Elaine

Changes to sidebar and elsewhere

I added a few additional Movable Type features to the sidebar. There is now a list of the various categories for posts. If you click on this category, you will see all the posts for that category. This way you can see all my photos at once for example.

There is also a list of the last few comments made in the comments section. This is to encourage people to make comments (don’t make me beg, people) and to remind me when someone has requested a reply or clarification. You do not need to leave an email address or webpage url if you don’t want to, though I would like to see your name.
Continue reading Changes to sidebar and elsewhere

Tidy

The bed looks presentable now that I cleaned up all the weeds in the courtyard in front of it. Of the herbs, everything I planted has done well except for the tarragon, and even it has grown a little.

Garden

This morning I spent two hours in the courtyard while Jack put down more pavers. In addition to helping him, I pulled weeds and fantasized about one of “these weed burners.”:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41603 Although the rocks and barrier cloth probably kept some weeds from growing, it wasn’t the sort of hundred per cent solution for which I was hoping. I am not sure I would have the nerve to use the weed burner myself, though I could probably carry around the tank while Jack used it. I rather got behind on the pulling up weeds during the hot spell, but I think the situation is under control again.

Blackout

In World New York, Grant Barrett writes:

This is what I encountered during my walk from 35th Street and Madison in Manhattan to Eckford and Nassau Streets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Mandalas

Kristi has earth mandalas made from photographs using a similar process to some I made a few months ago. Kristi, a Colorado artist, also has information about carving, altered books, and art journals.

Indy

We call Indy the miracle horse of the barn. In horses, Indy’s color is called grulla, a form of the dun color. He has the dorsal stripe, and you can occasionally see faint stripes that run at right angles to the dorsal stripe.
Continue reading Indy

You can find anything …

You can find almost anything on the WWW. Yesterday, I was reading someone’s weblog and they mentioned the Commodore 64. This was not our first computer, but our second, after a VIC-20. We used it several years, before getting an XT, and passing the C-64, along with its software, to Jack’s youngest brother.
Continue reading You can find anything …

Broken

The past few times I have cleaned house, or attempted to, I have wondered whether I am getting too fussy. The vacuum cleaner just didn’t seem to be picking stuff up like it should. Surely it had worked better in the past. I changed the bag, and the suction from the hose (which can be removed and used independently) seemed to be working just fine. I turned it over and attempted to clean out the intake, which did not seem to be fouled. I noticed a lock, and removed the bottom plate. A belt fell out. The rubber band that makes the beater turn had broken. Today’s quest will be to find the belt. Jack says that he had run into the problem once before.

It is impossible to get up hair when the beater doesn’t work. And the two dogs shed a lot of hair.

Quick Color

QuickColor is a Flash utility for finding complementary color schemes. (via J-Walk).

The relationship between dogs and people

A Boston Globe discusses current literatures about our relationship with dogs. Are human beings the ecological niche that dogs have evolved to exploit?