In which Pipey delivers

Remember when Neatnik blogged about our chickens and how my allergies meant we had to give away the chickens? Well, the hens are doing quite well. Emma and Ash are still living with Pipey and his wife and Emma has started laying already! Pipey delivered us a half dozen Emma-eggs this morning.

Neatnik has been suffering from a migraine for the past day and a half so she is home sick today. I made her a special lunch.

Lunch ala Emma

Apparently, Emma produces some very fine eggs because they were gone before I could even ask for a taste. I am hiding the remaining four eggs so that Number Guy and I get to sample the goods.

Sadly, Elle, Red, and Dee all grew up into fine roosters so Pipey couldn't keep them. He got three more hens and the roosters went to live at a new farm.

Sexist socks

What is it with the clothing industry and sexism? Don't misunderstand me here. I'm fairly flexible about folks flashing their favorite fashions. Heck, I'm married to a guy who regularly dons a skirt kilt, but there are lines and then there are lines.

And a line has been crossed.

This is a screenshot from an email I received today. I once ordered a wool sweater from the company in question, so I will now receive marketing emails until the end of time.

Even if I should up and decide to move to the tropics, I suppose...

If I were to be selling athletic supporters, I'd put ads in mens magazines. Target demographic and all of that.

I can understand that an ad sporting a big, hairy, male foot in a cute, strappy summer sandal is not very likely to promote huge sales of said sandals to teenaged girls.

Although maybe in the transvestite demographic....

Ahem.

What I cannot understand is why men can buy socks labeled warm, warmer, and warmest but we women can only purchase pedicure-prim, aloe-infused socks.



What? Only guys go outside in the winter? Only strapping, strong, muscular men shovel snow? Only women are entitled to soft sole skin?

In which prof trek offers extra credit

Programming students had an exam last night.

Posted this on the board:

   if ( you.feeling() == AMBITIOUS && time != EXPIRED && you.writeFifthProgram() )
      out.println("Earn extra credit.");

I am such a geek.

How to speak dragon?

We visited with Neatnik's Great-Uncle iPhone and Great-Aunt Basket over the long weekend. Neatnik loves visiting them: getting there involves a multiple state drive and she gets to be entertained by a stand-in grandpa.

Neatnik has a bit of a fascination with dragons lately. She wants to read How to Speak Dragoneseand How to Train Your Dragonis currently her favorite movie.

Yesterday, Uncle iPhone introduced the child to Dragon NaturallySpeaking.When he told her that she could talk to the computer and it would type for her, her ears perked up. He set the hook as soon as he told her the name of the software. Check out what she spoke to the computer:

Hello, my name is Neatnik. Amazing, isn't it? Are you happy? Uncle iPhone, my friend, is over here. If what is your name? Is it really Dragon? Do you have dragon back. I said breast. No breath!

I'm using the DragonBar Premium. I think Uncle iPhone rules here, but I rule back home. I am now going to choose a new font.

DC will ever use DragonBar Premium? I said do you ever use DragonBar Premium? What is your favorite color? Do you like seeing? I said, do you like to sing? Why are you not working too well?

Aunt Basket, please come here, will you? 'Cause I want you here. Wait one second. I am sorry, but Aunt Basket is not available. I hope to see you soon.

Goodbye! Thank you for listening!

In which Neatnik earns extra credit

Neatnik's teacher offers the students extra credit for projects that they do on the subjects of the stories in their reading textbook. Last week, they didn't read a story so there was no project but Neatnik looked ahead and reported back to me that they were scheduled to read Two Tickets to Freedomnext.

This got us to talking about the Underground Railroad and the quilt code. Some quilt researchers are certain that quilts were used as signals on the Railroad since the escaping slaves wouldn't have been educated, the written word was useless to them. Quilts, however, are made up of pictograms and those images have symbolic meanings.

Neatnik decided that she wanted to make a booklet of quilt blocks. She researched online and settled on ten quilt blocks to reproduce in mixed media. I got to teach her how to use my sewing machine, Liquid Thread,an X-Actoknife, a rotary cutter,and PowerPoint,and Neatnik got to practice her computer and ironing skills. My other major tasks were ruler holder and paper positioner - because I didn't really see the need for any bleeding, I held the paper still while Neatnik cut.

Seriously, though, Neatnik was amazingly focused on this project and she spent over 20 hours on it between the research, the typing, and the crafting parts. Then she came home from school today and told me about visiting National Geographic's Underground Railroad web site today.

