AARRGGHH!!!!!

This stupid legislation makes me angry enough that I can't blog clearly about it. Maybe later I will be able to make thoughtful comments that are not laden with obscenities directed at the legislature.

Review: Batman Begins

Yeah! We got a good Batman origin story!!!!!! Christian Bale does a good job with an angsty Bruce Wayne/Batman and you have to love Michael Caine as Alfred. As most origin stories, the beginning works through the issues of why the character chooses the path they are on and this takes a decent portion of the movie. I particularly enjoyed how this movie deals with how Batman gets his gear (the suit, the cape, the utility belt, etc). My only problems come in the character of Rachael Dawes played by Katie Holmes. At times she fails to be believable in her emotions.

Some parts of the movie were genuine "make you jump" slightly scary moments. I would not take my kids to see this one, but I would let them see it at home. However, there were several very young kids in the audience tonight that seemed to not freak out, much to my surprise.

Backyard Swimming

I set up an inflatable pool today as the temperature hit 90 and it was Ivy's last day of school. I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures of the girls playing. These were the best two. Enjoy!

Rose jumping

Ivy makes a big splash

A t-shirt for Father's Day?

I found a reference to this shirt on Aaron Williams's (Nodwick, ps238, Full Frontal Nerdity) blog. For the Star Wars fan on your Father's Day list, a wonderfully funny t-shirt. I am as surpised as others that the shirt is being made. It seems a little too humorous for traditional Star Wars merchandising.

Zombie Survival Test

From a link I followed on Ober Dicta, I give you the Zombie Survival Test. (You can take the test and get results without signing up.) I edited the block below to remove a very large image.

Official Survivor Congratulations! You scored 68%!! Whether through ferocity or quickness, you made it out. You made the right choice most of the time, but you probably screwed up somewhere. Nobody's perfect, at least you're alive. My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 53% on survivalpoints Link: The Zombie Scenario Survivor Test written by ci8db4uok on Ok Cupid

Concrete cylinders in the backyard

Recently, a little bit of plastic has been peeking through the topsoil in the backyard. Pulling the plastic back revealed a group of concrete cylinders that had been buried in the yard. Glenn started to dig one up, but decided that the hole would be a little too big and stopped.

My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to dig them out. Well, it turned out that there were a total of 13 of them, each being 6 inches in diameter and 12 inches tall. I didn't take out a scale to weigh them, but they are heavy.

Below are pictures of the cylinders, in a pile and the filled in hole. After digging them out, I was too lazy to go get the camera to get a picture of the empty hole. You can click on each picture to bring up a larger version. I included Rose in some of the pictures to add some sort of scale.

If anyone has any ideas as to why these might be buried in my yard, I would like to hear theories.

The cylinders Rose and the project

The hole and the cylinders

Glenn thinks they are from concrete sample prep, that the previous owner had some purpose for. There are three at the edge of the front porch, buried longways to half their diameter. There are also several used to edge one flowerbed. We know that the previous owner was an engineer. Maybe he used the leftovers for various purposes around the house.

"The cabinet smells like basil." - Rose

Glenn recently purchased some Sundried Tomato and Basil Wheat Thins. On Tuesday night, I walked by the box in the kitchen and then announced in the car that the kitchen smelled like basil. Glenn told me it was the Wheat Thins and that was the end of the discussion (after he ran back in the house to make sure the box was properly closed).

Today, Rose opens the kitchen pantry and announces, "The cabinet smells like basil." I am not sure if she was imitating what I said or actually knows what basil smells like. I did go check the cabinet and the crackers are very fragrant - enough so, that I checked to see if they had been folded over to seal them. Admittedly, the crackers are pretty good to eat as well.