carry a lot of the fresh food and pre-packaged stuff if I had to haul it on my back all day long. So this is pretty indulgent too.

We leave next Sunday and get back Wednesday. A trip report with lots of pictures will be posted.

* Gorp - "Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts". I make mine 1:1:1 with salted peanuts, raisins and regular M&M's. Sometimes add in a like amount of Honey Nut Cheerios, and occasionally dried cranberries, blueberries or pineapple finds its way into the mix. Almonds too. Really, gorp is so customizable that everyone has their own favorite mix.

Blood-Curdling

2011-10-26T05:08:00.001-05:00

We have a screech owl living in the woods behind the house. I hear it once in a while during the night and man, is that thing creepy to listen to.

Road to Hell... Good Intentions... Some Assembly Required

2011-10-25T10:04:00.002-05:00

Funny but sadly true.

Dear Mountain Room Parents.

Two In A Row!

2011-10-22T17:50:00.002-05:00

Rocket-related posts, that is.

The Northern Virginia Assosiation of Rocketry held its monthly launch today, so I prepped a few rockets and headed out for a couple of hours. I haven't had much chance to fly this year, so I was amazed when I got to the launch and found probably close to 100 cars parked at the field. I pulled in, grabbed a rocket and headed for the flight line.

One the way I met the President of the club, and when I remarked on the crowd Joe told me that this had become the norm. When I started flying with them years ago there would be launches where seven to ten people were it.

A big part of the crowd were Cub Scouts and parents. I got in line (never seen a line this long to get a launch pad assignment), but moved up quickly because I needed a larger launch rod than the scouts.

Here's what I flew:

Barenaked Lady - E11-3J - my last blackjack reloadable motor, and it's still one of my favorite rocket/motor combinations. The Lady is a largish rocket, but built very lightly, so she really gets up there on this long-burn motor. Six fins keep her perfectly straight on the way up - no wobble, no spin - and the delay is perfect as she coasts up and over the top on a long column of dark black smoke. She recovered perfectly under a 20" yellow x-form parachute that my wife made for me. Beautiful flight.

YJ-218 - 2x C6-7 - This clustered rocket has made somewhere around 50 flights, and still gets oooohs and ahhhhhs. Both motors lit and the homemade yellow and black parachute opened perfectly right at the top.

I had brought a couple more, but the guys manning the safety check-in table had been working steadily for a couple of hours. I took a shift at the table and really enjoyed working with the kids again. I'm going to have to make more of an effort to get out there every month, if nothing else to pitch in and spread the volunteer work out a little more.

It was a great day for rockets.

Rocket Jones, Decorating Guru

2011-10-16T13:03:00.003-05:00

Suzette was waxing rhapsodic about the joys of spray paint, and in her comments I suggested decorating with rockets. Here's a shot of my den, where I keep a few of my big rockets on display.

Let me relate a story that illustrates why this is cool. My oldest daughter came home for a weekend with one of her college friends and they stayed in this room because the couch folds out into a bed. One night, looking up at my wall o' rockets, her friend said, "You know, that's kind of hawt."

I rest my case.

Someone's In The Kitchen With Di-Naaaaaahhhhhhh!

2011-10-16T06:29:00.002-05:00

I've been making some gradual but drastic changes to my eating habits over the last several months. No more soda, more "real" food and less processed, cut waaay back on the carbs and grains, even trying lots of new (for me) foods. It's been helping. I have no idea what I weigh - I don't own a scale and only see the number when I go to the doctor, usually once a year for my checkup. What I do know is that my clothes fit much looser, I had to buy a new, smaller belt, and thanks to my semi-regular workout routine, I'm stronger and in better overall shape too. I didn't get where I am overnight, and I won't undo years of not taking care of myself overnight either, but I've made a good start.

On our cruise, there were a few times when I had to ask what was on my plate as side dishes and veggies. I noticed that cruise ships (ours anyway) loved broccoli and root vegetables, which make sense because they keep well. So I tried rutabaga and turnip for the first time that I know of, and I liked them and have added them to my menu here at home. I also found that my tastes had changed enough that I can eat brussels sprouts, but when I got home I found a different way to make them and these are now one of my favorites!

Grilled Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts, get smallish, tight ones
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Shredded Cheese (I like Asiago, but Parmesan works well, or try your own)

Wash the sprouts and remove any loose, ragged leaves. You can trim the stem ends, but I usually leave them on to hold it together. Cut in half from step to top.

Heat a skillet with some olive oil in it. Before it gets too hot, put the sprouts in the oil flat face down. Season with salt and pepper, then cover the skillet and let the sprouts cook gently for a few minutes.

You can taste test a sprout, and when they're tender inside, remove the lid, turn the heat up to high and let those flat sides get brown and crispy. Give 'em a toss to brown the round sides too a little, maybe another sprinkle of salt and pepper, then transfer to a plate and immediately cover with shredded cheese.

These are heavenly while they're still hot. After they cool, they're merely very good. You can add some toasted sliced almonds and/or a little grated lemon zest to them too with the cheese.

Put this one at the top of the list of recipes I never dreamed I might post here on Rocket Jones.

Theoretical Physics Can Be Funny...

2011-10-14T19:45:00.002-05:00

From a book on Quantum Physics that Richard, a co-worker, is reading:

“[T]he other forces of the Standard Model are not as well explored nor as easily visualized as electromagnetism. You will have to be satisfied with assertions in the following paragraphs supported only by suggestive ideas that almost certainly are not entirely wrong”.

Another Getaway

2011-10-09T19:58:00.006-05:00

The first phase of my fiscal year end project at work went smoothly, but the final, scary part happens Tuesday night. I took advantage of the long weekend to grab another solo backpacking trip to de-stress.

The weather here has been spectacular for most of a week now, highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's and not a hint of rain in the forecast. I already had an appointment on Friday morning, so it was a no-brainer to take the rest of the day off. By noon I was on my way to Prince William Forest Park, more specifically to the "Chop", aka the Chopawamsic Backcountry Area.

I checked in at the Visitor Center and talked to Victoria, a ranger who was born in Australia and moved to the US as a child. I had already decided to camp two nights, so we set the permits up for that. I was told that nearby Quantico Marine Corps base was doing live-fire exercises that weekend, so the snap-crackle-pop-boom sounds would be audible in the distance. I was also advised for the first time at PWFP to hang my food since there had been several reports of bear activity in the area. Tres cool! I'd never heard of bear in the park.

There are only eight campsites at Chop, spaced around a loop trail. The trail is a little over two miles long, and you can only hike a circle like that so many times, so my plan was to hike in the main park during the day, then hike into Chop to camp at night.

Friday afternoon found me at the back of the park hiking the Farms to Forest trail. The trail loops through some old farmland that is being reclaimed by Mother Nature, with a swing down through a marshy area full of beaver. At one point I found myself in the middle of a large sunny meadow, knee deep in ferns that were turning bronze in response to the recent chilly nights. Gorgeous. After finishing the trail, I drove over to Chop and hiked (intentionally the long way around) to campsite #2. This campsite is up on top of a rocky little knob that catches any breeze there is. I set up camp, cooked and ate some dinner, hung my bear bag, wrote in my journal and read a little on my Kindle. I was asleep by "hiker's midnight", i.e. an hour after sundown. The weather was mild enough that I left the sides of the tent up for the fresh air.

The only wildlife of note that I saw were daddy long-legs spiders and dozens of these tiny brown toads, about the size of your thumbnail. They blended in so perfectly that unless they moved they were invisible. They hopped around a lot.

Besides the ferns from yesterday, the star of the flora show were a sort of fungus I started calling Zombie Fingers. They were little flesh-colored tentacles that were sprouting from the ground in clumps and clusters. The biggest were about 3" tall, and it reminded me of tiny undead hands clawing their way back to the surface. There were enough of them around to be noticed.

I broke camp the next morning and headed back to PWFP for more hiking. The plan was to tackle part of the South Valley trail, the longest in the park. This was the only trail that I'd never been on. Not long after starting out I ran across a trail maintenance crew who were relocating the current trail up a hillside about 50 feet because the old trail was causing some serious erosion issues and the land needed some time to heal. I thanked them for their efforts, then found out that they're volunteers who come out once a month to do their work. I got their contact info and am seriously thinking about joining them.

The South Valley trail is beautiful! It runs along the south fork of Quantico creek and is full of babbling brook and little rapids. A couple of hours along the trail I turned uphill along the old Taylor Farm road and climbed until I reached the group campground at the top of the ridge. I sat at a picnic table and had some lunch, then headed out again, this time downhill along the Turkey Run Ridge trail. When I got to my car again I headed out to Chop for my last night.

This time I had selected camp #4. It was across a creek and up a long, broad ridge full of old-growth forest. There was easily room for a dozen tents, but the rules allow for a maximum of four people or one family per site to minimize the impact. Once again I set up camp (sides up on my tent), cooked and ate, cleaned up and hung my food. I was relaxed and ready for bed shortly after sundown, pleasantly tired after a long day of walking through beautiful woods.

Despite being tired, I needed to wear earplugs to fall asleep because of the "rain". Acorns were crashing down through the trees and splashing into the leaves on the ground, making a helluva racket that didn't really let up all night. More than a few bounced off of my tent too.

This morning as I was getting ready to pack up I had a little problem. I pulled off my sleeping shirt and pulled on my hiking shirt, and noticed that my vision was fuzzy. I blinked a few times, then rubbed my eyes, but it didn't help. When I went to take off my glasses, I discovered that one of the lenses had popped out. I did a careful search of the ground around me - I was standing in front of my tent at the time - but didn't find it.

