Last night, there was a lunar eclipse. There have been several over the past few years, but the Pacific Northwest’s heavy cloud cover usually blocks the best views. Yesterday was an exception – the sky was crisp and clear. Click to see the larger: 1) a bit blurry, 2) a little shake and 3) wide […]

Reduce, reuse, recycle Who doesn’t love a nice, warm, roaring fire? However, burning hardwood seems a shame (not to mention expensive), when the urban jungle provides one with other combustible options. Our house is located in a nice little neighborhood. If it were not for the occasional train whistle, I could almost forget how close […]

Our good friend Fish (aka the “disgruntaled Mr Fish“) is moving to Florida. His girl Linda already made the trip down there and soon enough he will be joining her to live in “America’s Wang”. Before he goes, we have the pleasure of a house guest for a few weeks. Now he really is a […]

Samantha loves Amber. She once even mentioned that when she gets married (hint, hint), her preference would be for a ring of amber rather then the traditional diamond. To her – amber is stylish, unique, and most importantly blood free. Maybe that is why I was so appalled to run across this conversation on a […]

Stuck in some smoky pub watching the “big game”. Good food, good suds, good friends… Guess I shouldn’t complain…

The quick way… I will give you some hints: hedge clippers a saw and a time-lapse camera

After writing about the last batch, a reader named darci wrote to me: I was reading the simple dollar post about homemade bread, read your comment, followed your link and read your post about your bread. Was wondering if you tried the 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat loaf? You should post if so :) Unfortunately, I […]

While hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2005, we came across a strange road sign. It was posted on a gate which was blocking the entrance to a small back road. The sign read: “STATE PROPERTY – ANY PERSON REMOVING OR MOLESTING SAME WILL BE PROSECUTED” Today, I ended up the California Department of Transportation […]

I learned a lot of lessons this year. For example: In the final minutes of ’07, I learned that the ‘Irish car bomb‘ is not the drink for me. And during these first few of ’08, I am learning just how hard it is to type on an iPhone after a roaring new years eve. […]

Merry Channuka – Sam got me an iPhone! This is the first of hopfully many entries from the new device. So far I am finding the on screen keyboard just a little hard to use, but not much. It is about the same size as the qwerty on my zuarus, but the lack of tactile […]