For the past couple of summers, it’s gotten to be ridiculously hot at this point in the year; the heat index yesterday around here was 120 degrees. Last summer, I decided to stop wasting all of this solar energy that was pouring down on us from above and start putting it to good use. Mission: cooking without adding one iota (either metric or imperial) of heat to the house.
We had to spend an unnervingly large amount of my wife’s paycheck on a vet visit for Xena the other day. She hasn’t been the same since the weather got nice again and we let her go back outside – well, it’s more like we had to push her outside.
And therein lies the problem. … Read more
It snowed today. Before that, there were buckets of ice. Hilarity ensued! … Read more
My pasture, let me show you it. These pictures were taken in 2007, a few weeks before Evan was born.
Halloween was a bust this year – little E was plagued by a stomach virus just when he needed it the least (like there’s a good time for that sort of thing); I spent most of Saturday trying to keep up with the upchuck. Needless to say, no trick-or-treating took place this year… and no one came to the house this year, since Xena’s doghouse has been relocated to the front of the house. (Xena goes as Cujo every Halloween.)
In the meantime, me and my three-year-old boy spent all weekend exploring one of the most enduring and conceptually disturbing survival-horror video game franchises of all time. Strong stuff for a pre-schooler, you say? Sure it is, but it’s all so innocent. … Read more
A couple of my Facebook friends recently posted some personality and intelligence test results courtesy of an app there. I’ve taken those same tests before, but it’s been a while; I went directly to the site for the tests rather than do the Facebook app (even before the recent revelations, I just don’t do Facebook apps) under a silly pseudonym. But what the heck, I’ll post the results here, even if I don’t want them to have my info. … Read more
This blog has become a bit of a no-blogging zone here lately. The whole site has. I’m working on that a bit, but it’s been slow going. My hours aren’t conducive to me getting… well… much of anything done. (I just mowed my yard this week after getting a long-distance call from the guys aboard the International Space Station, asking me to do something about the fact that my grass was tall enough to brush up against their windows when their orbit carried them over Arkansas.) Daddy duty is taking more of my time as little E reaches the age where he wants to explore things, learn more stuff, and have conversations. I love the little conversations we have. It’s the whole reason one’s in the dad business. He cracks me up sometimes, especially when he comes up with some humorous response that’s like something I would say in the same situation. He really is turning into a little me. (I want him to turn out better than that!)
I’m trying to figure out what to do with theLogBook.com. Daily updates, frankly, ain’t gonna happen anymore. It was a valiant try, but at this point I think it’s all about finding clever ways to leverage what’s already on the site. You’ll be seeing quite a few instances of “It aired today X years ago!” stuff soon, as we’re going into the time of year that American TV shows generally premiere – it’s kind of a no-brainer. I wish the forums were generating more activity that I could point to without having to go in and constantly goose it, but I guess this is to be expected when I pretty much fell off the grid for about a week or so (without really planning or preparing to do so, it has to be said). Responsibility for the site going comatose lies solely at my feet.
At the core of the issue is: I have less time to do all the watching / listening / reading that I used to do, to say nothing ofr writing about all the watching / listening / reading that makes up the site. My schedule has really become more about drive-by forum postings (and an awful lot of them are links to other places) when I have the time – perhaps a little too much influence from Facebook, but really much more of a function of my schedule.
I’m open to ideas on how to make it work. I’m not ready to give up yet, even though by any measure that includes common sense, I probably should be.… Read more
Okay, the real reason for my craptabulous mood of late. Are you ready?
Can you handle the truth? Read on. … Read more
Dinner is cooking in the dashboard oven. Seriously.
Why build up excess heat in the house and run up the electric bill? It’ll take a bit more time than the oven would, but it’ll get the job done by the time I need to go get the little guy from daycare.
Or maybe you’d like a hot dog instead?
(Don’t worry, Xena’s doing just fine. Also note nice new window on the front of the house, replacing the one I accidentally blasted a hole through with a projectile thrown by the lawn mower…)… Read more
“So that’s it?” you’re asking. “No posts in over a month, and you post a picture of a stupid frog?”
Well, yeah. Something like that. … Read more
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