Travelling this summer?

Ok, over on my other blog I wrote about a great little api that can inspire the artist. Here I'm going to share another one. Heck, forget just sharing it.. I believe we're going to end up using this!!

In a combination between Yahoo and Flickr, you can plan out an entire trip: note your flight/train/bus reservations, map your driving route, check out hotels and restaurants and make a list of things to do. That is, plan your trip before you take it.

Then, when you return, you can make a trip journal by uploading your photos to Flickr, and then inserting them in the appropriate place.

Planning and memories all in one place. This is Yahoo Travel's Trip Planner.

This might be a good thing to do with children (not tiny ones) or a way for a group to make plans and all get "on the same page". Then share your photos all in one place.. organized by location.

Whatcha think?? Ok, to try this out, I've started a Planner/Journal for my trip to BlogHer next week. So we can watch this whole thing develop.

Whatcha Doing Today? Again, trying to stay cool. maybe go to see a movie?

What's on TV Tonight? Again, nothing standing out.

Steps? Friday:10,225

Tags: api, TripPlanner, Yahoo, Flickr

RockStar Weekly...

I had an "a-hah" moment in the shower (don't most great ideas originate in the shower?) about this show:

One of the interesting things about the show last year was that all performers had to be familiar with a "portfolio" of INXS songs that they would be used on Elimination night. They were given a song, a beat, and it began.

This year the performers are choosing their own "swan songs".

I really wish that the producers and the "band" members had set up a portfolio before the show began. I know they don't have a large of the new band's songs.. but they could have made an interesting selection of cover songs. Then, when the band WANTS to hear someone rock harder.. they choose song X to force the issue. Note to the producers if this has a 3rd season.

An improvement they could make this season? Give Tommy Lee a strong dose of saltpetre and a gag.

Anyway, on to Wednesday's Elimination Show:

Darn.. I wrote the above earlier, then an entire evaluation of this show, live. then my browser decided to crash. (guess it was all the multi-tasking I did during the show...). Oh well. The short version:

Way too much talk-talk in the beginning. When there are fewer performers, will they show some of the real world stuff??

Magni Encore.. good!

Jenny : interesting, but her voice is too thin.

Dana: She just doesn't have "it."

And Josh? If this the best he can do, he won't be around long either. NOT THAT HE'S NOT TALENTED. Some of the song still sounded like a folk song with screaming.

Jenny's gone.. and should be, and Josh might be next.

Whatcha Doing Thursday? There is a sale at the guild meeting tonight, I've got to organize my stuff.

What's on TV Thursday night? Nothing that I can worth watching. Looks like a DVD night to me.

Steps Wednesday? 10,112

Tags: RealityTV, RockStarSuperNova

This is my Meez avatar... yep, looks just like me. I know you are green with envy about that big screen in the background.. and so distracted by my honking huge cuppa coffee that you haven't even noticed that I'm back to my college-aged weight and shape, though my modern day hair cut and color.

Whatcha Doing Today? trying to stay cool.

What's on TV Tonight? SciFi has the pilot of a quirky but fun looking new show called Eureka. We'll see...

What's growing the Garden?

How's my veggie garden doing, you ask? (well, you didn't.. but you should have!) Let's see...


My pepper plant is only about 12" tall.. but it's growing peppers!! Since I like them ripe (ie. not green..) it will be a month or so before I'm picking these.





















This is my cantaloupe plant... it sat for the longest time, pouting and refusing to admit it had germinated and needed to grow. Now it's finally starting to look a little like a plant. There are even flowers on it. Still looks like a month or more until I'm fruit happy












My yellow pear summer squash is the only real producer so far. Like zucchini, I forget why I planted it, as I tire of if before it stops producing.

















This is a volunteer!! I thought it was going to be a cucumber plant, but with a fruit on it now, I'm thinking canteloupe. What do you think? Or a canteloupe/watermelon cross?










Three small pie pumpkins are happily nesting in their leaves. Each of these should get about 12" round.. and about 8 pounds. Such tasty pie/pudding goodness is promised here.





















My tomatoes are all green, green, green. Which does not keep them from being attacked by the scrub jays!! See those tomatoes with the dark spots on their sides near the bottom? The Jays come along, poke holes in the fruits and eat the liquid/seed out these. Later the squirrels will come along and steal the nearly ripe fruits. They will eat about 1/4 and leave them sitting on the deckrail to taunt me.



See? more details of the Jay-eaten damage.

Tags: vegetable-gardening, gardening, vegetables.

Imagine...

Imagine what you would do if a box of tampons or sanitary napkins cost 50% of your monthly income.

RockStar SuperNova.. now there were 14

Yeah, I'm taking a break from blogging, but not from watching TV (this week). So wraps up are still being "Tivo- blogged." This lets me fast forward through any of the chatter that I really don't care for. (and it cuts a 1 hour show down to about 30 minutes of viewing time).

