A Little Tatting, Lunar Photos, and a New Love of My Life

I haven't done much tatting since my last post. I got my package from Gina recently, but I will need a few days to scan and photograph everything I got from her. I finished the tatting for my Christmas in July partner. I found out today that my partner got her package already. I'm impressed. That lady at Canada Post told me it will take 6-8 business days. It only took 3 business days. Here is a preview of what I tatted for my partner.

For this motif I used DMC Cordonnet size 50 thread paired with Oren Bayan Metallic thread. I'm not sure what size equivalent this combination works out to, probably between a size 10 to 20. That is only a guess. I will have to make a sample one of these days. I have not touched my final motif since I last posted. I may try to complete another petal or two tonight. Of course, this is weather permitting. We could get a thunderstorm, which could knock out the power. I love the forecast that Forecastfox is displaying for today: Not as warm with a t-storm, 27 C. Can't say I have ever seen a rhyming forecast before.

It has been really hot here the last few days; the temperature has been in the 27-29 degrees C range lately. And, if thats not hot enough, my house seems to get a few degrees hotter than it is outside. I don't have air conditioning, but I do have several fans that kinda help. To be a complete geek, I have the fans connected to X-10 home automation controllers that react to an X-10 compatible temperature sensor. All of which interact with my PC. Depending on the reading the sensor sends to the computer, the fans turn on or off in response to the inside temperature. It works quite well. It's even better when the computer announces that the fans (or plant or aquarium lights) are going on or off, and plays sound effects from the computer of Star Trek Voyager.

Now, last night, I took some picture of the moon with my new camera. I'm actually quite impressed with the images I got.

It's a little blurry around the edges, but I assume that is because of the digital zoom. This photo was taken with out a telescope of any kind. I used all available zoom settings that my camera has. That is, 6x optical zoom multiplied by 4x digital zoom for a total of 24x zoom. I'll have to play around with the settings some more to see if I can eliminate some of the blurriness. Ironically, I was trying to photograph the moon during an eclipse this past February that made me want a new camera. Here is a photo from that attempt:

Quite a difference, isn't it? This was as close as I could get. My old camera has only 2x digital zoom.

Finally, I have a new love of my life. I don't know how I lived without her. I can't decide what I like more. Her sleek, feminine, disk-shaped body or her awesome cleaning abilities. May I introduce you all to................




iRobot Roomba 400!

I don't know how I lived without Roomba. It is a pretty good vacuum. I have wanted one, ever since iRobot first released them . I was at Wal*Mart one day and as soon as I saw Roomba, I knew I had to have one. The particular model I have, Roomba 400, is an entry level model, but it can be upgraded to have scheduling capabilities and a base station Roomba will seek out when it is done cleaning. I know what you all are thinking. I promise to leave home more often and have more human contact.