We've been reasonably happy with Tracfone....started out some time ago with a Nokia on that service and now both my wife and I have older iPhones operating through Tracfone. For texting, you are shackled to the touchscreen qwerty keyboard as offered, but since it can do Bluetooth, I'm intrigued by the possibility of using a full-size keyboard when needed.....in fact have a Bluetooth keyboard for our iPad so may need to check that out. Somewhat strangely, Tracfone has "Basic" plans and "Smartphone" plans....but unless I'm mistaken, I've never switched away from Basic where I typically purchase a 365-days for $99.00 plan with 400 minutes and some amount of texts (you can tell I use the latter as an afterthought... :-) ). Somehow, even these Basic plans allow you to buy Data, so I've seen no point in buying a Smartphone plan which starts out at 2X the price for the plan, but has more built in talk/text.....guess I just like to buy cheap and buy more only when needed. If any of the talk/text/data get used up before the 365 days is over, they are $5/10/10 for adding more of each, respectively. In case any of this is helps..... Good luck!
Edited to add.....upon some perusal, looks like Verizon is making a play for the purchase of Tracfone. Hmmmmm....I wonder where that will lead..... :-/
Does anyone know if 3D printing is, in any way, being fused with plastic recycling? I recall a thread some time ago about some movement and machinery that melts and re-molds plastic for new uses. Is there a 3D printer concept out there that has envisioned using waste plastic as a raw material that could be liquified and used in the printing?
Jen, How has your greenhouse been holding up now so far? I can't recall what kinds of winds you have had this spring season in N. Cal. but I hope it's been calm and the greenhouse holding fast so far. Nice structure! To answer your question, the new garden window is actually perched on the roof of a 3-season sun-room. We could put plants in the sun-room itself, but there is too much of a risk of the dogs knocking something over since that is their main sitting room and entry-way that they use to get into the house. The house window that is covered by the new construction is actually a stair-way window.....positioned half-way in height between the windows on the main floor and the second story of the house. And yes.....if I had a ground-level exiting doorway on the south side of house, I would jump at the opportunity to build a larger-sized version of this to serve as a mini mud-room/greenhouse/potting-shed/New-Renaissance-man-cave... :-) If my wife's step-father up near Willits wouldn't have built that yurt back in the 70's, I'd be pushing him to add one as well!...But he's now dedicated to "corner-free living" and I'm all tinker-toys and 2X4s. Ha!
Tim, I had to Google the "Dog Trot" house design.....never heard of it before you mentioned it, but I really like it! Also understand now why it excelled in the southern States of the US and not the North. I recall seeing a TV show on the northern prairie "L-Style" house....an example of the many abandoned ones around us shown below. Maybe it's the northern equivalent to the Dog-Trot house. Anyway, they seemed a pretty popular and efficient design, separating the mud/work/kitchen space from the bedroom/parlor space. For those with livestock, it may not be such a bad idea to go back to times when the barn was fused via a breezeway/tack corridor to the house, thereby allowing for access to the barn during long stretches of cold weather.
Just adding to this thread as I went in search for a garden window this spring for a south-facing window in our home. Perhaps due to the impact of the pandemic on the general economy but I was coming up quite short in affordable offerings of these as pre-fab windows for purchase. Building one didn't seem a major investment so cobbled together older lumber around the property and will finish the roofing with metal scraps from a recent garage project that also will match the roof color of the house. The windows were purchased new.....perhaps should have gone with a standard double-hung for the direct south facing window, but opted for the more economical storm window instead. The 14 inch wide side windows are "basement sliders".....because I could not find double- or single-hungs in something narrower than 18 inches....total window cost ~$160.00. It still needs some work mid-summer, but for now will be housing some tomato and pepper seedlings that need a jump start before planting in late May/early June. The early framing photo on top is followed by an interior view and then the nearly finished exterior view.
In a nutshell, yes......a common microwave can be used for sterilizing items within reason. One thing I've learned is that you need to have a good idea of the effective space within a microwave that is being subjected to the full effects of the radiation within the chamber. I've microwaved many items for several minutes while a fly was buzzing around in the chamber and it flew out unscathed. (.....don't worry, I don't make this a common practice! ;-P )
I'm not sure how the food industry uses radiation for food preservation. Microwave radiation from your standard oven will tend to heat samples and that would seem to be incompatible with many of the packaged food items.
