I keep hearing the weather guys on TV (yes, there’s a local weather-gal, but I find her so cloyingly cutesy that I start feeling like I need insulin every time I watch her, so I don’t) telling me how this is going to be the last nice day this year, and we’re going to descend into frigid Minnesota winter anytime now. Well, this has been going on for a couple weeks, and I’m tired of it. Heck, I still haven’t had any frost on the ground here at my house yet, and the grass is still growing enough that I might have to mow it one more time before the final “clean up the leaves” mowing of the year. I’m just hoping I don’t have to buy more gas for the lawnmower at this point.
Nonetheless, I’ve been preparing to “hunker down” for the winter. I should be able to pick up the meat I ordered on Tuesday today, and also the trainer for my trike that I ordered on wednesday. I took the summer’s chicken carcasses and turned them into a little more than a gallon of chicken stock last night, and that’s getting divided into servings and going into the freezer today (after I filter it and skim the fat). I normally enjoy cooking, but for some reason hearing the hiss of the jiggler on the pressure-cooker last night was especially gratifying.
And that’s been the theme of the week, I think. There have been a number of things up in the air around here all summer. Projects got started and never finished, and I’ve been trying to actually finish some things this week. Not everything is going as well as I’d like, but I’ve checked off a whole bunch of the things I wanted to get done “before the snow flies” and that feels pretty good. Even with the early start of bourbon season two weeks ago, things are moving along nicely, and I’m in a pretty good mood at the moment. Plus I’ve got a bunch of links for you today. Maybe that makes up for the light day yesterday, eh?
- On the political front, Glenn has an update on the War On Pork and talks about an interview with Tom Coburn, who’s one of the few people in DC working on cutting the pork. Steve Green suspects people are getting ready to Vote No in the next national elections. [instapundit and vodkapundit]
- The Minnewiki claims to be
The Minnesota Musical Encyclopedia
. They’ve got a good (if short) article on the Auto Body Experience, which is kinda cool. But they lack anything on The Crops. Tsk. [jim] - Michael Witte is an illustrator who’s Drawing Pitchers and windups, and has a theory (which seems to work) about what makes a good windup. [kottke]
- Open Source Maps? Appears so: OpenStreetMap
is a project aimed squarely at providing free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. This is because most maps you might think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from all walks of life who would like to use a map for one reason or another.
[boing boing] - The CommonCensus Map Project is breaking the country into regions based on what region people say they live in. Go ahead and vote. [kottke]
- The Drunk of the Week this week is a
a beautiful girl in a freaky cleavage-poppin’ Oktoberfest outfit
who makes beer with yeast from her vagina. Y’know, that’s the kind of thing that makes me sayThat Just Ain’t Right.
[jwz] - Being bugged by one of Life’s Little Annoyances? Have a creative solution, or wonder if someone else might? There’s a website for you. [boing boing]
- Show your Cereal Solidarity in support of a company who’s being sued for patent infringement for pouring milk into bowls for customers. This is the kind of crap we have to look forward to if business-method patents are allowed to stand. [boing boing]