The Fire Ant Gazette - A Midland, Texas Blog

The Fire Ant Gazette - A Midland, Texas Blog tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2009-06-30:/fireant//1 2012-05-16T01:38:36Z A blog-like thing originating in Midland, Texas Movable Type Pro 4.261 Trip Report: Sproul Ranch, Fort Davis, Texas tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.714 2012-05-14T10:58:52Z 2012-05-16T01:38:36Z

On Saturday, May 12, Debbie and I drove to Fort Davis to attend the annual fundraiser for the Marfa public radio station (KRTS 93.5). This year's event was held at the H.E. Sproul Ranch, located about seven miles northwest of Fort Davis, and included a donated artwork sale, catered dinner, and barn dance. We never pass up the opportunity for dancing in interesting places, and this event took place in a spectacular setting.If you're familiar with the Fort Davis area, but have never been to the Sproul Ranch, you take Highway 118 toward McDonald Observatory, then turn onto an unpaved road immediately before you come to Prude Ranch. The ranch lodge is about 2.5 miles down that rather rough and occasionally treacherous road.Despite some recent rain, the landscape was still obviously suffering from the ongoing drought. Nevertheless, the natural and manmade scenery is awe-inspiring, as shown below. The structures on the top of the mountain are part of the McDonald Observatory complex.The ranch complex consists of a lodge, several suites, a barn, and a beautiful swimming pool that epitomizes the concept of an oasis.The preceding photo represents one of the abundant visual anachronisms that occur where 21st century technology is placed into an Old West setting. The rather large contraption in the background is a radio telescope, and it wasn't until I did some research that I learned that it's part of a network of such devices called the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The VLBA consists of ten radio telescopes spanning more than 5,000 miles, from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands, and is used to conduct a wide variety of scientific research. (For another photographic perspective of the Sproul Ranch telescope, scroll down a bit on this page.)The art show was an interesting event. All the pieces were 5"x5" and were for sale at the set price of $93.50 (corresponding to the radio station's broadcast frequency). It was sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and while Debbie and I didn't get there early enough to get our favorite piece, we did score a pretty cool quilted square made by a Fort Davis artist named Kathleen Morris. Here's a scan of the piece:Note the wonderful little ocotillo in the lower right corner, complete with red flowers. I think we got a great deal.At the beginning, I implied that our primary motivation for attending this event was the dance, and we...

Eric annual fundraiser for the Marfa public radio station (KRTS 93.5). This year's event was held at the H.E. Sproul Ranch, located about seven miles northwest of Fort Davis, and included a donated artwork sale, catered dinner, and barn dance. We never pass up the opportunity for dancing in interesting places, and this event took place in a spectacular setting.

If you're familiar with the Fort Davis area, but have never been to the Sproul Ranch, you take Highway 118 toward McDonald Observatory, then turn onto an unpaved road immediately before you come to Prude Ranch. The ranch lodge is about 2.5 miles down that rather rough and occasionally treacherous road.

Despite some recent rain, the landscape was still obviously suffering from the ongoing drought. Nevertheless, the natural and manmade scenery is awe-inspiring, as shown below. The structures on the top of the mountain are part of the McDonald Observatory complex.

The ranch complex consists of a lodge, several suites, a barn, and a beautiful swimming pool that epitomizes the concept of an oasis.

The preceding photo represents one of the abundant visual anachronisms that occur where 21st century technology is placed into an Old West setting. The rather large contraption in the background is a radio telescope, and it wasn't until I did some research that I learned that it's part of a network of such devices called the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The VLBA consists of ten radio telescopes spanning more than 5,000 miles, from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands, and is used to conduct a wide variety of scientific research. (For another photographic perspective of the Sproul Ranch telescope, scroll down a bit on this page.)

