BOO!!! ... Part Two

The Wife was looking out our very dirty deck sliding door when she noticed what looked like children's hand prints.  She took a picture and I tried to enhance it a bit to make the prints stand out better.

Picture taken by the Wife and edited by me.

We haven't had any children in our house for ages.  Haven't seen any children in our yard.  Maybe a ghost child paid us a visit on Halloween?

Or maybe there is a more ... natural ... explanation. Last week I raised the bird feeder from four foot high off the fence to around seven foot in the hope that I could keep the racoons from eating all the food.  I suspect that this may have pissed off the racoons and the strange, childlike prints on our glass door were in fact racoon prints.  The front paws of racoons are similar to human hands but you usually can see their claws in the prints.  The screen on the glass may explain the lack of claw prints.

Were you a racoon or were you a ...

Ghost Child?

Trash Panda Bandits

Every Saturday I fill the birdfeeders.  The main feeder holds six pounds of bird seed that I mix by hand to attract the biggest variety of birds.  The feeder is attached to a cord that I can raise or lower for easy filling.  I did it this way to prevent squirrels from eating the seed.

Despite my efforts, inevitably the feeder is empty by Monday morning.  I have always thought this was weird since the small birds in our yard could not possibly eat that much food in two days.  The only time this would be believable would be in the Spring when the blackbirds migrate through and swarm the feeders.  Another strange fact was that the feeders were being emptied out at night … hmmmm.

Birds visiting the feeder.

So I decided to solve the mystery once and for all and I purchased a hunting camera.  The camera is made to be attached to a tree or post and is triggered by motion.  It works at day or night.  I filled up the feeder, placed the camera where it had a good view of the feeder, and waited a week.

Two racoons burgling the feeder.

It really didn't take long.  I was expecting to see a racoon, sometimes referred to a trash panda since they like trash and they are related to pandas, but I was a bit surprised to see two.  I also learned it takes two visits to totally empty the feeder (Note the top picture with the birds - the feeder is half full after the racoon's first visit).

A Trash Panda taking a selfie.

I am considering adding another section of pipe to raise the feed out of the racoon's reach.  I would rather feed the birds instead of the racoons and the food would last a lot longer if only the birds are visiting.

A Round About Way To A Similar Destination

 A couple things reached the same destination this year.  Both took different routes … both had different reasons … but both got to the same place.

The first started as a pandemic lockdown project for the Wife.  Over the past year or so the Wife has pursued a dual citizenship.  The first is American, naturally, and the other is through genealogy.  The Wife has ancestors from Luxembourg and for the past year she has collected birth certificates, wedding records, death records, and other genealogical proof of her Luxembourgian ancestry.  She had filled out requests and forms, often multiple times, and submitted her application for Luxembourgian citizenship.  She reached her goal in August when she was granted citizenship.

A blurry picture of the original
Walking Sister travel bug.

The second has been talked about before in Homer's Travels.  In 2007 I sent out a geocaching travel bug called the Walking Sister.  It travelled around the United States for almost four years before it turned up missing.  I had a duplicate of the travel bug tag so I made a new Walking Sister.  This time I dropped her off in Santiago de Compostela, Spain on my first Camino.  It was soon picked up and started travelling around Europe.  Starting from Spain it went to Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and even took a side trip to Cyprus.  Combined the two versions of the Walking Sister have visited one thousand six hundred and eighty two geocaches and have travelled 40,189.9 miles (64679.2 km).

So how are these two things connected?  Last week I received an update.  The Walking Sister's latest stop is in … Luxembourg.

Graffiti ... Some Translation Required

I saw this piece of street literature a few days ago.  Still haven't figured out what it means.

Some translation required.

My guess is this can be divided into three parts:

1. "SLIM 16" - I presume that this is a tag or name.  When I google it all I get is mentions of boy's pant sizes.
2. "HEART OF STEEL" - This could be several things but I think it may be the name of a song. One possibility is Galactic - "Heart of Steel" feat. Irma Thomas which happens to be an awesome song.  Another possibility is Manowar - "Heart of Steel" which I can't say I'm fond of but it kind of fits the times we live in.  Both of these songs are several years old so it would be strange to pop up in newer graffiti.
3. "IN THIS FAKE AZZ SWERVE TOWN" - Swerve appears to be slang meaning to dodge someone or something (as in avoid them or it).  Not sure who or what this town is dodging.

