P4190022, originally uploaded by Lipwak.

The cat in the afternoon light.

Cardinals have a habit of standing out this time of year.

French Quarter Fest Video and pics

http://www.thenew995fm.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?feed=135659&article=1988094

It is a Fox News radio station but you'll get a good idea of some of the music and scenary.

Wow. Ants love Bailey's Irish Cream. I left a small amount in my
glass on the counter about an hour ago and when I came into the
kitchen just now, there was the biggest swarm I've seen yet.

The Combat hasn't quite finished them off yet. It's been almost 2
weeks since I got the Combat. Is it going to work? One more week and
then I call in the bigger guns.

Administration leak discovered ...

Administration leak discovered ..., originally uploaded by guano.

I am using the VLog part of YouTube. Check out my favorite music videos.

Rachid Taha - Barra Barra

I first heard this on Rob Weisberg's Transpacifc Sound Paradise on WFMU on 4/13/03.
I am impressed that they did this, with all the effects and it's such a sharp recording, live.
Was one of my favorites for a long time. Now his 1-2-3 Soleil show is my favorite.

John Boutte Sings "Why"

I heard him sing this at Jazz Fest last year, on WWOZ. This is from Austin City Limits, The New Orleans Social Club.

Crocus

P4030021
Originally uploaded by Lipwak.

Saw this crocus today.

Most everything is still brown here but things are just beginning. Croci are out, shoots are coming up for the day lilies, the lilacs have buds, the Japanese maples have just the beginning of pink buds!, the hyacinths are coming up, the two tulips shoots are up, the wild rose are looking green and have spurts coming out.

I've seen a Robin in Princeton and Airmont but not here yet. Lots of bird songs for the past few weeks but I can't tell who they are.

Looking forward to seeing greenery appear.

First lawn crew of the spring summer fall season has arrived. Hard to
tell if there is an Indian Point siren going off or if it's just the
lawn crew. (They are having Indian Point siren tests this week and
have already had one today. Both have high pitched steady tones. You
tell the difference...)

ants, pt 3

Definitely spoke too soon about no ants in the kitchen. I just walked
in and saw 4 or 5.

We have a way to go.

ants, pt 2

I noticed an ant twitching today. While I don't like to see any
living creature in pain, I am relieved that the ant poison I have put
down seems to be working.

I don't see any ants tonight as I go into the kitchen. I'm sure I'll
see some more soon enough but this may be a sign that the ant poison
is working. (I did just see an ant by the computer. What they are
doing there I have no idea.)

killing ants

Ants have reappeared in my kitchen and bathroom, and the occasional
one is seen near or on me as I sit in my chair. It's one of the signs
of spring.

I had a bad infestation of ants last year. Lasted from spring through
most of the summer. I laid barriers of baking soda by my kitchen
sink, the counter-tops all around and the baseboards. It worked well
by the baseboards. After pouring it all along the baseboards, the
ants stopped finding the cat food. That wasn't the case on the
counter-tops. They bothered me all summer there.

And that is what I am faced with now. My current technique to deal
with them is to wet a sponge, sweep them up with that and then rinse
the sponge under the faucet. This usually makes the ants fall into
the running water although sometimes I have to squeeze the sponge to
get them all out. The ants get washed down the drain in theory (out
of sight, out of mind being the rationale behind that) but many climb
back up out of the sink. I sweep them with a sponge again. And lately
I am thinking that my squeezing the sponge hard enough might kill
them or injure them. The temperature of the water too should be
considered. Too hot or cold will kill them,

It bothers me as I kill them. My heart feels a little ache each time
I do anything about it. I am intentionally killing them all. I don't
like that. When more come back again and again (different ants,
probably not the same ones) I get aggravated and sweep them up with
anger, feeling less guilty. But here I am, killing many live
creatures. The Jains don't like to kill germs. I don't like to kill
ants.

I probably will get some real toxic commercial spray since other
approaches haven't worked for me. I'll have to be careful it doesn't
harm the cat.

I guess I prefer to wash them down the drain because I am not
actually killing them then and there with that action. I am not
squishing each one. I am moving them somewhere else where, it
happens, they probably die. Some escape. Most die by drowning. Others
due to the temperature of the water. Others from whatever nastiness
is in the drain (chemicals, waste although ants can deal with some of
that stuff in their normal encounters in life.)

They don't scream. They do run away, sometimes. When I stand by the
sink or shower, at least when this started, they run away. Later on
in the summer, at least last summer, they didn't respond when I made
my presence known. I wonder why.

Technorati Profile

Stevie Wonder, A Night of Wonder, was on VH-1 Classics. Very good
show. Great sound. Good songs. Too bad it was only an hour with
commercials.

The drummer played a rock beat throughout, not a funky soul beat. I
wonder why. Not very ornamented. It sure could have been.

Movies full of lessons for life

Have seen two movies in the past few days that I'd seen years back,
in college. Both are full of life instructions: A Thousand Clowns and
Harold and Maude. A Thousand Clowns didn't have as much of an impact
on me this time around but it's full of bon mots. Harold and Maude,
besides being side splitting funny at times, also has the music of
Cat Stevens in it which sounds as good now as it did then.

I also saw, again but in full this time, Human Nature. Also laden
with messages about the meaning of life but nowhere near as rich
overall.

Carpe diem is the message.

ah, spring

Time for the quiet of the winter to be repeatedly shattered by loud
motorcycles, loud car stereos, more cars honking their horns because
the car in front of them at the light isn't starting up fast enough
and so on.

It has started already.

Indian Point siren tests today

They tested the Indian Point sirens three times this morning.

At 10:35, as I was outside getting the morning paper, I heard a
steady tone, not too loud, heard from towards where the Rt 306 old
siren is/was, possibly one in the other direction. A short test,
faded to nothing without changing tone.

The second test was at 11am. The tone is not very loud inside the
house and it varies! There is no wind ot speak of. (For the first one
too.)

The third test, at 11:30. Longer but barely audible. Sounds like it
is coming from more due east...

Not very impressive. I live just outside the 10 mile zone, maybe a
tenth of a mile if that. I can barely hear the sirens. I think they
need to be A LOT LOUDER!!

Indietro Tutta found on YouTube!

Here is a short bit of the intro.



A wonderful show. I understood very little of it (I don't speak Italian) but found it hilarious and intriguing. I hope to see more!! I might put what I have taped on YouTube too.

Polyphonic Spree (at SXSW on DirecTV)

I'm watching the Polyphonic Spree (live) at SXSW on DirecTV. I've
seen them on Austin City Limits before this. They crack me up, give
me joy... The music is awful but I love to watch the choir. They look
like a bunch of Moonies all swinging and twisting their heads in
unison. I wonder how many get neck injuries. And they never have to
dry their hair. All that tossing around will do it for them. They
definitely have the market cornered for the
women-all-dressed-the-same-head-twisting-in-unison dance form.

And there's a new girl in the front row center, at least since I saw
them on ACL, who's got the best head flip, very sexy. (Is one of the
requirements to be in the choir to have black hair?)

I think it's the Addicted To Love look to it all that I like about them...

(PS. I realized I had spelled cornered as corned. Apparently Blogger's spell check thinks that "corned" is a word that doesn't need to corrected. Interesting. Corned...)