I’ve spent quite a few hours/years out in our yard working around, but today was the first I’ve ever noticed a tiny green lizard zipping around the foundation of our house. I’ve seen hundreds of little skinks in Florida, but haven’t notice many around our house. At first I though one must have hitched a ride in the car coming back from Florida last week, but then realized (after reading) that they are common in Ohio too … although I don’t recall seeing many. I can’t vouch for the “blue” tail (above photo - not mine), I suspect that the one on our back patio was a younger male common fire-lined skink.
A late in the evening couple of photos to mark Cinco de Mayo. First, the warm winter and spring … and late opening of the pool for us … gave a bit more growth to the pool water than what I find inviting. Yuck. But it has already improved with a little cleaning, pumping and chemical treatment.
And tonight is another “Supermoon” … very beautiful but not quite the size of last year.
I was busy driving to and fro this week and had my usual granola bars and peanuts in the center console. Unbeknownst to me, I picked up a traveler … probably while in New York opening up my father-in-law’s barn for the season. I left the rear hatch open on my Honda Pilot while accessing my tool bag and probably frightened a few critters from their comfortable winter nests? Anyway, he/she or perhaps “they” (we’ll see tomorrow night) found my peanuts.
So I set a trap last night on my driver’s side floor and by morning it was gone??? … although only as far as under my seat. Hmm … poor little chubby fella.
I received a needed lesson in blessings and being thankful today. My sailing friends Mark and Judy Handley have been sharing their daily lives online for many years while cruising around the world. Their circumnavigation ended over a year ago, but Judy continues to document their return to a “somewhat” more normal life. Unfortunately this includes Mark dealing with chemotherapy treatments, a return to work and continuing boat (their home) maintenance. But … along with the challenges come blessings. Their daughter and her family are close … close enough for them to see everyday. Their challenges are viewed through the prism of being grandparents … something Judy documented as “blessings” in her ‘log’ entry and recent photos — below, Mark rests after a chemotherapy session as his newborn grandson sleeps in his arms.
Mark’s not feeling great, the weather is crappy, the work on the deck is not getting done, but one photo changes all of that. This afternoon Mark went with me to pick up Sam and Jonah and then we both spent the afternoon at Heather and Jed’s. Mark slept on the sofa with Oliver and through the lens of my camera I saw just how much we have to be thankful for. Oliver’s hand with such smooth soft skin next to Mark’s hand, rough through years of use, brought tears to my eyes. How lucky we are to be here, close to grandchildren, while Mark is going through these months of chemotherapy. He is smothered in love from Sam, Jonah, and Oliver as his body is fighting this battle, and I’m certain that love will win. Then tonight we had a Skype call with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy. Ziggy was having a late afternoon nap. We watched him sleep through much of the call, but finally he came to life. He looks like he has doubled in size since we were there at Christmas. It is so hard being so far away, and soon it will be doubly hard when Ziggy’s baby sister is born. But we are conjuring up ways to get the whole family together in the fall. So tonight, instead of complaining about those things that are not perfect right now, all I can really do is count my blessings.
My friend Scott (@sbilik) tweeted me this excellent "Volkswagen concept car in China" video this morning. Although I can’t understand the audio, it was well done and something I think many my age thought might be a reality in our lifetime.
Traveling through NE Ohio today, I had thought about driving across route 82 this morning … but hearing the news that anarchist planned to blow up had me rethinking my route (not that there was really any danger — thank you FBI). I’ve often thought, that just as with the “interstate snipers” from a few years ago, it doesn’t take much for “evil-doers” (as President GW Bush would say) to target Americans as they go about their daily lives. Would we change our routines?
After reading a little in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the bridge wasn’t the only target …
FBISuspects (left to right) Connor Stevens, Anthony Hayne, Brandon Baxter, Joshua Stafford and Douglas Wright.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Blowing up the Ohio 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley was apparently not the only terrorist action in mind for members of a loosely organized anarchist group arrested by FBI agents Monday, officials said.
Members of the group actually “placed the devices at the base of concrete pillars … and attempted to detonate them at a remote location” on Monday, but what they thought were bombs were actually “inert devices,” the FBI said in a news conference this morning.
According to an affidavit, various members of the group — three of which had been charged early today and two others were were being charged — had also talked about attacking or detonating explosives at the following:
The Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland
The Justice Center in Cleveland
A Cuyahoga County Homeland Security operation called the Northeast Ohio Regional Fusion Center.
An unidentified Ku Klux Klan location in Ohio
An Interstate 480 bridge known as the Valley View bridge.
Members of the group also talked about putting smoke grenades on the Veterans Memorial Bridge (Detroit-Superior Bridge) in Cleveland as a diversion while they “knocked the bank signs off the tops of the larger buildings in downtown Cleveland” …
Interesting article with perhaps a slightly bias option … but in an article today Bosch projects that by 2015 one in ten new cars sold in the U.S. will be powered by a diesel engine.
… data from CNW Research says that with greater awareness of new clean diesels, and a lower cost premium for diesel fuel against gasoline–unlike 2008, when gasoline soared to $4 but diesel passed $5 in some markets–public receptiveness to choosing diesels is at new highs.
The attractive features are fuel efficiency up to 30 percent higher, and the convenience of a driving range up to 700 miles. For owners who analyze total cost of ownership, diesels can also provide lower lifetime running costs despite their higher initial purchase price and more expensive fuel–due to their higher residual values.
Since my daughter is home this weekend, I did a few items of maintenance on her 2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. After replacing a headlight I thought I’d using a little plastic scratch remover on the yellow and hazy lenses. For $5.99 and a little elbow grease they polished up nicely — so much for the headlight restoration kits. http://www.quadratec.com/products/91083_002.htm
Airlines say they are warehousing hundreds of iPads and other tablet computers and e-readers left behind by travelers. Carriers try to reunite the devices with their owners but are often thwarted by the lack of ID tags, password protection and Apple Inc.’s reluctance to track down owners based on serial numbers. — WSJ
Scott McCarthny’s WSJ “The Middle Seat” column this past week made me wonder what would happen if I lost my iPad or phone? I figured it was well past time to come up with a way to help a good Samaritan to return a lost device.
If you don’t lock your device, it might not be too difficult for someone to sift through your private information and eventually find a way to contact you … but for most of us, password protecting a computer, smartphone or tablet gives us at least “some” sense of data security (perhaps false?) The obvious and easiest answer is to engrave or attach a sticker to the back … or with devices with removable batteries, maybe inside the back cover (as I did with my Palm Pre above).
One of the interesting features on the iPad is that the passcode lock still permits a person without the code to open the Photos app and display the “Camera Roll” by default as it is called by Apple. All your iPad photos are then shown in a slide show, but for a little more privacy, “one” album can be selected. Go through the Settings > Picture Frame > Albums > … then checkmark a particular album. In that album place a photo of your business card or get creative and offer a “Reward if found” photo. My thought was to include my “mug” thinking that someone might recognize me as I’m franticly searching for my lost iPad. Nevertheless, I figured it still my be a good idea to include an address, email address and phone number. (Thought: Unlike tablets, for a phone you might not want to use your cellphone number as the contact number).
(Thought: Unlike tablets, for a phone you might not want to use your cellphone number as the contact number).