Archive for May, 2007
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I planted a variety of about 25 trees along one of our property lines. The tree line is about 100 feet long and I think it will offer a nice looking privacy border. When I drive home, I notice that side of the house and just can’t stand looking at the nakedness of it. I like trees, lots of them (in case you haven’t noticed).
Last Summer, I planted Colorado Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce and Eastern White Pine. This Spring, I planted a few Cleveland Select Pear trees to hasten the border fullness.
If anyone has seen these little pines, they know that when I planted them, there were about a foot tall. I was a little concerned that they would take 20 years to get anywhere, so I gave them a little fertilizer early this Spring. Being the impatient person that I am, I didn’t see much in the way of results.
In the past week, I started noticing some nice growth on the Colorado Blue Spruce trees. They have the most wonderful blue/green color. It is really striking…yes, striking.
I am not sure you can see it from this picture, but these trees really are beautiful. I am very happy with them.
In case you were wondering what fertilizer will do for the growth of an Eastern White Pine, just wait until the next post. I am going to run out there with the camera right now…hehe.
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Posted in Landscaping, Spring, Trees & Shrubs | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Allium is a very beautiful flower. I was talking my walk today and noticed that our Allium Schoenoprasum, otherwise know as Chives, are in bloom…or about to be. These plants are actually in the Onion Genus. They are pretty easy to grow, as I just put these in last year and they are taking off well. I split them up and now we have four areas of this flower. Here, take a look…
These flowers are like others I have been noticing. They start with a type of skin surrounding the bud and as the flower matures, the skin slides off. You can notice that in the first photo above.
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Posted in Gardening | No Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
It’s that time of year again for my lawn mower tune up…wait, what am I talking about? I have never tuned up my lawn mower, or any lawn mower for that matter. Gee, I wonder why they all seem to run like crap after a few years.
My current lawn mower has a Briggs & Stratton engine. It currently doesn’t run that well. It revs and then loses power, then revs and then loses power. Kind of like … bbbbrrrrmmmm …. nothing …. bbbbrrrrmmmm …. nothing, etc…
I stopped by the local small engine repair shop the other day and talked to the guy. I asked him how much it would be for a tune up. He said, “$70 and under.” I thought this was a little much to tune up a lawn mower that I paid $135 for about 3 years ago. I asked what that included and he told me: spark plug, air filter, sharpening of the blade and an oil change. C’mon, even a cave man could do that. I thought there was some secret stuff they do. I guess not. I told him what was happening and he quickly replied, “You need to rebuild the carburetor.” Hmmm…makes sense, but the carburetor only has a few parts in it (I know because I took it apart on numerous occasions). What the heck could you possibly “rebuild” in the carburetor?
I thought to myself, “If this is going to cost any more than $50, I am just going to get a new lawn mower.” I felt guilty though, because the mower still has shiny paint and it would be a sin to throw it away. Actually, I would just leave it in front of the house and a neighbor would take it as a nice addition to their junk pile in the back yard.
With that guilty feeling, I started taking things apart this morning. I pulled off the carburetor and the gas tank. I separated the two and discovered a small wrinkle in the edge of the carburetor diaphragm.
I pulled the diaphragm loose to see what’s underneath…just a spring. I knew this might be the problem with the poor running performance of this lawn mower, so I started looking through various websites. I found the parts manual for this mower at http://www.briggspowershop.com. You have to put your model number (on this mower, found on the front housing) in their Engine Model Number Guide and you can print out a .pdf file.
By the way, you should be thanking me for this…it took a while.
The print out has all the engine parts you might need for this engine. I found the parts I wanted and added the first one to the shopping cart. Not in stock. Ok, on to the next site. I found a nice parts lookup feature at Lawn Cutters Equipment Sales & Service. I entered the part numbers in the lookup feature and they all seem to be in stock. I orded them and hopefully they will be here within the week.
So, for the exciting part…what did I order? Well, I was just going to order the Carburetor Diaphrarm (495770) and the Intake Manifold Seal O Ring (270344S). They were about $6 total. Then I got a bright idea. How much for the whole carburetor? Well, as it turns out, the Carburetor (697415) is only $18, so I skipped the other parts and purchased this. It has all that I need included.
I am also ordering the Foam Air Filter Cleaner (698369). With shipping, the order came up to under $30. Not bad. Now I have to pick up a spark plug (Champion RJ19LM) some engine oil and have the blade sharpened. I will put it all back together and let you know how it goes.
I am quite excited.
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Posted in Landscaping | 10 Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I found something pretty interesting this morning while reading my latest issue of “Revenue Magazine.” I really don’t have too much to say about it, besides that it’s an interesting idea.
Like.com has launched a new type of search…a search based on images. Well, they call it “Visual Search.” Basically, their techology recognizes image features and allows you to drill down on those features to find exactly what you are looking for. Probably good for those of us who sometimes can’t put things into words.
