Bass from Redd’s Pond
After several outings of only catching blue gills, we finally bagged a bass at Redd’s Pond on a white spinner.
Sourdough Days
We birthed a sourdough starter named Maria in March as a Covid-19, stay-at-home activity. We’re using the following basic recipe/technique: Starter is 1 part filtered water to 2 parts flour, fed every day. To make two small loaves at a time we feed Maria, wait a couple hours or more, drop about 100 grams of …
Workout Days 1 and 2 – February Cycle
3 sets of each unless otherwise noted and every two entries are paired to allow switching between exercises (hex bar deadlifts alternate sets with split leg rope side pulls, etc.): Day 1 Hex Bar Deadlifts Split Leg rope side pulls with cable machine Floor bench press with Swiss bar Goblet split squats with 3 sec …
Some things to look into in 2020
Measuring glucose levels, inflammation markers, and heart rate variability. Ben Greenfield ideas: regular, at least low level exercise low carb, mediterranean diet prob best for most people daily exposure to sunlight (justification is along the lines of a model of batteries and/or photosynthesis barefoot? exposure to heat… sweating is incredibly healthy… hard to raise body …
Replacing FiOS Quantum Router with Ubiquiti
Verizon’s ONT was serving over coax as the house was wired with coax. Now that we use YouTube TV rather than traditional cable, we don’t need coax for anything, so rewired the house with cat5e to all floors. This change made it easier to get rid of the rental ($10 per month) Quantum router, since …
Fixing Ubuntu 18.04 and moving to PHP-FPM
Moved vhost farm to Ubuntu 18.04 on Linode and hit some snags after deciding to move to php-fpm instead of mod-php. Adding this to apache.conf instead of to each vhost config seems to work fine: <FilesMatch "\.php$">SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/" </FilesMatch> Add <If "-f %{SCRIPT_FILENAME}"></If> around the FilesMatch line to keep non php from being sent to unix …
Le Petit Chien Triste
Abandoned by her owners, a tiny dog faces a dangerous new life dominated by the packed gravel dust of existential loneliness.
Toykle Two!
I rescued a snapping turtle in 6th grade. Things didn’t go so well. I put it in a large cardboard box with a bunch of sand, a buried bowl with water for swimming, and I fed it Italian cold cuts. I was surprised at how little the turtle moved, but hey… it was turtle… and everyone …
Amazon thinks I should eat bugs
We DO buy quite a bit from Amazon, so I understand it might be difficult to determine our consumer pattern, but how did it come to this? Hello, Andrew… Amazon has some recommendations for you: Edible Insects Sampler Pack of 3- Crickets- Bacon & Cheese, Larvets- BBQ & Chocolate Dipped Insects Larvets- BBQ Well… I wasn’t …
The most annoying sound in the world kumate
Less than a year ago Jackson discovered Walking with Monsters and Walking with Dinosaurs, two Kenneth Branagh-voiced cgi series chronicling the rise and fall of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures. Score! We witnessed the rise and fall of the croc-like postosuchus, the four flippered liopleurodon, and the comet-chased Tyrannosaurus Rex. Sure, they’re a little bloody …
Great Winter Mistake
We haven’t had the easiest time getting the kids out in the snow. Jackson got snow in his mitten, or down his snow suit, or down his tighty-whiteies when he was tiny, so it was touch and go trying to get the kids to leave the house in the winter, to revel in the arctic variety …
Abby discovers the power (and limitation) of literacy
Abby’s homework early in the year was dominated by mathematics, but lately Bell Elementary has been focusing increasingly on reading and writing. This offers us an opportunity to observe a concrete, practical application of the liberal arts side of public education, as Abby harnesses painstakingly-crafted, threatening notes taped to toys in a well-calculated attempt to exert her …
Demonio Rojo Complicates Elf on the Shelf
Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf, may have the commuting magic necessary to visit the northern fat guy nightly and the extortive powers to keep small people marginally well-behaved for a couple weeks each holiday season, but he’s apparently no match for Demonio Rojo, a washed up Lucha Libre wrestler from Tijuana. Demonio ended up …
Moores versus Trees
Having a cord of firewood delivered last year was just the beginning; this year we’ve really stepped up our assault on New England’s remaining forests. The family that stalks, corners, and saws down its Christmas tree together is the family that stays together! Keeping the anti-arbor sentiment rolling, we even managed to get the giant …
Lucky Seven and Fortuitous Four
Still combining birthday parties while we can get away with it, this year’s birthday extravaganza featured a Rainforest Reptile show at Chez Moore and breakfast at The Driftwood… oh… and lots of Star Wars and Dinosaurs… and a hand-knitted hat from Great Aunt Kris! Most importantly, we’ve finally turned the corner into toys that the …
From AT&T to Cingular to Verizon to T-Mobile to Project Fi
I signed up for my first wireless plan in 2000; only the actual phone number has remained constant. The eternal quest for the cheapest/best/reliablest(sp?) plan has taken me to Google’s Project Fi beta. What’s Project Fi? Google Fi gives you a new type of sim card that allows you to connect to more than one carrier …
Massachusetts Youngster Learns Cruel Life Lesson
When Jackson visited the vintage arcade and skeeball courts of semi-seedy Salem Willows in late summer 2015, he fully expected his hard-whined-for ice cream to require focused defense against parent bites, ants, wharf rats, semi-domesticated sea gulls, and even his sister’s offers to help him finish. Unfortunately, he never suspected his trusted dinosaur shirt as …
Chatham Vacation 2015 has begun!
More Pictures. Things to do next year: Get together with Burnie. Hit a bayside beach. Whale watch out of Provincetown. Fishing. Maybe get out on a boat.