yet another test

reaper-juron-03045

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We’re back, and in HD

Well, with HD. We moved into a new house over a year ago, and we opted not to get a cable TV subscription. But the HD antenna I got at the Shack wasn’t pulling in strong signal. Which is sad, because I almost have line of sight to the antennas on top of Mount Mansfield.

HD-antenna-01I decided to build one of the DIY antennas, following the instructions Make magazine has online.

I skipped the stand, and just hung the antenna. I even got to use my new Dremel tool to strip the coating off the coat hangers. So far, it seems to be working much better than the retail one.

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Fun with little synths

Very cool.

The instruments:

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We love the Muppets

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USS Albacore

Earlier this Spring, Beloved Wife attended a conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and NatureBoy and I tagged along. While BW was conferring, the boy and I ourselves busy. In the evenings, we ate out and explored some of the shops in Portsmouth downtown.

One of the things NatureBoy and I did was visit the USS Albacore submarine museum, which comprises a small gift shop and museum, and a self-guided tour of the actual submarine.

The Albacore has two large, offset rudders and twin, counter-rotating propellers for increased speed and power. 

USS Albacore - port side

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What class are you?


D&D Home PageWhat Class Are You?Build A CharacterD&D Compendium

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Snow days are fun

We’ve been getting a lot of wet, heavy snow over the last day, and more is on the way. I even got my car stuck in the driveway on top of the snow. /sigh

snowday-02

I decided to take a day off to spend with NatureBoy during his winter vacation. We had a quick morning errand, and had to dig out my car. This gave us an opportunity to exchange volleys of snowballs.

Much of the rest of the day was spent playing BattleLore, which we hadn’t played in a long time. We played three games, and NatureBoy won all of them.

snowday-01

It’s a fun combination of strategy board game and miniatures.

snowday-03

I also roasted a chicken with carrots, leeks and turnips in my dutch oven. It was very moist and flavorful. Have I mentioned that I love cooking with my dutch oven?

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We can has swim? drink?

boys-meets-ducks

Before we had chickens, we had ducks! I miss them… sort of. They were happy to help themselves to NB’s kiddie pool. Though, this picture is of their tub. So is it LOLDucks or LOLKid?

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NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

Official NaNoWriMo YWP 2009 Winner

Nature Boy has participated in the National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writers Program, this month. He’s very excited because he just completed his first draft of his work at over 12,000 words.

He’s been working hard on it, and though I’m not allowed to read it, yet, I can’t wait.

Well done, NB!

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The Oathbound

The Oathbound (Valdemar: Vows and Honor, #1) The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars Finished this last night. I grabbed the Sword and Sorceress III volume from the library in order to read the beginning of the story, and that was very compelling. This volume developed the characters and story arc. I found it less a single novel than a sequence of encounters, but there is an undergirding narrative that connects the separate chapters flowing and coherent. Although I liked this book a lot, I didn’t see the kind of growth and change in the characters that I have seen in other Lackey novels. I will continue reading the the series, though, and see where Tarma and Kethry take me. View all my reviews >>

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