Random Thoughts XII - This Thread Delivers

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Our son went to some school in Wisconsin and learned to fly something that looks like a bastardized cross between an ultralight and a swingset...it has wings and an engine. And that's about it. Scares the crap outta me, but he loves it.

His instructor is more than likely the guy that was on the podcast. They actually have a para glider aerobatic demo team that is actually pretty dang cool. I saw them up at Oshkosh last year and they do some spins and loops and other things. Two of the guys have even figured how to (very briefly) fly them backwards! As their normal job they run a para glider training school.

They had them perform at the beginning of the night airshow all lit up with stuff all lit up with LEDs and stuff. One of the guys took his time getting down and I am sure he was out of the way but....the next act was a B-1 doing some awesome passes and on one of them at least from the crowds perspective it didn't look like he missed the para glider by more than a couple hundred feet.
 
Saw a squirrel this evening in the Mall of America parking ramp. Fully urbanized and butt diving in the cigarette receptacle. :rolleyes:

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I guess I shouldn't be surprised this was on the Texas level. The state capitol grounds in Austin have some of the tamest squirrels I have ever seen. They will crawl right up on your lap and eat out of your hand if you let them.
 
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How many acres o'woods do you have?

Kinda picturing like this.....
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Nope - more thickly wooded than that. Not a lot of sun gets to the ground. We have 3 acres, in a line. The top (southernmost) acre is where the house and garagemahal sit. It's slightly sloped. The slope drops of fairly steeply after that, down to a creek that bisects the second & third acres (the third acre goes most of the way up the next hill).

The first section of woods I described is on the eastern half of the second acre behind the garagemahal; the second section is directly behind the house, and is a little more thinned out. The third acre is the southern facing slope that he recommended for an oak savannah restoration. He seemed really excited about the white oaks we have (there are five or six large, healthy specimens). Apparently they are dying out in Iowa? I guess environmentalists are trying to encourage repopulation of them, which is why he suggested applying for the grant. We didn't even know that was a thing!
Here's a couple of shots of the "thinned out" part...ignore the hairy beast in one of them... :)
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@ImJustKCClone.....I think the reason the oaks are dying out is because they grow so slowly, and other more aggressive species like pi$$ elm, hackberry, soft maple, etc crowd them out. Red oaks are still healthy, but the whites are disappearing.

With all those shagbarks, do you guys harvest any of the nuts? Just wondering.......
 
@ImJustKCClone.....I think the reason the oaks are dying out is because they grow so slowly, and other more aggressive species like pi$$ elm, hackberry, soft maple, etc crowd them out. Red oaks are still healthy, but the whites are disappearing.

With all those shagbarks, do you guys harvest any of the nuts? Just wondering.......
Oh, I forgot - we have some hackberry, walnuts & locust also.
The canopy is so high that we cannot reach the nuts, even the walnuts. And what escapes the squirrels gets lost in the undergrowth. Not gonna search for them, not with the freakin' poison ivy in there!!!
 
Probably should make a thread for this but I don't want to. In creating a list for DH of potential bday gift ideas, I was thinking about how my cheapy 5 year old laptop is probably due for a change and then got to thinking about what would be more useful with a kid around. I've never had a tablet so I'm probably going to ask dumb things like old people who are out of touch with technology :D So like...........what is the advantage or disadvantage of a tablet? I mostly use my laptop for interneting and looking at pictures we take. I don't use it for games or......anything else I suppose. I do like being able to have a bunch of tabs open that I can flip between as I research things. Oh, can you read books on a tablet or do you need an ereader thingy?

DH said maybe something like a really thin laptop that can flip around to be used like a tablet? I don't even know what those are. Lol, I'm not even 30 and already unable to keep up with technology. My current laptop is definitely not super portable. I mean, it can move but as far as like easily move from room to room, it's like a 15 inch screen and IDK, a normal laptop weight, so much heavier than what I presume a tablet is.
 
Also, DH mentioned last week that I never got him this gift he asked for once and so I got that this week and gave it to him last night. First of all, I don't know who he told about this gift - maybe one of his whores - because it wasn't me. I wouldn't have forgotten such a valuable piece of information since I keep a secret list of gift ideas that is always empty because he never gives me any ideas! Before his birthday, what do you want? Nothing. What would you like? nothing. So hmmmmmmmmm where was this idea then, boy??????

So yes, last night he got the full set of Calvin and Hobbs comics. Apparently he plans to read these to baby.
 