So what do you think?  Does it mean something or is it a bunch of random rambling? I imagine it means something to someone.  Leave you idea in the comments, Facebook comments, or as a Twitter reply.

Missing: One Matching Foot

Found this while cleaning the house today:

Lonely Sock.

I think I know who it belongs too but there were seven possible choices so I thought I would put it on the blog just to be sure.

A Desperate Need To Get Out

The past few weekends have been fairly bland around here.  We haven't gone anywhere interesting and just stayed home.  It was relaxing but uninspiring.  This weekend The Wife said no more, we need to get out.  We consulted our list of places to go and the Wife said let's go to Villisca.  We haven't been to any weird places for a while - not since Route 66 last summer or our east Iowa trip last spring.  Villisca just so happens to have a level of weirdness.  Why?  It is the home of the 1912 Ax Murder House.

So on Saturday we left for the short ninety minute drive to Villisca, IA.  We stopped in the town square and had lunch at TJ's Cafe (formerly the D&D Bar & Grill) because, as everyone knows, you should never go to an alleged haunted house on an empty stomach.  The Wife had their famous pork tenderloin sandwich and [I] had a tasty double cheeseburger.  The food was very satisfying and after we finished we were ready for ax swinging mayhem.

The Ax Murder house is a typical small town Iowa house.  A kitchen, parlor, and little side room on the bottom floor and two bedrooms and a large storage/attic space on the second.  A tiny place compared to modern housing standards.  On the night of the murders, June 10, 1912, it was owned by the Moores - a married couple with four children.  On the night of the murders two friends of the children were sleeping over in the room off the parlor.  Sometime after midnight someone entered the house and, using the back side of an ax, bludgeoned all eight to death in their sleep.

The crime was never solved.  Soon after the crime was discovered by a neighbor just about everyone from the town paraded through the house.  By the time the crime investigators arrived any evidence that may have existed was destroyed.  There are all sorts of theories involving vagabonds, train engineers, angry parents, crazy preachers, and on and on.  No one was ever arrested for the crime.

We listened to the store and walked through the house.  The house is very popular with the pseudoscience ghost story shows like Ghost Hunters.  This popularity has turned into quite the money maker for the owner of the house who originally bought it to tear it down.  For $400.00 up to six people can spend the night in the house and experience the house for yourself.  They are usually booked solid up to six months in advance.  Crazy.

After touring the house, which only took a half hour or so, we decided to go to Walnut, IA to do some antiquing.  I guess all this talk about 1912 made us think of old things.  The Wife got some good deals on some treasures.  I left town with a bottle of diet pepsi.

After stopping at Lowe's to buy some plants for our backyard we got home in time for dinner and a relaxing evening.  It felt nice to go out and about.  The Ax Murder House was a little underwhelming, probably more exciting for the true believers, but getting out of the house hit the spot.  One more weird attraction checked off the list.

P.S. Forgot my camera at home but there wasn't much there worth photographing anyway.

Mystery In The Form Of A Jeopardy Answer

Answer:

House, Rock/Stone, Hog, Mate, Skip, Bonspiel, and Broom/Brush

What is the question?

I will reveal the question on Monday.  No fair using Google or any other search engines.

P.S. I suspect Just a Girl and GeekHiker will know the answer right away.

I Miss The Geese

Where are the geese?  In 2008 we had flocks landing in the field behind the house each evening, munching on the leftover corn in the fields.  In 2009 there was no corn, the farmer had planted soybeans, but we still had geese flying overhead.  This year, until earlier this week, I hadn't seen nary a one.

2009 Geese Off Our Deck.

This week the geese have started to appear but they are two to three months late and their numbers, so far, are anemic.  I'm a little disappointed.  I hoped that the corn returning to the fields would signal the return of the geese.   I appear to be wrong.

Why???   Climate change ... wind turbines ... habitat destruction?  It's a mystery.

Suicidal Camel

Sitting next to our computer, on opposite corners of our corner desk, sit two speakers.  On the speakers sit two little plush camels.  One is all brown.  The other white and brown.  They were gifts from a friendly shop keeper in Jordan.

The all brown camel is content to watch me as I compose posts ... or, more likely, play Facebook Scrabble.  The white and brown camel is ... suicidal.   It has made several attempts.  Jumping off the speaker, off the desk, and onto the floor.

WHY!?!?!?

P.S. I know this post is strange. I blame the non-stop political commercials.

Up And Down And ...

For those who have the crazy idea that Omaha is a flat city, I walked a 14.5 mile loop with 3,228 feet total assent on Thursday.  My calves are still feeling it two days after the walk.

