My old school friend Joerg stopped by for the weekend. He is on a business trip to Ontario, and he had the time to visit with us for two days, so I did my best to play New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce. On Saturday, I took him for a drive down to southern NH (with…
guinevere, 1997-2012.
Our elderly dachshund Guinevere, the matriarch of the clan, has had health problems for the last few years due to the pancreatitis she gave herself by raiding too many garbage cans. In the last few months, her health took a nose dive, and her quality of life deteriorated. She slept most of the day, skipped…
not a bad likeness, actually.
Quinn really wanted an Iron Man action figure RIGHT NOW, so he made one out of Lego bricks. Compare: Legos. Is there anything they can’t do?
architects and their chicken coops.
One of my Facebook friends linked to an article about artisan chicken coops yesterday—you know, the sort of chicken coop that has the chickens living in more style than a middle-class wage earner in a developing nation. That had me thinking about what chicken coops designed by different architects would look like. The Frank Lloyd…
the return of rocky raccoon.
Surprisingly, raccoons are actually #1 on the list of top chicken predators. They have a lot of dexterity in those front paws, they’re smart enough to figure out barrel bolt locks and other simple locks, and they’re pretty strong for an animal their size. One of his cousins fell to our dachshunds three years ago….
disgusted.
Over the past few days, the Internet has educated me that the Aurora massacre was really perpetrated by: President Obama, to be able to push tighter gun control The CIA, to eliminate the service members who were killed (the other audience members being “collateral alibi damage”) The Jews, because, hey, Zionist World Conspiracy The Tea…
smile! you’re on candid camera!
We bought a weatherproof wildlife camera to record visitors to the chicken coop, just to see what’s out there trying to score a free chicken dinner. I set it up on Sunday and set it so the camera goes off whenever the sensor detects motion. I checked the flash card every day, and usually it…
pointless savagery.
When you’re young and in your physical prime, and the guy you punch is not, hands can become a lethal weapon, and you can find yourself facing first-degree murder charges. Now imagine what would have happened if the old man had carried a handgun and shot his attacker in self-defense. How would the media have…
you didn’t build that.
So the President gave a speech in which he used a modified form of Elizabeth Warren’s claims that “nobody builds a business alone”: “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have…
funday morning.
Back from Readercon. I got to meet friends again I hadn’t seen since last year, meet new unsavory writer and editor types, attend awesome readings and panels, drink fine liquor and interesting new beers, and eat grown-up restaurant fare with other grown-ups while talking shop and making bad jokes for three days. Thanks to my…