Rather than freak out, I went over to a log and sat down and calmly finished my tea. I suspected that the lens had fallen inside the tent, because I was standing right in front of it while changing my shirt, but I retraced my steps in my mind, thinking about where I had walked and *exactly* when I noticed the fuzzy sight. I finally went back to the tent, checked the ground again, then methodically looked through my gear. Sure enough, my lens was sitting in a little nook on my backpack, where it had fallen when I changed my shirt.

Problem solved, I packed up one last time and headed out. Back to the park to drop off the gate key to the backcountry, then home. Refocused and refreshed.

As usual, I made notes about what worked well and what didn't.

Worked: Dehydrated angelfood cake. I packed it with some frozen sliced strawberries and by Friday night the juices had rehydrated the cake and it was perfection. On Saturday, I made some instant vanilla pudding, tossed in a handful of crumbled cake and let it soak up some of the moisture. Mmmmmmm!

Worked: My new backpacking lantern. It weighs 4.6 ounces including 4xAAA batteries and was bright enough to read by. Not something I'd take when ounces truly count (like an extended hike), but for a few days it was well worth the weight.

Didn't Work: I need to pack extra batteries for the camera, or make sure there are fresh ones before I leave.

Didn't Work: I took 4 Groundhog stakes and 2 Spike stakes. The Groundhogs hold better but are almost impossible to use when the ground is rocky - like this weekend. I managed, but I'll suck up the extra ounces and carry extra Spikes just in case.

eye twitch

2011-10-06T05:15:00.003-05:00

The word is ARRR-te-sannn, not arrr-TEEE-shin. Different word, different meaning. "Artisan" anything these days means overpriced, period.

Coward

2011-10-06T05:13:00.001-05:00

According to Roseanne, millionaires should be beheaded just for being rich. Steve Jobs, ahead of the the rest of us as usual, took the easy way out.

Head of the Line

2011-10-06T05:12:00.001-05:00

So Oprah made $220 million dollars last year. Fit her for a guillotine.

Not Forgotten

2011-10-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

The Dogs of 9/11.

Thanks to Ace for the pointer.

Freakin' Brilliant

2011-10-03T17:21:00.001-05:00

Seen in the comments about the new fee Bank of America is charging to use it's debit cards (aka the Durbin Fee):

Dick Durbin Before Durbin Dicks You

Dirt Watch - End of Season Recap

2011-10-01T14:35:00.003-05:00

The garden is beginning to wind down now that Fall is here. Today I harvested a half-dozen cherry tomatoes, three Roma tomatoes, the last small handfull of green beans and two green peppers. There are still many tomatoes on the various plants, but now I'll pay close attention to overnight lows and bring in the greenies before the first freeze hits.

Overall, the garden broke even or maybe saved us a few bucks. This was primarily due to the fact that tomatoes cost a fortune at the grocery store, and I had (still have) tons of them. My neighbor has greatly benefitted from the excess.

Here's a rundown of what worked, what didn't, and next year's ideas.

Tomatoes - I need better cages for the beefsteak and cherry plants. You may recall that I grew these two in large flowerpots and they did great! It's no exageration to say that I harvested over 100 cherry tomatoes and more than a dozen each of Roma and Beefsteak. The Roma tomatoes loved the net trellis set up.

Cucumbers - Some insect devastated my cucumber plants. Slowly. A gardening friend at work had the same happen to his and claims that it's a leaf borer. Still, I harvested almost 20 cukes, some were enormous. All were tasty. There are three left on the vines, but I don't know if they'll ripen enough to harvest. If not, into the compost pile with them!

Green Peppers. Badly shaded by the cucumbers (will relocate to sunnier spot next year), I only got two medium sized peppers, with two or three small ones in progress that may or may not make it to harvest.

Basil - Still going great guns! I shall be making a huge batch of pesto in the very near future. I only planted one plant and it was enough.

Parsley - did great. I harvested from the single plant a few times for cooking and to give the bunnies an occasional treat.

Green Beans - I got two crops in this year from the bush beans I sowed. Not overwhelmingly prolific, but got enough for several side dishes. Incredibly easy to grow.

Onions - did nothing. Not a single onion plant grew from the sets I planted. Next year I will find a different source.

Carrots - Meh. Managed to get several smallish carrots out of all I planted, and they took forever to grow. The bunnies adored the huge masses of fresh carrot greens.

Radishes - fail. Like the carrots, I strongly suspect there just isn't enough sun during the day for them. I got a few. As in three.

Swiss Chard - fail. Supposedly chard is the easiest crop to grow, but I got nothing more than a couple of sickly leaves.

Lettuce - fail. Enough for a small salad and some bunny food. More sun needed.

Broccoli - fail. Worm food, you may recall.

So that's it. I learned a few things and have a few ideas for next year. The cucumbers are going up against the fence. They worked entirely too well as a sun shade over the lettuce. I'm also hoping that more spiders along the fence will reduce the chances of leaf borers killing the plants.

Something else Liz and I talked about is to build a few deeper but smaller boxes for carrots and maybe potatoes.

I'd still love to have that Maple tree removed from the yard, which would really open up the sunshine. Right now, I'm not sure I want to spend the money on it. We'll see how the job situation goes over the next few months. I've got time to decide.

Bottom line: the Square Foot Garden idea works, and works well. I'm looking forward to next Spring.

Vacation Recap

2011-09-23T19:24:00.003-05:00

For our 30th Anniversary, Liz and I booked a cruise over a year ago. Finally the day arrived and we enjoyed our first cruise ever.

I really didn't want to go to the Caribbean, so instead we headed north on a 9 night New England and Canadian trip. Leaving out of Baltimore, we made stops in Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, then stops in Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the way back to Baltimore we spent a day in Boston.

I like cruising more than I thought I would. We really hit it off with our table-mates for dinner, which helps. We had one very rough day at the beginning as we sailed into the remnants of hurricane Katia, and one mildly rough day at the end as we grazed another that stayed well out to sea (Marie?).

In Portland, Liz and I hit the LL Bean flagship store (in Freeport, not too far away), where I got to eyeball a bunch of gear up close to perfectly prioritize potential purchases. Say that 3 times fast.

In Bar Harbor, I did a bus tour of the stunningly beautiful Acadia National Park, including to the top of Cadillac Mountain. My hike on the Ocean Trail was cancelled. Apparently not enough people are crazy enough to think walking outside is fun. Dammit. I bought maps and guide books, Maine isn't *that* far away from here.

In Saint John and Halifax, Liz and I just headed into the towns and enjoyed exploring on our own. In Boston, I took the "Freedom Trail" walking tour, where we visited the burial ground where Paul Revere (among others) is buried. Then we went to the site of the Boston Massacre, then the North Church (one if by land, two if by sea) and Paul Revere's house. Lots more along the way as well. Pretty cool.

Of course, as soon as we got home, the flu kicked my ass. I still went to work most of the week - self-quarantined - and I'm just starting to feel better.

Here are a couple watercolor paintings I did while on vacation.

A buoy in Portland, Maine:

This was inspired by a lighthouse in Nova Scotia:

Advantages to Big City Life

2011-09-17T15:32:00.003-05:00

Here's an email I got from Kremer Pigments, located in New York. I highlighted the coolest part.

Making your own paint can be fun and addictive.
It is much easier than it seems. I want to show
you how! Instructors like to talk about
historical facts about processes and provide
recipes with precise ratios to achieve an ideal
medium or paint. Similar to cookbooks you read
today, one should not take these steps so
literally ? you can come up with new ?flavors?
if you experiment a little. I believe this is
the same with paint. I will provide historical
processes and some modern ones as well.
The following courses though, are meant to
provide you with a firm grasp on the materials,
so you can then manipulate paint the way you
want - for your own personal aesthetic.

I invite you to follow me on the investigation of
raw materials and learn how to control them
for your purpose.

All classes will be approximately an hour and
half long, with Q&A relevant to the topic.
Seating is limited to 20 per class; first come
first serve basis, no fee. Reservation is
required. All classes will be held on Saturdays
at 3 pm.
Colorful regards,

Roger Carmona

Gotta love a company that will do something like this. I already do a bit of business with Kremer, and this is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back. Now if it wasn't for the whole 'having to be in New York' thing, I'd love to attend the third class on Watercolors.

Break Time!

2011-09-06T05:25:00.001-05:00

I'm outta here for two weeks for a long overdue vacation. No internet and spotty cell phone service sounds like heaven to me.

Take care, I'll be back soon.

Like A Zoo Out Back

2011-09-03T12:07:00.003-05:00

We survived hurricane Irene with little trouble. Daughter Robyn and granddaughter Lorelei came up from Virginia Beach "just in case". Their street flooded, but the water never got higher than halfway up their driveway. Other than a rain gutter downed by the wind, they did fine too.

While Lorelei was here, I took her out back to see the garden and to meet the spiders. She was fascinated by them and got a kick out of blowing on the web to make them scramble around for safety.

She also noticed the eggshells in my garden and asked if I were growing eggs. As we got closer, she saw they were broken and marvelled that Grandpa hatched birds in his garden!

This morning, I had already gone out to harvest tomatoes before the rain arrived. I left the back curtain open wide and while working out it started to rain. As if on cue, at least three big frogs started jumping around in the garden. I hadn't seen them before, but once they hopped they were pretty obvious.

Next came the big surprise.

This handsome devil was racing up and down the fenceline (well, racing as much as a turtle can race), trying to get into the next yard. When he climbed up on top of an old push mower close to the door, I opened up to snap some pictures. He tucked in for a while, but finally came out enough to pose for the above.

Definitely a big guy.

Aftermath

2011-08-24T06:14:00.002-05:00

Heh. Bush's Fault

2011-08-23T17:36:00.002-05:00

Someone tweeted that the east coast earthquake originated on Bush's Fault, just like everything else according to some.

