moonhare's journal

Science!

mondhasen — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 23:57:57 GMT

A new study, using tooth enamel, has determined that T. rexes were warm blooded, with a body temp close to ours.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/t-rex-was-as-warm-blooded-as-humans-new-study-finds/

Kind of makes this old comic obsolete ;o)

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

mondhasen — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:26:09 GMT

RIP Peter Max.

Edit- a more thorough biography: his website!

I have incorrectly attributed the Yellow Submarine artwork to him, due to its similarities, as well as the “Screaming Yellow Zonkers” boxes. I liked his style, of course, and as did many in those times I used to doodle the bright, psychedelic patterns he was famous for. *sigh* long time gone, now.

Appliances/devices and The Rule of Three

mondhasen — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:48:41 GMT

First the dryer threw a belt (previous post). Easy enough fix except for fighting with the tensioner and improvising a clip.

Second was our dishwasher: a roller axel broke in the top rack adjuster last Friday evening. I was able to sleuth out the part number and get the kit overnighted so that I could repair this the next morning. I would not normally pay for the delivery but I missed Amazon’s cut off by mere minutes. Happily the overnight fee was only $2.99, but the part had a coupon for $2.10. A win! I followed an online video for replacing this assembly and got it back together in about an hour.

The third- the Sync3 touchscreen in our new/used car blanked. After trying several suggested remedies, resets and a battery disconnect, and even a trip to the dealer to be told they could do a diagnostic, in September, I settled on updating the device. Ford can tell you if you need an update using your VIN and checking their database: it was last done in March and now overdue (apparently the system was not set for automatic updates). The fix required a 32GB USB stick formatted in exFAT with an MBR partition (so said the webpage) with the appropriate files on it. It worked! The process took half an hour with the car idling the whole time out in the driveway.

Let’s hope all things stay running now :o)

Three for Fun-

—

—

Took me a second as well!

Swish

mondhasen — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 23:40:34 GMT

That’s what I heard outdoors at around 12:30 this morning: leaves/branches coming down softly. I didn’t know a tree had fallen against the house, though, until I got up at 5:30 and saw leaves outside my roof window!

I’ve been watching this tree for a few years, worrying that it might blow down in a storm and damage the roof or break windows. It was too tall and close to the house for me to take down safely, and I mentally added it to my list for “professional tree removal.” Welp, worry no more! And there wasn’t even a wind last night, the base collapsed in on itself and it fell: insects, I imagine.

As seen from the backyard in a June photo.

So I spent around five hours in nasty heat and humidity getting this off the house and blueberry cages.

A lot of work was done with a manual telescoping 16’ pole saw (which sucked because it doesn’t lock correctly). Then I backed the truck up a narrow path to the fence and stood on the tailgate with another tool, my pole saw attachment on my trimmer base, to finish things off. The sawhorses marked the path edge next to the new septic tank; I did not want to drive over this.

Debris cleanup will commence Sunday morning!

Two years on

mondhasen — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:59:56 GMT

It’s been just over two years since I retired, and today I finished a project started soon thereafter: running a patch cable from an upstairs bedroom female to female wall plate down to the basement multiport switch. The cable was in the basement, near the outside wall entry point, waiting for me to string it past joists and over pipes. Done.

Unrelated meme things-

Yep! My first encounter with the word ‘island’ was in a Bugs Bunny comic when I was maybe six. I pronounced it ‘is-land,’ of course :o) Later I remember thinking ‘Yosemite’ was pronounced ‘Yo-sem-ite.’ Kids…

Wisdom.

A Thanksgiving favorite, complete with the ridges from the can.

Human Grade… Soylent Green anyone?

Trashpost

mondhasen — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 01:11:50 GMT

Ruminations

I may have mentioned we’re dropping our Paramount+ subscription this month. It’s a cheap enough service at $90/year, but that’s more than I wish to spend right now. We have access to Prime, Criterion, TCM, and a questionable Jellyfin account ;o) So I’ve been bingeing as the month runs down: Star Trek movies of all things. These are presented starting with a two minute commercial cluster and then commercial free. Heh, I started with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (I had seen a clip in an FB reel), and went back to Star Trek, the Movie (a movie I once described as every trekkie’s wet dream), and have now completed the series through V.