I am so proud of how much she enjoys learning and creating!

WMBP - now with more circles

In honor of All Souls Day, let's have a catching up type of Wednesday Morning Bullet Post.

• In Mexico, November 2nd is also known as the


Sent this ecard to
Number Guy this AM.


• Well, crud. There goes the idea of posting every day in November.



• On the plus side, the pressure is now off.



• I think I've become addicted to Thread Words.



• It is still a free download so go get your copy now. I'll wait.



• Well, it sure took you long enough to come back. I did warn you that it is addictive, right?



• The little circles in the game are a good way to segue into the next bullet point: today is



Look for Circles Day


• Wrote a note to Neatnik's teacher about Look for Circles Day.



• She sent back a thank you note saying what a great idea and that the children's journal entry for today will be on circles. Can't wait to hear what Neatnik writes about circles.



• Can you believe that Neatnik is now a Junior Girl Scout?



• Her troop is spending a lot of time this year working on their aMUSE Journey. Today's meeting activity is making "Role Model" dolls from pipe cleaners, yarn, and


buttons!


• Their troop leader is working towards her outdoor certification so that the girls can go camping. Neatnik is going to some of the workshops as well. In the first session, they will be making hamburgers over an open fire and learning about fire safety, so she will need a mess kit and dunk bag.



• I had an aluminum mess kit as a kid and can I tell you how much those things suck?



• If you didn't dry each item scrupulously as soon as you washed it, the aluminum pitted and everything tasted like it was wrapped in tin foil. Even if you did carefully wash and dry the cup, beverages all tasted like tin foil and when they served up that sticky bug juice, the cup was ruined for all eternity. The stupid pieces never nested and clipped together after the first time you opened it and the flimsy cutlery was a joke.



• I got the supplies form for the first session and it clearly stated

"You may pre-order a mess kit (for $6 each) from council if you don’t want to make your own."



• Make your own? Wicked brilliant!



• We recently were at a community day fair where Neatnik got a



Nice, new blue plate


• We have some plastic cups I got years ago at the grocery store for 50¢ each and small bowls which were three for a dollar at the Dollar$tore. A larger black bowl that originally held a pasta dish I scored for free on a promotion at the milk store rounded out the dishes requirement.



• There are a variety of thrift store spoons and forks in the kitchen drawer but I'll need to locate a butter knife. They usually sell cutlery at two or three for a dollar.



• Total cost for the mess kit will come to just over a buck. Thrifty, unique, and easily identifiable.



• Why did the programmer die in the shower?


He followed the instructions
on the shampoo bottle.

How many circles are there in your life? Go forth and seek: after all, they are all around us.

In which trek drives by the blog

October is flying by me! I've been amazingly busy this semester. I'm teaching three different courses, one of which is brand-new to me and another of which has an entirely revamped structure. Not a lot of spare moments on my hands. Just wanted to reassure the folks who asked that I really am still here.

Hoping to post for real again soon.

Maybe I should sign up for NaNoWriMo or something...

In which Neatnik discovers a dinosaur

Archaeologist Neatnik and her research team uncovered the bones of a previously undiscovered dinosaur. This creature has been named Microtetraelmiodon (pronounced micro-tetra-el-me-o-don), meaning "small four footed tooth".

Microtetraelmiodon had four feet and was four feet tall and was basically cat-like in appearance. She lived during the Cretaceous period. Microtetraelmiodon was a plant-eater, specifically, she ate flowers. Although she lived in the jungle, she was a cave-dweller because she needed cover from other (larger) dinosaurs that might eat her. When under attack, Microtetraelmiodon's extra tail blades extended, helping her to fight off enemies.

Help me!

I posted earlier this year about joining Lendle. Lendle just sent an email saying that they are having a contest to win a new Kindle Fireand a Kindle Touch 3G.If you would like to try to win one and help me try to win one at the same time, sign up for Lendle using my referral code KJ1TTICY.

Help me and help yourself at the same time: every person that signs up with my referral code earns me an entry. Everyone who signs up with my referral code earns an entry for themselves - and then they can get their own referral code and sign up other people.

Contest ends December 31st and wouldn't a new Kindle be a wonderful belated Christmas present?

Doe a deer

I decided to do a short traipse through the local wildlife refuge during my walk this morning. There were two deer up ahead on the trail. I slowed my steps and continued on carefully not making eye contact. The larger deer trotted off the path and into the wood. The smaller deer stood and watched me pass within 10 feet of her.

-- IMMD