The art show was an interesting event. All the pieces were 5"x5" and were for sale at the set price of $93.50 (corresponding to the radio station's broadcast frequency). It was sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and while Debbie and I didn't get there early enough to get our favorite piece, we did score a pretty cool quilted square made by a Fort Davis artist named Kathleen Morris. Here's a scan of the piece:

Note the wonderful little ocotillo in the lower right corner, complete with red flowers. I think we got a great deal.

At the beginning, I implied that our primary motivation for attending this event was the dance, and we weren't disappointed. Doug Moreland grew up in Fort Davis (his dad now lives there), and his brand of western swing is a lot of fun to listen and dance to. I got the impression that this isn't necessarily his regular group - there were just three of them - but they had a great sound and each one was a gifted musician. Moreland is shown below playing the fiddle; according to his website, he's also a chainsaw artist.

The dance floor wasn't large, and it got even smaller when they moved tables in from the dining tent, but, fortunately, not a lot of people danced. The only downside was when a well-meaning but inexperienced volunteer dumped a two-pound bag of white cornmeal on the concrete floor to make it easier to dance on. We tried to politely warn her that she was overdoing it, without effect, and sure enough, a little later an older couple (older than us, even!) slipped and fell. Fortunately, only their pride was injured. The photo below shows how the floor looked after a several dances; it looks like we were two-stepping on an ice rink! You can imagine how our boots looked after kicking through the corn meal dust.

Overall, it was a great time and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. I have no idea how much money the station raised, but there were several hundred in attendance, including at least four couples from Midland.

We didn't stay at the ranch lodge; it was booked up. Instead, we stayed at the Harvard Hotel in Fort Davis (across the street from the Limpia Hotel, and next door to the drugstore). The Harvard is owned and operated by the Sproul Ranch, and offers very nice, quiet accommodations. And breakfast at the drugstore is hard to beat!

]]> Bicycle Assemblage tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.713 2012-05-12T12:30:44Z 2012-05-12T12:29:17Z

Ever wonder how one goes about assembling a 10-foot-long bicycle in nine minutes? Wonder no more. (Try to ignore all the shots of my butt. I'm apparently not very camera-aware.)...

Eric Ever wonder how one goes about assembling a 10-foot-long bicycle in nine minutes? Wonder no more. (Try to ignore all the shots of my butt. I'm apparently not very camera-aware.)

]]> Cruising the Gulfstream tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.712 2012-05-11T14:24:45Z 2012-05-11T14:26:53Z

Eric Hi, Greg. Our 13-year old Duplex is starting to show its age and we're considering a new Gulfstream. We'd like to have a bike that's more convenient to travel with, and the option of having 8 S&S couplings with the travel cases is intriguing.

What is the upcharge for that option? Also, what is the lead time for building a Gulfstream with that option? We're planning to be in Colorado in mid-July and if the timing would work out, we could stop by and pick up the bike.

And, finally, what sort of deposit do you require?

Thanks for your help with these questions.

That relatively innocuous email was sent to Greg Peek, founder and owner of American Track Roadsters (which builds cars) and Longbikes (which builds bicycles). That message was emailed on May 17, 2011. Almost a year to the day, this showed up on our front porch:

It's our new, made-to-order Gulfstream recumbent tandem. I spent a couple of hours yesterday assembling it, and here are some photos of the almost-finished product. (Still to come: better pedals, fenders, computers, rear rack, and Hurst 6-on-the-floor shifter. OK, I'm kidding about that last thing.) Click on the little pics to see the big ones.

There's also a lot of tweaking left to be done. This bike has a lot more flexibility in setting up the riders' positions than our old bike, and I suspect it will take a few rides to get everything just right.

I haven't tried out the S&S couplings, the connectors that allow us to split the bike in two for easier transport. I hope it's easier than it sounds.

It's been a long and sometimes frustrating project. We almost gave up a couple of times because of the delays, but now that it's here, I have to admit that it's worth the wait. The quality of engineering, build, and attention to detail are impressive, and while these photos don't capture it, the dark maroon (surprise!) metallic paint job is going to rock in bright sunlight. Greg Peek has definitely improved on the design of the original model, Dick Ryan's Duplex, which has always been the gold standard for 'bent tandems.

