Wondering About Smart Little Things.

Some small little smart things have changed the world.  I can think of a lot and I could make a list but for today I am only going to talk about one of them, the microchip.  This little smart chip changed life as we know it.  Just think what it did for computers.  OK, I am going to give away my age, but when I was in college, computers were programmed by punch cards.  I did a previous post about computer storage back in 2010,   http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2010/09/computer-storage.html 

Yep, computer storage has increased but the computing part (the brains) has shrunk down to something that is almost invisible.  No more special climate controlled rooms fed by large current carrying electric power cables, no more punch cards, and no more reels of magnetic tape.

Take all this computing power, multiply it by a thousand fold, and shrink it down to almost nothing and you have a modern computer chip.  You can see how small they are in the next picture of one on the tip of a finger.

This has made our modern life so much more fun and intelligent.  Now, all the information you could ever want is in your smart phone.  No, I don't have a smart phone, we just have tablets and computers.  These small chips can be used for a lot of things other than a phone or computer, some of which would be for tracking and spying and other naughty things.

Who is to blame for these little chips?  An English fellow named Geoffrey Dummer.  Now isn't that strange, a fellow named "Dummer" invented a chip that was "smarter".  He was born Feb. 25, 1909 and passed away Sept. 9, 2002.  He was a British electronics engineer and consultant.

I don't know about you, but I would like to thank Mr. Dummer for his contribution to our lives and the information age.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Remembering My First Taste of Texas

I was remembering back when I first came to Texas.  It sure was a lot different than what I was used to living most of my life back then in Pennsylvania and then moving to Michigan for a little over a year.  I went back through my blog archives and found this blog that I wrote.  No, it wasn't written when I moved here, but a little while afterwards.  Anyway, I figured that you all would get a kick out of reading it, so just click here First Taste of Texas  and I hope you enjoy it.  I got a kick out of reading it again.  I have been here a long time now, and can't see myself living any other place.  So, have a great day, enjoy my old blog posting, and let me know how you feel about the state that you live in today, you hear?
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OK, some of you can't make my link work, so I will copy and paste that full blog post below:

First Taste of Texas

Remember that C&W song, “The First Taste of Texas”? Think I will reminisce a little and think back to when I got my “first taste of Texas”. Actually, my first taste was when I flew down from Yankee Land to Houston for a job interview.
The first thing that hit me was the view out of the airplane’s window as we were descending for a landing at Houston’s big airport. All those trees, rivers, and lakes; where are all the mountains, deserts, and wide open spaces that I saw on all the “cowboy” shows?
After landing, I didn’t need to go outside to get to the hotel there at the airport. All the terminals and the hotel are connected by underground tunnels. Checked into the hotel, had dinner, and decided to step outside to take a look around. It was October and I did not expect what was about to happen. As soon as I stepped out that door I got hit in the face with air that must have escaped from a run-a-way sauna. Could not believe the humidity and heat, and it was way after the sun went down. Started thinking, “what am I getting myself into”. Needless to say, that during that first winter in Texas, I was in shirt sleeves when everyone else was wearing Woolrich and other heavy hooded coats. Now, I am the one wearing the coat.
It was not just the weather that surprised me, but the insects! I had spent the first 36 years of my life living in Pennsylvania and then I moved to Michigan to take a great position. In the short time that I was there, I did try to fish and canoe some of the rivers, but found out that the mosquitoes were so bad at times that you couldn’t breathe without inhaling them. Had to run back to the vehicle for protection, so I knew about bugs. But, roaches were another story. Up north, the only place I had ever seen a roach was in an old barn and they were small and quick to disappear.
Before I go on, let me fill you in on some history. I first came to Texas without my family to find a place to live. Pulled a pop-up tent camper that I lived in until I found a place. The company I came to work for was Richmond Tank Car Company and the Baytown area seamed like the closest place to find temporary living quarters. My youngest son came down to join me and we finally found a town house type of apartment that had two floors with two bedrooms up and one down.
OK, back to the bugs. The first Texas size roach I saw was at work out in the shop in a “men’s room”. It was huge; I had never seen anything like it!!! I ran over and stepped on it. It was so big that I skated across the floor on what was left of it, YUK!!!!
Now, back to the apartment; my son and I moved in and since we had been living in a tent camper, we didn’t have a lot of furniture. We took the mattresses out of the camper and put on the floor, brought in the small TV, and lawn chairs to sit on. Not quite the typical bachelor pad (grin). The first evening there after supper, my son and I settled down to watch a little TV. All of sudden I saw one of those huge roaches run up the wall, then another, then another, etc.
The first thing the next day I complained to the management. They said someone moved out of the unit next to me and it was sprayed, so the bugs must have ran into my place. (Yeh, right.) They said that they would get an exterminator in as soon as they could, but it would take awhile.
Well, they say when you get hit with a sour lemon, make lemonade. I stopped at a store on the way home the next day and saw some toy pistols that shot those darts with the suction cups on the end. I purchased two of them and that night, my son and sat there watching TV, and when a roach ran up the wall, BANG. Hey, it was fun and my son enjoyed it. Of course we didn’t hit everyone that we shot at but we had a good time. Of course when my wife and other son finally came, she asked what the marks were on the wall. We didn’t know???????

A Visitor to my Shed.

