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My nephew is doing a space walk (his first, the woman he's doing it with is on her fourth)! Live link, think it will be saved as well: Trying to watch while at work, very cool stuff!

Good amount of snow here, I actually lost power for about 1-2 minutes earlier this a.m. But all good now. I've been worried about some friends and family in harder hit areas, but thankfully no one on my list lost power. My back deck has some nice blown drifts.....

Saturday was Pie Day so we had previously agreed to celebrate this week. So tonight I made but did not bake Taco Pie and also made the crust (and did bake) for a Chocolate Chess Pie.

Steve loves to smile for pictures

For the New Englanders:

WCPGW? I used a leftover biscuit this morning to make breakfast.

Finished this morning, devoured at work.

I read an article about the best breakfast burrito in the Bay Area and the winner had cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, beef tallow tater tots, crema and avocado. I didn't have tots so I heated up some fries and then fried them in the bacon fat. Adding a bit of salsa as I eat. It's almost too decadent and I'm considering going back to bed.

Pepperoni, mushroom and onion pizza

So, updates from our little shelter. Since cats are now used to find proper food whenever they're hungry, they are not coming in big numbers when we put food in containers. Also the time for remaking the upper side has come. We'll redo it this summer. Also recently we added a proper sleeping place for hard weathers. We modified an old bed base, isolated it, put some rags and cushions in it. Here are the most recent pics from visitors: We had our doubts if cats wants to use the shelter for sleep but as we can see from "biscuit" marks, they do. And Şanslı (Lucky). She was abandoned (by an ex neighbour, she is neutered), was hanging around our backyard. She was attacked by a dog or dogs. Dog caught her by her lower back. There was clear bite marks. She couldn't use her back legs but after long treatment and thanks to her will, now she is fine. Bad thing is she and Şirin cannot get along. So we made a proper place for her in the building, in front of our enterance. When Şirin is not at home or sleeping, she comes in and hangs out. We named her "Şanslı" cuz, well, she survived a very bad dog attack and recovered well.

Shepherd's Pie...sort of -- used ground turkey instead of lamb and beef culinary stock, but otherwise...NAILED IT! It came out delicious. Didn't overwhelm with any one particular spice (I'm looking at you, the usual suspects garlic and black pepper), but it was sweet and savory and the carrots came out perfectly al dente...just...(chef's kiss)... Yes, I realize I'm kissing myself.

A few roadside graffiti snaps from two mostly grey days on a recent trip to Monument Valley and Route 66, that aren’t at Monument Valley or on Route 66. Colors are from the SL2 (CV 50mm f/1 Nokton) and monochrome the M9M (LLL 28 f/2.8 9E). Final two are with the Sigma BF (24mm f/2 Contemporary). I need more road trips in my life.

Happy PI Day

"The speakers ARE the room treatment."

If Stayin' Alive Had Been Written in the 16th Century

Added lights to the patio. Previously Now with lights That work! And are automated!

Breakfast at the Mayberry compound. I made homemade biscuits while Al manned the flattop. He cooked bacon, hashbrowns and a scramble w/sautéed onion, bell pepper and cheese. We had honey peppered smoked salmon, which a few of us mixed into our scramble. Mmmmm! Now I don't see this as a bad thing, but I tend to cook just slightly more than needed. Is 18 eggs, 15 biscuits and a pound and a half of bacon really too much for 5 people? 😀 I believe that there should be leftovers for everyone to take home.

"I think I found a market for these old SCSI cables."

Some sourdough za and a glass of red.

Thanks everyone! We were away for a long weekend of eating and drinking. Our son lives in the NE of the UK, so we spent a couple of days with him. Then we spent two days at The Black Swan at Olstead https://www.blackswanoldstead.co.uk/ , a two michelin star restaurant. That was quite an experience. 7 courses in the tasting menu with a glass of matching wines with each course. This is really in the middle of nowhere down a single track road. As it got narrower and narrower we honestly wondered if we were on the right road. Got back a few hours ago - and I feel as if I've put on quite a bit of weight! Cheers all!

Thanks all. It's a bit difficult to comprehend (at times anyway) where the time goes. I remember a lot of what's happened in the last 25 years or so but at the same time don't. But I think I'll continue Operation Ostrich and try not to have today feel like much more than any other day. That said, minus work it was a great day of catching up with some friends and family and having good food at home and now breaking my no-drinking-till Thursday rule to enjoy a wee dram of the good stuff.

Petaluma (West) Acme Burger 'n Acme Larger, Fish 'n Chips, Chocolate Shake

Quick paella (in a frying pan)

Bacon, tomato, spinach, avocado and queso fresco omelet with fresh baked biscuits. I think I've mentioned before that I like my omelets on the darker side. Iced coffee with Irish Cream Liqueur to drink. Food coma incoming.

