I know I've been miserable at keeping this thing updated. I'm tryin' to get better, really ( Read more... )

We spent the past weekend in Big Bay, a town not too far from here, attending an Ice Fishing Derby at the invitation of my brother, who I’ll call Rat, and his wife, Creampuff. My nephew, age 17, was fishing in the derby, and his parents wanted to show their support. When they called to invite us, my brother billed the weekend as “more like a ( Read more... )

Saturday morning’s paper had an unexpected surprise in it; an advertisement for a real live honest-to-goodness gen-u-wine Software Developer position. “Holy shit!” I said to myself, “What’s this doing in here ( Read more... )

One of the members of a writer’s board that I frequent just had several stories accepted to various publications - some online, some in print. That came as a huge surprise to me, as I’ve read some of the stories and, although they were interesting and amusing, I thought the writing style was pedantic and staggered, and they tended to be preachy. ( Read more... )

It’s 9:45, and I’m staring at the computer, wondering what the fuck I should be doing ( Read more... )

It’s a gray Monday morning, and my wake-up call was the Pileated throwing himself (or herself? How do you tell?) at the suet box on my office window. He’s far too big for the box - even if he were able to get his feet on it, I don’t think he’d be able to contort in a way that allowed him to get at the suet. Now I’m wondering what kind of feeder I ( Read more... )

I woke up this morning to sunlight streaming in the windows, signifying that February is just about here. The cloud cover that settles in around November and lasts through January is heading out, and February, with its freezing cold and bright air is settling in. Clear skies are the norm, and the sun shining down onto the snow and ice creates a ( Read more... )

There's a Pileated Woodpecker on the tree outside my window as I type this. It's absolutely huge compared to the other birds, and it's big red up-do makes it look like some sort of avian Punk rocker. This is the second time we've seen it around in a week, making me think that it's attracted to our feeders. I keep hoping it will make a play for the ( Read more... )

By popular demand... pics of the Ice Caves can be found here.

Last night before going to bed, I read an article in the latest Smithsonian magazine about the current terrorist actions in Uganda. It seems that the terrorists target children, of all things. It's so common for children to be kidnapped that many children walk miles from their homes every night to stay in squalid refugee camps. The conditions are ( Read more... )