I have both a tablet and a laptop. Advantage of tablet - has a phone line, so can use data from our Verizon acct. Can be used anywhere you have a signal, and has a larger screen than my phone. Disadvantage - I can't type on the damn thing.

If I'm going to type anything more than basic twitter length, I need a full keyboard. On the tablet and my phone, I'm usually using just one index finger (my thumbs are not flexible enough to use the two thumb method most people seem to use on their phones).

Disadvantage of laptop - bigger, heavier, needs a wifi connection. Advantage of laptop: SPREADSHEETS!!!!
 
Who sits around and thinks, "I think I'll spend a few days making PJs for all of our goat kids."

Also, do you think they let the kids pick out their PJs?
That farm is in Maine; the goats are Nigerian pygmy. Do the temperature calculations. :) From what I saw, other people actually make the pajamas for them.
 
I have both a tablet and a laptop. Advantage of tablet - has a phone line, so can use data from our Verizon acct. Can be used anywhere you have a signal, and has a larger screen than my phone. Disadvantage - I can't type on the damn thing.

If I'm going to type anything more than basic twitter length, I need a full keyboard. On the tablet and my phone, I'm usually using just one index finger (my thumbs are not flexible enough to use the two thumb method most people seem to use on their phones).

Disadvantage of laptop - bigger, heavier, needs a wifi connection. Advantage of laptop: SPREADSHEETS!!!!

Hey! You can work with spreadsheets on a tablet. Google sheets!
 
Probably should make a thread for this but I don't want to. In creating a list for DH of potential bday gift ideas, I was thinking about how my cheapy 5 year old laptop is probably due for a change and then got to thinking about what would be more useful with a kid around. I've never had a tablet so I'm probably going to ask dumb things like old people who are out of touch with technology :D So like...........what is the advantage or disadvantage of a tablet? I mostly use my laptop for interneting and looking at pictures we take. I don't use it for games or......anything else I suppose. I do like being able to have a bunch of tabs open that I can flip between as I research things. Oh, can you read books on a tablet or do you need an ereader thingy?

DH said maybe something like a really thin laptop that can flip around to be used like a tablet? I don't even know what those are. Lol, I'm not even 30 and already unable to keep up with technology. My current laptop is definitely not super portable. I mean, it can move but as far as like easily move from room to room, it's like a 15 inch screen and IDK, a normal laptop weight, so much heavier than what I presume a tablet is.

Tablets are certainly lighter and more portable than notebook computers. I think you'd be able to do everything you currently do on your computer on a tablet. I haven't used a computer at home for years. My advice, don't use your tablet exactly as you would a computer. They are different animals. My wife, for example, refuses to install apps and instead just does everything through her tablet's web browser then gets frustrated because it's difficult to navigate. If a company has an app alternative to their website, use the app.
 
Tablets are certainly lighter and more portable than notebook computers. I think you'd be able to do everything you currently do on your computer on a tablet. I haven't used a computer at home for years. My advice, don't use your tablet exactly as you would a computer. They are different animals. My wife, for example, refuses to install apps and instead just does everything through her tablet's web browser then gets frustrated because it's difficult to navigate. If a company has an app alternative to their website, use the app.
Good points. I need to get better at using app versions. Still doesn't address my keyboard issue though! :D
While I was still working, I took my laptop when I traveled on vacation because much of my work was done in Excel, and I could easily import back & forth. That's not as much of a priority any more (thank goodness).
 
DH said maybe something like a really thin laptop that can flip around to be used like a tablet? I don't even know what those are. Lol, I'm not even 30 and already unable to keep up with technology. My current laptop is definitely not super portable. I mean, it can move but as far as like easily move from room to room, it's like a 15 inch screen and IDK, a normal laptop weight, so much heavier than what I presume a tablet is.
Yes there are convertible laptops where the screen flips all the way around to convert it into a tablet
 
Also, DH mentioned last week that I never got him this gift he asked for once and so I got that this week and gave it to him last night. First of all, I don't know who he told about this gift - maybe one of his whores - because it wasn't me. I wouldn't have forgotten such a valuable piece of information since I keep a secret list of gift ideas that is always empty because he never gives me any ideas! Before his birthday, what do you want? Nothing. What would you like? nothing. So hmmmmmmmmm where was this idea then, boy??????

So yes, last night he got the full set of Calvin and Hobbs comics. Apparently he plans to read these to baby.

Calvin & Hobbes is right behind Dilbert as my favorite comic strip ever.
 
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