Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

The Endless Parade Of Squirrels

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Those two squirrel feeders we put up last week? They worked.

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They vastly prefer this one, containing the real ears of (dried) corn. They demolish the corn in only a single day, eating only the germ out of the husk and letting the rest drop to the ground for the birds (and chipmunks?). We’ll be restocking this one for months.

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This one is more work for them, and perhaps not as delicious. It affords us (and the cats) a better view though.

I saw a red squirrel on monday, for the first time in our yard. I had seen some in Albany before, but they are much, much rarer than grey squirrels. Sadly he wasn’t at a feeder, but running away from our yard!

Here’s the few shots of interest taken from the wildlife camera I had placed on our back patio:

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Isn’t the ‘action shot’ cool? I love crows, almost more than squirrels. Always have, always will. Those are peanuts they are eating – we toss them out the window for the wildlife to snack on.

Last week we had a baby crow living in our yard. He couldn’t fly, and was being fed by parents who cawed noisily whenever we went into the backyard, obviously trying to scare us away. We dubbed him ‘hopping crow’ and kept an eye on him, hoping we’d not repeat the squirel tragedy of the other week in crow form.

Happily, in a few days his fluttery almost-flying turned into the real thing and he took wing. If he’s living in our yard anymore it’s in the trees and not under them. Which is a good thing 🙂

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The shot on the left is a mystery bird. I tried to identify it, but I’m no ornithologist. My best guess is that it is an ‘i’iwi, and the drab appearance is an illusion brought on by being drowned in sunlight. Anyone else have an opinion?

As for the shot on the right. Well your guess is as good as mine!

On The Road!

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Memorial Day Weekend: the one time of the year we eat hot dogs!

My Home Office

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010


When I work at home (most of the time) I do so in the living room on our dining room table. It has become a de facto office (since I actually have an office). Here’s a shot of what it looks like today:

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Sometimes it can be struggle to actually get work done…

UFO Failing

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

This is my most popular Youtube video:

Right now it has 15788 views, and yesterday I received an email from Youtube that the video is now eligible for advertising and payment. If I chose to create a special type of Google account, they would randomly place adverts before this particular video. Each advert viewed would earn me $$$, with the catch being they only pay out in $100 increments.

I didn’t get far enough to see exactly how much money would be earned per view, but I’m guessing it is in the tenths or even hundreds of a cent 🙂

Here’s some stats on the video itself, just because I love that Google provides them:
– 58% of viewers are female
– The two most popular demographics are 13-17 (36%) and 45-54 (23%)
– 60% of viewers find the video via Youtube’s “related videos” sidebar
– The three top countries by viewer (in order): Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore
– The three top countries by commenter (in order): USA (36%), Australia (19%), Chile (11%)
– The video spiked in popularity in January 2009, just over a year after it was added, but (inexplicably) is at its most popular right now
– The most common google search that leads to this video: “ufo catcher sydney”
– The most famous non-google referral: facebook.com (the video has been embedded in two, unknown-to-me, profiles)

I’m not signing up for Google sense, since I suspect the sun will burn out before the video receives enough views to pay out. But it’s nice to know people are watching.

It’s worth noting that the second in my ‘UFO Catcher Trilogy’ is earning views much faster than UFO Failing:

On The Road!

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

It’s a trap!