New Front Door, originally uploaded by just…eD.

We had a new front door installed. Click on the picture to see more photos.

Mary’s Flowers, originally uploaded by just…eD.

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Mary worked hard planting lilies in her flower gardens and unfortunately, they have decided to put on their best show while she is in Kansas.

Google has a site that is a human powered image labeler. The site pairs you up with another person. Each person starts entering keywords. If you and your partner enter the same word, then you get points. It sounds cheesy but is actually kind of fun.

Googles Image Labeler

Sidewalk and Patio Improvements, originally uploaded by just…eD.

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I have not been making good progress on my list of home improvement projects so I relented and did not protest when Mary suggested hiring a landscaper. A couple weeks ago, the landscaper dudes spent one day pulling weeds and spreading compost. Yesterday they started in on the back patio and today they extended the sidewalk out to the street. I think the patio and sidewalk extension look great because they really fit in with our log house. Even though it is a hit to the bank account, it is a great relief to have these projects finished.

My Spore Creature, originally uploaded by just…eD.

I downloaded the Spore Creature Creator and this is my first creature. More info about spore.

Here it is in action:

The Bainbridge Island Rotary Club has a auction/garage sale once a year at the middle school. It is the club’s major money maker. The public drops off unwanted items the week before the auction. The better items are auctioned off and the rest is displayed in a garage sale like fashion.

I was looking at the middle school in Google Maps and I realized it shows a view of the auction setup from 2007. The picture is from July 5th, 2007, which was a Thursday. The auction would have been on Friday and the garage sale on Saturday. The auction was a week late last year because the school year ran a week later.

Click on the photo above to see the notes that identify where some of the items for sale are located. We don’t tend to buy a lot but we always buy Jared a pair of soccer shoes. The auction is a great source of like-new sports equipment for kids. Mary likes to buy a bag full of stuffed animals to use as dog toys. There are a lot of items like kids’ bikes that undoubtedly make multiple trips through the auction. An item is bought, used, and returned to the auction for the next family to purchase.

Check out Rick Gordon’s photos from this year’s auction.

It started out sunny today here on Bainbridge Island but then the clouds rolled in. Fortunately it remained somewhat warm which made it a lousy picture taking day but a great day for a walk. Jared and I headed out around noon and ended up walking a total of 5 miles. That is pretty good for us. We took along my GPS receiver so we could add to the Bainbridge Island Trails site.

Jared and I recorded a walk that we do at least once a year in the summer. It is a good walk for those days when the tide is really low because you get to walk way out into the Sound off Wing Point on a spit that rises out of the water. It feels like being in a boat without the boat. The walk usually begins at Ace because they have a lot of parking. Today Jared and I walked from home but we started recording the walk from Ace. From there, we walk on a neighborhood trail and streets to Hawley Cove Park. The park has a trail that leads to the beach. We can legally walk on the beach beyond the park if we stay below the high tide line. From the park, we walk up the beach to the end of Wing Point.

Click the link to view the larger map, turn on the satellite images and you can just see the spit that we walk out on.

View Larger Map

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Last week I was in Ace looking at the gardening tools. I have a lot of Dandelions and something that looks like a tougher Dandelion in my yard. Since we live on this island surrounded by water, I really hate dumping a lot of weed killer on my yard. Every time I go to Ace, I look at the latest weed pulling device and every time I decide the devices are to gimmicky. Well this time Ace had a tool named “Grandpa’s Weed Puller“. I looked it over add to my surprise, it looked like it might actually work. So I purchased one.

OMG! I love that thing. The tool’s design is very simple; a cast iron head and a wooden handle. It works great for pulling weeds out of the yard. Grandpa’s Weed Puller really works best at pulling weeds out of compacted dirt. You push the head into the ground over the center of a weed with your foot, tilt the handle back on the tail that sticks out at the side, and it pulls up the weed, root and all. When you put pressure on the tail, it pinches the head closed. It works best in solid dirt because it actually grabs a small amount of dirt along with the weed’s root. When I tried pulling a weed in a flower bed, the dirt fell away and the weed slipped through the weed puller and remained in the ground. The dirt in most yards is fairly compact and that is where this device excels.

It is almost effortless to use. If you have a lot of weeds, it can be a bit tedious but it gets you outdoors and frees your mind to contemplate the world around you. Plus, you are removing your weeds, root and all, without a drop of chemicals. How great is that?

Don’t click on this link if you are planning a desperate act.

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