This guy does some amazing work. He uses modeling materials meant for building model railroad dioramas, and build amazing little worlds under glass. He has an keen ability to "capture a moment" - even knowing these things are just plastic and foam, some of them seem almost alive.
I don't know if any of you have been following all of the data coming from Mars these days, but they are finding lots of interesting new things. The MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) used radar to find something pretty interesting - huge glaciers under the surface. It looks like each of these glaciers might cover an area larger than a city, and be almost a kilometer thick. This discovery could have serious effect on the planning of a future mission to Mars, and could even serve as a drinking water reservoir for a future Martian settlement.
I'm well aware that few (or possibly even none) of you will care about this. If you fall into that mammoth category, feel free to skip this post. But for the few who do care, here is my list, with the books listed in order of increasing wonderfulness. Also note that I've leveraged a self-imposed rule on myself to not include more than one book from any one author. Otherwise I would have to include all three Lord of the Rings books, as well as a slew more from Orson Scott Card - which would make for a boring list.
Sean and I made this late last summer. We picked the peaches ourselves, and picked up the peppers from a local grower. It's delicious, but I can't figure out what to put it on. Anyone got any ideas?
Over the last couple of weekends, I've made batches of both strawberry and raspberry jam. Both are certified delicious! I think I will be making another batch of each so that we'll have some to give away at Christmas. Sean helped me with both batches. He loves to help me cook, and he gets so proud when Lori makes him a sandwich with the jam he made. We're planning to make some blueberry jam over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I hope it goes well this time. We tried blueberry jam a couple of weeks ago, but overcooked it. Once it had cooled in the jars, it was as hard as a rock.
I think I may be developing superpowers. As far as I know, I haven't been exposed to radiation, mutagens, spider-bites, or extraterrestrials. But how can I be sure? I wouldn't want to accidentally crush anything with my super-strength. A few weeks ago while demolishing the old porch, I bent my hammer - the hammer I have owned and used for probably 5-6 years now with no problems - nearly in half. A week or two before that, I bent a spaded shovel in half while trying to dig up a horrible-looking (and foul-smelling) bush next to our porch. I wonder if I can punch through concrete walls? Hang on a sec...
Ouch.
Sean had his first school picture taken a month or so ago. Now, you've all seen the pictures we've taken of him. It is impossible to get that boy to sit still for more than three seconds at a time. Frankly, Lori and I weren't expecting much from these school pics. So you can imagine our surprise when we opened them up and saw the photo you see here. We are still trying to figure out what the photographer must have done to get Sean to cooperate. My money is on drugs, but Lori is convinced it must have been a bribe.
"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes."
- Douglas Adams
In the evenings over the last couple of weeks, I have been doing some research online into how to go about starting a garden. Next year, I would like to start a garden somewhere in our yard with the kids. The goal here is threefold. First, I'll learn something new and have fun doing it. Second, the kids will (hopefully) have fun helping, and (again, hopefully) learn how hard work can pay off in the end. And third (and potentially most importantly), we can save some money on our grocery bills. I'd also love to grow enough to can some of our harvest, so we can enjoy it through the winter. And making some homemade salsa from ingredients that all came from our own garden would be pretty cool, too.