After the movies I hop onto LJ and DW and either post or just read/reply with Spotify playing in the background. Here I am :o)

Otherwise-

I had my annual skin cancer screening this week. I do this because I had so, so many sunburns back in the tanning lotion days. I passed, happily, but in trying to get positioned on the exam table I must have pulled a muscle in my lower back. Nothing immediate, but by the next day I could hardly stand without fear of a spasm. I’m better this evening.

The clothes dryer threw its belt yesterday. Luckily I had a spare that I had purchased in 2020. Easy peasy except a sheet metal clip went awol. Improvised…

I completed adding an extra wire above the fence and under the top electric wire in an effort to discourage the deer. Upon finishing I realized, from looking at hoofy landing prints, that the deer had hopped the top electric wire to get in. I raised the top wire a couple of more inches.

Tonight, when checking the garden (between rain drops as it’s been wet all day), I spooked a young woodchuck who was outside the fence. The electric fence should keep this little fellow out… should. They are destructive critters and indiscriminate in their ravaging forays.

Enough- pics!

Classic!

Had I not seen Pulp Fiction recently I would not have known where the ref was from.

I assume this is linguistically accurate, with added cats!

Edit- here’s the original!

Goodnight!

Intruder

mondhasen — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:42:56 GMT

I was in the side yard yesterday, with the pup, when I looked toward the garden and saw a doe looking back at me: from inside the garden! I went out the gate and stopped to (1) assess how to get her out, and (2) take her pic. I got the pic as she turned away-

Enlarged (click to see original full size)

As I headed up the side of the garden to see if she needed help getting out she turned and bolted out through the space between the fence top and the electric wire.

Did I say bolted? She glided, tilted on her side, through that 16” gap, tilted back and performed a perfect quadrupedal landing, barely causing any wiggle of fence or wire! Oh, I wish I could have caught that on video: so impressive! I can’t even be mad at her for eating a couple of green tomatoes :D

*sigh* At least I understand how she got in. I’ll string another wire across that space.

Oh, deer!

mondhasen — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:59:28 GMT

There were five fawns in the front yard this evening, gamboling about, and two does, watching carefully. Then two young bucks with velvety antlers strode through, and one of the fawns ran off with them (this has happened before) :D Such fun to watch.

This one headed for the birdbath for a drink.

It’s been lovely here, having the deer about (when not in the garden). Fawns rest close to the house, just outside the pup’s fenced yard, or out at the edge of the stone wall separating the front yard from the street. Adults walk through regularly.

Peekaboo!

And something else appeared here the other day… snails! I only knew of land snails hereabouts when I found a shell about twenty years ago, but never saw any here at home. On Wednesday I was putting back up a beach umbrella I had taken down due to strong winds the previous night, and I saw small spots on the fabric… whoa!

Impressive!

What fun :o)

Breach!

mondhasen — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:20:13 GMT

I spent a lot of time in May, last year, shoring up the garden against intruders; other than mice and chipmunks no critters gained entry. The major effort was made to dissuade deer and rabbits, and all was well until a week or so ago.

It appeared that the local young bunny, kitten, actually, got in and sampled the green beans *nibble nibble* Only a small animal could maneuver behind the electric wires, climb the 8” wire mesh barrier, and wriggle through the 2x4” wire fence, and then just eat some tips off the plants.

Or so I thought. I applied Repels-All critter repellent at the garden’s edge and on and around the beans. I did not see any more damage after that…

While spraying fungicide yesterday evening I noticed a tomato plant with nibbled tips: too high for any rabbit!

Deer! A deer had gotten into the garden, either by leaping over the 5’ electric wire above the 4’ fence (unlikely) or jumping a gap over the 4’ gates (quite plausible). *sigh* At least they didn’t savage the plants! In looking at the bean plant photo I can see what may also be a hoof print.

One of two gates I strung a heavy wire across to discourage intruders. Here’s hoping!

Excursion

mondhasen — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:58:32 GMT

I took the EcoSport out today to do errands; I was almost out of brandy, and needed other things as well. I put on Sirius, our trial ends next month, but I couldn’t find a decent song on any of their stations. I did find a preset among the FM stations entitled Wave (or something similar) and that had some great New Wave selections: The Jam, OMD, and Blondie among them :o)

I topped the tank- six gallons at $3.79/gal; by this afternoon the price had risen to $3.85/gal. Yup. I then went to the local Hammerbarn to pick up mosquito dunks (larvae poison, Bti) and ant baits. Off to Wallyword after that for Sure-Jell pectin and some honey to put up blueberry jam (we’ve had a fantastic harvest of blueberries this year). Grabbed some JIF Extra Crunchy peanut butter on impulse (same aisle as the honey). Then hit the packie.