RSSN Elimination show:

First, I'm glad that Toby got the replay. I liked his rendition of the Somebody Told Me. Liked it Tuesday, and still liked it tonight.

Jill: Bring Me To Life the energy was good.. I liked most of the performance, but she was off-key during the final phrases. She'll be safe tonight, but not here to the end.

Zayra: You Really Got Me. (Who do these kids know this song from? Is it really the Kinks version that was a hit when I was like in 8th grade? Who has covered it in the last 25 years?) A repeat of a song that got her voted to the bottom?? What was she thinking?? The performance was strange.. it looked like she decided to "give the band what they wanted" without really understanding WTF that was. The screaming, the weird gyrations (she looked spastic!!), it wasn't an authentic performance. Frankly, it stunk.

Chris: If You Can Only See. It wasn't the strongest performance, but it should be adequate to keep him around. I can understand the bloggers who call him "hot".. in a kind of Joe Cocker-esque way. But his voice is a bit thin and I don't see him sticking to end.

See? What do I know? They kept Zayra (who should kiss the feet... or whatever... of the band for letting her stay another week.)

Whatcha Doing Today? Getting the oil changed, filing a stack of paperwork, walking the dogs.

What's on TV Tonight? RockStar Supernova, Project Runway.

Steps? 11300

Tags: RockStar Supernova, Project Runway, reality tv

Taking a Week Off

Just to let you know. I'm taking about a week off from blogging to actually live some life. Lots of little things that need to be done, pulling my attention away from here.

Whatcha Doing Today?
What's on TV Tonight?
Steps?

Where's my Remote??

This from Did I Shaved My Legs For This?.. a fun meme.

Below is a list of tv shows going back to the 1950s. If you've seen 3 episodes of a show, mark it in bold. Another suggested trick: if you know you've seen every episode, mark it in italics.

The list appears to change a bit from blog to blog (makes sense, an early list had CSI Miami and NYC but not the original!), adding and deleting one or two shows. This list has US and British shows; commercial and cable. I split the old "Battlestar Ponderosa" from the new Battlestar Galactica, and added DeGrassi High to it's counterpart.

And, before you judge me, I do not pay for HBO or Showtime, so those shows are all unseen by me, and I am old enough that I saw many of the older shows in their first run!!

The Shows:
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Angel
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica (Battlestar Ponderosa)
Battlestar Galactica(The best drama nobody watches)
Baywatch
Beverly Hills 90210
Bonanza
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle’s Show
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coronation Street
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
CSI (original Las Vegas)
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Danny Phantom
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi High (the original)
Desperate Housewives
Doctor Who (the new SciFi version, but not the older shows)
Eastenders
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Extras
Family Guy
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly I own the DVD set
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Grey’s Anatomy
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hogan’s Heroes
Home and Away
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Joey
Little House on the Prairie
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Medium
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Neighbours
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs
NYPD Blue
Only Fools and Horses
Oz
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Rescue Me
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spongebob Squarepants
Starsky and Hutch
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers who didn't want to be Mrs. Peale?
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Good Life
The Honeymooners
The Jetsons
The Love Boat
The Munsters
The O.C.
The Office
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Twin Peaks
Veronica Mars
Weeds
Whose Line is it Anyway Both the British & American
Will and Grace
Wings

Tags: memes, tv

Walking the Dog..

First, another shot from our walks. A small, shaped juniper.

My walks with Jake are interesting.. even when I'm confronted with extreme yard art. The route I normal take is out our door and to the right.. along the crest of the hill. I have a spot where we stop and I check my pedometer. How are my steps going? Do I need to go on? Usually the answer is yes.

Because of Google maps, I can scope out distances on the route.. and check the elevation change.
For the crest walk, there are two times when there is a 100 foot climb, and other smaller ups and down. A nice workout.

Today, we are heading in the opposite direction: downhill and slowly up. The elevation is a lot more demanding on this route..going down 220 feet in just over the first 1/2 mile. Most of the rest of the trip is spent working my way back up. Great for the heart rate...

Yard Art Gone Wild

With Katy rehabbing by taking short walks around the court, and high gas prices convincing me to keep the park in the garage, I often walk Jake along the top of our hill. In a two mile walk we get 2 separate sections with decent elevation change (about 80' each) but enough fairly level stuff to let the heart recover.

The other day I suddenly noticed this one yard. It's either a new installation or I've been oblivious on previous walks. This the first bed... filled with nice flower pots and few bunnies.

Behind and to the left is this collection. Almost all appears to be oriental themed... I think. These two beds flank the right hand side of the walk way heading up to the house.


















Next, I'm showing you the bed along the left hand side of their driveway.

And the grand finale: between the driveway and the walk way... I can say no more...

Whatcha Doing Today? Sewing a top.

Distraction? Sudoku puzzles.