So I'm at my desk, seven floors up, and the building starts jumping up and down and rumbling. My first thought is 'earthquake' because I'm a California boy. I immediately dismiss that thought and think 'something blew up'. I stand up and look out the windows (I'm in the corner so have a decent view in two directions) but don't see any smoke rising.

Thinking to get a better angle, I start walking towards the windows when the second shock hit. This time, filing cabinets are rattling and fixtures are swinging. I moved away from the cabinets that might fall on me, back to my desk and start throwing stuff in my briefcase.

A quick look around to make sure I had everything and it was to the stairwell.

I was pissed at the number of people who were more interested in calling or texting than paying attention and getting the hell out of the building. I filed a formal complaint afterwards too. Stupid assholes.

Walking to our assembly area, I heard no sirens and saw no smoke columns, so I figured that it was indeed an earthquake.

We were cleared to re-enter the building about 45 minutes later, and soon after I left for home (my regular time).

I haven't seen traffic that bad since a big mid-day blizzard a couple of years ago. DC was gridlocked. Two hours to get home, and most of that was spent navigating the first five miles.

Heard that the National Cathedral took some damage, and I'm supposed to check online tomorrow to see if I'm supposed to report to work. I'm sure I will, it wasn't that big a quake.

Someone's In The Kitchen With Dinaaaaaaah!

2011-08-20T21:24:00.003-05:00

Tonight's dinner was homemade tomato soup. I had a boatload of tomatoes ripen all at once in the garden, plus a few other goodies, so I looked up a couple of recipes online, then basically winged it.

Tomato Basil Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
10-12 fresh basil leaves, shredded
4 cups diced tomatoes (I used a Beefsteak, 3 Roma and maybe a dozen cherry)
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste

I'm all about simplicity, so I didn't peel or de-seed the tomatoes. I also grabbed a handful of shredded carrot, chopped it and called it diced.

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, when it's shimmering add the onion and carrot. Cook for 10 minutes or so.
Add the basil leaves, tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally for 45 minutes or so.

Turn off the heat and let the soup cool for a bit, then run the soup through a blender or food processor. Do it in a couple of batches if you have to.

Back on the heat to simmer. Add the half-and-half a little at a time while stirring. Don't let the soup boil.

Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Be careful, mine wound up on the verge of too salty!

This was gooooooooooood!!! Next time, I'm going to try heavy cream instead of half-and-half, and maybe butter instead of the olive oil. I'll also give this a try with canned tomatoes.

Linky Stuff

2011-08-20T20:08:00.003-05:00

A placeholder for places I want to remember.

Mark's Daily Apple

Nerd Fitness

Ikea Hackers

Lifehacker

43 Folders

Instructables

Zen Habits

Girl Genius

Jess Fink - Chester 5000 XYV

Khan Acadamy

Levenger

Pear Tree Pens

PocketMod

Printable Paper

Funny Stuff, But You Gotta Clicky Clicky

2011-08-20T20:02:00.003-05:00

It's too short to excerpt, so just click here. Trust me, it's worth it.

While you're at it, check out this apt portrayal of our blamer-in-chief.

Simple Rubberband Gun

2011-08-19T23:01:00.001-05:00

As kids, we used to make these as needed every summer, although occasionally someone would fashion a more elaborate one and keep it from year to year.

And no, none of us ever put an eye out with one of these. Then again, we were bright enough not to intentionally aim at the face. We also did a lot of target shooting with 'em. That's what I recommend: target shooting at cans or flies or plastic army men. Don't be dumb, and I'm not responsible if you are.

Materials
Wood - length of broomstick or dowel, or a 1"x2" or even a 2"x4". Whatever you use, you need a piece about 12" long (more for a 2"x4" rifle).

Clothespins - tradition says use the wooden spring type, but the plastic ones will work just fine. The simplest gun uses one, we usually used at least two. They come in bags of 100 or more, so borrow from a neighbor if you don't have your own. Or make lots of guns, you politically incorrect brute.

Rubberbands - in our house, we kept rubberbands around the doorknob on the furnace closet, and had plenty because you got one with every newspaper delivered. They're cheap, so don't go mugging the paperboy for his.

How To
Take sandpaper and round off any sharp edges to eliminate splinters.
Use a file to cut a shallow "V" notch in the end of the wood.
Use one rubber band to fasten a clothespin to the wood on the opposite end of the wood from the notch.
That's it!

Here's a picture of a fancy store-bought model that works exactly this way. It's a good view of the clothespin and notch setup.

To Use
Hook a rubber band around the end of the wood so it's in the notch.
Stretch it back with one hand, use the other to open the clothespin and catch the rubberband.
When ready to shoot, press on the clothespin and zing!

You can cut out pistol or rifle shapes from the wood, mount multiple clothespins (and make extra notches), and do all kinds of custom coolness with the basic design. Often we'd grab a piece of scrap wood, use a rock to gouge out the notch, grab a clothespin from the clothesline out back and a handfull of rubberbands from the doorknob. Within minutes you had something that worked, and sometimes the ugliest thing was the straightest shooter (my best was from an old yellow broomstick with two clothespins attached). Showing up with a store-bought rubberband gun was tolerated - barely - mainly because we'd closely examine it to see how they managed multiple shots if it worked that way.

Something Old, Something New

2011-08-19T22:59:00.002-05:00

I'm going to be bringing over the "Build It" series from the old Rocket Jones blog, so if you want to know how to make your own rubberband gun, box hockey, or model rocket (for starters), well, you're in luck!

Dirt Watch - Midsummer Update

2011-08-13T08:26:00.017-05:00

Rather photo-heavy this time around, but if you recall I use this blog as a journal to keep track of how my garden project is going. All pictures are clickable for Jolly Green Giant size.

But before getting to the yummy pictures, I'd like to introduce you to two ladies who have been co-existing peacefully with me out back.

This little lass has kindly relocated after I walked through her first attempted web without realizing it. She was trying to weave it across the area right outside the doorway, which of course just wouldn't do. I swung a length of her web towards the fence, and since then she has rebuilt (beautifully) between the fence and one of the trellises. I make a point of going the long way around now so as not to disturb her further.

This is the other lady. She lives by the spigot that I reach for daily. When she's agitated, she vibrates her web so that she's swinging back and forth, so fast that you can hardly see her. Pretty amazing.

Long-time readers know that I'm phobic about spiders, but can manage a truce as long as no startling goes on. These ladies help out by keeping the intrusive insect-American population at bay, and seem to be doing very well at it too. Other than one aphid infestation of one pea plant top (easily removed with scissors) and the vicious broccoli worms, I've had zero insect problems with the garden.

So far, I'm loving the Square Foot Gardening method that I'm trying this year. Here's a picture of the original boxes when I built them.

And here they are today:

The key point to remember is that I've been harvesting pretty steadily for the last month and a half, and the garden is still going strong.

Above are the cucumbers climbing the trellis. Buried inside this jungle are a half dozen ripening cukes, with another dozen or two just budding out. I've also harvested four (so far) that would make the Mayflower Madam blush.

Roma tomatoes. I made fresh spaghetti sauce with some of these a couple of weeks ago, along with some basil from the garden that was out of this world. I served it over grilled squash.

Here are the second crop of green beans in the ground (along the front). They're about two weeks old. I found out that there are two kinds of green beans; bush beans and pole beans (the kind that climb). Bush beans mature faster but you only get one crop, then you can get rid of them. Pole beans take longer to produce but they'll keep growing new beans until frost. It's a trade off, and this year I went for bush beans. Mainly because I didn't want to have to deal with another trellis crop.

Lots happening in this picture. In the back are my two green pepper plants. They're healthy but not really doing much. You may notice the white things on the ground, those are eggshells. Peppers really like extra calcium, so I just tossed some broken eggshells around them and hopefully they're leaching calcium into the ground. They keep slugs away too. To the right of the peppers are the start of my second snap pea crop, just getting tall enough to reach the trellis. In front of the peppers are two squares I just re-seeded with lettuce. And in front of them are my parsley and basil plants.

This is today's harvest. I finally got more carrots, including one larger than "baby" sized. Just as importantly though, the bunnies are going to be feasting on carrot greens tonight. On the right are the last leaves of the spring lettuce. The bowl of beefsteak and cherry tomatoes, along with a cucumber make a pretty centerpiece, and hidden in with the carrot greens is a huge bunch of parsley that I snipped.

A lot of people seem to think that gardening means you spend vast amounts of time tending the plants. With this Square Foot Gardening method, I water every evening for about 15 minutes, and weed once every couple of weeks for maybe 10 minutes. The whole thing is designed to be low-maintenance, and it is.

New Logo

2011-08-12T03:49:00.001-05:00

London, 2012 Olympics.

Congrats Are In Order

2011-08-01T16:25:00.003-05:00

Jennifer Pharr Davis completed a speed-hike of the Appalachian Trail yesterday. Maine to Georgia (2,182 miles) in 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes. She now holds the record for fastest AT hike. Not the "women's" record, mind you, but the record.

She averaged almost 47 miles a day. For 46 days.

She wasn't wearing down either. Her second to last day was 62 miles, and she finished up with a 36 miler.

Amazing.

Green Thumb May Be An Understatement

2011-08-01T16:17:00.003-05:00

I can grow things. It's an unexplained knack I've always had. But even this kind of makes me go 'wow'.

This is that cherry tomato plant (one, each) I keep talking about. It's growing in a large plastic pot, maybe 12" or 14" across. The bottom part is almost completely bare because of the leaf rot that is working its way slowly up the plant, but, as you can see, the top half is healthy. As hell. Go ahead, count 'em. I did. This photo shows some 50 cherry tomatoes on the bush. There's at least 20-30 more not in the picture. And I plucked seven that were ready, plus we have a bird who's discovered a liking for tomatoes. He's gotten two or three this week.