Watch for us on the road!

]]> Barreling Along tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.711 2012-05-10T17:38:19Z 2012-05-10T17:39:57Z

We finally broke down and bought a rain barrel. OK, I broke down; Debbie had been advocating for it for a long time. I didn't want a big honking ugly contraption sitting in our yard, and what I'd seen seemed awfully expensive. But we ran across one at Home Depot for $99 - about half the price we'd seen at local nurseries - and it holds 57 gallons, has a spigot and an [almost] airtight lid, and comes with a downspout connection kit which will come in handy should we ever have a downspout. (I'm not going crazy with all this.)And as far as having an ugly contraption in our yard...well, have you seen our lawn lately? Having an industrial vessel as a distraction from the dying grass is actually a benefit.Now that we have it, I have to agree it's quite handy. As documented earlier, we're now hauling gray water each day to keep trees and major shrubs hydrated. On days where watering isn't required (but bathing/showering is) we can dump the multiple five-gallon buckets into the barrel for storage. Or, on those days where more than 40 gallons is needed (which is our normal daily haul), we can withdraw extra. The spigot can even be attached to a regular garden hose for hand-watering, although we haven't tried that yet.But the best use for a rain barrel is to collect, you know, rain. And we finally got to do that early this morning. I had the proud foresight to leave the lid off and here's the welcome result:...

Eric I broke down; Debbie had been advocating for it for a long time. I didn't want a big honking ugly contraption sitting in our yard, and what I'd seen seemed awfully expensive. But we ran across one at Home Depot for $99 - about half the price we'd seen at local nurseries - and it holds 57 gallons, has a spigot and an [almost] airtight lid, and comes with a downspout connection kit which will come in handy should we ever have a downspout. (I'm not going crazy with all this.)

And as far as having an ugly contraption in our yard...well, have you seen our lawn lately? Having an industrial vessel as a distraction from the dying grass is actually a benefit.

Now that we have it, I have to agree it's quite handy. As documented earlier, we're now hauling gray water each day to keep trees and major shrubs hydrated. On days where watering isn't required (but bathing/showering is) we can dump the multiple five-gallon buckets into the barrel for storage. Or, on those days where more than 40 gallons is needed (which is our normal daily haul), we can withdraw extra. The spigot can even be attached to a regular garden hose for hand-watering, although we haven't tried that yet.

But the best use for a rain barrel is to collect, you know, rain. And we finally got to do that early this morning. I had the proud foresight to leave the lid off and here's the welcome result:

]]> eta Aquarid Meteor Shower (more or less) tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.710 2012-05-06T12:02:43Z 2012-05-06T12:01:54Z

Since my pal Wallace was too lazy to get up this morning to take photos of the eta Aquarid (translation: flaming rocks falling on your noggin) meteor shower, I stepped up to the plate and captured the astronomically amazing event for the sake of posterity.OK, so I didn't have a camera, and I was pretty much asleep at 5:00 a.m., but other than that, I think the following captures the essence of this amazing astronomical event. The carefully researched scientific annotations are designed to help you understand the magnitude and societal implications of this eventful astronomical amazement.Next up: some eclipse or something....

Eric eta Aquarid (translation: flaming rocks falling on your noggin) meteor shower, I stepped up to the plate and captured the astronomically amazing event for the sake of posterity.

OK, so I didn't have a camera, and I was pretty much asleep at 5:00 a.m., but other than that, I think the following captures the essence of this amazing astronomical event. The carefully researched scientific annotations are designed to help you understand the magnitude and societal implications of this eventful astronomical amazement.

Next up: some eclipse or something.

]]> Random Thursday - The Weekend Edition tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.709 2012-05-05T20:41:33Z 2012-05-05T20:42:47Z

Eric Readers note: I'll be employing hash tags after each brilliant observation. Hash tags are the hipster's way of connoting sarcasm, or implying irony, or providing context. All the Kool Kidz are doing it. #educatingn00bs

I continue to be intrigued by the new image being cultivated by J.C. Penney. But I am a little puzzled by the fact that the company has two domain names and two websites. JCPenney.net is their corporate meta site, and JCPenney.com is their retail shopping site, and the only thing they have in common is the logo. Whoever sold them on the idea of having to maintain two separate online corporate identities gets my vote for salesman of the year. #smilingwebdesigners
I see that yet another local neighborhood is protesting the apparently surprising development that someone wants to drill for oil in the big honking pasture adjacent to their homes. And, once again, the protestors display a puzzling lack of understanding of basic property rights (especially considering that most of them probably bought their expensive homes using income that originated in the oilpatch, directly or indirectly). According to the newspaper report, the driller has gone beyond what's required in the city's ordinance to mitigate the impact of the drilling on the neighborhood, but that's not getting in the way of the residents' outrage (and, apparently, neither is the legal fact that the mineral owners have the legal right to access their underground assets). There's only one thing that will make them feel better - well, other than not drilling at all - and that's if they get a cut of the revenue from the drilling. #moneymakeseverythingbetter
Is there anything more annoying - besides hipsterish hashtags - than opening a brand spanking new box of cereal and finding that the Machine In Charge Of Bag Sealing, in a fit of non-union-sanctioned overzealousness, has glued the inner plastic bag so that there's no way to open it other than finding a pair of scissors - which, frankly, is an impossibility at 6:00 a.m. - to cut it, after which the bag is too short to seal properly which will probably eventually result in a family of deadly scorpions taking up residence in your Grape Nuts and we all know that's bound to end badly for all involved?* #1stworldproblems
And speaking of Things That Invariably Make Life More Challenging, why do flat tires never occur on beautiful cool days? It's apparently a requirement that you must change a tire either in a blizzard, or in heat sufficient to melt the tire to the asphalt on which it rests. #immutablenaturallaws
You know how when you're driving and you observe that everyone driving faster than you is a jerk and everyone driving slower than you is an idiot? (Not that I've ever felt like that.) I think there's a corollary that applies to lawn maintenance. Everyone whose lawn is in better shape than yours is a profligate water waster with messed-up priorities, and everyone whose laws looks worse than yours is a redneck with poor hygiene and deficient civic pride. (Not that I've ever felt like that.) #castingthefirstlandscapingstone
The Tall City BluesFest has announced its 2012 line-up and, man, am I stoked! They've managed to coax Tommy Castro out of California for the Saturday night show. If I had a bucket list, attending a Tommy Castro concert would be on it. I don't have one of those lists, but I plan to check this one off anyway. Here's what you have to look forward to if you're in Midland July 26-28. #anticipation

*You might have forgotten that this paragraph was actually phrased as a question, so I've included this handy footnote to remind you why the question mark appears. #seekinggrammaticalclarityinananalretentivefashion

]]> Mystery Slab - Follow-up #1 tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.708 2012-05-02T11:30:57Z 2012-05-02T11:31:02Z

Remember the Mystery Slab? I've had quite a few people ask me if we've learned what its purpose, and the answer is "no." It's still a mystery, perhaps even more so now that framing of the house has begun.Here are a couple of photos showing how the sunken portion of the house foundation is roughed in. The photo on the right shows the only entry* into the "room," via a narrow door from what we think is the laundry room. Perhaps when the house is wired, we'll be able to better discern the nature of this construction, but for now it continues to remain a mystery.*It's worth noting that just because there's no other doorway at this point doesn't mean there won't eventually be one. Framers have been known to make mistakes, as we learned when our guest powder room had no doorway at all for quite some time until we pointed it out to the builder....

Eric the Mystery Slab? I've had quite a few people ask me if we've learned what its purpose, and the answer is "no." It's still a mystery, perhaps even more so now that framing of the house has begun.

Here are a couple of photos showing how the sunken portion of the house foundation is roughed in. The photo on the right shows the only entry* into the "room," via a narrow door from what we think is the laundry room. Perhaps when the house is wired, we'll be able to better discern the nature of this construction, but for now it continues to remain a mystery.

*It's worth noting that just because there's no other doorway at this point doesn't mean there won't eventually be one. Framers have been known to make mistakes, as we learned when our guest powder room had no doorway at all for quite some time until we pointed it out to the builder.

]]> Midland's Field of Dreams? tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.707 2012-05-01T11:30:51Z 2012-05-01T19:35:05Z

Eric Update (5/1): My pal Robert Thomas, a long-time Midland resident, provided the answer to the mystery described below. According to Robert, a couple of men named Ricky Patterson and Bobby Stevens built the facility "years ago," primarily for their sons to use as a practice facility. Robert also thought they let Midland College use it before Christiansen Stadium was built, and possibly also Midland Christian School. Thanks for the history lesson, Robert!

For the past few years, we've bicycled past a puzzling landmark. It's what appears to be a baseball backstop sort of in the middle of a pasture, with a couple of outbuildings of unknown purpose. We've never seen any vehicles nearby, or any activity of any sort, for that matter.

For you Midlanders, it's located near the southeastern corner of the intersection of Whitman and Mockingbird. It's not very noticeable from Whitman unless you're looking for it, and until Mockingbird was recently extended east to intersect with Garfield, you had to go off-road to get a better view of the parcel. Now that we're able to bicycle past it on Mockingbird, I'm doing some serious research into the nature of the installation. How serious? Well, I'm posting this question here, and on Facebook, and asking if anyone knows the history of the mysterious apparent playing field. You can't get much seriouser than that.

Here's a satellite view of the acreage in question, via Google Maps (and here's the map link if you want to zoom closer).

Was it a practice field for one of the local high schools? Was it the brainchild of a Kevin Costner fan? Did aliens land at night and create the equivalent of a baseball crop circle? Inquiring minds want to know, so leave your opinions, insights, conjectures, and lies in the comments.

]]> Book Review: "1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die" tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.705 2012-04-30T11:03:45Z 2012-04-30T11:03:19Z

Eric 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die (And 10,001 You Must Download). Now, normally, when I find a book that looks promising, I look for it in e-format but in this case, the treeware version called to me.

This is 960 pages of musical history, profiling in chronological order the editors' choices for the most influential recorded songs - by decade - beginning with Enrico Caruso's O Sole Mio, recorded in 1916, and ending with the Gorillaz 2010 recording of Stylo. Each song is described in terms of its influence, with tidbits of trivia about the artists, the context of the recording, and in many cases, other artists who covered the song or who were influenced by it. Some great photos accompany the text.

If you love pop, blues, or rock and roll (sorry, country fans...the British editors knoweth not what they do), you should get this tome. While I'm not familiar with many of the songs - I lived through but ignored the whole punk genre, and continue to ignore rap, for example, and the Anglo-centrism of the editors focuses on some UK artists I never heard of - you may still be interested in how they fit into the progression of musical history. And, frankly, any book that recognizes the genius of Dolly Parton's Jolene has something going for it.

And for those songs that are familiar, the accompanying stories and trivia are fascinating. For example:

None of the Beatles played an instrument on Eleanor Rigby.
Pete Townsend so admired Smokey Robinson's lyrics in The Tracks of My Tears that he lifted one of them to entitle the Who's Substitute.
Macy Gray and Marilyn Manson grew up in the same Canton, Ohio neighborhood.
Aerosmith's classic Walk This Way was inspired by a scene and line in the Mel Brooks movie, Young Frankenstein.
When Jimi Hendrix purred "move over Rover" in Fire, he was referring to an actual situation where his bass player's mother's Great Dane was interfering with his attempts to put a move on Jimi's girlfriend in front of the fireplace.
Lani Hall, the singer on Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66's Mas Que Nada (one of my favorites, by the way) learned the Portuguese lyrics phonetically, and sang them so convincingly that Brazilians thought she was a native speaker.
The editor assigned to Paul Revere & The Raiders' (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone labels that band "the first great punk band," and then makes a convincing case. Incidentally, did you realize the band was formed in 1958.
The drummer on Peggy Lee's 1958 hit, Fever, played with his bare hands, without sticks.

