Killed a thrasher this morning thinking it was a dove. When it was plucked and field-dressed, it looked like a tiny Cornish hen. It didn't taste very good, and there wasn't much meat on it. Also, it was harder to pluck than a dove. There was a greenish goo in its crop where the doves usually have cracked corn or birdseed. I guess the thrashers eat more bugs, which could account for the difference in flavor.
I ate a bee the other day. Cracked open a yucca stalk that had the 1/2 inch hole typical of carpenter bees, and found one groggy male (no stinger), which I beheaded and ate raw. Not very tasty, but if you find a yucca stalk full of them it might make a nutritious meal. I'll cook them if I can, though. If there are any females (with stingers), cooking might neutralize the toxins, or you could maybe snip off the abdomen.
I've been busy programming, both for pay and for fun. Wrote some Postscript to generate an overlay onto the Google satellite images, showing the lot boundaries at City of the Sun. Re-used some login code I'd written before, for an Odesk customer, then used what I'd learned in the process to improve my own program. Now I have a cron job that emails me my to-do and to-buy lists every Sunday, by logging into my TadaList pages and performing the necessary magic with the webpage. They've got some tricky Javascript for turning a normal HREF into a POST, which I had to match using Python.
I was thinking about writing a script that would allow me to transfer funds from PayPal while I'm on the road. PayPal crashes the Safari browser on my iPod Touch, and PayPal Mobile doesn't have an option to withdraw funds to one's primary bank account. But then I'd have to store my PayPal password on my server. No good. I'll just have to use Internet cafes that allow USB booting, and do my PayPaling from DamnSmallLinux. Or buy a newer iTouch, or upgrade the one I have. Lots of options, once I start mulling it over.
I have some wheatgrass growing. If I can keep remembering to water it until it goes to seed, I'll have completed the cycle that can take me to the next level of sustainability. Probably won't happen, but it's nice to think about.
First quarter moon coming up in about a week and a half. Time to buy some trees! I doubt there will be any more freezes by then, and I've heard before that the first quarter moon is the time to plant them. Use wood ash and rusty nails in the hole, for needed nutrients. Come to think of it, it was Ray who told me that stuff. Thanks, man.
last updated 2013-01-10 21:21:06. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com