Microwave radiation will kill probiotic bacteria as well as pathogenic bacteria and likely would damage if not destroy many/most viruses.
I'm not sure I understand how you would use microwave sterilization for #3 on your list: Why would you need sterilization for your interest in becoming acclimated to a new microbial flora regime? Are you thinking of killing/attenuating the organisms by microwave denaturation before ingestion in hopes that your immune system will receive an initial mild reaction before full exposure to the myriad microbes in residence? Hmmmm don't know if I've seen this approach before.
Denise S. Thanks for the reminder about Prairie Road Organics. Had not seen their packets locally in the past two years....glad to see they are still in business.
Joseph..... Can't recall if you have a logo for your operation?..... You should either take it upon your creative self or commission a local artist to produce a logo that you could display at your market stands....a logo made with those many beans! What a beautiful display those would make.
OMG!!!...... I just reached the end of this thread and realized that, weeks after being immersed in this fuel transfer issue, the problem was solved in one swoop, now posted below in case it's of use to anyone (or in case you've been waiting for the answer by your phone/laptop/tablet since the last entry :-) HA!)
OVERTIGHTENED VALVE!! Yep....can't believe it! I had tried the valve on the over-filled tank and when it stopped and wouldn't move, I assumed it was full open. Some weeks later, a plumber-of-all-trades stopped by for another issue and tool a look at it....with his pipe wrench. He said "these things stick all the time". When he torqued on the knob, it opened and you could hear the fuel flowing between the tanks in a great rush. Problem solved with no further ado at this point. Mucho apologies for not following through with the follow-up....
Blaise, Perhaps more information than you are after, but a good guide written for the Intermountain West that may point to species that would do well in your area. See the Appendix starting on p. 24. Good luck!
Yup!.....the chop saw I mentioned waaaay back up in the thread is what I call the "poor man's miter saw"..... Chop saws usually have crude angle-cut capabilities, but nothing like a true miter saw. I think I stick with the chop saw because then, when I invariably place a board with an angle cut that looks like I chewed the end of it with my teeth and in no way meets the angle of the building.....AND my wife makes note of that fact.....:-) ...... I can say "Well,.....yeah.....sure......if I was working with a MITER saw I may have been able to make that cut...". Which of course I probably would make poorly even with a miter saw,.....so, you know, I have my excuse pre-packaged. ;-P
Paul, You've probably already checked on the Mint users forum(s),.....? It would seem that someone in that sphere might have run into the same problem? I waiting in anticipation of the answer as I'm not savvy with command line and hope to see a real-world fix for a problem that may not involve resorting to that dark place. ;-) Please let us know what you find when the fix occurs....thanks!
We are a bit similar in climate, though farther north outside of Fargo, ND. Pintos are so plentiful we tend not to grow them....North Dakota is the #1 state in the nation in dry bean production and pintos are pretty high on that list. Pretty much narrowed it down to Cranberry Beans for home production ( https://www.vermontbean.com/category/s?keyword=Cranberry )....for texture, flavor, and productivity, they do well for us and we like them better than pintos. Perhaps it's due to home selection over many years, but our cranberry's now are more red with white variegation rather than white with red variegation. I suspect there is a study out there somewhere on the difference between pole beans and bush beans with respect to white mold. If you don't have white mold in your snap/dry beans now, it may end up creeping into your production in the future and it's an irritation to deal with. Pole beans *may* be better in this respect as white mold is favored by warm, humid weather, made worse by excessive damp periods during heat. (Have not checked recently to see if bean seed has started being sold with a white mold resistance rating.)
Last year when my wife was interested in getting a Kindle, we ended up splurging for our first tablet.....an Apple iPad which came in new at $400. I can't speak for the screen or hardware chops of the older ones, but I see them running for $70 - 500 on Facebook Marketplace. Also, although I'm not in the know of screen advances, it appears that the iPad that we bought has some improvements for reading text.....hence my recommendations to wife to go for a tablet PC of this nature rather than a Kindle. The iPad is 10.2" (screen size?.... or total?) has most of the functionality of a standard portable computer, and my wife devours Kindle books on the think using the Kindle eReader for iPad. Because I went with the cheap version of this iPad, you can only use WiFi for internet access; -- other versions of the same iPad, for a bit more $$, can use your cellular data for internet access. So if down the road you had access to a cell phone plan with moderate/unlimited data, this may not be a bad way to go, assuming you ended up using that feature a fair amount. For both of us, we are more accustomed to old-school keyboards and mouse/pointing devices....touch-screens are rather difficult for our older digits. But given this, my wife is enjoying the iPad enough that she's learned to type on the touchscreen as well as use a keyboard case that I purchased for it that provides both protection for the tablet as well as a backlit physical keyboard that can be used for more traditional typing.