And, finally, many artists have recorded Save The Last Dance For Me, but the first #1 hit recording belonged to The Drifters in 1960. The lyrics of the song have a special meaning for the writer, Doc Pomus, because he...well, you'll have to get the book to learn the rest of the story.

]]> Back Yard as a Terrarium tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.706 2012-04-29T12:20:06Z 2012-04-29T12:21:03Z

Eric literally literally, but blogger hyperbole literally, so work with me here.)

We have an ongoing discussion about the kind of makeover that will bring some semblance of livability to that space, but thus far we've reached no consensus. (Translation: I'm waiting on Debbie to tell me what to do.) In the meantime, we've decided to fill the yard with large, rusty, redneck sculpture, like so:

Every back yard should have a metal horny toad covered in deadly spikes. I won't be surprised if some covert federal agency shows up on our doorstep demanding to see our registration for this device as a WMD. In fact, it's difficult to imagine a work of art that's more dangerous in one's backyard. Well, unless you're a collector of Shi Jin Song's sculptures:

Makes our horny toad look like a cuddly Beanie Baby, huh?

]]> You Ninja, Yu tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.704 2012-04-28T12:02:42Z 2012-04-28T12:03:02Z

Scott Chaffin is one of my blogger heroes; The Fat Guy would be on my list of Blogs I'd Pick If Stranded On A Farm-to-Market Road Between Quitaque and Turkey (that's in Texas, ya'll). He writes with a deceptive country-boy self-deprecation that completely fails to obscure a wicked wit, sharp intellect, and laser-focused insight. He loves country music (the non-Nashville, Texas Outlaw kind) and is a cricket fan. I might also mention that he's currently putting a whuppin' on cancer.Scott's a besbol junkie, a mutated mix of Yogi Berra and George Will, and reading Scott's insights on baseball is more fun than actually watching the game - there's about the same amount of spitting going on, but a bit less scratching. And so it is that I found myself inspired by his ode to Yu Darvish after the Rangers pitcher handed the Yankees their heads a few nights ago. I was particularly inspired by his riff on the description taken from this article of the young, extremely-well-paid Japanese pitcher as a "bad-a** ninja."So, Scott, this one's for Yu:Image created via blatant ripoff and mashup of this, this, and this.Once again, Photoshop trumps talent....

Eric The Fat Guy would be on my list of Blogs I'd Pick If Stranded On A Farm-to-Market Road Between Quitaque and Turkey (that's in Texas, ya'll). He writes with a deceptive country-boy self-deprecation that completely fails to obscure a wicked wit, sharp intellect, and laser-focused insight. He loves country music (the non-Nashville, Texas Outlaw kind) and is a cricket fan. I might also mention that he's currently putting a whuppin' on cancer.

Scott's a besbol junkie, a mutated mix of Yogi Berra and George Will, and reading Scott's insights on baseball is more fun than actually watching the game - there's about the same amount of spitting going on, but a bit less scratching. And so it is that I found myself inspired by his ode to Yu Darvish after the Rangers pitcher handed the Yankees their heads a few nights ago. I was particularly inspired by his riff on the description taken from this article of the young, extremely-well-paid Japanese pitcher as a "bad-a** ninja."

So, Scott, this one's for Yu:

Image created via blatant ripoff and mashup of this, this, and this.
Once again, Photoshop trumps talent.

