First Picture of Earth From Mars
A century after H.G. Wells wrote his novel about the invasion of the Earth by Martians, the first photograph of our planet as seen from Mars has been made. It is what Martians would see if they scrutinized the Earth.

Syracuse system still spills water
State says city lost about 40 percent of water drawn from Skaneateles Lake in 2001.

An estimated 5.7 billion gallons of Syracuse water - nearly 40 percent of all the water that flowed through the city's century-old system that year in 2001 - somehow disappeared, according to a state audit.

Itching and scratching...

Every day I find new places to dab on Calamine lotion. Maybe some of them are just mosquito bites or just bumps, it doesn't matter I dab em all. I look like a spotted dog and I ain't too happy about it, not one little bit. That is the excuse I'm using for not getting the town board meeting report done. There are some interesting things afoot that I'm looking into, nothing earth shattering, just saying that to make you come back and look later. I'd say more but it may turn out to be nothing and I don't need to add egg to the spots. And for those who also watched, I thought Clay should have won but Ruben's pretty good too. Reminded me of the old Talent shows on TV when I was a kid, great fun and it took my mind of the damn ivy. My next project, now that the mower is done, is to finish up some behind the scenes work on the web site. I have to fix the archive and add a new section that I'm really excited about. Don't email and ask but it will be up the first week of June. I have to get the other stuff fixed first. I'll take this opportunity to thank all of you who emailed and complemented me on the new site. Thanks. And now I have some more dabbing to do before I hit the sack so I'll wish you all a good night.

I forgot

Back in the cold of winter I forgot the mosquitoes and the bees and the wasps and those little back things that fly up your nose. I forgot the easy way to put on the very heavy mower deck but that's OK because I also forgot the locking pins and I remembered the easy way the second time. Back in the long cold winter I forgot poison ivy or sumac or whatever the hell it is I got into. But I remembered the calamine lotion and all that's OK because the sun is setting across the lake and sunlight is streaming through the trees. Stuff that survived the long cold winter is coming up again. The tulips are almost gone but that's OK because a whole lot of other stuff is showing the promise of better days to come. But now, before the mosquitoes get really bad I'm going to take a Sharpie and write the easy instructions for putting on that very heavy mower deck, right on the deck itself where I'm sure to see it next spring. Just in case I forget.