A last issue that I won't hide: I did not like all of the "Apple ID" immersion that one needed to do to set the thing up for interfacing with Amazon Kindle services, but it was the compromise needed for my wife to stick with Kindle book format that she desired. Hope this is of some use.....
At first I thought you had mistaken "Daylight Savings Time" for April 1st and had jumped the gun...... :-)
But now I see the logic. A solid copper vehicle of that quality and class would indeed be a fast, furious, and fun locomotive experience all on its own, bestowing Dragons hither and yon like Santa sans reindeer. Yet with the legend growing, along with the reputation for speed, eventually the authorities would come looking. And that shiny copper, like the rooftops of old Europe, could quickly become a mottled green, ...... perfect for that alpine camouflage among spruce and pine. Once the danger has passed, a bit of buffing would soon restore the old girl to her graceful state, ready once again for the call of the open road. Yet I can see that you are exercising the long vision here, even seeing her utility if the shale runs dry and her horses no longer able to run.....
All that copper would love to be reborn in the back holler brewing up some of "Grandma's Recipe"......... ;-)
Catie, It's not clear to me.....are all of your seedling start attempts with these peppers being done in moistened paper towels or in potting mix? As with yourself and several others here, we need to use a heating-mat-for-seedlings to get peppers to germinate and yes, they can take weeks to emerge. We keep them in soil the whole time and keep the 'gro-lights' turned off until they do. They should be moist, but not overwatered since in that warm environment, the mold issue may get worse. And when you say 'warmest window in the house', this is still with the heating mat underneath it for when the sun is not warming the soil, yes? Here's to good luck this year!
Mister Fixit wrote:I just had the switch fail on my Cuisinart air fryer / toaster after two years of almost daily use. Thanks for the tips on disassembly! ......
Wow, Mr. F!......So that's what it looks like inside when one (i.e, *me*) doesn't go all 'Rambo' on the thing! Yes, that door switch looks familiar. Based on your description of the side clips that need to be released, it may have been best for my own experience that I cut that hole in the side-wall. NOT being gifted with patience, I have a tendency to reach for the sledge or ball-peen hammer when that virtue is running in short supply.....and then I would have had NO airfryer contributing to meal-time during the dark days of winter past. As it stands, the repair job noted above six months ago has continued to provide,.....from cakes to scones to french fries and more. Thanks for continued contributions here....
For what it may be worth, some data (a bit outdated unfortunately) on net migration patterns for counties in the U.S., including the region under discussion (below). It does include the mentioned explosion in the Bend area of Oregon. Although gardening may be a bit of a challenge in the eastern part of Oregon (along a line from Hermiston to Ontario), the map predicts lower density in those areas. Can't speak to water availability or cost of living in those counties, but they sure are pretty. You may also wish to look up USGS data on ground water and water tables, although I don't know the laws on access to below ground water in western states. Migration map from here>>> https://netmigration.wisc.edu/
Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Chainsaws are tricky if upper body and grip strength are issues. Has she tried a battery sawzall or jigsaw? For branches a levered lopper can't handle, a battery sawzall is my go-to pruning tool, with a pruning blade installed.
Frankly, I think the B&D battery "lopper" is more gimmick than tool.
Thanks for inputs so far. Yes, she already uses a Fiskars ratcheted larger pruners for 1-1.5" cutting, but she admits it's getting harder to do each year. An older corded Milwaukee Sawzall is still her go-to saw for cutting 2X4's etc. in the barn, but she stays away from the McCullough corded chainsaw because the trigger combined with the blade length is just a bit too much. Her main drill/driver is a DeWalt LiIon Battery unit. She may actually be more interested, now that it is mentioned, in a battery reciprocating saw with the pruning blade as she is quite comfortable with the configuration and handling. Perhaps the DeWalt version would take the same batteries....20V/2Ah....as her driver. Hmmmm.....more to think about. Thanks!
Hope this doesn't offend and if it needs moving to a previous thread, please do so.
My wife, now in her 70s, still wants to be able to prune branches and limbs, sometimes 4-5 inches in diameter, but is getting the usual loss of strength for her age. She's gotten interested in some of the battery units out there, but in addition to standard chainsaws is fascinated by the battery 'lopper'. Are there any opinions here on which of the devices shown below would be better for one with declining strength in the hands (gripping) and arms (holding up and steady)? We understand having to account for battery weight as some of this come with single or dual battery options. Thanks!
Heidi Schmidt wrote:If anyone has a recipe / tried-and-true method for making gluten free pie crust, I would be all ears!
Well, not really answering your question, but may be good for some humor!
Since I was already in the process of making a vegan pecan pie filling, I thought I'd go the extra nine yards and try a gluten-free crust with tapioca flour. Please note that I grabbed what was in the cupboard before reading all of the ins and outs regarding cassava flour, tapioca flour, and tapioca starch. At any rate, I used my usual recipe for wheat flour crust:
1 stick of margarine
1.5 c. all purpose flour
bit of salt
cut margarine in until crumbles form.
mix 1/4 c. milk (used oatmilk)
with 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar.
pour into flour/margarine mix.
mix well, knead into ball. For one Pyrex glass pie dish, use 1/2 the ball for a bottom-only crust.
Attempt #1 with straight recipe and tapioca flour gave good enough texture to press into pie plate by hand. But when I tried pre-baking the crust, it all slid down the sides of the dish onto the bottom. Figuring the fat-to-water was too high, I add a bit more flour and water to the remaining half of the dough for attempt #2. Pressed into the pie plate fine, pre-baked fine as well.
So I put the filling into it (see below) and it baked up really nicely!....
As you can SEE......
Cuz of course, you can't TASTE from where you are sitting in front of your screen. :-/
In truth, for a non-egg filling, it was one of the best pecan pies I've made.
But the crust was like a cross between cement mortar and rawhide! :-( If there is a 1-10 scale for crust flakiness with 0 being ultimate flake and 10 being too hard, mine was an 11.
Sorry I could not provide what you were seeking, but maybe a few more pies from now I'll have the secret!....
If a small front-wheel assist tractor is in your future, that front-loader bucket that does so much work the other 3 seasons will be right at home moving damp Missouri snow. For our Minnesota winters, the rear mount snowblower removes 90% of our snowfall. But this time of year with spring storms on the way, it becomes too wet for the blower and the bucket is the tool of choice.
Now, can someone please explain to me how come every where but OUR driveway is snow free? The old "cobblers kids have no shoes" scenario, me thinks.
Lorinne, I'm pretty sure you are missing the point. Hubby likely anticipated that since he has so much fun removing snow, he didn't want to steal all the fun for himself.....and *generously* left some for YOU! ;-)
Maybe???.....
Maybe not??.... lol
Normally, I don't mind a little blowing and bucketing of snow in the winter, but we are emerging from the deep freeze outside of Fargo. All of the wind from the past 1.5 weeks has compacted the drifting at the top of the driveway into a solid chunk of concrete, .....but it's finally warmed into the 20's F so I've no choice but to get out and chisel away at it with the front loader. Still, it beats the old grain scoop any day!
Just out of curiosity, Jen, do you plant enough seedlings that a garden window would be out of the question as a new installation on the south side of your house? Depending on the timing of planting in the spring, you may be able to get a number of crops started as seedlings in such a window sill.....AND not have to worry about winds, overheating, and the surprise cold snap! Maybe of some use?.....
My own 2 cents although I don't recall seeing a square footage of your pole barn mentioned here. Depending on whether or not the pole barn has a good sized garage/vehicle door, I would hunt around for a used, small camper trailer. Sometimes you can find them for $2000 - $3000, which may be something you don't wish to spend right now. But the upside is that it will have many 'homey' amenities and it could be moved into the pole barn or outside depending on the season. As the living space is up off the ground, you don't have to worry about critters as much and again, it can be towed by the hitch to various locations on the property. If you can buy one for around that price and keep it in reasonable shape, you typically can resell when finished with it.....lots of hunters like these just for their fall forays so you can often get $1000 back for it. Good luck!
Thomas A. Cahan wrote:.... please stop; getting hungry/dizzy... Oh German food.....
Yeah....I had no idea this thread would have so many great variations! One of my favorites is Ungarisches Gulasch (Hungarian Goulash) which has a great paprika spiced gravy that is served with dumplings or spaetzle.
