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ARCHIVES: July 1-7, 2003

Found a Person Photo Blogging Lunches

Continuing on with dull subjects, I found a photoblog of all restaurant meals. Ha ha! Okay, now I am hungry....

Henschelkorp

Photoblogging - My Webcam (sort of)

I am starting this up in earnest tonight. While I intend to put the really good pictures up on this page as well, I am going to try a running photo blog on the Right Now - BamaBlog.com site. Sometimes I will have my "good" camera for pictures to upload later, sometimes my PDA and whatever else I can take pictures with and send instantly. Due to that, many of the photos may not be so clear and almost none of them will be edited, but I hope to add several a day. When I hike or travel and see something interesting, I want to be able to publish immediately - at least my husband can see what I am up to when I am not home.   I think this will be fun. If not, maybe it can join the Dullest Blog in the World as the "Dullest Photos in the World."

Geckos on the Page

Here's a script that causes geckos to run across the page. The only drawback is that it calls to another site so it may delay loading the page. Let me know if you think the page is taking too long to load. (I have so much stuff on it that loads from other sites.) Animagix. If all goes well, you should see lizards on this screen. The first time I ran this, it asked me for a password to access the place -- but I just selected "cancel" and it's been running fine. (I am only going to keep this up for a couple of days, then file it away on the next archived page.)

Which 2004 Presidential Candidate is Right for You?

Found this gem in John Hoke's Blog. Answer several questions on this page and it will tell you which presidential candidates best agree with you. Mine came up George Bush followed by Kerry -- followed by a Libertarian - what a combination! The problem is that I don't know enough about some of these issues to make a judgment. I've got some studying to do.

Mosquitoes, Herons, Turtles and Cattle

I forgot to put on bug repellent yesterday and I was eaten alive. When the outdoor temperature stays below 70 degrees, fewer bugs come out, but let it get 70 or higher and they storm out looking for blood. At least today I remembered it -- I couldn't forget with all the scratching and itching. <sigh>

The green heron was spotted swallowing a fish almost as big as he was. Everyone stopped to watch to see if he would gag or choke or something, but he did fine. A.L. pointed out a turtle that she thought might be dead. He was floating in the water without moving. She said he had been there an hour. With the current in the creek, he must have been swimming to stay there. C.L. thought he might be hooked on a fishing line, but he looked pretty relaxed to me. We'll check later and see if he is still there. We saw plenty of other turtles swimming by. There's a kazillion of them in this creek.

Cattle showed up in the normally empty field by the Bailey Cove/Green Cove bridge. I was startled to see a long horned white steer staring directly at me as I rounded the corner (gotta get that cell phone camera!). Speaking of photo moments, yesterday the great blue heron flew over us with a large fish in his mouth. It was an awesome sight -- you never realize how big a wing span that bird has until he is right over you. It must have been 6 feet - he is all wings!

P.S. Took a quick photo this morning -- and posted it at Now.BamaBlog.com - just Muddy, a large red potato and a tongue.

Testing Out a Photo Blog Program

The idea of this blog is to send instant photos from a cell phone or PDA even when traveling, but it can be sent from a home computer, too. (I want a cell phone with a camera!) This was free and very easy to set up. If I decide to keep it, it means I got a cell phone with a camera. What fun to send pictures from anywhere at any given moment!

Since cell phone cameras are such low quality, the main point of this type of blog is to provide instant updates from wherever a cell phone will work. Here's what I did so far. Most pictures are repeats of the ones below -- until I get my new cell phone.

Now.BamaBlog.com

Walked 11 Miles Today - Whew!

My sister, visiting from Atlanta and who likes to walk as much as I do, came with me again today. Fortunately, the flood gates must have been opened down river since the water levels had dropped enough for us to go all the way. We decided to do the entire Aldridge Creek Greenway as well as the entire Tennessee River Greenway and then go on after that a bit -- plus  I continued home on foot after leaving the greenway. I am SO glad that the sun did not come out. It even sprinkled a little towards the end -- a nice relief. My feet were another matter. They felt fine until I sat down for a few minutes -- then all the pain came in. Aspirin to the rescue.

