Bunny Pattern
Cute little bunnies! I won this in a blog contest at Kathryn Ivy
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Crochet Socks
Crochet Socks
Tra-la-la... I finished another pair of socks. These will be mailed soon.
Meanwhile... my sockapalooza socks should be here soon! I'm excited!
I'm also waiting to hear what my pal thinks of her socks... she should be getting them any day now too. :)
Friday, August 10, 2007
Storm
Last night we had a wild and crazy storm! It was the hail that woke me up... definitely marble sized, and some looked a half inch or more in diameter! (I didn't venture out to measure... I'm not that crazy!) The wind was intense, and whipped the hail against the windows. I was sure the glass would break, but it didn't. The rain was so heavy, it was like the house was going through a car wash. Oh, and there was lightning too, but you couldn't hear the thunder over the rain and hail. Dad has a rain gauge, and he said we got an inch / 25 mm during the 15 minutes or so that it rained.
About half way through the storm we lost power, and didn't get it back until just before 5 am. (The storm started at 1:30 am.) I heard it come on because I was sleeping in the living room again, and mom's printer makes noise when it comes on. All the lights from the clocks, etc, plus the electronic photo frame probably helped wake me up too. (The photo frame automatically turns on if there's been a power outage... silly thing!) The printer kept talking to itself for a while, so I retreated back down to the basement, which was finally cool enough to sleep in.
Between being awakened by the storm, and then again by the power coming on, I was a bit reluctant to get up this morning. (I also have a headache that isn't sure if it's there or not. Occasionally it flashes some pain, and then goes away again.)
On my way to the bus I surveyed the damage. It looks like we won't have tomatoes this year:
The current ones are damaged badly enough that they'll probably rot on the vine if we leave them, and the itty bitty ones won't be ripe before the frost comes. (I didn't check all the tomatoes, but I assume they were also hit.) I'll probably remove all the damaged ones in the hopes of speeding up the babies. (For some reason, we seem to have big tomatoes and itty bitty tomatoes, with very little in between.)
The ground was littered with shredded leaves:
even though the nearest trees of that type were quite far away:
Thankfully this isn't my fence!
(You'll probably have to click through to the big version to spot the tall fence flat on the ground.)
Dad took this photo on his street:
After the storm passed there were lots of sirens - the next one would start *before* the previous one passed out of hearing! They weren't all in the same place, though... where we're situated, we can hear them from several major streets. I could still hear a large number of sirens this morning when I got up.
About half way through the storm we lost power, and didn't get it back until just before 5 am. (The storm started at 1:30 am.) I heard it come on because I was sleeping in the living room again, and mom's printer makes noise when it comes on. All the lights from the clocks, etc, plus the electronic photo frame probably helped wake me up too. (The photo frame automatically turns on if there's been a power outage... silly thing!) The printer kept talking to itself for a while, so I retreated back down to the basement, which was finally cool enough to sleep in.
Between being awakened by the storm, and then again by the power coming on, I was a bit reluctant to get up this morning. (I also have a headache that isn't sure if it's there or not. Occasionally it flashes some pain, and then goes away again.)
On my way to the bus I surveyed the damage. It looks like we won't have tomatoes this year:
The current ones are damaged badly enough that they'll probably rot on the vine if we leave them, and the itty bitty ones won't be ripe before the frost comes. (I didn't check all the tomatoes, but I assume they were also hit.) I'll probably remove all the damaged ones in the hopes of speeding up the babies. (For some reason, we seem to have big tomatoes and itty bitty tomatoes, with very little in between.)
The ground was littered with shredded leaves:
even though the nearest trees of that type were quite far away:
Thankfully this isn't my fence!
(You'll probably have to click through to the big version to spot the tall fence flat on the ground.)
Dad took this photo on his street:
After the storm passed there were lots of sirens - the next one would start *before* the previous one passed out of hearing! They weren't all in the same place, though... where we're situated, we can hear them from several major streets. I could still hear a large number of sirens this morning when I got up.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Miscellany
Ow. I've had a low-grade headache all day. My eyes were a wee bit funky in the morning too. I had a nap this morning... I'm not sure if I would have had one if I were at school, but I'm working from home today. (H is away from the office today.) Coming home yesterday I talked to a friend who was in town, and she also had a headache. The weather was changeable yesterday, so perhaps that's why I had a bad headache. I'm going to give this med a bit more of a trial before writing it off.
