It’s past time for bed and Zen knows it. My house has automatic thermostats that set back to 55 at night. The only problem is when I stay up past the usual bed time. Not only does it mess up Zen’s sleeping habit a bit, but she gets cold and needs to get creative [...]

We’re getting a *real* snow storm for the first time this year. It reminded me of a litle tool I created last year when I first got my Blackberry. I call it PocketRadar.
There are two versions of it - one for the older devices with only 240×160 screens and one for the Treo and newer [...]

Here is today’s picture of my neighbor’s house. Normally, I look out my office window and see my neighbor’s automotive maintenance shop (and his cow because everyone should own live stock).
With the storm today, you don’t see much beyond the road at the end of my driveway.
Shoveling the snow is pretty useless. The [...]

The snow may be gone soon but I managed to capture a few “Zen moments” on the snow this past week. She loves the snow so I tolerate the cold to see her so happy. This year, the Valentines Day snow left a crust just hard enough for her to run on top … most [...]

In 2006, the North East corner of the United States saw rain, rain, and more rain. More than 28 inches of rain was recorded in 28 days. This year is not that bad. There are reports of up to 5 inches of rain since last night. Wind is the concern today - with gusts above [...]

I took one last pass around my yard and through my basement before calling it a night. the Nor’easter that arrived on Sunday has decided to hang around for an extended engagement. Some friends of mine are enjoying the performance …
In the morning I had to go the post office and found army trucks blocking [...]

If you fancy yourself as a better weather forecaster than your local news  station - and that is not much of a challenge - a good overview of weather provides a plethora of information. An animated weather map lets you see the storms, wind patterns, and speed. It provides a great overview of what [...]

Pretty much any day you look up into the sky you will see one or more condensation trails - “contrails” - from jets flying from point “A” to point “B”. This long wispy white trails give you a pretty good idea of where the flight routes are in your area. Presumably, these routes are [...]

I can not figure out how to capture keyboard events on the Blackberry using JavaScript. If you know how, please post a comment !
I created a web app that lets you navigate around a map. The interface needed “north”, “south”, “east”, and “west” to move around. Using URL links was awkward so I [...]

Zen and I went out for her morning constitutional around 7am this morning. At first neither of us noticed anything unusual on the gray damp morning. Then I noticed one of the Great Egrets was in the field, not in the creek looking for food. It didn’t register. Back inside, while making breakfast, I [...]

I must admit, I always thought things like the UV index were on a scale of 1 to 10. I guess I must be living in some parallel universe because I just found this for my area … 11 ?! Good thing Zen likes to swim. But with 6 days of this forcast, she [...]

This kind of says it all …
Severe Thunderstorm Warning - national weather service …
Severe thunderstorm warning for Accomack county in Eastern Virginia & Northampton county In Eastern Virginia until 745 pm EDT.
National weather service doppler radar indicated a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds in excess [...]

Hurricane season is here. When I first started the idea of getting the farm and eventually building on it, my plans were temporarily interrupted by Hurricane Isabel. Isabel hit land with sustained winds of 105 mph. At it’s strongest, it was measured at 165 mpg with an instantaneous peak of 233 mph (measured from [...]

OK, so you got the venetian blinds. They are white but in the limited early morning light, they appeared brownish yellow.
What I really liked was the dot pattern that reminds some of old punch tape. That is not a pattern on the blinds. It had rained the night before and there was heavy wind. Some [...]

Last year the figs started to ripen around late August. This year they are a bit early and the weather is not cooperating.  I thought my biggest worries for the figs was “the race”. “The race” is between me, the birds, and the bugs.  We all seem to know just when the figs are [...]

Tropical storm Hanna has just passed over head and the winds are starting to switch around as the eye moves north-northeast. Zen and I took a quick walk around the rental property to see if everything was still where it should be. Just before the storm we moved a few things included a glass top [...]

I own myself a big “thank you” for actually thinking ahead and making soup. The weather today is miserable - just ask Zen (who is trying to sleep through the entire day in hopes it is all just a dream). Thankfully, the power is till on as is the internet connection.

With any luck, [...]

The farmhouse project continued this week with the goal to pour the first layer of the concrete slab. The over floor of the farmhouse consists of packed sand/clay mix, followed by 2 inches of concrete, 1 inch of high density foam board, wire mesh, radiant floor tubing, and then a 4 inch pour of concrete [...]

We’ve had four days of fowl weather separated by very warm an humid spells. I can take the less than enjoyable weather. What has Zen and me spending much more time inside of doors is the plethora of mosquitoes that have bred in this near perfect environment for them. It is as close to that [...]

The weather has turned notably unpleasant. The skies are gray and lifeless as is the quiet. Standing still, I can hear the faint rustling of leaves and the wind cutting through the nearly barren trees. What is noticed is the lack of anything else. The birds are no where to be seen or heard. It [...]

Now before you jump to the comments thinking this is an easy one, look close at the title. I am not asking a question as much as exclaiming surprise and even outrage. What I am saying is; ” This is just wrong!”
The Eastern Shore has the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the [...]