It was nice and cool (hah!) last night compared to the broiler we've been in for the past week or so, and I took advantage of the gap between rainstorms to mow the side yard and most of the back yard. Dense grass drains the mower faster, so by the time I get to the great swamp, the mower's battery is done. Alas, all the endorphins from having a ( Read more... )

I didn't get to the museum when I wanted to on Saturday, but it is just as well. A little locomotive diagnosis, some rewiring of a turnout that apparently I am the only one flexible enough to reach now, and following lunch, I helped Doc replace several sections of mainline track on the portable layout. Rewiring took a lot longer than I thought it ( Read more... )

MyLiveFaceDiaryBookLandJournalWitter, I see through your nefarious attempts to cyberstalk people. It isn't your business who I write to via my webmail client. It isn't your business what books I browse on various online stores. It isn't your business what I periodically search for online. Use of your site will be restricted to a single browser ( Read more... )

I've been walking our new hire and support staff through some of the mechanics of the project and what they'll probably be doing when the system is put into production mode. The hard part is done, but we still have massive amounts of data cleansing to help do (we identify, and the users get to clean up their source systems). We're pretty close to ( Read more... )

My first week (and a half) home, and I feel like I've been here a month based on the amount of activity I've had. Last week was mostly about getting the lawn back under control (blech), and prepping for the weekend's archery tournament (as in make-the-targets). Somewhere in the middle of that, the parental units announced that they were retiring ( Read more... )

I think my official verdict is that the rechargable battery is no more. It has ceased to be. In short, it's dead, Jim. This fact was highly aggravating when I tried to mow the side yard last night. I've been so diligent about using the electric mower that it took a lot of time to coax the gas-powered mower back to life. I think the gasoline ( Read more... )

I think I have too much change in my life right now. Switching over from my foreign assignment to working in the US again was a big change, but now there are a lot more things going on that I had anticipated coming home to. Priorities are shifting (seemingly at random), but things keep rolling forward. Its going to be a bit of a struggle for me ( Read more... )

Back to the rhythym of domestic life.... I was only able to mow half the front yard before the battery charge ran out, and the back yard will require the gas-powered mower to hack down the savannah that has grown there in my absence. Dishes: put away. Cats: fed and petted. Backlog of comics: purchased. 401(k) holdings: reconciled for the ( Read more... )

I've neglected a corner of the yard for a couple of months, and the grass has gotten too dense to use the electric mower on it. The battery would be drained after 4 or 5 passes. So, I hauled out the gas-powered push mower...and it was very obvious the thing weighs a lot more than the electric. It was much harder to push around, but at the same ( Read more... )

Sometimes I am far luckier than I deserve. Magnus was waiting for me when I got home--he was picking up a new key to the workshop. We chatted for a while, and he explained to me that the pitch of our roof was indeed too steep for anyone to be walking on. My averted Epic Fail trying to mount a solar panel was more luck and presence of mind over ( Read more... )