]]> My Excellent Podiatric Adventure tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.703 2012-04-27T11:56:43Z 2012-04-27T11:57:03Z

Eric

I had this conception of what a podiatrist's office would look like. I envisioned something out of a Dick Van Dyke Show episode, essentially frozen in the early 60s, except with arcane equipment scattered around. I was spot on.

Yes, those are my actual unretouched feet, patiently (ha!) awaiting the results of x-rays. But that's not the focus, because they obviously pre-date the early 60s. Look instead at the décor!

To be honest, the surroundings weren't off-putting at all. Quite the opposite; they engendered in me a calm and comfortable feeling, sort of like settling into the parlor of a favorite aunt, not that I recall having any aunts who had actual parlors. The artwork was classic Starving Artist Nature Scenes With Ducks motif, and it blended perfectly with the peeling green plaid wallpaper and verdant armchairs. This waiting room was anti-hipsterish to the point of being absolutely cool. I'd go back in a heartbeat just to enjoy the ambiance.

I think all doctors' offices should be similarly decorated, because I can remember when they made house calls, and I'm all about nostalgia nowadays.

]]> Pebble: The future of watches? tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.702 2012-04-26T11:36:42Z 2012-04-26T11:36:49Z

Eric

This unassuming wristwatch is designed to interact with - control and/or be controlled by - your iPhone, iPod touch or Android smartphone, via Bluetooth. The face is so-called ePaper, a display that's visible in bright sunlight, like a Kindle, and is also backlit for viewing in the dark. The watch can access a wide variety of apps, and more intrepid owners can write their own apps to add capabilities to the device. Instead of building in all sorts of capabilities that would increase the size and complexity of the watch, it piggybacks onto your smartphone and appropriates its features. You can download any number of "faces" to customize the look of the phone - it always displays the time when it's not engaged in more exotic tasks, like measuring the distance to the pin on the 8th hole of your favorite golf course, or displaying caller ID for incoming phone calls, or keeping track of your bicycle route.

If you're an Android owner, you will even be able to view incoming text messages on the watch. Apple doesn't allow external access to such messages so this won't work for your iPhone; you can argue whether that's a good thing or not.

I've mentioned Kickstarter a few times in the past, and have "invested" in several projects via this group-source financing tool. But the Pebble is far and away the most successful project I've run across. According to its Kickstarter page, more than 40,000 pledges now total more than 60 times the original $100,000 goal.

You can still get in on the funding for this project, which is accepting pledges for another three weeks. Depending on your level of backing, you can get your own Pebble before it becomes available to the general public.

]]> Scary Prairie tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.701 2012-04-25T11:30:03Z 2012-04-25T11:32:20Z

Eric According to The Weather Channel, the temperature in Midland today will hit 105° In recognition of this dubious achievement, I offer the following.

If my lawn is already looking like this, imagine what August is going to bring. OK, just kidding (sort of). This is an overly bleak perspective of the grass the developers planted to hold down the soil in the new phase of our neighborhood. It was a lush green up until a couple of weeks ago. Now? Uh, not so much. In fact, it looks like a good candidate for a wild fire (Heaven forbid!).

By the way, despite a concerted effort at research, including almost three solid minutes of googling, I still don't know what species of grass this is. This is especially troubling because I was actually on a grass judging team when I was a mere lad in 4-H. Bet you didn't know such a thing existed.

Note: I was going to title this post "Passed Grass" (you know, like a euphemism for death and all that) but found that I'd actually used it before. Dang.

]]> Mystery Slab tag:www.ericsiegmund.com,2012:/fireant//1.700 2012-04-24T11:34:09Z 2012-04-24T11:35:26Z

A new house is going up a block from us, and we're really puzzled about something. Below is a photo of the concrete slab that was poured last week, showing a sunken...something. There are no plumbing or electrical connections, and the space isn't big enough to be a living area (it's about 8' x 10'). Any ideas?...

Eric

]]>