The Yes Zone

Backyard bird update

November 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment

“Hummingbirds are vicious little buggers.” – A friend of mine.
“No, no, no – they’re so little and cute.” – Me.
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In which I try to answer the questions what kind of toilets do we use in Goa?, do cows really walk the streets?, can vegetables be flowers? and where I try to see if anyone can identify a flower/plant that I’m very fond of. Keep reading →

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The Limoncello

August 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

is coming along nicely.
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→ Leave a CommentCategories: Cooking · personal

The Waltz

July 31, 2009 · Leave a Comment

My dance partner (Lucy) and I performed last night at the Dance Arts studios. We hadn’t done that in a while, and given that a competition was coming up, thought that it would be a good idea.

It’s a short performance, and it’s not very polished, but here it is anyway:

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Birds, birds, birds

July 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment

About a week ago, I put out a bird feeder in my back yard. Watching them has been fun and it’s amazing to see how they respond to my presence and to try and figure out their pecking order.

It took them a while to start feeding. For a day or so, they would perch on the fence and on the rose bushes around and just seem to go about their business. Apparently, they were watching the feeder carefully to see if it was safe to perch and eat.

Sunday evening, I scared the group on there away when I came out to the back yard with my beer. After I’d been sitting in the sun for a while, two little finches flew to the feeder and started eating. They were plain brown ones (females, as I later found out from wikipedia). Then the red breasted ones (the males) flew down and chased the females away from the perches.

Watching them twit and flit about, chirping away is very relaxing. And as an added benefit, they’ve started hanging out on my rose bushes, eating the aphids and the rose bugs.

I’m thinking of getting a hummingbird feeder next. That should be even more fun.

When I was at the pet store looking for bird seed, I was surprised to see that the smallest bag was 10lbs and was a little unhappy, thinking that the seed would go waste, thinking, “well, how much do birds eat anyway?”

Well, I found out. This flock of around 10/15 finches goes through two cups of black sunflower seed every day. I think I may need another bag soon. Keep reading →

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Back yard news

June 21, 2009 · Comments Off

My back yard was slowly turning into a Jungle, so I called up the San Francisco Day Labor Program and hired a day laborer to come and help me with the cleanup. Their terms are very good: $50 for the first 3 hours, and $15/hr after that. With one strange (to me) condition listed on the hiring agreement that said “under our program policy, we do not ask about the immigration status of the workers who use the program.”

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British Govt ends teaching of the “I before E except after C rule”

June 21, 2009 · Comments Off

See: this yahoo story

Now I’d always found that rule strange, and everytime I heard it, I keept remembering this poem:

“I” Before “E” Except After “C”

It’s a rule that is simple, concise and efficeint.
For all speceis of spelling it’s more than sufficeint.
Against words wild and wierd, it’s one law that shines bright,
Blazing out like a beacon upon a great hieght.

It gives guidance impartial, sceintific and fair
In this language, this tongue to which we are all hier.
‘Gainst the glaceirs of ignorance that icily frown,
This great precept gives warmth, like a thick iederdown.

Now, a few in soceity choose to deride,
To cast doubt on this anceint and venerable guide;
They unwittingly follow a foriegn agenda,
A plot hatched, I am sure, in some vile haceinda.

In our work and our liesure, our homes and our schools,
Let us follow our consceince, sieze proudly our rules!
Will I dilute my standards, make them vaguer and blither?
I say NO, I will not! I trust you will not iether.

- By Duncan McKenzie (in rec.humor)

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Limoncello

June 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Some time ago, a friend had given me a bag full of lemons from her lemon tree (she’d harvested about a hundred pounds last year), so I thought of making some limoncello with it, since some of the recipes I read on line suggested using everclear, and the thought of making something delicious out of it was too much to resist.

Anyway, this is what it looked like last month with the alcohol + lemon peel in a jar.