Who Killed the Electric Car
April 27, 2008
Wolf and I watched Who Killed the Electric Car? probably a year ago or so. Today we found it in the supermarket for $9.99. I probably could’ve gotten cheaper on Amazon but blind consumerism got in the way. That is, I got SUCKED IN.
I have some questions: will an electric car get me from Central New Hampshire to Eastern Massachusetts in one charge? If not, how long will it take to charge the batteries? Already it takes about two hours to get from home to my inlaws. I don’t want it to take longer.
Also, I need an education in electric cars and inclement weather. How well will they do in the snow? How about ice? How about rain? The movie is all about California. They don’t go into how these cars will work (or not) in other regions of the US so there is no hint as to the weather-worthiness of these cars.
Lastly, will using electric mean we need more power plants? If so, I don’t think I can support that. Certainly not if the plants are coal fired or nuclear. Maybe if the power is wind, solar, or something else renewable.
I like the idea of electric cars. I’m willing to own one. But first I want to know it’ll take me south and get me around in the winter.
What say you?
Death at a Funeral
April 25, 2008
Last night Wolf came home in one craptastic mood. He’s been working a lot of overtime and filling in for the boss. Thus, he’s tired and cranky. And no matter how much I tried to cheer him up, I couldn’t.
But what I can’t do beer and a movie can.
Death at a Funeral came in from Netflix a couple days ago. He’s been hemming and hawing about watching it. The description didn’t really grab his attention at all but through my incredible nagging ability — and the fact it was the only Netflix movie we have at the moment, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with it — he relented.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him laugh so long and loud. About half way through he said “this is an owner!”
While I liked it, I didn’t like it as much as Wolf did. Toilet humor is not my favorite and there’s a huge scene dedicated to such. Kinda killed it for me. But, I do love Alan Tudyk who did a phenomenal job. Based on his performance alone, I recommend this film. Other than the bathroom scene it was a great movie. On a scale of 1-10, it’s a 7 at least.
Outwitted
April 25, 2008
For the last week or so we’ve been visited by a very cute female black cat. A couple nights ago she went into heat and has been serenading us with her siren song since.
I borrowed a Havahart trap from my neighbor. Wolf set it up last night so we can catch Little Miss Siren, bring her to the shelter, and find her a nice home. I put some tuna in a bowl.
Well, Little Miss Siren outwitted us. She ate the tuna without closing the doors. I hate being outsmarted by a being with the brain the size of a walnut.
The trap has two doors, one at either end. Setting the trap requires both doors to be open but that seems so counterintuitive to me. Wolf smeared a small amount of tuna on the trigger but I didn’t feel that was enough so I put a bowl into the trap, just behind the trigger. Then I put the watering can near one of the doors as a way to block it. Totally didn’t work.
So, dear readers, how do I catch this kitty with this Havaheart trap? She’s still chortling out there. As soon as I let my cats out she’s going to bolt and I don’t want that to happen.
Check out Carnival of the Cats and Friday Ark
Edited to add: Harley, my cat, went out and ate the tuna smeared on the trigger. Doing so did not trip the trigger. I watched him stick his head in, eat, walk over the trigger, then eat the rest. Something is totally wrong here.
Peace Kitties, Garden Catastrophe, and Garden Goodness
April 24, 2008
Harley and Francesca, dedicated peace activists, want the troops to come home.
See, they know how to get along despite clashing philosophies! No guns, no bombs. Just kitty goodness.
I have no idea what happened to my tomatoes. I have to start over I guess. I don’t have any soil so I’m pretty screwed until we can get some. The new moon is on May 5th so hopefully we can get some by then though I doubt it. Money coming in has to go to Dad’s memorial service.
The garlic, however, is doing pissa. Wicked f’n pissa as a matter o’ fact.
Francesca is a ham for the camera. Here I was trying to take a pick of the crocuses and she walked right into the frame.
Here she is again being her uber cute self as always.
Wolf wants to take the plow off Bessie but I’m reluctant to do so. Seems to me snow will come as soon as he takes it off so I asked him to keep the plow on until August.
Harley hanging out in the shade. It’s really warm out there however, windy. The wind makes it feel cooler than it really is. That’s good but also bad. Because we haven’t had any rain it’s really dry here. And high winds with dry Earth, that makes for brush fire season. While I’m all for letting brush fires die out on their own, I do understand how detrimental that can be to property. So I have to balance what’s more important: property of wildlife. Most times I choose wildlife but sometimes I choose property. It’s hard though.
Check out Carnival of the Cats and Friday Ark
Killdeer
April 24, 2008
Last night Kim and I went down to a training drill with the fire department to photograph it. I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned this but I am on the fire department. My roles are twofold: photographer and CPR instructor.
Anyways, it was a drill on charging hose lines (filling them with water) to make sure there are no leaks, the pumps on the trucks work, and to give the firefighters opportunity to practice their skills so they don’t forget how when the time is ripe.
There’s a burned out area in the small field where the drill was. The FD often uses this field for training purposes so you could see they did a small burn there at one time. Kim was standing off to the side when all of a sudden she heard some god-awful screaching, screaming, and squaking. She looked down and saw a killdeer
Seems Kim got a little too close to Ms. Killdeer’s three eggs and protested up a storm. We back off as soon as I took the picture to leave her in peace. I then told the firefighters about the nest and threatened bodily harm to them if they disturbed Ms. Killdeer.
The 411: Their breeding habitat is open fields or lawns, often quite far from water, across most of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, with isolated populations in Costa Rica and Peru. Killdeer nest on open ground, often on gravel. They may use a slight depression in the gravel to hold the eggs, but they don’t line it at all, or line it only with a few stones. Since there is no structure to stand out from its surroundings, a killdeer nest blends marvelously into the background. Furthermore, the speckled eggs themselves look like stones.
Check out Friday Ark