(This paragraph contains dissertation gobble-de-gook.) Today I've been thinking about the meaning of the rigidity matrix, and am getting a bit better understanding of it. It's a bizarre thing. I've figured out how translations and rotations look as velocity vectors, and that distance-preserving edge motions can be broken down into a rotation about the center of the edge (or one of the endpoints, it doesn't matter) plus a translation. Non-trivial motions are then simply the ones where two or more edges have motions that can't be broken down to a translation plus a rotation around a common point. I don't think any of this will actually end up in my dissertation, but it's nice having a better understanding. (End of dissertation gobble-de-gook.)
I've also gotten around to answering a few outstanding e-mails. I have more to deal with, though. *blush* I'm bad about e-mails... if I don't answer them immediately, I almost never do. Bad me.
I signed out "The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning". That sucker is *big*. It's a flippin' textbook! Despite being an academic, I have a deep-seated dislike of reading textbooks. I have read the first chapter of Alden, and it is interesting. I just have to overcome my dislike every time I pick it up. I'd like to take it up to the lake with me, but it's due back the day we're coming back... and I *don't* want a late fee. (I hate library fees with a fiery passion.) I can renew it online as long as there's no requests on it... I'm going to do so before I leave, I'm just not sure when. The longer I wait, the longer I get to keep it for (we only get one online renew before having to take it back in), but the higher the likelihood someone will place a request. Hm. I guess I'll go renew it now, and that way I will definitely get to take it to the lake, and will have two days after I return in order to return the book. But I have a doctor appointment on one of those days, so that would only give me one day to return it, and no leeway if I'm forgetful. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to renew the book.
(This paragraph contains dissertation gobble-de-gook.) Today I've been thinking about the meaning of the rigidity matrix, and am getting a bit better understanding of it. It's a bizarre thing. I've figured out how translations and rotations look as velocity vectors, and that distance-preserving edge motions can be broken down into a rotation about the center of the edge (or one of the endpoints, it doesn't matter) plus a translation. Non-trivial motions are then simply the ones where two or more edges have motions that can't be broken down to a translation plus a rotation around a common point. I don't think any of this will actually end up in my dissertation, but it's nice having a better understanding. (End of dissertation gobble-de-gook.)
I've also gotten around to answering a few outstanding e-mails. I have more to deal with, though. *blush* I'm bad about e-mails... if I don't answer them immediately, I almost never do. Bad me.
I signed out "The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning". That sucker is *big*. It's a flippin' textbook! Despite being an academic, I have a deep-seated dislike of reading textbooks. I have read the first chapter of Alden, and it is interesting. I just have to overcome my dislike every time I pick it up. I'd like to take it up to the lake with me, but it's due back the day we're coming back... and I *don't* want a late fee. (I hate library fees with a fiery passion.) I can renew it online as long as there's no requests on it... I'm going to do so before I leave, I'm just not sure when. The longer I wait, the longer I get to keep it for (we only get one online renew before having to take it back in), but the higher the likelihood someone will place a request. Hm. I guess I'll go renew it now, and that way I will definitely get to take it to the lake, and will have two days after I return in order to return the book. But I have a doctor appointment on one of those days, so that would only give me one day to return it, and no leeway if I'm forgetful. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to renew the book.
Found on Flickr
Flopsy Bunny :)
Awwww! (I needed some extra cute today, so surfed around on Flickr. I thought I'd share.)
Overrun With Zucchini?
Here's a recipe from H:
Carrot and Zucchini Chocolate CakeMmmmm! Disguise zucchini as chocolate cupcakes, and even I eat it! (I've taste tested this recipe, and it passes with flying colours!)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each nutmeg, allspice, and salt
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (very fine)
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (very fine)
1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate baking chips (I used 1 cup)
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
powdered sugar
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
Stir in carrots, zucchini, and chocolate chips.
In a small bowl, beat oil to mix with eggs; add to dry mixture and stir to moisten well.
Spread batter in an oiled 9 by 13 baking dish.
Bake at 325 F until toothpick comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.
Cool on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cut into squares.
Yield: 12 servings.
Notes:
1 large zucchini = 4 cups finely shredded zucchini
1 1/3 recipe = 36 large muffins (325 F for 20 minutes for 2 pans of muffins)
1 recipe = 30 large muffins
I use only zucchini in this recipe --- that is, I substitute zucchini for the carrot and end up using 3 cups of shredded zucchini. And I freeze shredded zucchini in one cup blobs, so I can easily make this recipe at any time of the year.
Found on Flickr
Mr. Bunny Blue Eyes the Grain Pillow
Adorable! And useful to... Mr Bunny Blue Eyes is one of those grain-filled hot/cold packs! He's washable too... allergic me loves that feature. :) Could it be he's the perfect guy? I bet he doesn't leave the toilet seat up either. ;)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Contest Alert
Another contest, this one at Sheri's blog. Guess the number of skeins The Loopy Ewe had in-house on August 1.
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