John Weiland wrote: Edited to add that I do have a decent egg replacer so that part is taken care of already.
Which egg replacer do you use, John?
My egg replacer is a mixture: For one egg, use about 1 tsp. Chia protein powder with 1-1.5 Tbls. chickpea flour mixed, as powders, together with 1/4-1/2 tsp. Himalayan black salt (kala namak). Then add water (~1/4 - 1/3 c.) and mix to get desired consistency. I used this for baking, but if making scrambled "eggs", I add tofu for texture. You may wish to play around with the ratios of the three powders to get the consistency or end result that you desire. Good luck!
Douglas Alpenstock wrote:It's quite interesting, and deliberately vague. Not even the slightest hint of how it works. .......
Agreed. Tried to follow multiple trails through the start-up information just to see if there was some preliminary press release on the science behind the phenomenon and came up empty. Since they generically referred to 'rotting fruits and vegetables', I don't know if this implies all biomass that is plant in nature or specific plants with specific biochemical constituents. Anyway, if real and if capable of generating usable power, pretty neat.
elle sagenev wrote:Googled it and apparently she's showing dominance because she's never had rules, which I do believe. SO, maybe we can teach her who the boss is and if not, there's still a gun.
She quite probably was hand raised and possibly removed from her mother and sibs too early...another unfortunate product of the 'tea cup pig' craze. We've had many pigs living in the house, but any that were a problem went to live with the others in the barn. The "others" don't take kindly to a un-socialized member of their own species and the pecking order is established pretty rapidly (.....remarkably much like humans if you ask me....). I feel sorry for the little thing, but the barn 'until due process' seems to be the best choice.
Edited to add Jay A's comment which I missed before posting and is very close to the mark:
Jay Angler wrote:.....it also occurred to me that she may be the pig equivalent of "Human Imprinted" rather than having been taught manners by being part of a pig family, which could be aggravating the situation. If you get time to observe her with the boars, see if she seems to "speak pig" with them?
Won't say things will be rosy in this situation....it may be the lesser of two bad situations, but best not to have her in the house.
elle sagenev wrote: I'll just be the only one allowed to feed the pigs until then.
....aaand one more addition to address this comment which may or may not be of use. We keep pieces of livestock panel handy....the 36" high stuff cut to 4-5 ft lengths. If we need to corral a pig or worry about aggressiveness, we always have one nearby or in-hand. Just keep it as a divider between you and them whenever possible. Cleary I would be foolish to try this with the 700 - 800 pounders, but for Kune's and pots, it seems to work pretty well. If worried about their strength at lifting the bottom of the fence piece, just slip the toe of your boot over the bottom-most strand of the panel to keep him/her from lifting.
Miles Flansburg wrote:My JD 500 industrial backhoe has a lever that disconnects the transmission from the engine so that the engine can start and warm up without having to push the transmission. Do you have anything like that?
Another lament: Even though the smaller JD's use Yanmar engines, only my grey market Yanmar tractor has a decompression knob. Pull the knob out and there is no compression in the cylinders as you spin the engine with the starter. Between glow plugs and moving the pistons around a bit with the oil, it helps warm up the components before a cold weather start. Sure wish the newer JDs had that.....
Cindy Loos wrote:Just a question. . .
I have a lawn planted with endophyte seed. Can I compost the grass clippings?
Or does it resist composting to a point?
Also:
If I spread the grass clippings on my veggie garden. . .
Will it help or hinder the soil & plants?
Please- a simple answer that I can understand
I don't see that this would be a problem. From recollection, many if not most grasses with endophytic fungi will benefit from the specific interaction of that beneficial fungus and the host plant. Once the plant dies, compositing and degradation of the biomass should commence as usual. Also, I would not anticipate, after grass biomass decomposition, that the endophyte fungus would have any negative effects on
subsequent plant growth in that soil.
Rhys Firth wrote:
B T W, Endophytes are fungal, not bacterial.
Technically this is incorrectly stated. It is true that there are endophytic fungi commonly called 'fungal endophytes', but it is equally the case to find bacterial endophytes that too exhibit endophytic colonization of the plant.
Eric, you are in southern Illinois and Douglas is in the prairie provinces of Canada which puts me right in between you two.....but -20 F this morning, so pretty similar to Douglas' situation.
