This random collection of thoughts is brought to you by a large set of unrelated products and services that we strongly recommend you purchase.

First off, congratulations are in order for fellow blogger hwiegand, one of my partners in crime over at the Life Science Tools of the Trade blog, who has apparently a) gotten married, b) embarked on some kind of most excellent-sounding European honeymoon adventure, and c) thereby avoided posting anything on LSTOTT for an entire month.

Like I should be talking.

Fun fact: hwiegand is one of three people I know from over at that place who have the same first name. Which is pretty taxing for me, since I am blatantly unable to remember people's names at the best of times.

In other news, I have gotten back to reading the excellent, Lego-based, multi-threaded webcomic that is The Irregular Webcomic, slightly horrified to find that it's been long enough that I've missed over a hundred strips. All caught up now, fortunately. And an even better development is that the science geekery that is Casey and Andy is now back, after a protracted hiatus. I may never get anything useful done again.

As for the upcoming weekend... well, gardening I suppose; working on a scientific manuscript that is long, long overdue; cleaning up a weekly report; some buffing and polishing of the minutes from another meeting; and maybe getting the car's oil changed. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this rock 'n roll lifestyle, it's killin' me. Killin' me to death, I tells ya.


P.S. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention in last week's post that I also almost-fixed the kitchen faucet. Now it only leaks a bit. I'd call that a qualified success.

Another Holiday Weekend

A Gerbera daisy, last weekend.

It is, today, Victoria Day. Which means little to anyone who isn't currently living, or hasn't lived in the past, in any country that at one time might have been part of the British Empire.

My country, however, qualifies, and we Canucks reap the benefits. Which, this weekend, included:

1. Fireworks, banging and whistling outside, even as I'm typing this. And every other day this weekend, including Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. It seems there's either no consensus as to which is the right day, or a vast surplus of explosive devices around here.
2. Freezing cold weather, just right for the tradition of working like a dog to get all the gardens in order, beds dug out, and flowers planted. Me, I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. And a zip-up fleece. And a lined shell jacket. And a hat. And gloves.
3. Rain, and lots of it, meaning that all the gardening had to be done in a single day (today). I am, as they say, le tired.
4. Lots of chaos in the house, as it was for the most part far too cold and miserable to let the Junior Ricardipi out of doors.

However, it all got done, and as the weekend winds down and I listen to the fusillade outside, I feel as though I actually accomplished something.

I've put the obligatory flower picture from the back yard at the top of this post, so I'll leave you at the end with a few local barns that I snapped during a quick foray into the countryside this afternoon. A worthwhile exercise? Probably not, but it makes me happy nonetheless.


A barn, and a building.


A big fancy one.


And an old, beat-up one with an antenna.

Tarfmar the Raging Deed

Tarfmar the Raging Deed is a gorilla, with legs on his head, a neck that is his entire body, and a long tail that he uses to snare other animals. He is angry because he has yucky stuff in his eyes. He lived between the Cambrian and Ordovician periods.*

I am so confused.



*Some information provided by Junior Ricardipus #1.