Alabama is Springing

Trying out a new blogging platform at medium.com, but copying back to blogger as a backup, at least initially.

We are very much enjoying spring in the South East. Doggy is eating all kinds of new green stuff:

Seems every yard, including ours, has Azaleas of all colors:

In my geek video this month I did a gender hack on our Amazon Echo, adding some IBM Watson DNA:

MisterHouse Home Automation: Amazon Echo + IBM Watson = Alex Watson
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I found a couple of mystery items in our yard. Care to hazard a guess?

No, not a peanut. Answers below…

Found all kinds of critters. This is a common water snake. The round, not stilted, eyes tells us he is not poisonous. The trick is getting close enough to see his eye … by the time you get close enough to tell, you are out of luck if it is not round:

We met this guy a few months ago, the carpenter bee. Apparently our deck and roof are prime hookup spots. Several million of them hang out there till they bump into each other and literally hook up and spiral up to the heavens together:

Occasionally I swat one down with a badminton racket. Then they get all mad and give me this mean ‘I know where you live’ look:

But then I find him a nice bed of grass to lie on and he is happy … or possibly dead:

And birds to go with the bees:

This plant is all set for the next downpour in his little ark:

Ants are hard to photograph, as they never stand still. This is about my 100th try:

Snails, on the other hand, are easy … recognize his eye stalk?

The other mystery photo is on the head of this caterpillar. I suspect it is his/her spinneret:

Unlike an ant, he loves to pose:

Lots of small, colorful spiders:

And overseeing all of them is doggy, every on the lookout for his his nemesis, the squirrel:

Our breakfast spot. I’ve worn Dad’s red sweater practically every day this winter/spring. Probably should wash it:

Our fish-less fish tank has evolved, now with multicolored lights and glass fish, which we have not managed to kill yet:

That big glass diamond was the centerpiece at Nick and Chloe’s wedding:

Our doggy hair cutting technique. Rather chaotic, but usually no blood:

A birthday party dinner for Irina:

She really wants to feed doggy table food … not allowed under my watch:

But doggy is patient and ever hopeful.

Bruce

Trying a Medium Move

Trying a move to a new blogging platform.  New posts will be at:

   http://medium.com/bruce-photos


See you there ... hopefully you won't get lost and walk off a cliff like this guy:

Bruce

High Speed Gyroscope

We had a wonderful visit from Zach, Nick, Chloe, 9 month old Max.   Initially they forgot to re-extend Max's head, which was left in collapsed airplane mode so he would fit in the suitcase:




But with a few quick upside down shakes:




Out popped his oh-so-adorable little head:




Actually not so little, he is 90+% sized for his age:

He is a fearless eater.    This banana didn't stand a chance:

Nor did this scary plant-from-outer-space:

I exploited Zach's muscles and we did some landscaping: 

Max was debating a swim, but the water tested a little too cold:

 

We set our sites on a new world record for the highest rpm and longest lasting spin for a toy gyroscope.    Here we were trying a drill:

Here Zach is holding the gyroscope while Nick is about to swing a 15' pole attached to the string:




That actually worked pretty well, if you ignore the dent the pole put in the wall:




It was all great fun:

We introduced Max to pong-ping:

And the secret loft with a bear:




But I think he liked the building blocks best ... so did doggy:

Micro quad-copter pilots in training:

Science experiment.  The red wine enhances the scientific analysis: 

Our final activity was to waterboard each other.  The girls took a pass for some reason, but we three 'boys' took our turn on the plank.   It was an interesting experience, something we can probably leave off of future fun vacation activities:

In projects this month, I replaced an above stove microwave with a hood that can more quietly suck up cooking smoke.    3 useful tools:  headlight, long screwdriver, and an small height adjustable  chair to position it on:

 I re-purposed that log that used to be a bridge before it broke.  1/2 I made into a pond dam, and the other 1/2 I winched up the hill to use as a trail border:

Remember those big Koi fish in last month's post?   Not surprisingly, they were too big for a 50 gallon fish tank, so we tried them out in one of the pools we made in the creek.  This is Helen trying to instruct the fish on how to eat:




The pool worked ok until rained:




After the first few rain storms,  I was able to rescue the fish from downstream, but eventually I think they moved to Florida.   We tried normal sized goldfish in our now empty fish tank:




They lasted a couple of weeks:

But then the water clouded up (I think the Buddha neglected to use the bathroom) and the fish decided to re-incarnate elsewhere (hopefully not into local angry birds with grenades seeking revenge).   That leaves us with a mostly empty fish tanks, which is still pretty:

My geek video this month was about a system I setup to display house information, while at the same time displaying  100,000+ photos:

   http://misterhouse.brucewinter.net


Bruce