More Bragging

Last night the temperature (outside) dipped to 26 degrees and stayed there for 11 consecutive hours! Meanwhile, inside, the temperature never fell below 64 degrees. All of this with no indoor heating except for normal activity and whatever the sun shines in.
Nothing less than 38 degree differential, sustained over 11 consecutive hours with no interior heat source. Sorry if you all are tired of hearing this refrain, but this stuns me. I only wish I knew what the temperature inside was when it all started. It was probably between 71 and 74.

The sun is shining brightly again today, so there is no question that we can withstand another night, thus achieving our goal of not using heat until November. And, we never suffered a temperature lower than 64 inside while waiting for this goal.

Jamey's Invented Super Robot

Name: Blaster
Things he can do:

1. Transform into a ship that can shoot
2. He can blast pink stuff out of him
3. He can Zap
4. He can control
5. He can shock to make things unlock
6. He can shock so he can make robots hold still
7. He can make people disappear with his zapper
8. He can dig under the dirt and then kapow up
9. He can zap things out of his eyes at you and KILL you!
10. He can pick up stuff without using his hands. He just looks at them and wherever he looks the thing goes.
11. He can break trees down.
12. He can pick an Earth up. He would stand on a star while doing this.
13. He could break anything. He could even break our stucco wall. He could break the whole planet into half.
    
14. He can cut through with his cutters
15. He can break a human into half
16. He can make you have a bloody head
17. He can go to the market and buy anything he wants! But he doesn't have any money. (chuckles) Markets let him have food without any money because he doesn't have an owner and robots can't buy. So they just give him it.
18. He can touch a sun without even burning hisself; or hot lava.
19. He can smush anything
20. He could twist your head off.
21. He can stab a really sharp thing into himself without even getting cut.
22. And, he has guards. Flying ball guards that fly in the air and shoot.
23. You can find him wherever you go! But sometimes you can't find him.
24. He can do a perfect cast all the way to the market. Really far fishing cast, farther than the lake.
    
25. He can turn colors into slime.

Friend in Spain

A friend of mine is taking an extended trip to Spain and is blogging about it. His writing is interesting and witty. I'm reading it to get a little vicarious trip to Spain, but it's probably worth a read just because he's a good writer.
The Pope of Chilitown in Spanish:

El Papa de la Puebla de la Chili

http://chilitown.blogspot.com/

Still Warm Enough

We have had some nights in the 30's and still, we haven't become cold enough to turn on either of our furnaces. It has been as low as 66 in my office, which was yesterday morning. But yesterday was also clear and sunny all day, so the greenhouse effect brought us up enough so that this morning it is 70 in my office. Also, interestingly, on a very windy night, the temperature never dipped below 54. I guess we got a little flavor of those Santa Anna winds. Today is very clear again, so I suspect we can gain enough heat to last us most of a week, which means we will probably make it to November 1st, in comfort, without using heat!

The Forest

Each step crunches twigs
I'm self-conscious,
guilty almost,
as though they were
bird bones

On the edge, between
forest and clearing.
The trees grow quiet
and still when I come.
Hold their breath,
wait for me to leave,
to continue their
whispered conversations.

It is a great, dark lung,
breathing imperceptibly,
soundlessly and windlessly,
drawing me in,
expelling me,
rhythmically

The bright, open clearing
is near; it welcomes me.
But the tangled,
mysterious forest
invites me.

Bursting

Bursting
Originally uploaded by King Cnut.

Arthur's Smashed Finger

Arthur smashed his finger by dropping a five pound weight on it. Almost took him to the doctor for it, but the on-call nurse said if it can move in the morning there's probably no problem. This actually looks a lot better than it did last night. 

Invincibility

Arthur and Jamey rediscovered invincibility this week and they have been thrilled by it.
It is a setting on their Xbox game Lego Star Wars, which we acquired many months ago. They apparently didn't understand it at the time or else forgot (like me) that we had it. This time around, when I rediscovered it in the menu system, they instantly apprehended the value of it and have been drunk with power ever since.
Arthur fooled me into thinking he learned to read, by methodically selecting and testing the menu-system until he discovered which ON/OFF toggle was associated with the word Invincibility.
We're now just one level away from earning the right to play the hidden level, which supposedly includes scenes from the original Star Wars movie and access to the adult Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia characters. Oh, and we've acquired over 3.5 million "monies" as the boys call them.

Strangely Spotted Acer macrophyllum

Jamey found this interestingly spotted maple leaf while we were hiking near the Upper Lewis River this past weekend.
A closer look at the leaf is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ZimFam/Botanical/photo#4981429874041421842