Earthworms eat dead vegetation, improve the soil
Today, our yard is under about a foot of snow and the temperature this morning was 7°F. A week ago, I mowed the lawn wearing a T-shirt. It wasn’t so much that the grass needed cutting, although it was green and growing a little. It was just that I wanted to...‘A History of Violence’ (David Cronenberg movie, 2005)
A History of Violence had several elements that attracted me. The clip that was shown on the TV talk show circuit — a small town diner scene in which the proprietor’s identity is questioned by an intimidating visitor — was very compelling. Viggo Mortensen, who...Excellent Tuscan chicken and beans recipe
After a couple of days near 70°F. last week, cold weather is back in southeastern Wisconsin this weekend, so we’re turning to hearty, savory dinners. Beef is on the menu tonight, and Friday there was a veal meat loaf, so I wanted something lighter in between —...What’s on my iBook?
Sometimes you can be so busy performing all of your daily tasks on your computer that you never stop to think about how amazing the development of computers has been and how much you have come to depend on them — until your computer suddenly dies. I wrote my first...‘Shopgirl’ (2005 movie, Steve Martin, Claire Danes)
I had imagined Shopgirl would be pretty good. Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars. Steve Martin wrote the novel and the screenplay, and he’s also the leading man. Claire Danes co-stars, and Jason Schwatzman has a supporting role. I like both of them....Hummingbirds and hummingbird feeders
Hummingbirds and hummingbird feeders The radio show I work for is in Mexico this week — and so, with luck, is the little bird at my nifty HummZinger hummingbird feeder in the photo above. The weekend after Labor Day, he was right outside my window. As I have mentioned...Keith Olbermann’s special comments
I watch TV news all day long for a living, so it’s unlikely that I would want to watch more of it when I’m finally off work at 7 p.m., and yet that’s what I find myself doing these days. Radio legend Steve Dahl was a very early enthusiast of...‘The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill’ (documentary film, 2003)
One of the things I love about Netflix is the concept of the queue. A movie is mentioned on the radio, or we see a trailer, or a friend makes a recommendation, and these titles are all added to our queue. Eventually, they will show up in our mailbox. Because our queue...My website fell asleep
Holy smokes! Six weeks have gone by. There was a phone call at the end of August about developing a small Web site. The next thing I knew, I was sitting down in my office every morning at 6 a.m., walking downstairs for dinner after 7 p.m., watching an hour or so of...