Heh, this was my first time out driving in about a month. And I may be going out again this coming week to get a large filling replaced that I flossed out.

One for fun!

Had to post this…

mondhasen — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:55:24 GMT

Found on Imgur

Hazy days

mondhasen — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 01:03:56 GMT

Another lovely, smoky day here in New England!

Haze from Western Ontario wildfires. It got dark enough to look like it was going to rain, and you could smell the smoke today!

Edited to correct spelling errors… eeeeee!

Movies and more

mondhasen — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:36:09 GMT

I was going to try a “What the bunny has been watching,” like a sabotlours post, but it’s just too time consuming, considering I watch TV every night…

Instead, here are just a few that piqued my interest-

Violent Saturday- 1955. Cast includes Victor Mature, Lee Marvin, and Ernest Borgnine. A fairly good drama revolving around the lives of several of the characters. I always think of Mature as playing those ‘Swords and Sandals,’ Roman era characters, so this was a good change.

Bad Day at Black Rock- 1955. Along with Robert Ryan and Spencer Tracy, the cast also included Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. This drama revolves around Tracy coming into a desert town looking for a man he wishes to talk with, and all the townspeople treating him as a threat and not helping him. I’ve watched this several times and love Tracy’s character. Borgnine plays such a different role than in Violent Saturday.

No Down Payment- 1957. Cast includes Tony Randall, Joanne Woodward, and Jeffrey Hunter, among other well known folks of the era. Look up Hunter’s other appearances- Trekkies will know…

Another drama revolving around the interconnected lives of several families, this one set in one of those pop-up suburban Cali developments of the 50s. I love these period films where I can look at settings, clothes, vehicles, etc. and compare these to my childhood memories. I was two, in 1957, but the imagery shown carried into the early 60s as well. Much crossover!

Finally, Repo Man- 1984. Cast includes Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez. A cult favorite? Everyone is looking for a 1964 Chevy Malibu… and damned if a mid-sixties Malibu didn’t drive by my house while I was watching this! Anyway, bizarre.

Happy Friday!

One for fun (expands) :o)

Happy 250!

mondhasen — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:38:55 GMT

Damn, it seems like we were just celebrating the 200th! On July 4, 1976, I was with a friend visiting his hometown in upstate New York. They had a wonderful ‘small town’ parade and fireworks to celebrate the Bicentennial. *sigh* good times…

Flash forward to our 250th! We celebrated here at home (yesterday) with a nice family cookout. Tonight I’m watching events unfold on YouTube, although bad weather has postponed the DC activities, and I’ll be in bed before any fireworks displays happen ;o)

And still few, if any, fireflies here, but there is a large doe grazing on the front lawn. And there is a fawn, across the road; cars are slowing down, thankfully.

Happy 4th, to those who celebrate!

Bunnies!

mondhasen — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:56:49 GMT

A couple of kittens out in front of the house this evening :o)

Eastern cottontails; their nest is in an overgrown area just outside the side yard fence.

Trashpost

mondhasen — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:42:09 GMT

Is this truly trashposting? I spend too much time looking at ‘funny’ memes and pics, and of course feel obligated to share… ;o)

I had to look this up. I found the reference quickly enough but I’m still confused :D

*Hathi, clearing his throat* Quite so.

Want!

We just got a car with one of these and this is exactly how I view it!

It’s a furry thing ;o)

Every.night.

Good night!

Finally….

mondhasen — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:34:45 GMT

I finally spotted a firefly in the yard, two nights in a row! I expected to see more by now considering they will all but disappear the first week of July. Temps have been in the 90s for a few days, so maybe more will be out this evening :o)

Bing DALL-E 3 image

Sightings

mondhasen — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:21:44 GMT

This guy was spotted a couple of miles down the road from my house:

Another resident reported a bear sighting in a different part of town; it could have been this one, or maybe another. Unfortunately my trail cams are messed up because I’d love to see one of these fellows go through :o)

Cage match!

mondhasen — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:42:32 GMT

It’s me against the chipmunks and mice! I finished putting up the crop cages and laying heavy items on the skirts. Coffee grounds/liquids and rodent deterrent have been applied. Reminiscent of the deep drums in *Khazad-dûm the striped monsters, unseen, were chip-chip-chipping all the while I worked at this!

