The photos I posted of the barn swallow family got enough positive reaction that I decided to get some video of the parents taking care of the young’uns. Following is a five-minute video distilled from about a 45 minutes of raw footage. I’ve edited it to focus on the interactions between the adults and the… Continue reading Barn Swallow Feeding Video
Nocturnal Neighborhood Visitor
Debbie went outside just before 10:00 p.m. last night to look at the “Supermoon” and came back to report that two women were in the street in front of our house watching what they feared might be a “baby rattlesnake.” I grabbed a flashlight – which proved unnecessary because the reptile was directly under our… Continue reading Nocturnal Neighborhood Visitor
More Nest Peeping: Barn Swallows
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, we decided to let the barn swallows finish building a nest on our front porch, mainly because they picked an innocuous spot and I figured if I ran them off, they’d just find a worse place while we were out of town. The clutch of eggs in… Continue reading More Nest Peeping: Barn Swallows
A Fitting Epitaph
We went to a funeral this morning, a memorial service for a friend who passed from this life much too soon. It was held in the chapel of our church, a striking new addition with beautiful stained glass windows all around, illuminated this morning by a bright sun that defied the inherent solemnity of the… Continue reading A Fitting Epitaph
Google’s Mixed Message Suicide Search Results
I ran across a link in my Twitter feed to an article — which unfortunately is no longer available — describing Apple’s attempts to modify Siri, its voice-activated iOS “personal assistant” application, to provide more helpful feedback for people searching for suicide-related information. With an update to phones running iOS 6 and iOS 7, Siri… Continue reading Google’s Mixed Message Suicide Search Results
Recumbent Bicycles for Sale!
[Updated 8/16/13] It’s with greatly mixed emotions that I announce a clearance sale on the inventory of recumbent bicycles now inhabiting our garage. None of these bikes have been ridden in more than a year (and a couple of them have sat idle for about two years), and there’s no point other than maudlin sentimentality… Continue reading Recumbent Bicycles for Sale!
8 Track Lookback
Attending the Happy Together Tour concert last week put me in a musical nostalgic mood, and I rediscovered these in my small Museum of Obsolete Technology: These are the only survivors from the dozens of 8-track tapes I accumulated during my high school and early college years. I’m not sure of the strategy behind the… Continue reading 8 Track Lookback
This ain’t yer grandfather’s pedometer
Your grandfather probably doesn’t have a pedometer, but if he does, I’ll bet it’s not a Fitbit. Debbie and I both acquired a Fitbit Zip via our participation in a wellness program sponsored by BP, in which the company is challenging employees and retirees (we, of course, fall into the latter group) to rack up a… Continue reading This ain’t yer grandfather’s pedometer
The Happy Together 2013 Tour: An Irreverent Review
The Happy Together Tour 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “THTT13”) bopped into Midland’s Wagner-Noël Performing Arts Center last Wednesday evening. This was one of only three stops in Texas for the show, the others being Austin (of course) and Stafford (say wha?…if you have to google Stafford to find out where it is, don’t feel… Continue reading The Happy Together 2013 Tour: An Irreverent Review
Quelle Quail? These Quail!
This evening I noticed some shallow disturbances at random between the flagstones on the east side of our back yard, as if something had been digging or scratching. I also heard some rustling noises around the mediterranean fan palm in that vicinity. This looks like a pretty good place for something to hide, doesn’t it? I… Continue reading Quelle Quail? These Quail!