Just damn.

bump

2011-07-31T07:59:00.012-05:00

One can only hope.

Made me laugh.

Coolness. Owl in flight.

Bullseye. (see what I did there?)

Relax, this is for politicians.

Another cool picture. Rain from up in the air.

An alternative to stocks in our shaky economy.

Gramps always said that the newfangled technology weren't no good for kids.

Ah yes, good ol' school days.

Finishing up with the most badass thing you will ever see.

Dirt Watch - Quickie Edition

2011-07-28T15:48:00.005-05:00

Just two photos. The first is misty because my camera lens fogged from being brought out into the humid mid-90's from the relatively cool house. It was too hot to stand there and let it acclimate. It's also sideways because I'm friggin' lazy.

So if you pretend you're squinting, you'll notice the many, many, many cherry tomatoes on this bush. A smut, or rust, or whatever the hell you call anti-tomato plant disease, is destroying this plant from the ground up, but damned if there aren't about 40 little tomatoes left with more popping out every day. I've been eating them every day with lunch for a week now.

Now this was today's harvest. Two Beefsteak tomatoes, five Roma (good for making sauce) and a handfull of those luscious little cherry tomatoes. The limp basil was cut yesterday.

Maybe more pictures this weekend. You should see the cucumbers!

Randomness from Left Field

2011-07-16T16:39:00.002-05:00

Remember the song, "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" by Hurricane Smith? He was a one hit wonder to most of us, but quite well known and respected in the music industry.

Besides his hit song*, Hurricane (aka Norman) was a recording engineer and later producer for all of the Beatles albums up to Rubber Soul. Later he produced the early Pink Floyd albums, amongst others.

Now you have something to ponder while that song plays over and over in your head.

* which was written for another artist but the producer liked the demo so much they released it as is.

Dirt Watch - Confessional Edition

2011-07-16T10:33:00.006-05:00

Let's get the bad news out of the way immediately, shall we?

There has been some clamor for a reprise of Nog Watch, and this Dirt Watch is a pale imitation. Long time readers were used to fine brandy, and now I regularly serve up flat Tab. I regret your disappointment.

A couple of weeks ago, Rachael's boyfriend was coming over for dinner, and we decided on home cooked Chinese: Beef and Broccoli, snow peas, homemade wontons, the works. While whooping up the filling for wontons, Liz asked if we had any teriyaki marinade in the fridge.

Understand now, we hadn't made Chinese in a long time, kinda fell outta the habit, you know? So imagine my surprise when I did, indeed find a bottle of teriyaki marinade in the fridge. It was even unopened, seals intact.

The "use by" date was 2008.

I immediately tossed it into the trash and we improvised for the wontons, they were yummy. Liz is a master at the fillings, and I'm the fry-cook who turns them out by the piping hot bowlfull.

During dinner, Rachael remarked that I could've used the teriyaki marinade as a new Nog Watch. I considered it, but rejected the idea on a couple of points. First, it was still sealed. That seemed to violate the spirit of the concept. Second, it had already been thrown away, and fishing it out to put it back in the fridge rubbed my inner-artist wrong. I think I made the right choice.

Whew! It feels *good* to get that off my chest!

Anyway, onward and dirtward. Last night I picked some basil and our first two ripe tomatoes and made a tomato, basil and mozzerella salad. Delish was the verdict.

Tonight we feast on fresh-picked green beans (first of the season) with dinner. I did a quick inventory and there are now a dozen Roma tomatoes in various stages of ripening, no less than 30 cherry tomatoes on that plant, and eight beautiful beefsteak tomatoes that we'll be munching on in the next few weeks. If you've toured the produce section of the supermarket in the last year, maybe you've had the same little heart-lurch as I when you see the prices on tomatoes. Tomatoes may be the only vegggie (fruit, I know) that's actually going to save you money by growing your own.

The cucumbers are starting to appear, ten or fifteen about an inch long at this point. I nibbled the last snow pea from the vine yesterday and pulled the peas from the garden and tossed them into the compost pile. Peas were a huge disappointment this year, as were radishes.

I expect the harvests will start getting better and better since I'm growing plants I've grown before and know (kinda) what I'm doing. Still though, I've really enjoyed having the garden this year. I seriously suggest it for everyone, even if nothing more than a cherry tomato plant in a big ol' pot on your porch.

It's good for the soul. And lately, I've felt the need for more of that kind of thing.

So Far, It Hasn't Collapsed

2011-07-08T21:12:00.006-05:00

Daughter Robyn and granddaughter Lorelei came to visit last week, so we took a morning to hike out to the bridge I helped build on National Trail Day. As bridges go, it's on the small end of the scale, but I invested sweat in its construction, so it's special to me.

We went early enough to beat the worst of the heat, and only did a mile or two in all. Lorelei enjoyed the birds and pointing out the berries popping out on the various bushes, and as she rode on my shoulders (part of the time) she quickly learned to spot the webs that enterprising spiders weave overnight from one side of the trail to the other. A quick wave of the hand usually clears the way, and we stopped a few times to watch spiders do their little spider morning chores.

When I pointed out the trail blazes* to Lorelei, she quickly got into the game of looking ahead for the next one. This trail is blazed with an odd aqua color, which I think is supposed to be blue (see the tree above her).

On the way back we had to road walk a fair distance because the county had a crew trimming trees along the trail. We did a little bushwacking to get around them on the way out, but coming back it was just easier and safer to use the road. The flagmen even held up traffic in both directions for us as we walked a narrow part of the road.

All in all, a good time. Tick free too, which is always a bonus.

* A "blaze" is a small rectangle of paint, about 2 inches by 3 inches (I think), painted on trees along a trail to help you stay on course. Different trails have different color blazes. For instance, the Appalachian Trail is blazed in white for its entire length, whereas all of the intersecting trails along the way are blazed with anothe color (ofeten blue or yellow) to avoid confusion. In areas without a lot of trees, i.e. above the treeline or in a desert, a rock cairn is sometimes used instead.

Dear Product Container Designer

2011-07-04T11:11:00.001-05:00

If the product in question is *chunky* bleu cheese dressing, putting it in an "easy squeeze" bottle with an opening the size of a sparrow's sphincter is just going to piss off the consumer, no?

Travelling Light

2011-07-03T18:37:00.005-05:00

Just for fun during this long weekend, I decided to see if I could put together a super-lightweight overnighter gear list. For Fall through Spring, I have a decent set of gear, but I was wondering just how light I could go for Summer. As an added challenge, I wanted to try to fit the whole kit into a smallish day-hike backpack I bought at Wally World - the Outdoor Products Skyline 8.

By the way, I really like that pack, even if it's just a little too small for my gear setup. Big features for a stunningly reasonable price.

As I was saying, how light could I get it? I do have a specific trip in mind, something like that overnighter to the Chopawamsic backcountry area I did a while back. You may remember, I drove straight there from work and hiked in. Camped and then hiked out before lunch the next day. Short and sweet.

If you were planning for an all-day hike, then you can go lighter because you walk until dinner, then go to sleep. Not much need for comfort or luxuries. This is a little different, in that there's more camping and not so much hiking, although weight matters because you do have to backpack in to the campsites.

The old adage says that you pack for your fears. Some people are afraid of the dark, so they carry two or more flashlights (just in case) and multiple methods of making a fire (lighter, matches, another lighter, etc).

As you get more experience in the great outdoors, you learn what you need to feel safe and secure, but more importantly, what you *don't* need to still feel comfortable.

I managed to get my gear weight down to 16 pounds, not including water. That does include my tent, sleeping pad and flannel blanket, rain gear, food, and even a couple of goodies like a pillow and camp chair. I'm pretty happy about that, but like I said, it'll have to go into my regular backpack, because the Skyline is just a wee bit small to hold everything. Dang.

While I was playing, Liz asked me if I wanted to go out tonight and camp. Did I want to? Hell yeah! Was I going to? No way, Jose. Much too hot and humid, and right now I'm listening to mucho thunder as a line of strong storms moves through to clobber us.

I do have a couple few weekend trips planned over the next several months though, and I'm sure y'all are dreading my trip reports.

Evolution of the Idiot Light

2011-07-01T16:38:00.001-05:00

Maybe one of my lovely readers can enlighten me, one that owns or drives a Honda automobile.

Is there a dashboard light that stays *on* until you're behaving like a complete asshole in traffic?

Review - Clif Bars

2011-06-25T11:44:00.003-05:00

Clif Bars are a brand of energy bar that seems to be popular with hikers and outdoorsy types. In the local stores, all I ever see are peanut butter and chocolate chip. I've never bought one because although I like those flavors, I already have trail mix that has those, and I wanted something different as a snack.

After having talked to several people that liked them, I added two bars to a recent Amazon order - a Carrot Cake and a Blueberry Crisp. Both were highly recommended, even among those who don't normally like Clif Bars.

I just tried them and have to say, no thanks! The flavors weren't horrible, but they were nothing to write home about, but the killer to me was the texture. They're sticky and flexible as a bar, but individual bites are uber-dense and chewy. Not pleasant.

There's a half of each left. I offered them to my son and his first comment was, "tastes like week-old oatmeal."

Yeah, I don't think I'll be spending any more money on these things.

Dirt Watch - Continuing the Micro-Harvests

2011-06-25T10:56:00.002-05:00

I just harvested the two largest carrots and two largest radishes from the garden. They were all very, very tiny. But tasty! Bonus because the rabbits are going to love the fresh, fresh carrot greens and get to try radish greens for the first time.

I'm pretty convinced that I need a drip irrigation setup for next year and will need to add fertilizer too, because most of the early crops are running really late and not thriving.

Gardening is not an instant-satisfaction activity.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are going great guns, there's already fruit started on all three varieties of tomatoes (Roma vine, cherry and beefsteak). The cukes are starting to climb the trellis now and have tons of the little yellow flowers that mean it's ready to start putting out edibles.