I have a shed that I use to store my yard tractor and lawn mower.  When some fellows were working on my house fixing a plumbing leak, I had them put it up for me.  They did everything but the roof.  They even went with me to Lowe's so that they could carry the metal roofing back in their truck and install it.  That was nice of them but. . . the dropped it off and went off somewhere never to return.  But anyway, I just spread a large tarp over the rafters and tied it down at the four ends.  The only other problem with the shed, is that the doors overlap keeping one from closing, so I lean some concrete slabs on them to keep them closed:

 

I picked up one concrete square at a time and laid them down and to my surprise, I found a pretty copperhead hiding behind one of the stepping-stones I was using to hold the doors closed.  He didn't strike at me and moved inside the shed.  Of course I followed it into the shed to see where it went.  I then hurried into the house to get my camera and hoping it was still there, returned to take its pictures and it was nice enough to pose for me.  This first picture is full size uncropped and I didn't use the zoom.  I just put the camera down close to it, snapped the picture and luckily, it didn't strike at me.

 

I stepped past it and took a picture from the inside of the shed looking out.  He still didn't want to move.  Lazy guy, isn't he?

 

Finally, it uncoiled and slithered back into the shed.  I looked all over for it and couldn't find it.  It must of somehow got out the back underneath the walls or maybe it is hiding in my lawn tractor's seat.  Gee, glad I got all the grass cut yesterday and will not have to get the tractor out for awhile.  Now don't any of you get snake bit but have a great day, you hear?

Wondering About Cashews.

I love cashews, both raw and roasted, but especially raw.  That is, until I found out that it is almost impossible to get raw cashews.  You know, I didn't know that little bit of information until just very recently, like a few minutes ago.  Did you know that cashews are roasted in their shell so that it is easier to get the shell off and to get to the delicious nut inside.  Then you have your choice, you can either eat it "raw" or roast it again for the "roasted" cashews.  So, you see, the roasted cashews that you eat have been roasted twice.

 
So, what does the cashew look like just off the tree?  Here is a picture of the cashew still in its outer shell and attached to the cashew apple:

Some people throughout the world like the apple part better than the seed (nut).  Trouble is, the apple part does not keep well after it is picked so a lot of us, me included, have never eaten a cashew apple.  Have any of you eaten one?  Now, please have a great day, you hear?

Little Hoppers and Big Buzzards/Vultures.

First let me ask you if any of you have ever seen these little grass-hoppers that have invaded my wife's garden?  I can find no damage left by them and they don't seem to eating anything, but they are there:

Some are walking along the onion plants.

Oh yes, there are a lot more than just a couple.  If you look close, you can see three of them in this next picture.

They sure can jump.  When I got too close to any of them, it will jump a couple of feet or more.  That is many, many times its body length.  For their size, they are quite athletic.

I spotted one on the retaining poles and got a real good picture of it.  It shows the red stripe down its back, now ain't they cute?

When I was at the flea market today, I was starting to get worried.  I looked up and there was a big flock of buzzards or vultures or what ever you call them.

I was afraid that they were after me. . .

I am wondering it they are migrating north for the summer?  I would have thought that they would have done that earlier in the year.  They look so graceful soaring high in the sky, but then they have a messy, dirty job to do; keeping up with the disposal of anything that died in their territory.

OK, so what is the difference between Buzzards and Vultures?  Vultures are the big birds that feast on the dead.  They do not migrate like the Buzzards.  Buzzards?  Well, that word has different meanings to different people.  I always thought that buzzards and vultures were the same thing, but they are not.  Buzzards are birds like the chicken hawks, Red tailed hawks, and Cooper's hawk.  They are often mistaken for hawks.  Dang, I didn't know that and something else I didn't know is that they have different eating habits.  Vultures rarely eat in a messy way whereas buzzards are known to get really dirty and messy.  So, if someone calls you a vulture, just say thank you and call that person an old buzzard and have a great day, you hear? 

Almost Lunch Time

I guess I have told you all before that I just love to eat.  Licorice and anise flavored stuff is the exception, I can't stand either and I don't care for coconut either.  Everything else, I like.  Of course there are some things I like better than others and today my wife is cooking me one of those things that is way up near the top of my like list.  Yes it is Louisiana style boudin sausage with a couple of fried eggs.  Yum, yum.

Went to the flea market this beautiful morning and got home before it got too hot.  I really don't go there to buy anything but mostly to just talk.  I love chatting with folks.

I just now heard a cowboy on TV say as he ordered a beer at a bar, "I can't stand to drink alone, so I drink with myself".  OK, but does that really make sense???  Going to cut this short, don't want to be late for my boudin and eggs.  So, you all have a great day, you hear?  

Wife's Little Flower Garden

 My wife should have been named "Daisy", for a couple of reasons.  She is the flower of my life, for one.  The second reason is that she is so good at raising flowers.

She has indoor flowers, she has porch flowers, and she has outdoor in the ground flowers.  The ones that are not planted in the ground are in all sorts of different containers.  She even has porch railing flower boxes that straddle the top 2x6 porch railing cap.  There are flowers on the screened in part of the deck at the back porch.  They are everywhere.

She seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to growing flowers.  Here is a picture of some of the smaller flowers, the ones behind where she is standing:

Did you notice the overhead lighting in the above picture?  She suspended them all over her flower garden so they could get good light even on dark, cloudy days.  As you noticed, those flowers along with our vegetable garden, are in raised beds. . . OH yes, I just stuck those Sale price tags on the raised beds just to give you the impression that we were in Hobby Lobby (grin).  Sure hope all of you have beautiful flowers to see and smell.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?