It is the Ides of March! FYI.

The Roman calendar counts thusly: the Kalends is the first of any month. The 7th or 9th of the month is the nones. (nines). The 13th or 15th of the month (depends on length) is the Ides. Pridie means ‘the day before’ So pridie kalendae Octobri is Sept 30....

Got a new guitar tuner…

…with a clipon pickup, to make it more accurate. Korg brand, FYI. I had a real nice Boss tuner that was going ‘off’ gradually. A 12-string shares some characteristics with a sitar—the harmonics of some guitars can get real tricksy: not all 12s,...

I'm getting into a chili sort of mood…

ONION-FREE CROCKPOT CHILI Needed: 2-3 lbs ground beef, lower fat. 2 tbs virgin olive oil or other shortening to prevent burning. Salt, Black pepper, Cayenne pepper, or red pepper flake; Cinnamon; Clove powder; thyme powder, ground cumin; Allspice; dark red hot chili...

I’m getting into a chili sort of mood…

ONION-FREE CROCKPOT CHILI Needed: 2-3 lbs ground beef, lower fat. 2 tbs virgin olive oil or other shortening to prevent burning. Salt, Black pepper, Cayenne pepper, or red pepper flake; Cinnamon; Clove powder; thyme powder, ground cumin; Allspice; dark red hot chili...

Happy daylight savings TIME CHANGE, all!

It is. It did. We had a party last night, which lasted fairly late…so our household (read, Jane) is still abed. We ate way too much pizza. I, being a wuss, and tired, turned in a wee bit early. But it was fun. We had ball-jointed dolls all over the place. I...

Comet PAN STARRS

about 15 min after sundown, near the sun’s path: we haven’t seen it yet, but you don’t need a scope, they’re saying. We’re having clear skies, so there is hope.

Spring Cleaning…yes!

We are doing it. We took stuff that’s still operable to a store that funds a rehab center: we have sworn off Goodwill, since it continues to pay employees non-survival wages while the CEO gets richer and richer. This little place is very of-the-people...

Furnaces…we’re going to bite the bullet…

One of those things you really kinda need is a furnace, when you live 90 miles from the Canadian border—in either direction. So…since we got ticked at our car insurance company and switched, we decided to switch house insurance as well…but they,...

Furnaces…we're going to bite the bullet…

One of those things you really kinda need is a furnace, when you live 90 miles from the Canadian border—in either direction. So…since we got ticked at our car insurance company and switched, we decided to switch house insurance as well…but they,...