My 2005 JD4010 came with a block heater.....which died after a few years of use. So I bought a new heater about 10 years ago and have yet to install it. All these years the tractor has been kept in an unheated, uninsulated garage and is the main tractor for snow removal so it NEEDS to start. That said, I've been lucky in that I never am in a situation where it needs to start...NOW! So on the morning that I need to use it....that last time being on a zero degree day.....I throw a standard poly tarp over bonnet and 'tuck it in'. That is, try to create a tent affect around the engine compartment. Then just employ an electric space heater on the floor pointing upward into the engine compartment. I typically will leave this running for several hours before starting, but then starting is a snap. It's quite possible that things like the battery only minimally warm up under these conditions, but so many other components get warmed up by the treatment...most notably the oil pan. A few times in the past when I was still working full time and needed to get out earlier in the morning, I just set up everything the night before. Upon rising early the next morning, first task was to plug in the space heater. That way by the time other morning particulars were behind me, the tractor would be warm enough for snow removal.
Great thread!...... And an additional challenge. What dumpling recipe (potato, etc.) would employ the least amount of grain flour? I like to make gravy with vegan seitan 'beef tips' or sometimes chik'n strips and would like something other than mash potatoes for the starchy item with which to serve it. Would really like spaetzle with this meal....but would even be better if there was a spaetzle variation with little gluten which already is packed into the seitan. Thanks!
Edited to add that I do have a decent egg replacer so that part is taken care of already.
.....they can't breed a dog who can, or is willing, to tell you where the 'other' dog is at on the property.
So many wasted hours searching the property for the 'other' dog who usually has caught a rabbit or some other prey.....and REFUSES to respond to its name. Meanwhile, an ostensibly perfectly capable dog trots alongside of you---and gives you that doe-in-the-headlights look when you exasperatedly say "Where is FiFi???..... I KNOW that you know where she is. Can't you just lead us to her?" Nope...not gonna happen. Could be the next day before Fifi or Fido reappears, but no help from the dog who was present. Is there some kind of doggie-culture contract or agreement to this effect of which I am unaware?
This simple alfredo base has worked pretty well so far....
1) Saute 2-3 cloves of sliced or minced garlic in a few tablespoons of vegan margarine or olive oil. Saute additional veggie or protein items at this time as well. Then add 1/2 c. 'stock' of your choice. >> I like to use one of the powdered vegan chik'n bouillon mixes, making the 1/2 c. stock a bit more concentrated than usual to account for the nut milk addition. Bring to a simmer while making the milk.
2) To a blender or processor of choice, add 1/2 c slivered almonds and 1/4 c. cashews or cashew pieces....I've used roasted & salted as well as raw unsalted to similar affect. Then add 1-1/2 c water and blend at high speed to create thick-ish milk. Keeping the mix more concentrated during the initial blend helps to get everything well chopped. Then add one more cup of water and blend again to produce the final mixture.
3) Pour the milk mixture into the pan with the sauteed garlic and broth. Salt and pepper (and a pinch of nutritional yeast if desired) to taste. Bring to a simmer while stirring. The almond-cashew characteristics will cause thickening with heating. Use on noodles of all types and stripes.
Cold, mid-winter reboot.... Hoping some opinions and ideas may arise for the following question. Introduced to 'mock-duck' (canned version) many years ago and was impressed. Now have been using gluten/seitan in many homemade forms and have been reasonably satisfied. Recently, on a whim, bought another can of 'mock-duck' from the local retailer. For taste and texture, was really blown away. Sure, it's likely that they use MSG which I would leave out of a homemade version, yet my quest still is to be able to make something similar in my kitchen. For those who have tried mock-duck, you will know it has a 'stringy-ness' much like poultry. Yet my own seitan typically is spongey or hard and still often too 'bread-y'. Has anyone out there ever nailed mock duck in their kitchen and would be willing to share their recipe? Much perusing of seitan sites on the web has turned up little at this point. Thanks.....
It's probably the age thing, Douglas, but help me out :-):
-- The photo with the "kit car".... ? Is it that it only has 3 wheels?.... or something with the cat? I'm stumped.
-- Took me the better part of a cup of coffee to get the Ark photo....even drinking it black! ;-)
-- The map of the US.... It's just amazing that we Yanks would need special help to remember the place names of the states in our country. Still, I don't understand why the artist would have used Arizona as the 'pan'....?