Shop 'til you drop

T and I had accumulated a long list of things that we needed around the house, so today we shopped. He has been want to replace the kitchen floor, so we got some new tiles. I wanted something to tidy up The Studio, and got a wet/dry Swiffer. Winter's coming, and I needed socks. He needed something from Scheels. I needed something from Ulta. It went like this all afternoon.

The only thing we could not find was a piece of heavy canvas. The camper tent needs patched in a couple of spots, and we thought canvas and fabric glue would do the trick. Have you ever been to Joanne's on Saturday afternoon? It's a madhouse, and as far as we could tell, every employee was either at the cutting counter or the cash register, both of which had long lines. Want to ask someone a question without waiting fifteen minutes? Not a chance. We're going to continue considering our options. Mail order? Nylon instead of canvas? Duct tape?

Since it is Saturday, here's a special Saturday song from my favorite group ever.

Last night at Ashton

After being cloudy all day, it cleared off in the late afternoon, so Terry packed up the telescope and we headed off to Ashton Observatory.

At dusk, we saw some deer feeding at the edge of the woods near the observatory. I got as close as I dared without spooking them, but it was just dim enough that I couldn't get a clear photo. I decided to let the motion work FOR me, and switched over to video.



The auto exposure flopped the colors around randomly, but darn it, those are fawns, and they are eating, and they didn't really care that I was watching.

It stayed clear and was long-sleeve cool by the time the sun went down. The moon and the humidity kept Terry from doing any serious observing. Even though it was not an "official" public night, a few campers came over to through the telescopes. One couple had binoculars and had figured out that you could point them at the sky. Terry spent quite a bit of time showing them things, and I gave them some tips on bino and naked eye observing. That's me - the evangelist for cheap observing.

Geese and goslings

The last of the vacation videos from Blackhawk Lake. Sorry for the noise. It was windy.

I could watch geese babies all day long.

How to hypnotize a kitty

Starring Katie!

Pelicans

When we went on vacation last month, there were pelicans hanging out near our campground at Blackhawk Lake. At about :10, a cormorant pops up and mills around for a few seconds, and then dives back under water.

Cat alert for Minnie: There are bird noises.

Early morning drive

We got up early so we could see just how much water there was along I-80/35. The answer: Just about as much as there was in 1993.

Turn down the sound if you watch. T & I mutter incomprehensibly, but mostly it's just road noise.

Finch rumble

The finches who live in the lilacs got a little rowdy this morning.

Back to our regularly scheduled frivolity

Im in ur yard, eatin ur gras.