Crop cages over blueberries in the side yard prior to securing aprons.

In another backyard struggle, The Huntress 2.0 found another bunny nest; fortunately she was coaxed away before she could do any damage.

Initial protection.

Added dissuasion.The doe has ample access points through the barriers.

*Guess who just rewatched LOTR?
________

One for fun:

Nyarrrrr!

Boom!

mondhasen — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:06:22 GMT

We heard/felt a large explosion during our stormy Saturday (today) that seemed like thunder but could have been a sonic boom. The news stations said otherwise. Possible space rock burning up in the atmosphere, thought our local meteorologist.

An FB post by a group that monitors emergency news first mentioned this, along with a screenshot from Twitter-

In other news today’s storms caused about 9000 customers here to lose power, down to 1100 now. Thank goodness for my talismans (2 generators): my power never even flickered ;o)

And more comics

mondhasen — Tue, 19 May 2026 00:32:34 GMT

Just a few from Imgur to help take your thoughts off world events.

The dragon seems happy.

Who indeed?!

Good graffiti!

‘My’ generation understands the basis of this :D

Yep, that’s me. I just watched The Desk Set again for the umpteenth time!

Enough!

Quicky

mondhasen — Sat, 09 May 2026 00:47:20 GMT

Poor bunny! Like those licorice jelly bean comics at Easter-

It reminded me of my tiller oil change-

The great outdoors

mondhasen — Tue, 05 May 2026 01:34:37 GMT

Busy, busy. I finally cut down the second tree that was damaged during our blizzard.

It’s the leaning tree in the background.

Bzzzzzzz! *blush* I trapped the bar/chain in my first cut at the base of the tree, even though I knew better, and had to disassemble/swap it out with an older, saved “just in case” one to continue.

I brought the tractor and cart in to haul these off and *bang* the tractor threw its drive belt. Actually, a stick got into the rear pulley and forced the belt off. I spent a frustrating half hour trying to get the belt back on from underneath before giving up for the day and going online for help: “Remove battery, battery box, and access the pulley from above…” *laughs* Some sites suggested tilting the tractor up on its side, or removing pulleys!

In.

Out. That’s the pulley beneath the plastic battery box. I stopped taking pictures after removing the battery. The box popped right out :o)

And as the 21 year old belt was in questionable shape, I bought a new belt, installed it, and all is well! And I have saved the old belt, just in case…

(aside- I still have an old set of saved belts around here somewhere from my scrapped ‘71 Plymouth)

Anyway. All the wood has been removed and stacked for future splitting. The broom, seen in the cutting pic, above, was my measuring stick for making sure the logs would fit my splitter: 20” max to fit, 40” min log length to be trimmed later. I ended up cutting those longer pieces down today due to their weight.

*sigh* So I also had to do chainsaw maintenance. The chain was dulling so I got to use my Xmas gift sharpening kit to clean it up! Nothing fancy, just files and an angle guide. What a diff that made.

Internet pic.

Enough. Have a cute comic-

Tiller time again!

mondhasen — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 01:09:48 GMT

It’s been wonderful weather for outdoor work: more mulching has been done and brush has been cut and removed. I also gave the rototiller a better quick pre-season going over: motor and gear oil topped off and a flat tire taken care of.*

I’ve had a furry friend keeping me company out by the shed since February; a rabbit has taken up residence nearby :o)

Waiting patiently to see what might be available.

Soooon…

Edit - I just noticed that this bunny is probably a New England Cottontail: there is a dark patch on the forehead and not the white spot of the Eastern Cottontail!

* I probably mentioned this before in regards to the tiller… When I was about 16 I watched, in awe, mind you, a friend of my sister manually replace a tire on his 1970 Road Runner. He took the original tire off the rim, and replaced it with another, with tire irons. To seat the bead he looped and tied a rope around the center of the tire, tightening it by turning a lug wrench slipped beneath it while filling the tire with air. Heh, I use the rope trick on the tiller tires, when necessary, with baling twine, a crescent wrench, and a hand pump.

More comics

mondhasen — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 23:40:44 GMT

Just a few finds, mainly from Imgur. Some with comment…

This would be me

Cute pups! And do people still say that?

This gave me pause (not paws), but I didn’t wish to overthink it!