wrm

Controlled burn, my hairy… donkey

On the way home yesterday, people were calling in to the local radio station, asking about all the smoke in the air. Initial reports were that it was a controlled burn, but later on people reported fire engines and water-carrying helicopters.

This was the view from our porch last night.

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The fire came over the mountain and down to the firebreak, probably no more than 50m from the top row of houses. Fortunately there was absolutely no wind (well, just a breeze, carrying the smoke to the right as you can see).

Here’s a Google Earth image of the area. We live over there, on the right, between the red roofs at the top and the circle on the right edge. The camera’s pointing just a touch south of west.

Click to embiggen.

The white line is where I guess the fireline was.

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Gratuitous moon shot.

2009-08-25 by wrm House 0

Note to self

If your wife says “I have the hiccups,Â quick, someone, give me a fright”… DON’T.

Because she will spill red wine all over the couch, the cats, you, and herself, thereby upsetting the cats and ruining the couch and her clothes, and it will all be your fault.

At least it cured the hiccups.

2009-08-23 by wrm Farting around 2

You know it’s cold…

… in the De Waal / Hubbard / Blake household when you walk in the door and this is what you see.

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2009-08-13 by wrm Farting around 2

Gnocchi

This is a recipe from Jamie, which I scribbled down from a book my mom had. Simple, but great, especially if you have a vegetarian daughter who lurves mushrooms.

Thinly slice a punnet of brown mushrooms, fry in oil, add salt, pepper, maybe a bit of marjoram or rosemary, maybe a bit of chilli powder. Add one cup vegetable stock, bring to boil.

Meanwhile, boil a pot of water with a lot of salt, then slowly (as to not douse the boil) add gnocchi. When they float, remove with slotty spoon, add to mushroom sauce.

And that’s it. OK, you can add a couple of tablespoons of Creme Fraiche if you’re feeling decadent.

2009-08-13 by wrm Foooooood 1

Amazon-mass

Father Amazon dropped by.

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Looks like I have something to read this weekend.

2009-08-07 by wrm Geek 1

Time sink

LabRat pointed me at fukung.net. This is a horrible waste of time. And not safe for work, which means it’s your own time you’re wasting.

But this one made me laugh:

GunControl0504

2009-08-07 by wrm Farting around 0

My scale is trying to kill me.

If you have a Boardman’s BF103 Digital Scale, take note.

yin This symbol denotes female,

yang and this one denotes male.

If you get it wrong, the POS will look things up in the wrong table, and pronounce you, the guy, underweight, and her, SWMBO, the love of your life, the one you promised to love and cherish,Â and the person most likely to kill you if you Don’t Watch Your Step, as obese.

You Have Been Warned.

2009-07-28 by wrm Farting around Geek 0

Scalzi rocks

Marko pointed me to Scalzi. Being of the opinion that Marko knows what he’s talking about most of the time :-) I ordered a copy of Old Man’s War from Amazon. Just finished it, and it rocks.

A bit rough around the edges, couple of things he (in my opinion, of course) missed, but not bad for a young ‘un (Mr Scalzi is two years younger’n me :-)

I can’t help but to compare OMW to Neal Stephenson‘s first book, The Big U. I really really like Stephenson, Diamond Age, Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are highly recommended [1] — but The Big U, while having excellent ideas, is way shaky.

But let’s face it — I expect that from a first novel. And that’s why Scalzi rocks. If he improves like Stephenson improved, or for that matter like Pratchett improved [2], it’s going to be phenomenal. If he just maintains, it will still be good.

The other three books in the trilogy immediately found themselves on my Amazon wish list.

Now I’m into Parker’s Devices and Desires, the first of a trilogy. Someone recommended it, but I can’t remember who. Looks like it might be good.

[1] You have to be really into Stephenson to read the Baroque cycle :-)

[2] Go read The Colour of Magic again — it’s shakey :-)

2009-07-19 by wrm Geek 0

End of an Era.

Giovanni came to South Africa some 45 years ago [1]. He was one of the first people to cut my hair, at Salon Etna, on Thibault Square in Cape Town (my grandmother worked next door, in the Medical Centre).

Over the years Giovanni became a Cape Town landmark, to the point of briefly appearing in a Vodacom advertisement (13 seconds in).

Well, I went there this morning, and Giovanni is now called Eleanor… he retired in May, sold the place to her. She tells me he still checks in every week, and that one of the two barber’s chairs is on loan from him (he imported four chairs from Japan, waybackwhen, and vowed to give one chair to each of his sons and to keep one chair to himself [2], leaving Eleanor with a solitary chair — she will have to make a plan sometime).

Anyway, I shall toast the memories of his haircuts at sundowners tomorrow.

[1] My father can tell the story in the comments if he feels like it [3].

[2] Pieter can tell the story in the comments if he feels like it.

[3] Pieter can help my father figure out how to :-)

2009-07-16 by wrm Farting around 0

Bloggers come and bloggers go…

Alosha decided to hang up her blogging gloves. Fortunately I managed to save some of her recipes from the google cache.

On the other hand, I ran across Vanilla Basil (divine looking carrot cake) and the Pioneer Woman (I’ve made lasagna almost her way, it does rock).

And Pioneer Woman runs Tasty Kitchen. I think recipe books are essentially obsolete.

2009-07-15 by wrm Foooooood 0