You buy a snow shovel and the next morning there is a skiff of snow upon the land. Gary mentions a bit of the same in south Easlakia.  •  Birds on new birdfeeder, too. We really ought to sign with with those eggheads at Cornell's FeederWatch program. Within an hour of putting it up, a female …

There are so many things I have yet to figure out: why I still have no snow shovel, why I didn't set my alarm again. That sort of thing. But I am not sure about the US holiday season - when "the holidays" are. I am wondering about this Thanksgiving thing, the one that seems to show up five weeks …

I am working my way through a rather huge but very interesting book on the history of the chemistry and archaeobiology of beer and brewing published by the Royal Society of Chemists so my mind, more than the usual, is focused on folk who lived with wood and stone and skins. Which Makes for an easy …

The BBC's website has the following text accompanying the photo above:  •  “Tavurvur volcano erupts sending ash and rocks over the already devastated city of Rabaul on New Britain Island in Papua New Guinea. The volcano erupted on Saturday, causing some 2,000 residents to flee as lava flowed from …

You know I have wondered about the whole "bullets" thing. They are not symbols of bullets. They are symbols of bullet holes. Which is often uncomforting. Yet just before Thanksgiving weekend - this is Canada, folks - there is a certain relaxing of that concern...even though we do not kill turkeys …

Why do they make them smaller the more powerful they get? Remember how clunky they looked just a few years ago when they could barely walk. This one is like one of those WWI soldiers bicycling to the front. An apt comparison when you consider how difficult it would be to deal with a few hundred of …

It doesn't seem so big brother-ish somehow when big brother is giving you a hard time to your face - or maybe the part in your hair - rather than telling you what you can't wear though the law:  •  “As the boy picks up the pylon to carry it off, a loud and authoritative voice booms from above …

Is it summer or fall? I have no idea. I put the furnace on last evening as much to deal with the damp from the rain. It worked. It worked without making a clang, a thump or a low grinding noise of any sort.  •  This will likely be the news of the day as reported in the Times of India …

I am glad they are on our side:  •  “Washington and New York are using bluegills - also known as sunfish - to safeguard their public drinking water. A small number of fish are kept in tanks which are constantly filled with water from the municipal supply. The computerised system registers changes …