90’s action plus some classic heart

10 potato cheesy skillet bake.

Sweet Italian sausage and leek Detroit pizza

When I've had time recently I've assembled a few more DIY electrostatic headphones: First off, the last of the Superex chassis I had in stock so I designed a new stator design for them: This has been a long running project to to make drivers and test the various aspects in a controlled housing. They are not ideal as they are mostly closed but I got a bunch of them for next to nothing years ago. New stators with some minor tweaks and a protective grill too: These are not really built for sound quality but to test different coatings, distortion tests on drivers and all that jive but still fun to have a pile of these here. Since the Superex is just a Beyerdynamic clone, I found some DT880's with blown drivers that could also work: The need to be modified internally a bit to open up the back but nothing major. Different stators on this one and the drivers have to be at a 45° angle to get it all to fit (not that it matters at all) but same basic idea as above Round them off with some nice leather pads, silicone 6 core cable and my new Stax plugs that I've been refining recently. These do sound better than the Superex shell as the backwave is more open. Finally, the second of those Kiwi Ears headphones was fitted with drivers: No major changes here except I didn't use the bayonet plate to fix the earpads, I rather slipped the stock pads over the lip of the housing which helped a lot Also some simple tweaks to ensure better baffle seal: Thick cloth tape here and it works nicely. These are okey sounding headphones for next to no money at all.

Previously: One day lad, all this will be yours. What, the curtains?

Brit Brunch

Update - woke up to 2" of new snow. It is time for winter to end.

One of those songs that sneaks up on you gradually. Robert Quine (Voidoids, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Tom Waits) on guitar.

^^ in my queue, looking forward to it. The Magnificent Moodies by The Moody Blues (1965) https://open.qobuz.com/album/urxbgzj4qgepc Example:

Jazz in the Movies: Chet Baker Performing (which he only does on seven of the 18 tracks). This Italian release is under various titles and various track listings, so whatever you find, may or may not be the same album, but this version is a good listen as you wind down the work week (yes, I'm mentally winding down at 9am). Also not to be confused with the Jazz on Film: Italian series, which is much more comprehensive and I probably need to buy next. Ex. EDIT: Just bought.

From All Sides by Vince Guaraldi (1964) https://open.qobuz.com/album/v8c45tsbx2ekb Example: Ah Bola.. Not super fidelity on this album, but a very nice listen.

Cable Managed / Mangled "Streamer Edition", with passing turkeys. 🦃 🦃 🦃

I do like me a go fast story...

Danny sure could sing.

I did this recipe today, and for some reason, made me think of French toast. Mostly the crispy outside and the soft inside. But also the sweetness. AQNEI5o45uP6-hbhQdgA4t3CyC5TSsM4mUb4R6fdezLunPXr5cpA9q2Cbw8VikSymhKZ53KycFP0EreG1IWczYRdhd5PEawtLiL-94RjhbVqKQ.mp4

but you'll spend that 15 minutes on the crapper.

Last night. Absolutely delicious Birthday rib dinner at Al's place. Complete with chocolate cake and my favorite people!

Another one from a while back.

Front Deck Brunch

Claire has this powdered Buttermilk in the fridge for times she doesn't have fresh.

I use what I think is a very simple recipe, from Melissa Clark (NYT cooking), with slight tweaks based on what I actually have in the kitchen. Ingredients Yield:10 to 12 biscuits 230grams (about 2 cups) all-purpose flour 50grams (about ½ cup) cake flour 15grams (about 1 tablespoon) baking powder 8grams (about 2 teaspoons) sugar 6grams (about 1¼ teaspoon) fine sea salt 9tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 1cup buttermilk, chilled I rarely have cake flour so just use 2-1/2C of whatever I have. I rarely have buttermilk so use a substitute of 1T of white vinegar and a scant C of whatever milk is in the fridge. If I am feeling really lazy I'll use salted butter and scale down the salt or sometimes I don't have unsalted butter. The technique is simple, whisk together all the dry ingredients, cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, stir in the buttermilk while try not to over mix. Turn onto a floured surface, roll until ~3/4" thick, and I use a biscuit cutter to cut the rounds making sure not to twist the cutter. Allegedly that seals off the outside and doesn't let them rise properly while baking. I've never had this recipe fail. I'm lazy, so I never brush the tops with butter - which is what 1 of the 9 (heart-attack-inducing) TBS of butter is for. So I usually just use 8 in the dough.

In, ahem, "honour" of Randy Andy getting cuffed, I resurrected a meme format from the early 2000s.

Used Gemini to fix and update my Ubuntu server. At one point, I had a great success, so I told it, "(party favour noise)", and it responded, "(confetti cannon fires)", LOL.