caleb walker

update

It must have been Monday night-slash-Tuesday morning, 1:30am. It had been raining, with considerable thunder and lightning, for the whole night. I was just dropping off to sleep when a tremendous flash sat me up quick enough to see sparks falling down past the bedroom window. I thought the house had been struck, or the tall willow tree just outside. KR and I got up and investigated, both dogs at our heels. There was no damage that we could see, and the tree was intact. The power was still on in the house, but certain electronic appliances were busted (I suppose "kentucky-fried" is the technical term): the built-in oven timer, answering machine, garbage disposal, my constellation lamp, and, I found out the next day, the internal modem in my iMac. (Plus my USB hub. I'm glad it wasn't the printer, though if it had been the Mac's USB card, I would have had a better chance at getting a replacement iMac!)

So my only net connection is at work, and I've been fairly busy lately. So not many updates until it's fixed. I guess I need to haul my Mac to the local CompUSA and get an etimate on the damage and repair cost.

Okay, now blogger's giving me publishing errors (which are probably yahoo's fault). Hmph.

abi

Look! It's Abi, our new old dog! Notice how Georgia has to be in the photo too.

Testing TypePad

Here's my first TypePad post. When signing up, I had the choice of three levels of the product. I only really needed Level One, but signed up for Level Two since it also provides access logs.

Form follows function.

Someone recently tried to tell me that the above famous quote was uttered by... I forget now who, but it wasn't anyone I'd ever associated that with.

insta-election

I completed the Select Smart 2004 American Presidenial Candidate Selector and found out who I'm gonna vote for in the next presidential election. Wow, that was easy. No need to become informed. Just plug in your opinions and out pops your candidate. In fact, if our political opinions were stored somewhere, there'd be no need to hold elections. "They" could just tally the opinions and declare the winner. Besides being a fairly odd concept, it can be used for Good: I now know which candidates support the same issues as I do, so I can focus my attention on them.

So who gets my vote? #1: The Green Party candidate (apparently it doesn't matter who the actual candidate is), #2: Kucinich, #3: Kerry.

done this weekend

I spent the weekend at my parents' camp on the Allegheny River outside of Warren PA. I did some interesting stuff:

1. Paddled around other side of river in canoe while sister scooped golf balls out of water with fishing net
2. Watched thunderstorm sweep up river; witnessed canoers, paddling down, get blown back up river in pre-downpour wind; saw others take cover in woods across river before giving up and continuing on their soggy trip
3. Lit fireworks at river's edge for entertainment of nieces and nephew (nephew helped with some lighting); burned thumb on fuse; got rope burn tripping on boat tie-up in the dark
4. Rode up mountain on back of brother's ATV (all-terrain vehicle); saw deer bones; saw bear; saw grouse; returned covered in mud
5. Walked around at Jakes Rocks; climbed on rocks; helped nieces and nephew climb on rocks; took photo of nephew's bloody knee
6. Visited nearby fish hatchery; saw tiny baby trouts; saw obscenely large, old, white-eyed trouts; walked up to base of Kinzua Dam with five little kids; returned with all five kids
7. Helped father clear road (with truck and rusty chain), blocked by large tree; left large parts of tree hanging in power lines
8. Swung golf club for first time ever; hit beautiful shot, sending ball into trees across river; never mentioned twenty other shots sending balls plopping into river close enough to send nephew to retrieve

seen this weekend

I spent the weekend at my parents' camp on the Allegheny River outside of Warren PA. I saw some interesting wildlife:

1. bald eagle (1 adult, 1 immature, flying down river and squabbling; both perched in trees across river for several minutes before continuing down river)
2. osprey (hovering close over fish hatchery ponds)
3. black bear (seen up mountain while riding noisy ATV with brother)
4. ruffed grouse (pennsylvania state bird; seen walking along edge of trail brother and I were riding ATV on; as we approached, kept walking; we got really close, it walked along; it finally walked off road, into ditch, and up bank; camouflage birds think they're invisible)
5. water snake (small one)
6. garter snake (sister asked what kind it was; I replied that garter snakes are striped, where this one was mottled; she said they have different phases; I decided it was garter snake)
7. phoebe (nested under eaves at uncle's camp; roosted on back of nearby bench to wait for us to move away from nest)
8. some water critter (there is allegedly beaver around, but it was smaller than that, yet bigger than snake; some say there's river otter around; I think it was river otter)
9. canadian geese (3 adults, 10 young ones, paddling down other side of river; as canoers approached, hopped up on land, then plopped back into water as they were left alone)
10. various chipmunks, toads, carp, swallows, vultures, red-winged blackbrids, and other more common birds