Sky Go Boom Boom

2011-06-23T17:12:00.003-05:00

You know a story is going to be interesting when it begins:

First there was this gun ....

Oh fine, you need more than that to follow the link?

How's this?

Thanks to Ace for the pointer, and I saw it in other places but I forgot where.

From Deep in the ol' Photo Folder

2011-06-12T19:12:00.010-05:00

Lightening the load, so to speak.

Needs no introduction:

*snerk*

I have no doubt that the Japanese can top this.

Well, duh.

True dat.

Fantasy.

All right, you caught me. By the way, I'm looking for models...

Nothing like a bit of the ol' Ludwig Von, eh?

Not quite Motivational material, but still...

Amazing photo.

Dirt Watch - Attack! Edition

2011-06-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

During last week's lunches, I packed a few snap peas picked from my garden. Yum.

Then one evening I went out to water and discovered that the garden was under attack by vicious things. One thing was certain, they loved broccoli, to the tune of completely deforesting one plant, damn near the entirety of a second, and were well on their way to devouring a third. I referred to them as "Broccoli Worms", for lack of any better name, but later found out they're called Cabbage Worms*. Go figure.

Normally, I'd be upset at the carnage, but the broccoli was doing nothing this year. Two of the plants pretty much bolted and went to seed almost immediately and the third was only just beginning to develop the edible head - way late and probably too bitter to eat. So I figured I'd live and let live.

Then this happened.

You can tell how quickly it happened by the blur, he was moving so quickly the camera could barely catch it!

That's right, the little peckerhead attacked me! He went from slow munch-machine on auto-pilot to bloodthirsty and life threatening in the wink of an hourglass.

I pulled the broccoli plants, death spawn and all, and tossed them into the compost heap.

And here's the rest of the garden beds.

In the two bottom left squares you can see the damage those worms did. Those stalky green things are the main stems of all the leaves they ate - overnight! Yowza!

Right above them are parsley and basil, then eight bush bean plants. Those bean seedlings are like two weeks old. I'm not a green bean fan, but the rest of the family loves them, so they're worth planting (have I said that before? Deja vu.) At the top are two green pepper plants. On the right, next to the broc-stalks are two Roma tomato plants. They're doing well and just starting to climb the netting. North of them are my snow peas. This hasn't been a good year for peas, and I'm not sure why. On the other side of the tomatos and peas are some spinach and lettuce, neither of which are doing so hot. I have theories to test.

In the top right sqare of this one are some lettuce, not doing great but getting there. To the left of them are two thriving cucumber plants, next to them are two squares of Swiss Chard I re-planted after the first did nothing. Bad seeds? Bugs? Dunno. Top left are two squares of carrots that are doing well. At the bottom are two squares of radishes that are doing good, and then finally snap peas. They look raggedy but have been producing ok.

Not pictured are two large pots with a cherry tomato plant and a beefsteak tomato. They're doing great, but they're getting more sun where they are.

So now you're caught up on... Dirt Watch, 2011!

* I originally called them Anthonys, because they're camoflaged, vaguely penis-shaped, and no one can identify them with any certitude. Topical! Git yer hot Topical right here!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

2011-06-07T17:08:00.003-05:00

I've bragged many times about my home county - Prince William County in Virginia. My oldest daughter graduated from the #1 High School in the nation. A few years ago the county passed a tough anti-illegal alien law. A lot of neighboring counties predicted huge increases in law enforcement costs and proclaimed themselves "immigrant friendly." Instead, expenses dropped in both education and medical as classrooms and emergency rooms saw significant decreases in numbers as undocumented families left for, you guessed it, those "friendly" counties. Crime is down 30% too (not a direct result, but it had an impact).

Today we got the "County Report", and I read that the Board of County Supervisors reduced the real estate tax rate again to keep a promise that our tax bill would stay below 2007 levels.

What do we get for our money? Three new schools. Ten new full-time police officers. Needed road projects. Park and library expansion and improvements.

How can they do that when our taxes are 30% - 50% lower than surrounding counties? Well, for the last four years the Board of Supervisors has bit the bullet and cut spending. Painful reforms were undertaken. Priorities were set (schools, roads and public safety.) The county has 10 high schools, all were ranked in the top 6% in national rankings. I mentioned the drop in crime above. I recently participated in that event where a whole bunch of us volunteers worked to build some new hiking trails in coordination with the Parks Authority.

If you ever read the news and wonder when everyone went bat-shit crazy, I can honestly tell you that not *everyone* has. At least, not around here they haven't.

As A Parent, I Heartily Approve - Part 2

2011-06-07T16:53:00.003-05:00

When I was growing up, my family spent a lot of time camping, hunting and fishing. One of my biggest regrets as a parent was not being able to pass along my love of the outdoors to my own kids.

This guy knows how to spend quality time with his kids. The photos at that link are from a hiking trip they took last year along the John Muir Trail in the California Sierras. The kids were ten years old (twins, I think) and hiked over 200 miles with Dad. They finished up by summitting Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US.

I suspect the title of their first homework assignment in September was "What I Did During My Summer Vacation, Bitch."

As A Parent, I Heartily Approve

2011-06-05T09:46:00.002-05:00

Once, while in a store with my daughters, there was a situation where I did something I thought was funny yet my daughters were horrified. I don't remember details, but this conversation is etched, etched I tell you, into my memory:

Daughter: You are so embarrassing.

Me: Embarrassing you is the second best part of being a parent!

Daughter: What's the first?

Me: Telling you 'No!'

The adults within earshort cracked up.

So you can imagine how much I love this guy, who stood in front of his house every day of his son's sophomore year in high school, waving to his bus as it drove by. In costume.

Check out the blog, documenting each and every day, and how Dad never repeated a costume. The man is a freaking genius.

Good for the Soul

2011-06-04T15:46:00.006-05:00

I have so many alternate titles for this one, but the above sums it up nicely.

Today was National Trails Day, and I spent the morning as a volunteer helping to build a connecting trail on the Potomac Heritage Trail system.

In fact, I helped build a footbridge. I'm feeling every posthole I dug, every bolt I wrenched and every footboard I levered into place before screwing and nailing it down. It's a good feeling to be tired and a little bit sore for something like this.

In Prince William County (and I've mentioned before how much I love living here), they've made parks and trails a priority because of the rapid growth of the last decade. Right now*, about 65% of the Potomac Heritage Trail through our county is complete, with about 90% scheduled to be complete within the next five years or so. The trail will run along the eastern edge of the county, following the Potomac River. At this point, they're connecting already completed sections, which is what we were doing today.

The group I was part of (maybe 40 of us?), tied together the trail system in the Julie Metz wetlands bank (pdf) with the trails in Leesylvania State Park**, completing another link in the chain.

I'll get pictures of the bridge and the area and post them in the next day or two.

* All these percentages and estimates were given to me as very rough estimates by a member of the County Parks Authority, who was on-site.
** Leesylvania - named for the Lee family, who's members included "Light Horse" Harry and Robert E. There's a lot of history in this area.

Hallmark Is Dead To Me

2011-06-01T16:05:00.003-05:00

The cartoon is bad enough, but when the official Hallmark forum moderator starts deleting veteran's families posts, yet leaves up others calling them "inbred hicks", well...

Adios Hallmark. I won't miss you a bit.

But I will be spreading the word. Hallmark hates veterans.

Garden Buddy

2011-05-30T16:12:00.003-05:00

This little lady is a Venusta Garden Spider, and we've been co-existing out in the garden for a couple of weeks now. I first spotted her orb web after a drizzle, when it was holding water droplets like strings of pearls along its entire structure. Very pretty. I finally spotted her hunkered down under cover, waiting for the rain to end.

When I go out to the garden, I usually glance over to make sure everything is ok with her. She's usually sitting under the center of her web (the business part of the web is about 8" across, but the structure itself is about twice that), waiting for dinner.

After our big big rain the other day, I went out back and spent a quiet little while watching her rebuild her tattered home.

The truce holds as long as she doesn't startle me.

Critters

2011-05-28T21:52:00.011-05:00

Time for another Rocket Jones folder dump of pictures that made me... uh, whatever they made me do enough to save 'em. Today's theme is "Animals". Enjoy.

*snerk*

They don't poop Skittles either.

For the love of God...

He'll be found, about 10 minutes after you fall asleep.

What? It's a bear. A Gummi Bear skin rug.

Yeah, like he needed *another* reason.

Not available from Adam & Eve.

Awwwww.

This made me smile.

I Want To Be One When I Grow Up

2011-05-28T16:53:00.003-05:00

"Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy, sorry Harrison Ford."

-Dr. Sarah Parcak, Space Archaeologist - in BBC article

From the comments:

...does this woman not have the GREATEST job title ever?!

Yep.

Bounty

2011-05-28T14:57:00.004-05:00

This photo shows the first of my garden harvest for 2011. A single sugar snap pea. It looks a little silly sitting there all by itself, but I decided to take photos of all the veggies I grow this year on this small platter, for future reference and comparison purposes.

Thinking back, I believe this is the first edible thing I've ever grown from a seed.

It was delicious.

Dirt Watch - Holiday Edition

2011-05-27T17:26:00.002-05:00

Around here, Mother's Day is when you can start putting in plants that can't handle frost: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and such. I'd bought some of each early this week, and have been slowly getting them into the ground as time allowed.

Today I finished up by planting bush bean seeds (a little late, but they should be ok). I'm not a green bean fan, but my family is, so eight of the little guys went in.

Also in the ground is more Swiss Chard. The original ones didn't fare well, and I think only one is still alive. I replanted there and added a couple more squares worth.