I gave it a try on a pair of sneakers on their homepage. I refined my search on a design on the side of the sneakers. The results were mixed…I was offered various textures and designs, but nothing exactly like the design I was looking for. I suppose they have some work to do, but I offer them the best of luck.
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Posted in Internet, Websites | No Comments »
Saturday, May 19th, 2007
One thing I really love to do is to stroll around the property early in the morning to look at all of our plants. I usually do this before work. People probably think I am crazy for actually enjoying what I work so hard for.
I especially love to look at all the new growth and to see what is about to bloom. Here are some photos for today…
This is a Lily of the Valley…and Laura’s absolute favorite flower in the world. We have a bunch of them lined all the way down the driveway.
Here is our transplanted Hosta. This plant was in the same triangle garden, but I moved it closer to the front when I cleaned the garden out last Autumn.
Above is the new China Boy Holly I just purchased because the old ones that I planted last Autumn were looking a little ragged. By the way, I pruned them and they are coming back. Look at all that new growth!!!
Here is the Bearded Iris that I separated and replanted last summer. Bearded Iris is quite durable. It’s almost like you can run over the plant with a truck and it will still grow. Everything I replanted came in beautifully.
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Posted in Landscaping, Spring, Trees & Shrubs | No Comments »
Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Believe it or not, this post title has been sitting on hold since I started this blog, back last August. WordPress has a feature where you can type a title in and save it. With all the other exciting things I was writing about back then, I just never got to this one. I guess a rainy Saturday will help me catch up.
Back when Laura and I lived in Brewster, we liked to drive down to Green Chimneys for a daily walk around their nature trail. Basically, Green Chimneys is this:
“Founded in 1947, Green Chimneys is the nationally renowned, non-profit organization recognized as the leader in restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy, Green Chimneys operates residential treatment for children and a special education school.”
It really is a very cool place…you should drop by if in the area. It is located near the Great Swamp in Patterson and near Putnam Lake, right on the border of New Fairfield, Connecticut. One thing they are very much known for is their annual “Birds of Prey” day. We have yet to make it to this one, but when we drive by, cars are lined up and down the road.
Way back when I was a kid, my friend Brian’s father used to play soccer in Green Chimney’s indoor soccer field. We would usually swim in their pool for a few bucks. But that’s not what Laura and I would go there for…
The walk around the nature trail is about 3/4 of a mile. It’s just long enough for us to get off our butts and get just a bit of excercise while having a decent conversation. Since Green Chimneys is located in a farm setting, there are friendly animals around the whole loop of the nature trail. The cow above just loves visitors. Who even loves visitors even more is this deer type beast below…
This one was hilarious. We would walk by and she would pace us, just waiting for a good petting. As you can see, she likes to get close, even if it means sticking her head through the gate. After we left, it was a bit depressing seeing her follow us all the way to the end of the fence and be forced to stop.
Here are a few more good shots…
These are what we like to call a little horse and a big horse. Notice their difference in size. Man, there are tons of different types of animals at Green Chimneys…ducks, horses, cows, all type of birds, snakes and even cats. I am not sure the cats were brought in as a rescue or anything though. This funny cat below slept under a little shed at the end of the trail. She would always come slowly walking out just as we passed.
I would want to keep on walking, but noooooo…Laura liked to spend an extra half-hour sitting on the bench with the cat on her lap. I would usually walk around and look for things to play with. One time I found a little cat of my own and tried to pet it. It was hanging out on the hood of a pickup truck. One pet and the damn thing scratched my hand. No more love for that cat.
Anyway, Green Chimneys is a great place that specializes in large bird rehabilitation. It is worth the drive…just be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box if you want to spend some time there.
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Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Thursday, May 17th, 2007
So this is a pretty exciting time during any automobile restoration.
Basically, your car is stripped down and looking very uninspiring…then comes the quarter panels. It can make a real difference in the way the car looks.
Here are some photos of the left quarter panel getting glued and welded on the 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. The quarter panel was made by Dynacorn and purchased at Mustangs Unlimited in CT.
Related links:
- Ford Mustang
- 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
Ford : Mustang
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Posted in Automotive | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
This is not as exciting as it should be. I have been doing upgrades for weeks now and am a bit worn out. Every time there is an upgrade to one of my scripts, I have to apply it to multiple websites.
Upgrades are good, however, and should be applied about a week after they are released, just to give some time for those early birds to find the bugs and eat them.
This update is called “Getz.”
New features are:
- WordPress Widgets
- Full Atom support
- A new Blogger importer
- Infinite comment stream
- Plugin activation protection
- Speed optimizations
- Hook for WYSIWYG support
You can read about the upgrade here.
So, for the 2 of you who read this blog, go ahead and update your own WordPress.
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Posted in Internet, Websites | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
I got home from work yesterday and thought to myself, “Maybe I need a laptop.” I know it was a strange thought right out of the blue…maybe I had a dream about it or something.
