Shellpot Creek Strawberry Festival

Last year I built a 4' x 4' raised bed in a somewhat sunnier part of the yard to plant strawberries. It is better to plant the strawberries in a raised bed because then it is easier to keep them contained as the runners like to spread out an colonize other parts of the soil. Last year was the planting year and this year is the harvest. Right now there are strawberries or flowers in every stage of ripeness.FlowersGreen unripe berriesWe picked the...

Read More

Detroit Tigers beat Baltimore Orioles on Saturday

It turns out that the Detroit Tigers did beat the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday (They also won today). here are some pictures from the game. The bets one would have been of me catching a foul ball because we were right behind home plate. However the guy sitting behind me caught my foul ball! I would have probably dropped it anyway.Here is Jim Leyland and a coach looking at Everett's hand after he was hit by a pitch.Leyland is my favorite coach,...

Read More

Detroit Tigers at Batimore Orioles

Baseball in Baltimore. Hopefully Detroit can win won finally. They have lost the past two nights.Go Tige...

Read More

Pillsbury Doughboy Cartoon Roundup

I suppose it makes sense that somebody as sweet as the Pillsbury Doughboy gets cavities.Then there is the question of what to do with all of that sweetness.You may have also seen the obituary of the Pillsbury Doughboy.Dear friends, Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in...

Read More

Still difficult to photograph a Blue heron on Shellpot Creek

A friend that was babysitting understand my obsession with recording the wildlife on Shellpot Creek tried to get a photo of the Blue Heron on Saturday. Her efforts equaled my own in this task and she suffered the same difficulties.The blue heron is very skittish and takes flight at the slightest noise, I think it can hear us inside the house. Invariably it is also walking up the creek so it tends to be a moving target for the picture. Still I...

Read More

Screaming Yellow

These perennials are called Screaming Yellow. They are Baptisia sphaerocarpa.Planted last year, they are doing well this year. Supposedly they do poorly in the year they are planted but then perk up as shown. We are big perennial fans for the simple reason that you don't have to plant them each year, and many of them look gre...

Read More

Late Spring Flowers - Peonies smell so good

I wish there was a Sniffr(tm) just like Flickr where you could upload the smell of something. These peonies smell even better than they look. You will just have to go outside and smell your own or just imagine as you look at these pictures.The ants love themThree in a r...

Read More

More Elements fun

The Knights of the Periodic Table.(other element fun: Element Letters, Better Gaming Through Chemistry, Elemental, My Dear)(Cartoon from The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilbu...

Read More

Cool videos of TacSat3 launch from Wallops Launch Site

Here is a followup and cool video of the TacSat3 satellite launch from Wallops Island in Virginia at the tip of the Delmarva peninsula that occurred on Tuesday night. I did not see anything from Delaware, but people in Rockville, Md, Charlottesville, Va, and Wilmington, De claim to have seen the rocket trail. Also, Leesburg, VA, Eldersburg outside of Baltimore, DC, Severn, MD, and even Philadelphia claim sightings. Here is a picture of a rocket trail from Arlington, VA. Picture of a rocket trail from Lusby, MD. Pictures from western shore...

Read More

Azaleas blooming like crazy

It is azalea blooming time in Wilmington. These bushes looked pretty ragges when we got the house and I still hope to shape them a little going forward. Put enough blooms on them and they look great. They have been doing better since the removal of a fallen weeping cherry tree, the world's sharpest holly bushes and other stuff that was crowding them out. Enj...

Read More

Satellite Launch from Wallops tonight at 7:35pm

Here we go again with the launch of a TacSat satellite from the Wallops NASA launch site at the tip of the Delmarva peninsula. The launch is tonight at 7:35pm, though the launch window extends to 11pm. Clear skies mean the weather is probably not a factor, but that isn't what stopped it last time. I will try to glance south at the appropriate time, but tonight I may miss it.The last time was a bu...

Read More

Explosion at Refinery in Claymont felt for miles

It turns out that last night we felt and heard the explosion that occurred at Sunoco's refinery at the PA/DE border just to the northeast of us. I was reading in bed and heard a loud THUMP and thought a branch or something fell on the roof, Lynn thought that the house shook. I got up to look around and see if anything had fallen. I looked out and there was no wind to shake the brnaches and drop the phantom limbs. Now we know what it was.We are about 5 miles southwest of the refinery as the crow flies. I wonder how they would have gotten all...

Read More

Baseball curve ball part skill part illusion

It turns out that while curve ball in baseball really does curve a bit due to aerodynamic forces and they way it is thrown, that there is an optical illusion component. Many players claim that a curve ball seems to suddenly break, more than the physical science would seem to indicate. Turns out that is due to the eye shifting between central vision and peripheral vision as the pitch reaches the batter. Researchers fromAmerican University, USC,...

Read More

TIGERS license plate in Delaware

Spotted this TIGERS Delaware license plate. I know a Detroit Tigers fan in Delaware that would love to have this plate.Given the location and lack of other Detroit or Michigan identifying information on the car, I expect that we should look more locally for the reference of this license plate, rather than assume it is a Michigan expatriot.The top contender is the A.I. DuPont Tigers, a high school on the road where I saw this car. Other options...

Read More

Last night's storms raise Shellpot creek

I love taking pictures of the creek when it is running faster due to rainfall. It is interesting all the time but even more interesting when it rains.Since I was asleep and it was dark I probably missed the high point for this event last night.Someday I need to get a webcam pointed at the creek and then we can all watch all the ti...

Read More

German Tuba Urinals

This blasphemy is being committed in a pub in Germany.From the owner, "Most people see the funny side but we've had a few complaints from musicians." The article calls these tenor horns, I might call them euphoniums. That doesn't make the scandal any less. Perhaps a pairing of these German Tuba Urinals with the Japanese War Tubas is in order.(via TYWKID...

Read More

SHDOWFX license plate in Delaware

I have a good idea as to the reference probably intended by this license plate. First to come up with it wins bragging rights. Leave your guess in the commen...

Read More

NASA Rocket launch center practically in my backyard

I did not know that there is a NASA rocket launch center on Wallops Island in Virginia towards the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. Compared with Cape Canaveral that is practically in my backyard. How did I not know about it and not visit it on the way to all those trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina?Nevertheless the rocket launch of an Air Force satellite scheduled for last night was postponed until tonight. You can follow the status here,...

Read More

Rainbow over Rt202 and Rt141

Into every life a little rain must pour, but then come the rainbo...

Read More

Stop Wikipedia Vandals

A fake quote attributed to French Composer Maurice Jarre was inserted by Shane Fitzgerald into Wikipedia and fooled newspapers around the world. Supposedly it was intended as a social experiment about globalization and reporter fact checking. While it seems to have shamed the reporters and press somewhat, it is still being reported as a failure of Wikipedia somehow, even though the quote was removed from the article because it had no referenced sources, while Fitzgerald repeatedly added it.Whenever I tell someone that I looked up something on...

Read More

The bigger container is better right?

These two containers are different sizes and one is bigger than the other. However the taller one (ooh, it looks bigger) actually contains 59oz instead of 64oz in the shorter "smaller" container. Besides not fitting in my refrigerator it is a great way to pay more for less.Prices from the Acme website show $4.99 for the tall 59oz and $4.49 for the short 64oz regardless of the type. You do get less sugar with the tall Trop50 but I would think to...

Read More