Public Service Announcement...

Peak State Fair

This kid swarming up onto the tractor just made my day.
Peak State Fair, right there.#IndianaStateFair pic.twitter.com/UWscQRxh49

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) August 19, 2018

Slothzilla!

Awesome new shower curtain at Roseholme Cottage. I still smile every time I look at it.
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D'awwwww!

Taking Pictures (Animated Short Film) from Simon Taylor on Vimeo.

(via Petapixel.)

Special puppy needs special home...

Major and Minor being puppies.

The Atomic Nerds have a special puppy that needs a special home.
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All's fair...

More Fair pics:

Trailer with a bunch of stationary gas engines driving an array of machines, from water pumps to corn shuckers to a washing machine.

Goat standing around and looking cute.

One of six Massey Harris I-330 tractors built for the U.S. Navy; this is the only one left.

ZOMG SNOWMAGEDDON! Life after white death.

They're saying 6.2" of snow down at the airport, but it's more like 8" here at Roseholme Cottage. It's still snowing, but looking at the radar, I doubt it's got more than an inch or so left in it, so it'll be time to go shovel the walks and dig out the roomie's car here before too long.

Maybe I'll see if I can break trail down the alley with the Subie.

Sorry about turning the Turing test back on in comments, but Blogger's spam comments filter has just completely collapsed under the onslaught recently. I woke up this morning to find twelve digital turds plopped in the latest comment threads since 0100, and that's not counting the sixty more in the spam traps.

Google jiggled their search algorithms back some time last year to more heavily weight backlinks in "social media" and news article comments sections, and even-less-scrupulous-than-usual SEO types responded by unleashed hordes of gibberish-'n'-backlink-spouting 'bots on the Blogosphere. Comment spam had been a desultory sort of thing before that, sort of the universal background noise of blogs, but by the end of the year I was scooping as many as 300 spam comments out of the trap first thing every morning. It wasn't so bad as long as they were getting caught in the trap, but now they're getting past the filter and I won't stand for that.

Anyhow, sorry about turning the CAPTCHA back on. I've got to go shovel now, but I'll be back.

In the meantime, courtesy of email, check out this link about a Nat Geo photographer who got "adopted" by a 12-ft. female leopard seal who apparently thought he looked a little scrawny and needed help learning to hunt penguins... (It's the third slide show at the link.)

Sit! Roll over! Burn rubber! Good dog!

Clever ad campaign:



(via email)

Intermission

The standard response on the internet...

...when faced with a total case of writer's block is to say "Look! A cute cat video!"





The thing with Huck is that, being a cat, he doesn't associate being asked to do something with getting a reward for obedience; he just realizes that when he flips on his back, a snack is produced, so any time you're in the kitchen and he's feeling peckish, you'll hear the basement door start thumping against its jamb as Huck is intently somersaulting away, looking up at you expectantly between reps, wondering why you aren't breaking out the treat bag.

Video courtesy of my roomie.

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'Cause he's a war machine...

Huck the red tabby has more courage and less common sense than any cat I've seen in years. He still has that kitten-like urge to play fight, and if you decide you've had enough before he's done, he will come at you as you try to pull back and walk away.

I did not know, however, that he had an NSN. Apparently he is a milspec cat, perhaps for use in clearing bunker complexes.

Try to relax, kitty...

Huck was on the futon, sleeping on his back and looking completely unstressed, but unfortunately the camera powering up and charging the flash seems to have caused him to wake up...

Keep this gun off the street!

Every time an Evil Black Rifle finds a new home, an angel gets its wings...

Good on ya, Borepatch!

Cutest. Ever.

Robb Allen introduces his little girl to the joys of shootin' with an air rifle.

Judging from the pictures, if she'd been any happier, she might have exploded or something.

Awwww!

I got all lump-in-the-throat kinda early this morning. You can, too.

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Happy Anniversary...

...to Breda and Mike!

Here's wishing y'all many more. :)

I don't care who you are...

...that's cute, right there.

Someone talked!

After she and TD let loose a flurry of cryptic message posting, Squeaky Wheel finally leaks the news.

New draft pick.

The Good Guys have added a new draft pick to the roster. Mr. & Mrs. PDB, personal trainers for the sprog, are working hard to ensure that he'll be ready to punch hippies in time for the 2026 season.

The Spirit of Giving...

Wherein Mauser Girl Claus and Abby The Black-Nosed German Shepherd go out of their way to deliver a bit of Christmas Joy to the guys stuck pulling CQ duty in the barracks over the holiday...