Sunday, July 31, 2016

Hay Bales, Battery Cables, and Weed Whackers...

So I scored a free round of mulch-quality hay Jim Hunter was giving away...

And when I got home I went to unload it and the tractor wouldn't start :/

I was able to engineer a temporary repair, but since she is under warranty I sent the tractor to the dealer to have the cable properly replaced. There was a bad batch of batteries, so I'll use some sealant on the terminal (and dielectric grease) to keep this from re-occuring.


I also splurged on a walk-behind string trimmer which is a lot faster than the one I carry. Still haven't caught up because with my sprained foot I still need to get back up to speed & stamina.

Veggies for Anytimers...and Fish Chowder for me!

Foil wrapped veggies on the grille for the Kivela Anytimers Party...my garden isn't doing well this year between it being dry and my I had a sprained foot so for a month I just couldn't keep up:
Then off to the Putnam Farmer's Market:







The Party:
Most of it went, took home about 1/10th...so it was time to buy some Cod and make Fish Chowder! Put the cod, salt pork, and fish stock in the crock pot for three hours, then put the leftovers in for the last hour:

Monday, July 18, 2016

Socket-to-me...

On one of the internet forums I frequent someone asked, earlier this year, how you organize your sockets and this was my answer:




Impossible Dalmatians...

One can dream, can't one?

I will never have my dog act this together :D

(Both collected off the Internet recently)

One of them is not impressed with the Roomba zooming about. I can't imagine how often you have to empty a Roomba in a roomful of Dalmatians, every 45 seconds or so I'm guessing.

But I guess there are ways to tire them out. Maybe.

A visit to Salem...

As I'm still on "light duty" mostly recovered from a sprained right foot, sprained right wrist, and a previously pulled ligament in my left foot, I wanted something easy to do on Saturday without all the twisting and turning of working in the yard -- hey it would be a good day to go to Salem a scratch one off my summer bucket list of historical houses!

Initially I wanted to see the Hawaiin canoe Hōkūleʻa but it had left at 7am that morning, still I figured I could see the House of Seven Gables and the Peabody Essex Museum.

Oh Route 128...last 20 miles took me an excruciating hour

Gardens at the House of Seven Gables

No interior photographs allowed :( ... So a "Gable" means the ridge is at the same height as the peak of the main roof -- if it doesn't reach it then it would be considered a "Dormer" instead. I did not know that!



The sea wall here was built in the 1700s!
An American Elm on the campus, I haven't seen many of these in my life.

They have the house Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in on their campus too, I presume the quotes on the walls are from him.

Well back to downtown to go to the Peabody Essex Museum...coming around a corner and seeing an blue onion-domed church among all the old New England buildings amused me greatly!

Holy Cow...this place is much bigger than I was expecting!
I knew they had a good reputation, looking up later they're currently considered a Top 20 art museum in the U.S. in terms of square footage and endowment -- and after the current round of improvements is done around 2019 they expect to be in the Top 10.



The Seven Deadly Sins by Russell Biles...the photo probably doesn't do justice to the wonderful colors:

East India Hall, the original permanent home of the collections that would eventually become today's PEM. Built in 1825, I don't think I've been in space of similar size from the early 19th century.


The hand-blown glass windows are just...gorgeous. I love how the light is bent through the glass.

The museum collection began with items collected by members of the "East India Society" -- formed in 1799 by men of Salem who had gone around either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn as Master of a ship.

This ship is made of silver!
I know Japan is the land of Godzilla, just how big does the flowers have to be to fit in this vase? (Which was exhibited at the Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893)


I spent a couple hours here, and could've easily spent a couple more but by this time my feet were starting to ache and it was time to trudge home.