The Hat..

I have no idea, but apparently its on cartoon network. Like the sound of it!!!

I Don't Get It

This is kind of a post that I felt Mad Max would have blogged about if he had seen it. We went to the nature center again today. It was a really nice day for it, bright and clear and not too hot outside. There is a park and picnic area in the same parking lot. While Naomi was going to the restroom, I noticed a car with its tail light blinking. I could only see one, so I wondered if someone had turned their hazard lights on for some unknown reason or what. I got closer and saw that it was just the left turn signal. Strange. Maybe they had it on turning into the lot and it didn't cancel, and now they had returned and were getting ready to leave??? I got closer and discovered that this guy was in there, reclined, with a kid on his lap. The kid was playing with the controls and stuff, turning the wheel back and forth and doing the signals. I wondered what is the point of going to a park (especially one where you have to pay $6 to park) and not getting out of your car??? "Oh, it's too hot out there, I'd rather stay in here and burn my $3 a gallon gas and run my air conditioner"??? Maybe they are just waiting for someone in the restrooms or to finish packing up their picnic or something??? I slyly took a picture anyway. I might have given them the benefit of the doubt, but when we came out and were leaving more than an hour and a half later, they were still in the running car!!! I took a picture as we drove by. You just know that they are the kind of person who had to have the convertible model, but NEVER drives with the top down!!!

Final Pictures

Here's the final pictures from my vacation. Family pictures.The first born's latest haircut. I love the way it looks on him!!!



Seven pine cones in a wheelbarrow. He counted them.





This train was at the restaurant we went to on my birthday. Place is called "The Loose Caboose" and the train goes around the edge of the ceiling.











My nephew bumped his head on the rear view mirror of this truck, and told him to pose like he'd just done it. This is his pose, but interestingly you can see my boy doing the pose in the reflection on the back of the mirror!!!

:)

"its like i'll be cleanin your gun for ya"


Damn, I SOFA KING LOVE that!!!

Mark it Down

Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you gotta do....

Mrs. Qunizy

And we love that about Mrs. Qunizy.

Graphic Warning

believe it.

I AM THE SOFA KING!!!

Found a nice used couch over the weekend. Couldn't pass it up, I've been wanting to get rid of the saggy old love seat and get something bigger. It was down in the South Bay area near where my parents live, so I borrowed my dad's truck and loaded it in the back. Had the whole family with me, so I couldn't drive it home that night. After work yesterday I went over and traded my car for his truck and hauled it home. Of course, that meant I had to trade back today. Makes for some long days!!!

I really like this couch!!! It is supremely comfortable and fits our living room nicely (even though it does look like a grandma couch). In the picture I'm holding my wireless mouse and taking a pic with my webcam. Seems to have a little fish eye effect to it. I'd never noticed that before. Makes it look like this one sags in the middle, too!!! Only thing, I may need to repaint my file cabinet now!!!

The Animals

This shot of the hummingbird is my prizewinner of this set, I think. Those guys move so quick that it's hard to get a decent shot!!!

This butterfly has be the first runner up, then!!! Something happened to it's lower left wing, see that??? A fallen butterfly with a broken wing. It seemed none the worse for the encounter.







This chickadee (along with the hummingbird and hawk) were taken from a forest service fire watchtower. Very cool!!! The would fly right up close to you.


And another swallowtail butterfly
and a bumble bee.

ÃÝË's BACK!!!

It's true, I'm back from my wanderings. What a great vacation!!!









The weather was nice the whole time, not to hot, not too cold. Only problem was it was too short, but aren't they all???




266 pictures altogether. Here's a few of the better scenic shots. I'll follow up with a few animal shots and family shots.

Well, I'm Standing Next To A Mountain

Dear Blogfriends and Blogfamily,

I'm going to be vacationing in the mountains to the northeast of my home base and taking a little break from blogging this week. I'll definitely be back with more Random Ravings of ÃÝË very soon. Until then, come on in, kick off your shoes, stay awhile, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and read (or re-read) my posts and the comments. Don't forget to check out the archives!!!

WTF?

WTF is up with blogger??? I've been trying for the past couple of days to make a new post, but its not letting me upload pictures!!! Well, it lets me, but they don't show up. My prospective posts are image driven. Oh well, must be a sign that I need to do something else with my life.

