Sunday, January 26, 2003

Ouch If you enjoy defensive spankings, you would have enjoyed tonight's Super Bowl. While the Raiders were never really in the game, they at least made the 4th Quarter interesting. Unfortunately part of the interest was two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Hats off to Tampa Bay, bummer for Oakland. 7:17:50 PM     Comment []

Friday, September 6, 2002

Return of the Basil Mantis It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw the Basil Mantis. After my last harvest, he moved out of the basil. I was a little worried because I hadn't seen him since. Today, I found him in the peppers. He has grown a bit, including a nice pair of wings. Definitely looking good! 1:52:10 PM     Comment []

Friday, August 16, 2002

I am older than my parents By virtue of their 9 year exile in Oklahoma and Texas, my parents are 31 year old Californians. That makes me the elder of the family. Ken moved out of state at 24, then came back for a couple of years. He is in Oregon now and stuck at 26 or 27 and clearly a case of arrested development. Beth, our only native, was behind me by 2 years at the start. She compounded this by spending time in South Carolina, Arizona, and North Carolina. While she is back and maturing again, her 12 year absence puts her at 26. So my parents are 9 years younger and my sibs are 14 years younger. I even have a few years on Michele. No wonder that I feel old. 12:52:55 PM     Comment []

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Pesto The basil is getting bushy, it's harvest time again. The first order of business is to find the basil mantis. He's not part of the pesto. The harvest The recipie I have never met a recipie that I didn't want to modifiy. For pesto, I am starting with a basic pesto recipie from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I don't know how much basil I have, so I'll wing the amounts. Also almonds are replacing pine nuts. This is close: 4 cups fresh basil 5 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 cup shredded Asagio cheese 1 cup raw almonds chopped. 2-3 cloves crushed garlic Blend until smooth. It's a little gooey. You could probably add more olive oil, garlic or cheese. 4:07:44 PM     Comment []

Monday, July 29, 2002

From the Garden The garden in the patio room is starting to produce big time. My pepper plants especially love it there. I currently have an abundance of jalapenos, serranos, and fresno peppers. The red and yellow bells are coming. As a result, I am searching for chile pepper recipes. Out of desperation, I came up with one on my own. It's a roasted jalapeno and ahi sandwich. Grill one ahi steak, fire roast three to four jalapeno peppers (remove skin and seeds), place on a toasted sourdough roll. Add lettuce, tomato, and other condiments if necessary. Enjoy! 8:51:39 PM     Comment []

Sunday, July 14, 2002

At home today, after 405 miles of research yesterday. We are back home and writing today, taking a break from our research for Birding Washington after visiting sites at the northern part of Western Washington yesterday. We didn't see any rare birds during our 405 miles of travels yesterday, but we did get a good look at the Pacific Tree Frog in the photo to the right, as well as tons of mature and immature Bald Eagles. Probably a highlight of the trip was watching nine Kingfisher interacting and hunting along a freshwater marsh area at Birch Bay State Park north of Bellingham. There are sure lots of great things and places to see here in Washington! [Mac Net Journal] We used to have hundreds of these small frogs (Hyla Regilla) in our backyard in Los Altos. One morning I found one in the shower, so picked it up and carried it outside, I went back in to start my shower and found another one in the shower. I was alone in the house, so I think that the gods were playing with me. When Michele and I moved back to Los Altos in 1995, the frogs were gone. I miss their evening choruses. I haven't heard them in San Jose either, even though we are just a couple blocks from Coyote Creek. I'm guessing that the pollution and neighborhood cats have killed them off. 2:22:28 PM     Comment []

Friday, June 21, 2002

Progress I'm making progress on converting the Tektite talk into a movie. I have the complete talk in quicktime. I also have all of the slides scanned in. Now comes the tedious process of creating animations on the slides that match Pop's pointing during the presentation. At this point, I have completed about 6 minutes out of 50. I'm not sure how quickly the rest of the presentation will go. But, I am pleased to be making progress. 3:25:06 PM     Comment []