The reason I thought about it is because I know how much I think about work and I really liked the notebook my sister, Stephanie, purchased. I like the wireless internet connection. If it didn’t have that, I probably wouldn’t be thinking about it at all.
Well, today Paul and I ran up to Circuit city and picked up a nice HP Pavilion 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook PC. Here is a pic:
Here are the specs:
Mid-size notebook: The HP Pavilion dv6365us is a mid-size notebook, perfect for light traveling or staying at home. This model features a powerful dual-core processor as well as premium features such as a built-in webcam, remote control and LightScribe disc labeling.
64-bit/dual core processing: The 1.8GHz Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5600 has two processing engines that work together, giving this processor much more power than standard 1.8GHz processors. This processor can also handle 64 bits of information at once, twice as much as older 32-bit processors. Intel Centrino technology further enhances mobile performance and battery life.
- This notebook features 2GB of advanced DDR2 system memory—enough for all but the most demanding users, gamers and multimedia professionals.
- Data travels along the frontside bus. The faster data travels, the faster everything works. This notebook has a 667MHz frontside bus.
- L2 caches keep data neat, organized, and nearby so processors can retrieve it more quickly. This 2MB L2 cache is large, providing a potentially significant boost in performance.
Hard drive: The 160GB drive capacity offers plenty of space for the average multimedia collection. This drive’s data disks spin at 5400rpm. The faster they spin, the faster the data is read and written.
Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home Premium: This is perfect for homes with advanced computer needs. And Vista Premium features the elegant new Aero interface. You’ll be able to use your notebook more effectively and enjoy new entertainment experiences—all with the benefit of added security and reliability.
Widescreen display: This 15.4” high-definition widescreen features 1280 x 800 pixel (WXGA) resolution, providing sharp detail and plenty of room for whatever you want to view.
Versatile wireless: Built-in 802.11abg wireless LAN lets you connect in almost any airport lounge, café or public hotspot.
DVD SuperMulti drive: Use this drive to burn DVDs and CDs to share your files, music mixes or home movies. You can even burn DVD-RAM discs—specially-formatted discs that let you drag and drop, or write and rewrite your files up to 100,000 times.
LightScribe disc-labeling: Burn custom, silkscreen-quality labels and images onto your discs with the same drive that burns the data.
Built-in webcam: Turn your next instant message into a live video chat with the integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, omni-directional microphone and VoIP solution of your choice. Or take still photos and short video clips that you can edit and email.
Graphics and audio: Built-in Intel graphics and shared video memory—drawn from the main system memory—are perfect for casual gaming and watching movies. Built-in Altec Lansing stereo speakers, an S/PDIF digital audio port and stereo earbud headphones kick out great sound.
Easy access to music and movies: Dedicated external media and menu controls let you navigate your film and music files easily and quickly. You can even control playback with the included remote.
Media card reader: Seamlessly transfer images from your digital camera, MP3 player or camcorder. This 5-in-1 reader is compatible with Secure Digital, xD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and MultiMedia Card.
ExpressCard/54 slot: ExpressCard is an emerging standard in smaller, faster PC card solutions. This slot is compatible with ExpressCard /54 as well as ExpressCard /34. Use it to add memory, graphics upgrades or security devices.
Elegant design: Inspired by a Zen rock garden, a wave pattern adds subtle sophistication to the long-lasting, high-gloss HP Imprint finish. The piano black exterior and silver interior complement the elegant curved design.
Get connected: One FireWire, one S-video and three USB ports let you connect to TVs, cameras, peripherals and more. Use the expansion port to connect the HP Expansion Base (sold separately).
Software bundle:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Works, Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition (60-day trial) and Internet Explorer
Norton® Internet Security 2007 (with 60 days of live update)
HP PhotoSmart Essentials and QuickPlay
Muvee autoProducer Basic Edition
Adobe® Acrobat Reader®
Roxio Creator 9 Basic
Real Rhapsody
Vongo
Here is what mattered to me:
- Screen size: Nothing too big, nothing too small.
- RAM: Need at least 2GB for Vista and the things I do.
- Processor: Nice dual core
- Wireless Internet Connection: A must.
- Reviews: I have read a lot of good things about the HP laptops.
Related links:
- Notebook and Laptop Reviews
- Ditch the Laptop for A USB Key
- Geek to Live: Laptop tips
Laptops : Computers
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Posted in Computers, Internet, Ramblings | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 13th, 2007
I do love SEO and I respect Google. I am always poking around picking up little tidbits of information here and there. So here’s what I picked up for today. Let’s just say that I have been doing a LOT for reading. I think I have a headache.
- Google Ranking Factors - SEO Checklist
- 156 SEO TOOLS - The Tool Place - Free SEO TOOLs - All In One Place!
- SEOmoz | Beginner’s Guide to SEO
- Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO
- WordPress and SEO | The undersigned
SEO : Blogging
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Posted in Websites | 1 Comment »
