Wow! Anna the Red was asked to make a Google Chrome icon bento, and to videotape the process. I knew she was really creative and had mad bento skilz, but after watching the work that goes into making one bento, I think she’s a little nuts(in a good way).
Andy Schneider, the Chicken Whisperer (ha!), has a series of podcasts on Blog Talk Radio - today’s is about backyard poultry laws.
Erika sent me a link to this neat bottle wall the Sustainable Scientist is building. They’re using a variety of beer bottles in a wooden frame - it’s designed so the bottles are replaceable if they get broken.
Greening of Gavin has a really interesting post on how to make cheese at home. I tried this once with disastrous results, but he looks like he knows what he’s doing.
Andru in the UK built his own version of a plastic bottle greenhouse. He got his bottles through Freecycle, a great idea!
Puzzlewright Press, an imprint of Sterling, has a free puzzle every day - be sure to click the Archive button on the right of that page for puzzles from the last two months.
Erika sent me a link to this New York Times article about the Waterpod, a home built on a barge. They plan to make the 30×100 foot barge as self-sufficient as possible, with chickens, gardens, and power from a mix of solar, wind, and bicycle.
MomFuse has a bunch of Father’s day giveaways going on - my favorite is this C-3PO MIMOBOT flash drive.
I have a fairly old toaster, about 20 years old, and it’s starting to take a long time to toast things. I don’t really want to pay someone to fix it, if I could even find someone who does repairs on what’s considered a disposable appliance. I’d love to not just buy a new one - this one still works, it’s just slow. I was looking around online for information about repairing toasters and often the advice is “toasters are so cheap, if it doesn’t work just buy a new one”. I came across the Fix-It Club site - they have guides to fixing almost everything! If they don’t have enough info to actually fix something, their info will help you understand the workings and diagnose your problem, and at least figure out if you appliance is fixable.
I also found Fixya, where you can ask questions, look up stuff, and there are lots of manuals. If you have the chops, you can also help other people fix things.
Anyone know of other good fixing-things resources?
My cocoon-ensconced caterpillar still looks exactly the same, so I won’t bore you with another picture of him. In my search to identify him (I still haven’t found a picture that looks exactly right yet) I’ve learned some fascinating caterpillar facts. Did you know they make their cocoons from their own hair? So you still shouldn’t touch them, the hairs can cause skin irritation - some caterpillars are even venomous.
The picture above is of one of the most amazing caterpillars ever - it’s called a Monkey Slug. Bugs often survive by looking like other, less-edible things - Monkey Slugs might have that shape because they’re imitiating spiders or galls. (wonderful photo by Lynette Schimming, who does a lot of photos for BugGuide)