My friends, C.L. and A.L., with whom I usually walk, bought breakfast, came down to the river, parked their van and chuckled at us walking while they sat back, ate and enjoyed the scenery.

Parent's 50th Anniversary

50 years ago today my dad proposed to my mom. They married a month later on Aug. 7, 1953. They had 7 children, 6 of which could be here today and bring their own families (one other brother has been ill and unable to travel). We had a GREAT time, talking, eating, watching the cousins play, giving gifts, taking photos, telling stories, hugging and crying. Here's a few photos of us at lunch. (We went to Meteor Buffet on 72 East which has a great side room for gatherings like this - and a very large selection of food.)

Dad spent much time by the ice cream bar, scooping out flavors for all the grandkids who ended up carrying around big ice cream cones.

Fireworks Site - Cute

This site is adorable. Click in the window and set off fireworks. Click as many times as you want and it will fill the sky. The graphics are well-done and come with sound effects --> Fireworks.

Daughter & Cat

My two sweet babies ... took this photo a few minutes ago.     Random Walks - Blog I like the appearance of this blog --> RandomWalks. The page appealed to me with the color and how each entry is in a panel of its own with a different picture. (Content is another matter....)     Grand Buffet on University Drive Since it just opened, we went to Grand Buffet on University Drive in the old Corky's building. I was impressed with the nice interior, but that's where it stopped. Our booth table rocked back and forth terribly. You could not cut your food without getting seasick.   The food looked pretty, but tasted sad. My husband could not finish his hot and sour soup, it was that bad. The sweet and sour sauce was runny and had almost no sweet taste. I tried the bacon-wrapped fake crab. For the first time in my life, the fake crab was mushy! I wondered exactly what was in it. I was disappointed at the lack of shrimp dishes, too (shrimp being a favorite food).   I liked the French fries, the noodles (they only had the large size), the pineapple chicken (just plain chunks of chicken with large chunks of pineapple), the cream cheese won tons were typical and they had good hard-packed ice cream choices. But, save your money. The best oriental buffets are still Meteor Buffet on 72 E (if you can get past their stinky fish pond in the entrance) and New China King III on Jordan Lane (if you can find a decent parking space). Offering smaller choices, but with quality are China Wok on South Parkway and Jade Palace on University.   These are just the buffets. Sit down and order places are another world, entirely.

My Brother's New House

My sister and her family came in from Atlanta (we are celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents tomorrow). She likes to walk, too. We decided to do the entire Aldridge Creek Greenway this morning and go along the Tennessee River Greenway, too. That would be about 10 miles including the distance from my house to the start of the greenway.

We got almost to Ditto Landing. Surprisingly, the river was still flooded around there, covering the greenway trail just before we could enter Ditto Landing. It looked terrible - stagnant, trashy and full of mosquitoes plus no way around it. Even the nearby road was inaccessible due to all the poison ivy on the slopes. We had no choice but to turn around early. Still, it was a beautiful morning and I got in about 8 miles.

Movies Today - My Two Cents' Worth

I saw an interview on TechTV discussing Terminator 3 with a NetFlix rep. He made an point about the movie not having as sophisticated a plot as the previous version shpwn in 1991 (was it that long ago? Whew!). This new release has more special effects and action than before -- perhaps this is a trend? Charlie's Angels was the same way -- like a music video. (I later found out that a director of music videos did that movie - and felt smug that I said it looked like such.)

He said something the to the effect that The Hulk dropped rapidly in its second week, suggesting that it was due to a slower plotline. Is this a trend for the gaming playing, music video generation? Less brain, more music and action?

Weblogs.com

See the current blogs -- those that have changed in the previous moments of time. This is the largest list I have seen in one place - around 2,000 sites listed on one page. I like how you can set up your blog to be automatically reported here: Weblogs.com.

Shiiizzzam.com

Good photos and effects here. Check out this self-portrait. She says she has the same camera I do -- I could take lessons from her. Shiiizzzam Self-Portrait.