I have two tomato plants in big pots. One's a beefsteak variety and another of cherry tomatoes. In the boxes there are two Roma tomato plants. These beasties will climb the net trellis and are supposedly great to make tomato sauce. I've had good luck with tomatoes in the past, so I'm optimistic.

Also in the ground this week are cucumbers, a couple of green pepper plants, a square of parsley, and another of basil.

From the original seed stock I started with, the carrots seem to be doing great, as are the radishes. The lettuce and spinich is finally taking off, and the peas (snow and sugar snap) are climbing the net and already pushing out a couple of little pods. I'm pretty much writing off the onions this year.

I think I've made some basic mistakes during this initial year of Square-Foot Gardening. First off, I don't think I watered enough early on. I'm thinking about adding a drip irrigation setup next Spring. Second, I really need more sun in the backyard. I took out some overarching branches from the neighbor's tree, which helped, but I've got one massive branch about 45' up on a maple in my yard that needs to go (I want to get rid of the whole tree - maybe next year). I can do it from the ground with my rope saw if I can get the thing up and over the branch. Sounds like a project for this weekend, eh?

Thirdly, I didn't put enough dirt mix into the boxes to begin with. On the plus side, I used 2x10's instead of 2x6's as recommended, so even with the settling of the mix I'm still barely ok. But I need to really overload the boxes next time.

My final problem is that I bought into the hype about not needing fertilizer. I got some slow-release general purpose stuff that I've started adding to the dirt. We'll see how that works out.

Aside from the food crops, I planted a Hibiscus for Liz (because she wanted one, I give it 50-50 about surviving our Winters) and a few boxwood shrubs. Dusty Millers and Impatiens (the ol' go-to) are in the front bed and should be spectacular as they spill out between the pickets of the fence. Mucho hardwood mulch went in today.*

That pretty much wraps up the garden prep for the season. All that's left is to water and enjoy.

* I don't get this new "rubber" mulch. They claim it doesn't rot and will last for years. To me, the idea of mulch is that it does compost and improves the hell out of your soil - year after year after year. Oh well, what do I know?

Chopawamsic Backcountry - 5-20-2011

2011-05-21T20:51:00.005-05:00

Work has been pretty stressful for a while now, so I really needed a getaway. On Thursday night I loaded my backpack and gear into the car so that on Friday I could head directly to the Chopawamsic Backcountry Area for a bit of hiking and camping.

Photographic evidence here.

Chopawamsic is one of the best kept secrets in Northern Virginia. Eight campsites on 400 acres of hardwood forest, all connected by a loop trail. You wanna camp, you gotta backpack in. Extra goodness is that there's no fee to use the area, but you do have to get a permit from the ranger station at the nearby Prince William Forest Park (part of the National Park system).

They don't make it easy either. The permit is simple (and free!), and then they give you directions. Basically, you go a few miles down a two lane road and then make a left onto an unmarked gravel road. One half mile down that and on the right is the only sign to the area, in front of a locked gate. The rangers give you a key along with the permit. Go through the gate, go a ways further and you'll come to a gravel parking lot. From here it's all on foot.

I selected campsite #7. Actually, I had the entire place to myself for the night. Along the loop trail - blazed in white - are occasional double yellow blazes along with a numbered post. From there, follow the side trail to the campsite.

At the campsite itself is another post. You have to set up your tent within 20' of the post, this minimizes the impact of many people camping in the area each year. No fires or pets are allowed either.

Camp #7 was set up on a wide ridge, and in the area is an old homestead site. This part of the forest had a fire go through in 1985. Many of the old hardwood trees were damaged and died, so by now, 25 year old oak and sycamore are standing tall, but there is still enough light coming through the canopy to allow a heavy understory of smaller trees, shrubs and bushes. Eventually those will disappear as the old trees completely block the sunlight at ground level.

I'd set up camp, and just as I was finishing dinner it started to rain. It was kind of cool because I listened to it rain for a good 10 minutes before any drops penetrated to where I was camped. When it finally did I retreated into my tent with a good book and occupied my evening with some reading and writing.

It probably only rained an hour or so, but the trees dripped most of the night. Other than the soothing sound of the water I heard a few birdcalls, and the occasional jet passing by on its' way to one of the local airports.

I was up at dawn but lollygagged around before finally packing up and heading up-trail to finish the loop.

On my way back out I came across an old cemetary. The oldest legible headstone was dated 1822, the latest 2008. The cemetary was semi-maintained and there were flowers on a few of the graves. After getting back in my car, I spied a tick on my leg. No free rides for him.

As I drove down the gravel back to civilization I came up to a sun-dappled stretch of road and something magical happened. A dozen or more of the shade spots lifted and fluttered away. What I had taken for shade were actually large dark blue butterflies, sunning themselves. Not 50 yards later, a large deer exploded out of the brush on one side of the road and, with a graceful leap, disappeared into the woods on the other side.

I returned the key to the rangers and will certainly be going back. A couple of the campsites are very close to a small reservoir and supposedly the fishing is pretty good. It felt good to be away from the phone, the computer and television, the cars, the noise and people. It felt very good indeed.

Whoops!

2011-05-21T20:30:00.001-05:00

Team America Rocket Contest 2011 - Updated with Pictures!

2011-05-15T10:20:00.006-05:00

For the ninth straight year, I was a member of the volunteer range crew for TARC. The weather forecast was ugly, but except for some occasionaly light misting the rain stayed away during the contest itself.

100 teams from all over the country came to fly rockets and try to win a piece of the price pool. The winning team took top honors on the very last flight of the day, bumping the next two teams into a tie for second.

So, this year's challenge was to design and build a rocket that:

1. Flew as close as possible to 750', measured by an on-board altimeter.
2. Flew - from 1st motion to payload touchdown - between 40-45 seconds, under a 15" parachute.
3. Carried aloft and returned unbroken a raw egg.

The first place team will be going to the Paris Air Show, complements of Raytheon, to have a fly-off against the winners of the UK and French versions of the contest. All contests use the same rules each year. The first winning team of the Japanese contest were here this year. They were from Iwate High School, which is in the prefecture that got stomped by the earthquake and tsunami.

The first eight teams split a pool of scholarship money. The top twenty teams all get invites to NASA's Student Launch Initiative, which is like Team America, but with much larger rockets, much higher altitudes, and tougher objectives (not that Team America is easy!)

And the prizes just keep getting better and better. I didn't catch all the details, but one participant got a $5,000/year scholarship towards a four year degree from Raytheon. Yep, $20,000 towards college.

As usual, the kids were great, the rockets were cool and it was a great day. Reuters and Wired magazine were there, along with many local media.

It sounds corny, but there are many ways to love America. One way that I choose is to encourage kids to pursue careers in Science, Technoloy, Engineering and Math. TARC is only one vehicle to the future, and so far it's working beyond all expectations.

Links to pictures! YAY!

Photos from Steve Schowiak:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schowiak/sets/72157626605411463/

Photos from Glenn Feveyear:

http://db.tt/lyey7lZ

Photos in fast-paced slide show format from Steve Schwartz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PAJoDx4F3k&feature=bf_prev&list=ULx-vDXiHk9GE&index=23

A Couple of Witticisms

2011-05-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

Veni, Vedi, Velcro - I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. That's how WWI started!

Cultural Enhancement

2011-05-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

KISS Ragtime Band.

One European's Analysis of Current Events

2011-05-06T12:29:00.002-05:00

*wink wink* *nudge nudge*

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden, and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

– John Cleese – British writer (of Monty Python fame), actor and tall person”

Geek Amusements

2011-05-06T10:19:00.003-05:00

In order for some commands in IBM's Job Control Language (JCL) to work properly, a program must be executed, even if there is nothing that the program needs to do. Hence the standard IBM utility program IEFBR14, which was designed to not do anything at all.

There have been several versions released over the years, meaning that it took IBM multiple tries to write a program that does nothing.

Overnighter in Shenandoah National Park

2011-05-02T17:32:00.000-05:00

On Friday two friends and I went backpacking in Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia. Greg also brought his Golden Retriever, Phoebe, who was a sweetie.

Hey look, a map!

We started at the Elkwallow picnic area, heading south on the Appalachian Trail until we hit the Neighbor Mountain Trail, which took us up and over the summit of the mountain. On the other side we got to the bottom of Jeremy's Run and set up camp. All told, about eight or nine miles for the day.

On the AT itself, we met three section hikers. Section hikers do only a part of the trail at a time, unlike "Thru Hikers" who do the entire length in one trip. It doesn't matter how you do it, hiking the whole length of the AT is an accomplishment no matter how long it takes. One guy was doing all of VA in April (about 500 miles), another all of SNP (101 miles), and the third was just hiking as far as he could in the time he had. Once we left the AT, we didn't see another soul for the rest of the day.

Jeremy's run was beautiful, but the night was a little colder than we'd anticipated (mid 30's). Even so, everyone slept warm.

The next morning, we ate and broke camp and started up Jeremy's Run. In fact, the very first thing we had to do was cross the stream to get to the trail on the other side. Greg decided to do it barefoot, but was complaining of numb feet on the other bank as he put on his socks and shoes.

The water in Jeremy's Run is really high and moving right now. The trail crosses the creek "at least a dozen times" (more than 15 I think) and a lot of the rock hopping that might be possible later in the Summer was just wishful thinking. Ice water is refreshing, right?

Being one of the more popular trails in the park, Saturday was like an interstate on the trail. One hiking group of at least 20 passed, five or six fishermen went by and all told there were easily 50 others we met or who passed us. I'll admit it, I was envious of their tiny day packs. Especially since the almost six miles back to the car was 90% uphill.

Oddly enough, I only saw one squirrel and a few birds. There were plenty singing away in the trees, but not many visible.

It was beautiful, we had a great time and I learned a few things about myself, my gear and packing (we all brought way too much food).