Steps: Yesterday: 10,708

What's For Dinner, Deb? Stuffed
veggies (peppers and squash).

A "bangs trimming moment" in the garden.

We probably all do it. Buy a new plant and promise it and ourselves that we will give it the care it needs to thrive. Water it, fertilize it, and trim it as needed.

But the first year, the plant is small for the spot so you do nothing; the second year, it fills the space nicely so you admire your good taste in choosing it. The third year? The plant threatens to take over your garden and your baffled.

My fern was just such a garden thug before today. Realizing that that bed had been ignored way too long, I began my attack today.

First I simply started trimming the plant back. That reminded me too much of trimming one's bangs. Ya know.. you start to trim just a little off; next thing you know you're "admiring" the fringe above your forehead!!


So I decided to be too soon shmart.. and examined the plant.

I noticed that the stems had a variety of looks: smooth and reddish brown, fuzzy and dark brown, fuzzy and green. I decided that the smooth and light brown ones were the oldest, and worked my way through the plant cutting all of them out. Plus a number of the dark turning lighter brown stems.

The fern now has elbow room to grow.. and some air circulation to keep it healthy. And LOOK at all I trimmed off!!

I hereby pledge to try and keep on the shrub trimming for the garden in the future.

Whatcha Doing Today? uhm.. do you read this blog? I'm gardening.

Reading? A novel by Ben Bova

Steps: Almost 16,000 yesterday.

What's For Dinner, Deb?Breaded chicken boobs, fresh broccoli, cranberry sauce and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Tags: gardening, ferns

The Good HouseWife Lemon Bars

Fellow BlogHer editor Mary Tsao wrote in a comment that:

I have this idea in my head that all good housewives know how to make lemon bars. And I can't.

Hmm.. I used to have this perfect lemon bar recipe; haven't made it in ages! (probably something about need to lose weight, and avoiding temptation and simple carbs? but who knows?). And I know exactly where it...

was in the old kitchen. Wow! I haven't made these in ages!! I wonder where the recipe is now?

Searches the cupboard where the cookbooks are. Nope.
Searches the paper file on the counter. Nope.
Looks in the drawer where some of the bakeware is stored. Nope.
Check the junk drawer. Yep.

Now this recipe was originally called Presidential Lemon Bars. And the intro told that both US presidents Reagan and Clinton liked lemon bars for dessert. Gives me a hint when I found this recipe: early 90s. (NOT that they said that this was the recipe used... but..).

Now I'm going to rename these:

The Good Housewife Lemon Bars

Makes: 32 bars 1x2"
Prep. Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

1-1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine softened
2 eggs or 1/2 c. egg substitute
3 Tbs. Lemon Juice
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Note: Use fresh squeezed lemon juice or Minute Maid Lemon Juice only. MM is the yellow bottle you find in the freezer section. DO NOT USE THE GREEN BOTTLE SHIT.

Combine 1 Cup of flour and 1/4 C sugar, then cut in the margarine/butter until the mix resembles coarse crumbs. Press this mixture onto the bottom of an 8x8x2 baking pan. Bake at 350F. for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Blend eggs, Lemon Juice, and remaining flour and sugar. Pour over the pastry and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the mixture is set. Cool slightly, then sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired. Cool completely, cut in the 2x1" bars.

If you try this, please let me know how it came out.

Tags: baking, lemon bars, recipes

Sex in the Garden

Checking out the garden today, everything is beginning to fruit. The tomatoes are 2" and smaller, so atleast a month away from being globes of red wonder. The peppers are blooming, but one has been attacked by some kind of stem chewing nasty that has probably killed it. My one summer squash is taking over it's level of the garden...and I've been picking pear squash off it. It lucks holds, however, a vine borer will kill it just after the holiday on Tuesday.

The summer squash, and all the other plants are members of the Cucurbitaceae family: cucumbers, melons and winter squash. These are starting to put out both male and female blossoms and I hope beginning to set fruit.

What's that? You didn't know that plants have a specific sex? let me show you:

The blossom at the top of this post is a male blossom. Note the large flower, the upright position and the smooth stem.

Now these are two spots are going to be come female blossoms. Their stems are quite a bit shorter, their blossoms a bit smaller, and see? they already look like they are bearing fruit. That fruit is the ovary of the female blossom.

The male blossoms will appear first on these plants, to insure thier presence when the girls are ready. Then the females show up in greater numbers than the males waiting for pollination to make them vegetables. If for some reason the blossoms are not pollinated, you will find a small brown dried up fruit that soons drops off the vine.

Whatcha Doing Today? Chores. Shopping, walking the dogs and working in the garden. Plus I need to write about 5 blogposts.

Reading? OK, I've decided. I don't really care for Poisonwood Bible and I'm going to quit reading it. I love Prodigal Summer.. but PB, not so much.

Steps: Friday: 8412 steps.

What's For Dinner, Deb? Potato pancakes, pastrami and coleslaw.