Friday

tip-o-day

For those of us who don't water their lawns, this dry, hot summer has wreaked havoc on our grass. Large portions of my lawn look brown and dead.

This is fine, the lawn will spring back - but its also an opportunity for crabgrass to move in quickly.
Normally, I am not so concerned with crabgrass because it is an annual weed and can be controlled as such. However, there are steps you can take to prevent it from taking over your lawn.

While most people are familiar with putting down a crabgrass preventative in the spring, it can also be a good idea to reapply during these hazy days of summer.
For this second application, use a crabacide with no fertilizer. The formulations we use early in the season would simply stress the grass at this time of year.

This is an easy application and can be put down any time of the day with no worries about rain.
I suggest doing it on an afternoon just prior to cocktail hour.

More fun with science

Ok, kids today we will learn about velocity and mass.

How fast does a vehicle need to be travelling(V) to move an object of a specific weight (M) a certain distance (D)?

To test this equation - someone drove through our stone wall last evening, how convenient.
Let's review that sentence.
The key phrases are 'drove through' and 'stone wall'.

Please view the test data below. Note that we were not home at the time of the incident (rats).

Here is the scene:


The most likely approach (V):


Gaping hole:


Hmm, the gaping hole seems to be approximately the size of a midsized Toyota:


My flipflop included to show size of a moved object(M):


Distance (D):



wow.

Oops - I heard some news

When I take the long commute into the office once a week or so I tune to the local news station to grab a traffic report so I can choose my route.

Sometimes... inadvertently I end up hearing some of the news.

This morning I heard some thick headed, dimwitted Yoga instructors have applied for a U.S. Patent on their yoga positions.

Seriously.

I am so embarrased to be an American.

nature... it plays with us

One afternoon last week my able-bodied wife and I were in the back yard collecting some branches and limbs for the fire-pit we planned to light later that night.
As I was bending over to pick up sticks I saw a squirrel tail...with the rest of the body tucked under some overgrowth.
I protectively grabbed my distracted wife's arm and held her back.
'Stand back!' I declared, pointing to the tail end of the deceased animal.

Feeling all bravado from saving my wife - I went to get a shovel to bury the poor little guy. I bury any animals I may find around the yard, or those that our pets may have killed. After so many years here we now have a pretty full cemetery of birds, mice and chipmunks, and the like. I feel it's the proper Christian thing to do. Even tho I myself and not a religious person - far be it for me to judge anyone elses faith. I also make it a point to get them into the ground before dusk... should they be Jewish.

As I grabbed the shovel off its hook, I wondered off-handedly why the FREE dog hadn't found this little treasure yet. Seemed odd. O well.

I had some trouble digging the hole - kept running into roots and rocks. After 3 attempts I finally had a hole that satisfied my needs.
So I returned to the dead animal to scoop it up.
Seemed light as I slid the shovel under him. This was odd...the fur looked fresh so it could not have been there long - I would have expected a little more heft.
As I pulled it out of its hiding spot I noticed that the fur was in remarkable shape, and wait... is that eye actually open! Wait a minute wait a minute - whats with the stitches on the paws, and is it leaking... stuffing...
Doh.

To the point

I am often rather direct. This can hurt people's feelings.
It is not intended to do so. Nor does it bother me when it does.
That's really just your own mind games - and has nothing to do with what I am saying or doing. But I suppose that in and of itself is a whole 'nother post.

So - to the point then.

If you are currently watering your lawn, or washing your car, or perhaps rinsing off the driveway - please stop.
It's rude, selfish and unnecessary most of the time, but even more so while we are having a dry heat wave.

Thank you.

Science time!

Not too long ago we studied the melting point of chocolate here in my warm attic office.

Luckily I have an air conditioner up here with me today.
I can now eat chocolate freely.


For today's melting experiments:

What is the melting point of candle wax?


anyone...anyone...


From further data we can hypothesize that it's lower than that of a large, black, FREE dog*.


Let's get this into perspective - shall we -


*she went out there willingly... never said she was bright.
also - yes the grass is dead. I like to call it summer dormancy.