Trying to Photograph the Sunset

The scavenger hunt requires a photo of a sunset in July. I sat out on the back porch with my camera, looking west (and trying to record a cicada at the same time). The clouds were varied and pretty, but the power lines interfered with every photo. We can't see the sun set from our neighborhood anyway -- a mountain blocks our view. All I got was a new orangish desktop wallpaper with power lines pictured in it. At least I know when the best time for a sunset can be found and I can drive around to find a good spot to take a picture then.

As for the cicada, as soon as I stepped out with a recorder, he got quiet and stayed that way until I left. Argh! I am going to record one eventually and put it up here. Their rhythmic buzzing is soothing -- it reminds me of childhoods spent outside on lazy summer days. Until I can record one of my own, here's what an angry cicada sounds like (sort of like when the cat catches one): Cicada WAV sound.

I made a few changes to this page, putting the weather and moon phases back. I don't think they slowed down the page loading that much. The pet finder is back -- did not know it had been accidentally erased.

Colorful Bug (Photo)

I was out taking photos for the International Photography Scavenger Hunt when I found this Japanese beetle drowning in a container lid. I fished it out and it kindly posed for a picture. (I am saving the photos for the scavenger hunt to show on August 1st like I think everyone else is doing.) They did not have a category for "drowning bugs" so I can show it here. Well, maybe it would fit in the "color" category or the "garden pest" category if they had one. Ha!

Sinbad - New Movie

Grandpa Painted for a Living

Mom says he made a decent living at it, too. He lived to be 91 and stayed in pretty good health the entire time. I remember him well. I am blessed to have a small painting of his in my living room. (Other pictures on the living room wall.)

When I draw freehand, my people look more like stick figures -- so do my trees. My mother, daughter and various aunts, siblings, cousins, etc., are good with art and music. Me, I was best at math, science and doing newsletters. I used to beat my college roommates' boyfriends at chess. Then I met my husband (who had once beat a chess master) and he blew my chess ego into shreds. He's a rocket scientist and computer programmer -- I won't even try to describe his math abilities except to say that he reads math books as a hobby. He does other things very well, but this is a g-rated blog so I won't go into details.

Rainy Day

It rained all day yesterday. Muddy, my youngest cat, was watching the weather through our storm door and started meowing at it - not to go outside but because it looked crazy out there with the wind blowing our trees and rain falling so hard. He spent much of the day giving his opinion on everything. Sometimes he would jump onto the kitchen table and meow at the world in general. Also, I heard sirens going up and down Bailey Cove - no doubt due to accidents in the bad weather, which started the neighborhood dogs howling.

Loving animals, we like most of the neighborhood dogs, especially Laney and Zeus the German shepherd and malamute next door and Skippy, the shitzu on the back side of our fence. The only dogs we do not like are the ones that live next door on the other side  -- the ones with the bull mastiffs who want to tear our throats out and scare us to death. I think those dogs really want to kill us. We've seen them trying to kill each other in the past. (Another neighbor reported it.) Those monsters are scary - and ugly, too. Once my husband was weed-eating the lawn by our  fence and a big bulldog reached over the fence, bit into his shirt and tore it. He told me to sue those people for all their worth if anything should happen to him if those dogs get under or over the fence. These days, the neighbors keep their dogs inside their inner privacy fence most of the time. Fortunately, we do not see the dogs too much. The big dog gets lonely and whines and cries half the day, though.

Cat in the Lap 2

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - Variation

Last week, my husband brought home chicken, rice and potatoes cooked by a wonderful Iranian coworker. She is one great chef! My daughter and I shared it for dinner. Last night I made a return gift -- cookies. (In the background of this picture are fresh-picked cherry tomatoes.) The recipe I used came from my daughter, but I changed it so much that she probably won't want to claim credit anymore. She's not a big fan of coconut.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - Variation

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 & 1/2 c. quick oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 c pecans (optional)

1/4 cup coconut (optional)

Beat sugars, butter, egg and vanilla together until well-mixed. Add flour, soda, baking powder, salt and mix well. Add coconut and oats and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 350 8 -10 minutes. Do not overbake or these will get hard. They usually firm up when cooled. I added an extra 1/4 cup flour to make them rounded instead of flatter. My daughter prefers flat and soft, but I wanted to try round and firmer. After all of this, I think flat and soft would have been better! Oh well.

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