Photos here, and I'll update with another link when Alan posts the pictures he took.

Hometown Boys Done Good

2011-05-02T17:06:00.001-05:00

The last thing Osama saw was a member of Seal Team 6, based in Dam Neck, Virginia.

Adios asshole.

Preview

2011-05-01T09:25:00.001-05:00

If you want to see what I did Friday and Saturday, look here.

Good Thing I'm Wearing My Striped Socks

2011-04-27T15:32:00.001-05:00

At work today they announced that we're under a Tornado Watch.

My first thought was, "We need an office pool about who the house drops on!"

All Hopped Up

2011-04-22T19:41:00.012-05:00

Next Best Thing

2011-04-22T10:11:00.003-05:00

According to South Park, you should ask yourself, "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"

If you're still not sure, ask me. Brian Boitano and I went to the same high school (he was a few years behind me), so you've got that going for you.

Happy Birthday!

2011-04-21T14:27:00.002-05:00

Elegance. Class. Presence.

Long live the Queen.

Adventures On My Lunch Break

2011-04-19T18:30:00.004-05:00

You may recall that I'm eccentric and still use fountain pens when I write. Since my office moved last year and we now work in downtownn Washington D.C., I've been meaning to wander over to visit Fahrney's Pen Store. Fahrney's has been in business since 1929, located within a block or two of where they're at now. I needed a few doo-dads for my pens, and since I was making the walk a nice bottle of ink was well deserved, and today was the day.

Fahrney's is located on the other side of the Ellipse from where I work, so I found myself braving crowds of tourons seeing the sights. Walking past the White House, there was excitement in the air, and I saw the First Dog out for his noon constitutional. Handsome animal, and very calm considering the ravening hoard barely contained by the tall iron fence between them. Of course, Bo was attended by a staff of two, one of which looked to be in a tux (White House staff perhaps?) and the other looked - honest to God - like a Secret Service agent. One of the gentlemen carried an umbrella, for himself or the dog is unknown. I saw no canine bodily functions on display, but like I said, I was on my way and just passing through.

Not long after, rain drops started to fall and I walked into the store just in time. Imagine a long, narrow space about the size of a single-wide trailer, immaculately maintained and elegantly appointed (the high ceiling had carved wooden moulding), and that's the interior of the store. I expected it to be much larger than that. Even so, no less than three people were behind the counters, and a fourth was in a small workshop/office in a back corner, the clutter hidden away from casual view.

I made a quick tour of the place, but because I had a list of exactly what I wanted and because I was on my lunch break, I dawdled just long enough to let the brief rain pass outside. I did note that the most expensive pen I saw there went for just shy of $3,000.00.

With my modest purchases in my happy little hands (simple pleasures), I headed back to work. Past the White House again and spotted the Presidential Vegetable Garden, meticulously maintained (by the riff-raff no doubt.) I was pleasantly surprised to hear conversations in Chinese, Korean, French, German and a few others I couldn't identify. It's kind of neat when you think of it, that so many people from around the world would come to America to see D.C.

Probably not one in ten knew what it was, but there was a huge plot of bright red tulips in full bloom. Standing at the base of the bed, you'd realize that it was a tribute to the First Infantry Division - The "Big Red One".

According to Google Maps, it was a two mile walk. Very pleasant, very touristy. I can't imagine going to Fahrney's again for a year or two, so y'all are probably spared another post like this for the forseeable future. *insert sigh-of-relief here*

Because I Haven't Posted Anything Truly Scary Lately

2011-04-18T16:41:00.002-05:00

Sunday Morning

2011-04-17T12:24:00.003-05:00

After the powerful storms that blasted through here yesterday, we woke up to a glorious spring day. I went out back and spent about a half hour doing garden chores, then made a cup of tea to test my new backpacking stove (made it yesterday while stuck inside - it works like a champ).

As I was sitting there, enjoying the tea and sunshine, I noticed unusual bird calls from the woods behind the house. I grabbed my monocular and spent a relaxing hour watching the hawks play. There were several - more than three, maybe as many as six - zooming around each other, circling high before diving in close strafing runs, just generally having fun. There was no mid-air attacking or general agressiveness that I saw. A couple of times, I spied pairs sitting side by side in the top branches of the trees, making me think it may have been mating displays going on.

The other clue were those unusual bird calls. Those hawks weren't making ordinary hawk sounds. They sounded like a dog's squeaky toy. Sharp and high pitched and wheezy, kind of a goofy sound for a bad-ass bird like a hawk to be making.

I guess love makes fools of us all.

Good Isn't Good Enough

2011-04-17T12:16:00.005-05:00

I'm not a big Dairy Queen fan, but after seeing this commercial, I'm going. They've earned it.

A Rare Linkworthy Link

2011-04-16T16:56:00.002-05:00

Rare, as in I usually am too lazy to do so, not rare as in there are few worthy of being linked.

Behold greatness.

Sounds Like A Plan

2011-04-16T09:19:00.002-05:00

It's Harder Than This, Rebecca

2011-04-14T17:37:00.003-05:00

Then again, maybe it isn't.

Evil Banking Corporation Cares More About The Troops Than The Current Placeholder In The White House

2011-04-11T17:03:00.004-05:00

Remember last week when the troops were told that if the government shut down, that they'd only get half a paycheck on payday, then no more until the government reopened? Of course, they'd still be expected to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Remember last week when President Obama vowed to veto the continuing resolution that would have funded the military for the rest of the year?

Kudos to Navy Federal Credit Union, who announced that any military member who had a direct deposit account (translation: virtually all) would get a full paycheck. In other words, the Credit Union would front the rest of their pay and members could settle up with the Credit Union when the regular paychecks started again and the retro pay was in hand.

Glad it wasn't needed, but very cool nonetheless.

Dirt Watch - Weekend Edition

2011-04-10T18:07:00.002-05:00

Planted two squares of lettuce today, eight heads in all. I'll plant another two squares in two weeks to stretch the harvest.

Peas and broccoli are doing great, spinach is sprouting like crazy and the radishes are already popping their zesty little greenery up into the sunlight. My onions aren't doing so hot... I think. I have a couple that seem to be doing great, but most of them are just kinda there. Since they're underground doing their thing, I can't really tell if they're taking the final dirt nap or merely resting. Time will tell.

No word yet on the Swiss Chard or the carrots. For some reason, because of the "Swiss" in the name, I feel like I must capitalize the chard.

Weird.

Shut. Down.

2011-04-08T18:35:00.001-05:00

I've been declared "essential" during the Government shutdown, but only for 4 hours a day. I guess that makes me half-essed.

No Honey Badgers in the DC Government

2011-04-06T20:34:00.002-05:00

Saturday's annual Cherry Blossom Parade has been deemed "non-essential" and will be cancelled if the government shuts down.

You should hear the anguished screaming.

Concentrated Essence of Honey Badger

2011-04-02T09:00:00.003-05:00

Alternate title: A whole heap o' stuff you don't give a shit about.

Dirt Watch. I planted broccoli and onions just before it snowed last week. Broccoli and onions don't give a shit! They're doing fine. I saw the first of the peas emerging (from seed). I did a nipple check and yes, I was excited. Something was fucking with the garden. I'm guessing birds. They scratched a couple of holes in the loose soil and knocked over some of my popsicle stick markers. I plant Swiss Chard today.

I camped out in the backyard again last night. Temps to the mid-30s. I tweaked my sleeping setup a little and was toasty comfortable all night. I've already told them at work that if the Government shuts down and I'm not essential, I'm going for a long hike.

To that end, I tested some trail recipes at work for lunch. Knorr (Lipton) parmesan noodles, powdered milk (Nido, not that nasty Carnation crap), butter buds and diced pepperoni. Throw it in a freezer ziplock, add near-boiling water to cover and tuck it into a cozy for 20 minutes. Freakin' awesome, and smelled good enough to make the local cubical denizens jealous. Did some curry rice the same way another day.

Our dog is wearing an inflatable collar for a few days. There's an area around his butt that's irritated and he won't leave it alone to heal. A little mockery ("li'l donut head") and some cortisone spray and it's looking much better already.

I'd ask if you enjoyed this, but I've been taking pointers from Honey Badger.

Mama, Nobody Mentioned Growed-Up Cowgirls

2011-03-29T05:02:00.001-05:00

Clever name: The Wailin' Jennys.

If you don't get it, say it out loud.

Resisting Mightily

2011-03-27T09:49:00.010-05:00

Sheri asked where I've been getting these goofy pictures that I've been posting. I've been cruising Tumblr, and trying hard not to let it become a new timesuck. It's like a micro-sized copy of the internet, in picture form, where you can find damn near anything you can imagine. And some things you'd rather never, ever again.

So here's another batch of Tumblr funny.

First Overnighter of the Year

2011-03-26T06:18:00.009-05:00

Back in January, I posted about Rachael and I making a camping quilt for me.* The quilt is designed to be good down to about 40 degrees, and since last night's forecast was for lows in the low 30's, it was a perfect chance to see if my quilt could be used comfortably below the rated temp.

There are several ways to extend the range of your sleeping bag or quilt. The first is to add layers such as socks, long johns or a coat. There's an old saying: if your feet are cold, put on a hat. It's true. You can add a light layer outside the bag, like a poncho (as long as you're not compressing the all-important loft of the insulation. Another way is to increase the insulation under you, by adding another pad or even a thick pile of leaves under your tent. Some recommend a hot water bottle: pour boiling water into a stainless steel bottle, slip a sock over it to keep from burning you, then put the whole thing into a gallon ziplock (in case it leaks) and slip it down at your feet.