One odd happening.  As I was walking I had my GPS in my right hand pants pocket.  Every so often I would check it and I would find that it had lost reception.  Finally after loosing reception a couple times, I switched it to my left pocket.  It never lost reception for the remaining seven or eight miles.  The only thing I can think of is that my keys, also in my right pocket, may have interfered with the GPS signal.

A Raccoon Coincidence ... Or Is It ?!?

Last weekend, while attending the ND-USC football game with her dad, the Wife hit a raccoon with her car. It did a number on her bumper.

Two days later I come come from walking Homer and I see a raccoon hunkered down under the front overhang of our house. Since it didn't look like it was going to move on its own, and we thought it might be injured or sick, we called animal control. The raccoon decided it didn't like the attention it was getting from Animal Control and scrambled away, making its escape.

Yesterday I was walking Homer and, three doors down, there was Mr. Raccoon. He was standing in the middle of the neighbor's front yard. Homer barked at it and it just stood there and stared.

Coincidence? Stalker Raccoon? USC Fan? Only time will tell.

Perloined Plexiglass

I like to feed the birds in our backyard. I've got a feeder hanging from the back fence. I fill the feeder every Monday afternoon. The birds, sloppy and ravenous, usually empty it out in less than 24 hours. Often in less than 12.

I went out there today and opened the feeder to fill it and I was surprised to find one of the two Plexiglas sides completely missing. I looked around on the ground and looked over the fence to see if it was there. I couldn't see it anywhere and I was sure that some neighborhood kids stole it.

At the urging of the Wife I went back behind the fence to do a more thorough search. Our back fence backs up against a road and there is a pretty good drop from the bottom of our fence and the road - eight to twelve feet I would guess. When I got there sure enough the piece of Plexiglas was at the bottom of the ditch.

I picked it up and, using the skills I learned watching CSI, I identified the perpetrator:

A Raccoon

The amount of wildlife around these parts never ceases to amaze me. The biggest thing we saw in our backyard in Oxnard was a possum. Now I just need to catch the raccoon in the act with my camera.

What Is It #2?

OK boys and girls, time, once again, for a pop quiz.  We have a tree in our backyard that has some type of fruit/nut on it.  The tree drops its leaves but most of the fruit is still hanging.  The fruit is an orangish-brown, a little over an inch in diameter, and is hard.  Here is a picture of the fruit:

So, what kind of tree is it?  If you know what it is, please let me know in the comments.

Jell-O Experiments

On Saturday, with the Mother-In-Law watching and using her ingredients, I made orange Jell-O with mandarin oranges.  As you can see in this picture, unlike my other attempts, the oranges floated.

I think I've solved the riddle.  I always use sugar-free Jell-O.  The Mother-In-Law brought sugared Jell-O.  This will be confirmed when the  Mother-In-Law tries it with sugar-free Jell-O.

The Mysterious Mysteries of Jell-O

I like Jell-O.  There.  I said it.  I really like Jell-O.  The Wife makes fun of me but I still like Jell-O.  What's wrong with liking Jell-O?!?  I don't know.

Anyway, I have a mystery.  My favorite Jell-O is orange with mandarin oranges.  In my youth and on into my college years, I remember the mandarin oranges floating at the top of the Jell-O.  When Mom used to make it the oranges floated.  When the Mother-In-Law makes it, the oranges float.  When I used to make it in California, the mandarin oranges would sit, lifeless on the bottom of the bowl.  I had concluded the issue was the altitude.  Our Oxnard home was at 15 feet elevation.  Omaha is around 1,000 feet.  So, when it was time to make some Jell-O for the dinner we're having with Mom and "E" tonight, I was looking forward to lively mandarin oranges happily floating on the top of the Jell-O.  It was not to be.  To quote Bones: "They're dead, Jim."

If any of you know why my oranges don't float, let me know in the comments.

What Is It?

OK boys and girls, time for a pop quiz. On my Chief Peak hike a few days ago, I came across this odd structure. It stands at least 10 feet tall. It has rungs to allow someone to climb it. The capped spigot extending out the hole on the side is connected to a pipe that turns upward inside. Below the spigot, the structure sounds hollow. The structure is in a depression some 20 - 30 feet from the road near a bone dry pond. The structure is attached to three railroad ties that form a three pointed base.

So, what the heck is it? I have an idea. Let's see if you agree. Leave me a comment with what you think it is.