far too much writing, far too many photos

runswithscissors


Friday, September 05, 2003

Today has been one of those days where I could easily bore you to desperate tears about how freakin' beautiful it is around here. Seriously -- I am bowled over to the point where it would be exceedingly easy to go off about it. And we both know how tiresome that would get, so I'll spare you. (You owe me for that bit of restraint.)

Instead, I'll inflict this bit of hard-core rustickness on you:

The last two mornings, I've gotten up to find that sometime during the night one of the hungry local bears has ripped the top off my composting bin, hoovering down whatever hooverable food (or ex-food) was in there. Two things have set this off: first, it's that pre-hibernation time when bears are trying to pack on enough weight to get them through the winter. Second, two days ago I rooted out a bunch of old frozen bread from the freezer, well past its shelf life, and gave it what passes for a proper burial around here. Which is to say, heaved it into the bin. That was Wednesday. Yesterday morning, the cover had been pulled off and tossed aside, most of the old bread had disappeared, and the rest of the bin's contents had been well tamped down by bear paws, mid feeding frenzy.

Can you believe this is my life? Compost. Bears. Kinda scary.

I haven't been securing the bin lid this summer because, well, there hasn't been any need and the bin's a big goofy in that the lid and the two handle-type thingies that secure it don't do much in the way of securing anything. I may as well have hung out a big neon sign reading "Attention, passing bears -- chow here!" or "eat at runwithscissors'." Something pithy and inviting.

I put the lid on, secured it, weighted it down with a couple of sizeable, heavy rocks.

"Ha!" you say. I'm with you. Lid securing and big rocks did nothing. Pathetic. Laughable. I join you in your chortles of ridicule.

On the way home from Montpelier earlier this afternoon, I stopped at the local farmstand where one of the employees mentioned that bear season had begun two days ago, that they'd had a big old bugger of a bear that had recently been eating a major swath through their cornfield, that someone had come across it last night -- in mid-gorge -- and shot it. Hmmmm.

I have no manly firearm, I won't be whacking the compost sucker, but tonight I'm going to wire the compost lid on and see what happens. An experiment.

The compost bin is just a few feet away from my bedroom window. Pretty interesting that I didn't hear a thing. Nothing. Tonight I'll keep the window open a little, see what happens.

***************

You may or may not remember me picking up a roomba whenever the hell it was, the end of June, beginning of July, something like that. Turns out that since then those little buggers have not only been selling like hotcakes, they've become a seriously fetishized commodity. There's a Yahoogroups email list about 'em (you'll need to be registered with Yahoogroups to access it) -- and there's this: hack those babies!

Ever find yourself wondering just how much time it would take zombies to infect the rest of us? Go here.

rws 4:59 PM [+]

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BLATHERINGS

August 2001
September 2001
October 2001
November 2001
December 2001
January 2002
February 2002
March 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008

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MORE FOCUSED BLATHERINGS

Personal History



Travels:
London '01
Pamplona
Italy '03
U.K. '03
Sevilla
Casablanca
Stoke-on-Trent
Barcelona
Québec/Ottawa
Boston/Lisbon/Madrid
Italy '04
Montréal
La Sierra

Events:
Madrid -- arrival
9/11
Emergency Room I
Holidays 2001
Holidays 2002
Holidays 2003
Holidays 2004
Holidays 2005
A neighbor's passing
Madrid -- March 11 bombings
  and aftermath
Emergency Room II
Israeli friend/Madrid Marathon
Madrid -- Royal Wedding
The DELE exam

Excerpts from GONE, a novel:
Chapter 1 (complete)
Chapter 6 (complete)
Chapter 8 (excerpt)
Chapter 9 (excerpt)
Chapter 9 (excerpt)

Screenplay excerpt:
BURBANK SHRUGGED

Short stories:
Murphy's Wife
Another Autumn
Queja de Una Hermanastra
  Muy Conocida

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


OTHER SOURCES OF WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT

People/Weblogs:
dooce
foxvox
fudge it
fear not
rebekka
bookslut
802online
idle words
madhaiku
wockerjabby
grow-a-brain
digital camel
letting me be
kung fu grippe
franklin avenue
fanatical apathy
baghdad burning
the happy booker
mimi smartypants
between the miles
just a hippie gypsy
tomato can brushes
playing with my food
sugar mountain farm

Good Clean Fun:
gizmodo
futurismic
postsecret
dave barry
human clock
mcsweeney's
spaceweather
book-a-minute
internet archive
self-portrait day
my cat hates you
out of context quotes
surrealist compliment
  generator
strindberg and helium

Makin' Musical Whoopee:
muxtape
soma fm
pandora
last fm

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ABOUT RWS/CONTACT





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runswithscissors would like to thank everyone who's ever lived for everything they've ever done.



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