I set up 'camp' in my backyard. After putting up my tent I laid out my sleeping pads. For cold weather I use a blue closed-cell foam (CCF) pad from WalMart under my Thermarest pad (extra ground insulation). I also spread out my quilt and let it rest for a while and reloft after being packed up in my backpack.

Around 9pm I headed out for the night, dressed as I would be for a regular backpacking trip; long sleeve poly shirt, light windbreaker pants and wool socks. I woke up a few times during the night (normal for me) and checked the temperature, which was falling steadily.

At 45 degrees I pulled on a fleece hat. At 40 degrees I pulled on my field jacket liner and bundled a little deeper under the quilt. Still toasty. At 35 degrees (5am or so) I woke up and, although not cold, I wasn't really warm anymore either. My usual work wake-up time is 4am, so I came on inside, well rested and satisfied with the results.

I still had a lightweight thermal top and bottom I could have put on, so I feel pretty confident that my setup will take me comfortably down to freezing, and survivable well into the 20's. I don't Winter camp, but this should be good enough for most early Spring/late Fall surprises that Mother Nature throws at us, especially since I've got a trip planned for the end of April up into the Blue Ridge Mountains.

* Bou asked for pictures, so here's a couple shots of the quilt.

The first one shows the quilt spread out, showing its semi-mummy shape. It's made of ripstop nylon with synthetic insulation inside.

Here's the footbox. The bottom 18" or so is sewed together to make a cozy little cave for your feet. You can kind of see the draft-stopper, which is a fringe of nylon that runs all the way around the quilt. It's perfect for tucking under you when it's really chilly.

A Veteran And His Dog

2011-03-24T05:17:00.002-05:00

A man who figured it out.

A Treat For You

2011-03-23T18:17:00.012-05:00

I know, after all of the garden blogging of late, how can I spoil you so? Trust me, Amigos, you are well worth it. I have before me a couple of movies to watch, and you know the kind. I thought I'd give y'all an old-fashioned Rocket Jones review as I watched.

You lucky devils.

Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965)

Kuchar. If that name doesn't make you shiver (trepidation or excitement, either/or), then you have never seen one of brothers Mike and George Kuchar cinematic... I almost said masterpieces, but couldn't keep a straight face. Their movies suck. In that good way, mostly, that I love so much. For most of you, they suck in the bad way.

Five minutes into this one, and we've learned that it takes place a million years in the future and that humans live in a true paradise (accompanied by a slow camera pan across a platter of plastic fruit.) We know this because the only dialog so far is from the narrator, who sounds suspiciously like Elmer Fudd. As for visual evidence, Mardi Gras beads are still in. Paradise, don't'cha know.

The fleshapoids are robot slaves to the humans, and in a million years of progress, humanity has managed to make them look like dorky geeks in silly hats and black lipstick.

Humans mostly lie around, eat fruit, ice cream cones and Clark bars, and get back rubs from hunchback fleshapoids. There's no nudity here, the humans all have enormous cardboard cutout flowers and fig leaves covering their dainty bits. The humans also spend a great deal of time admiring and exchanging Mardi Gras beads.

I'm guessing here, but fleshaoids are created without a sense of humor, because they keep a straight face even while the humans do some seriously lame-ass dancing.

Dialog! Well, no. One of the characters speaks to her fleshapoid, but rather than going to all the effort of moving her lips, a cartoon balloon appears next to her head with the words she says. Uh huh.

A million years of progress. She threatens the fleshapoid with "I'll wet you so you rust!" The robot looks frightened. I could probably see the same thing on Alt.Binaries.Watersports. I made that name up, by the way. Really, I did. If it actually exists (and I wouldn't be surprised), then my question is, how did you know that?

Murder. More cartoon balloons, most bearing no relationship to the head speaking. Mardi Gras beads. Narrator. Robot abuse. False eyelash abuse.

With names like Tar, Malenka and Arbundi, the Queen's secret lover is named Ernie?

I'm sorry I keep coming back to this "million years of progress", but you'd think they'd have better teeth.

"Put out the candle" (thought balloon). Queen throws a glass of water at it rather than just blowing it out. I think this is the sequel to Idiocracy, in some odd time warpy fashion.

Finally, something to smile about! This movie is only 43 minutes long! There are two other Kuchar flicks on the disk. I'll spare you, because I care.

It just dawned on me that I haven't heard the narrator in about 10 minutes. Still smiling!

Bath scene. Ernie and two male fleshapoids (NTTAWWT).

Ernie just got dressed in a hurry because King found out about him. He's dressed in a full football outfit, including shoulder pads and helmet. And Mardi Gras beads. And a flower garland. Queen tries to kiss him through the cage on Ernie's helmet. It looks as stupid as it sounds.

Ernie learns, never piss off a Queen.

Narrator is back. Dammit.

King gets pushed down a flight of stairs, then catches two robots doing it. "Doing it" means electrocuting each other every time they try to touch.

I'm almost pissing myself laughing. After a long, drawn out scene showing the female fleshapoid writhing around on the ground, she finally calms down and smiles. Know what's coming? Yep, she gives birth. Hilarious. She's laying there on the floor, knees up and legs spread, and out from between under her skirt marches a little wind-up robot.

Final annoyance from the narrator, and Finis.

I didn't give away all the plot surprises, because maybe someone will want to get this to see for themselves, although I can't imagine why. Unless it's for the lady wetting the robot, or robot sex, or... ew.

Warning: Content May Cause Elevated Heartrate

2011-03-20T14:57:00.005-05:00

Yep, here's the ~~threatened~~ promised photos of this year's foray into Square Foot Gardening.

Two four foot square boxes, a modest start for sure. If this goes well though, I'll be harvesting an amazing amount of home-grown goodness out of here.

This is a better view of the mason line I used to grid the boxes. The wet area in the upper right is where I've already planted. Eight snow peas are in the two grids straddled by the trellis, and the two cornermost grids have four spinach seeds each.

Here's a detail of the trellises that I put together. Made of 1/2" steel electrical conduit, what annoyed me was that 40' of the conduit was less than $9.00, but those corner pieces (I needed 4) cost almost $16.00! I got the nylon netting from Amazon and tied it on myself (I have lots of leftover too). All told, those trellisi cost about $45.00 but should be good for many years, and they're strong enough to hold up anything I might want to grow.

I was hopeful, but I doubt this will live up to NogWatch.

That's What She Said

2011-03-20T09:53:00.004-05:00

Thrilling Update

2011-03-19T14:56:00.002-05:00

Today was a busy day, garden wise. I built trellises for the cucumbers, tomatoes and peas out of electrical conduit and nylon netting. Once that was done, I planted the first of the peas and spinach.

Later I'll try to get pictures, but for now, just imagine boxes of dirt with string stretched all over the place.

Edge of your seat, innit?

Twog

2011-03-18T10:18:00.001-05:00

I don't tweet on twitter, but I may go to the short, pithy format here on Rocket Jones). Mayb

Thumbs Up

2011-03-17T16:47:00.001-05:00

Those curved shower curtain rods that give you extra space? Freakin' brilliant.

Best Website Ever

2011-03-13T10:56:00.001-05:00

Evangel Cathedral.

I stole the title and all from Minor Perfidy.

Randomness - Employed Edition

2011-03-13T08:16:00.011-05:00

Another week starts at the workplace. According to Liz, I really need one of these. Actually, my boss thinks so too. My kids probably do, but they're all afraid to talk to me, so I'll take that as agreement.

One of these would help wash down the pill and do double duty to calm my hyper self down.

If I had a company laptop, this would be the skin I had for it. I am *the* anti-Apple Fanboy.

A little practical joke to lighten the mood.

I'd get a pad of these, but people wouldn't know if I was joking or not. I hate having to explain that yes, you are my bitch in the office.

What's more annoying in the workplace: atheists or preachy Christians? I suggest scheduling them together for a long meeting in a conference room far away from everyone else, so that I can get some damn work done.

I would promote the creative thinker that did this.

I don't get nearly as many co-workers dropping in to bullshit since I got this new Visitor's Chair.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Let The Weirdness Begin

2011-03-08T16:29:00.006-05:00

Liz: What are these eggshells doing on the counter?
Me: Drying.
Liz: Let me guess, you're going to use them for some weird gardening thing?

Why yes. Yes I am.

It's that time of year again, when my thoughts turn to gardening. I have a green thumb, although I don't always apply myself. Mostly I grow flowers, but will occasionally get the urge to grow something edible.

Like this year. I've decided to do a little Square Foot Gardening. I've planned out two four foot square beds and have started to get things together.

The fundamental bit here is that you use raised beds, lined with landscaping cloth on the bottom to prevent weeds. Then you fill the boxes (mine will be framed with 2x10's) with a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite and compost. Notice what's missing? Yep, no dirt. No topsoil. No "potting mix".

The other important thing is the "square foot" bit. You plant the beds in one foot plots. So for my first try, I'll be planting 4 squares of lettuce (16 plants), 2 of carrots (32 total), 2 each of spinach, broccoli and green beans, snap peas *and* snow peas (trellised), cucumbers (ditto), plus more! The idea is compact and intensive growing and harvesting. When a crop is done (for example, carrots), then you immediately plant the next crop, whatever it may be. You can add compost or a little fertilizer as needed, and because of the growing medium there is very little weeding to be done.

And y'all get to share in my little gardening adventure.

You may recall a few weekends ago, Liz and I travelled four hours to buy bags of vermiculite. In the gardening world, that counts as adventure.

Oh, and the eggshells. You see, you collect them until you have a dozen or two's worth (rinsed, of course), then soak them overnight in a five gallon bucket of water. Use the water to give your peppers and tomatoes a drink. They love the calcium. Then you can crush the eggshells and spread them around your plants. Snails and slugs hate to crawl over them.

Sad That It Even Needs Saying

2011-03-07T18:49:00.002-05:00

From Dustbury.