Number of Power

I'm somewhat numerically inclined. Comes with the job, I suppose. Never especially cared for math when I was in school, but I did OK and managed. I see numbers that come up in the course of everyday life and oftentimes associate them with things. For example, if I see the number 288, I'll think to myself "That's too gross!!!" LOL, I amuse myself. A lot of times I'll see a number like 289 or 327 or 440 and think "a number of power", because they correspond to popular engine displacements. My last post corresponds with the displacement of my first car, and also one of my current cars (which is a near match to my first car). Although not especially powerful, it has good torque and is easy to work on and quite dependable. Largest inline six that Ford ever put in a passenger car.

This tool I'm making at work for an industrial application is comprised of 13 columns by 17 rows, netting 221 per tray. The tool will form two at a time, for a total of 442 cavities. 90,000 bonus points to the first person who can tell my why that is a number of power and what it corresponds to without using a search engine!!!

I had ordered the material last week to make this tool, and it was Wednsday before they finally paid the supplier so we could get more aluminum from them. Fiscal mismanagement, I tell ya!!! On Monday I wrote all the programs for it, and cut a row of three for practice and to see how it would come out. Not perfect, so I modified my proggie and cut three more, then modified my offset and cut another three!!! That's the 9-cavity one here. I even cut the outside like the 221 version will be.

I wrote the program to cut a row of 13 at a time, then you modify the fixture offset to move to the next row, then cut that. Takes about 25 minutes per row. There were four left to cut when I wrapped up yesterday, and I'm taking vacation next week!!! I showed Raffi how to do it before I left, so he can finish it off. Also have another customer who was wanting parts yesterday, and the salesman was asking about it. Duh, I wasted almost a week waiting for material!!! Fine time to make it a priority. I said it before and I'll say it again, lack of planning on your part does not justify an emergency on my part. I had that one all programmed, too. I'm so far ahead of the curve that I'm onto the straightaway!!! I showed Raffi where all that is, too, he can deal with it. Now I'm the programmer and he's my set up man and operator!!!

Here's the danger tape out the side door I spoke of. I like the way that picture came out framed.

Here's a better aerial shot of my house than Eye got. Google Earth kicks ass!!! Its an older picture, at least a couple years. I can see my Camaro in the street and my Falcon in the driveway. A moment of silence for the Camaro.

Another shot of one of the feral cats. See the tip of his right ear (right side facing her, I mean)??? Sammy took the "main three" and had them fixed. I did not know this, but animal control will fix and release feral cats, but they clip their ears to signify that this has been done. The little black ones are newcomers and not yet altered, but they are way spooky so it may be hard to get them done. Lilly was right in referring to a group of cats as a clutter. A group of cats is called a clutter, a baby cat is called kitten, a male cat is called a tom. For another 90,000 bonus points, and once again without using a search engine, what is a female cat called???

One of my vector control ordinances blew off the beam, but look what the heat and fumes did to the rubber band!!!

I also finally updated my wallpaper page this morning for the first time in ages. A picture I took yesterday.

Happy 250th!!!

Hello, and welcome to the 250th edition of my blog!!! I was going to do this last night but blogger wouldn't take my pictures!!!
Worked out OK that I didn't, though. I have some news about those pigeons that had taken up residence in the shop. Over the weekend I picked up some rubber band launched kinda missile toys at the 99 cents only store, three for a dollar. Yesterday I forgot my camera, and didn't come real close to hitting anything anyway. Today I remembered my camera, and managed to shoot a little, not too great video!!! However, in one of the attempts, we lost one of the vector control ordinances!!! Got stuck up on an I-beam, see??? Pigeons get spooked pretty easy, it turns out. For the later half of the day, didn't hardly see 'em!!! Don't know if they're up on the suspended ceiling over the office or not, but so long as they're not crapping on stuff I'm fine with that!!!


I took these pictures last Thursday of the feral cats and the yard next to my work. There are sliding doors on the side, and a semi-dock platform out there. The boats and boat molds have been there for the last six years, I've never seen a thing done with them.



However, the dock or deck or whatever it is off the side of our shop has gotten rather dilapidated!!! I know there were some people working there on Thursday when I was taking these pictures. Came in on Monday, and they have "danger" tape all around it!!! Cause and effect, I think!!!

The Low Cost of Ink

I took the family to Hurricane Harbor water park today. It was pretty fun. One of the requisite things to do there is to get an airbrush tattoo.



Naturally, I couldn't really take my camera there and enjoy the park, so I took these when I got home.


Might just make this one permanent!!!