Seed Starter

Since the rock wool method worked well on germinating sunflower seeds last time, I decided to try it out on these seeds taken from a pod. The pod was taken from a tall plant which had some interesting purple flowers on it. I snagged it outside a Mexican restaurant (which serves a PERFECT cheese enchilada every time I've ordered it....). I worried the seeds wouldn't be viable after sitting in my bedroom for the past year or so.

I put 2 drops of lemon juice to bring the reverse osmosis water down to pH 4.5. The rock wool instructions asked for 5, though. After putting single seeds down the holes in the rock wool, I poured the water in and placed the collection in a plastic tray with plastic wrap on top. This should provide a humid environment to get the seeds germinating.

Monarch (male) Butterfly

If you look closely at the hind wing set of this newly emerged butterfly, the black spots mark this butterfly as a male. It's hard to believe the caterpillars are still going at it on the milkweed and continuing to morph into butterflies at this time of the year. Around the house, I see a few chrysalis' don't make it through to completion, but then these guys seemingly pop out of nowhere. So, here's my proof of how nice the weather is in San Diego:

Even though they're in the same Class as cockroaches, people don't seem to be scared of these insects as much. Check out this close-up:

Spider Brood

I saw this brood of newly hatched spiders in the front of the house near an outdoor light. I wonder when they'll start cannibalizing each other? I'll snap a shot of the matching adult when/if I get a chance. The adults tend to make huge webs around this time in San Diego.

A close-up gives you an idea of what patterns would be found on the adult spiders:

Halloween Weekend

The props are up and ready for Halloween 2011. Using some fluorescent paint on some Styrofoam tombstones really makes these props pop with the help of a black fluorescent light bulb.

Oh, gotta remember to return this to the medical school when we're done! The poor guy gets to have fun once a year. He really digs the vampire get-up this year.

Would a velvet Elvis be appropriate here?

Octopus part 2

I added tape to the tentacles to reinforce them to the head. I know, it's going going slowly.

The Octopus

It starts out with a left over Papier-mâché ball from the last project. I cut a hole underneath and emptied out the balled up newspapers. Then, I poked holes and inserted four wire hanger wires.

Using masking tape, I twisted curled up strips of newspapers and taped them to the wire hanger wires.

To create curls, I used an old PVC pipe found in the garage.

I always think these Papier-mâché projects are going to be easy, but then they get complex as I start working on them. I mean, there are 8 legs on this dang thing! At least I've tried to keep the creature a bit smaller overall. Regardless, there's going to be glue and paint flying everywhere! I guess I should implant a hook somewhere in this piece to make it easier to get around those legs. I wonder if I should make the legs a little thicker where they join the body?

At home, drinking juice

My silver Nissan Leaf order finally arrived yesterday, and I was able to trade in my old 2004 Murano and set up a lease (to take advantage of the Federal $7500 tax credit that only the dealership could handle). I'll also be receiving a $2500 state rebate (instead of $5000) if the paper work is to be believed. So, the price level was sweet enough for me to accept.

I've already set up my iTouch to use Bluetooth communication to play music through the Leaf's audio system. Although, using the USB connection allows for more options such as song titles, mix settings and playlist access, etc. I can finally listen to music without the hiss of an FM station interfering!

I'll be commuting about 40 miles round trip daily. So, I'm well under the 100 mi (or 80 mi, or 55 mi - I'll get a solid, personalized number someday...) range that a fully charged Leaf is limited to. I'll have to gather stats over a few weeks to figure out how efficiently I'm driving and what alternate routes I should take. If I run into any power shortages, I still have a dealership charging location in the middle of my commute as well as a charging station near my work.

Here she is trickle-drinking the juice from the solar-powered home in the garage (I'm still waiting on the installation of a 220V ECOtality's station):

I didn't care to order the extra "Zero Emission" decals, but the EV came with these on both doors, instead: