ErkkilaDotOrg

Congrats Scott and Jen on the new home. I’m glad our part of their move is done. I’m also chuckling that your part is just starting h0 h0 h0.

Rewind about 6 years. We had this loaf of whole grain bread that got past date (as will happen) yet remained curiously mold free. Just for fun, Paul wondered how long it would take before signs of decay/corruption would take place. So it ended up on top of a cabinet. A year goes by. It simply looked a bit shruken. Mummified, if you will. Two years. Occasionally we noted that it was still not in bad shape, and affectionately dubbed it ‘the experiment’. It occupied an honored position atop the fridge cabinet.

On another note, in the past year or two we noticed that occasionally, we had this problem with certain food items in one of the cabinets–even in bags still sealed from the store, if it was grain or nuts or rice, and we had it long, it would seem to grow webs and small worms in the bag (longer than that, and it was full of small moths). Ick. At this point we’d throw out just about everything in the cabinets unless it was in a thick, sealed plastic bin.

The other day, Paul made this horrifying observation: 3 of those little worms CRAWLING ACROSS THE KITCHEN CEILING. This is a job for shop vac…wait a few hours, a few more. Ugh. Emptied the cabinets again. I thought maybe the damn moths had laid eggs in the recessed lights or something.

My mom, being generally more willing to climb on top of the fridge than I am, today (during preparations for Thanksgiving dinner), found out that, plastic boring buggers that they are, those moths had invaded ‘the experiment’, which was now covered with little hatching cocoons. The good news is that we vacuumed up all the remaining worms and can rest secure knowing they’re not living in the ceiling/floor. Sadly, ‘the experiment’ is no more. While we are generally interested in science, forensic entomology is not something we want to mess with in the house.

There is nothing like snow to bring on the holidays. Enjoy winter pictures from our Eastern Property, house, Western Property, Center Property, and Sobe galleries.

In case you live under a rock (i do…) SquidBillies was awsome last night :).

Early: allow me to explain the contamination process
Early: pine cones go in here
Early: party liquors comes out here
Early: and proceed to here
Early: fights begin
Early: finger prints are took
Early: days is lost
Early: bail is made
Early: court dates are ignored
Early: cycle is repeated

The last 2 episodes before this one were getting a bit far out there, but this one has firmly roped me back in. Never to be freed.

I went to join an Italian Greyhound forum the other day, set up an account, and edited my signature to include a couple of links: one to this page, and one to Icky’s gallery. Well, yesterday we got back a private message saying my signature had been edited to remove both links. Apparently the first doesn’t constitute ‘family content’ because of ‘implied profanity’–apparently ‘WTF’ and ‘Bitch and Moan’ offend some peoples’ delicate sensibilities. That, I can understand–after all, we do want to make the internet safe for all 5 year olds, don’t we (seriously, if they don’t want to link to that, I can understand). However, the reason they gave for removing Icky’s link is that on that page is a link to Icky’s breeder, Dierking’s. Now, I could understand their not wanting a commercial link (she does sell puppies) on *their* forum, but we’re talking about a link to my own dog’s pictures, with the link mentioned incidentally as the place from which he was obtained.

So, it’s either edit my page because they don’t want anyone seeing a link to Dierkings (not on their own page, mind you, but on *mine*), or don’t post links to my dog’s pictures.

Guess not, guys. Regrettably, I won’t be participating in that forum. *So* sorry, I just don’t feel guilty about purchasing a dog from them. Especially given the dearth of IG rescues in western New York (at least based on the last few months of Petfinder listings), and the reluctance of those further afield to adopt outside their area.

Ericas uncle dropped off a new toy today. Not much chance i’ll get nostalgic for bending over to segment logs for splitting =).

Been doing quite a bit of work on the eastern pine bits. Looking pretty good now, and about 80% done or so. Should hopefully finish up the first go before winter. Misc before/after/during/WTF? screenshots and movies over here

Another day, another weather front. Check out the same picture in color.

Took a walk on the new canal trail today, starting at Swift’s Landing. We hadn’t realized it ends there, so you have to go towards Newark. That explains all the bicyclists riding up North Creek lately.

Previous day, Scott and Jenna dropped by for a taco lunch and walk around the north trail. A splendid time was had by all (I hope). At any rate, we all got a good long walk out of it, and when we got back they introduced us to Arj and Poopy, among other things. Turns out also that Scott (who I or Paul or both have worked with for years) once worked at the same company as Paul’s roommate from college (Jay). Weird. Guess there aren’t that many software people or companies in Rochester after all.

Heck, while you’re at it, check out everything at Squetch.

We’ll miss Alan Greenspan around here.