Tom Clifton: Fluid Flow: Family

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 03:17:50 GMT

Ouch If you enjoy defensive spankings, you would have enjoyed tonight's Super Bowl. While the Raiders were never really in the game, they at least made the 4th Quarter interesting. Unfortunately part of the interest was two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Hats off to Tampa Bay, bummer for Oakland.

Fri, 06 Sep 2002 21:52:10 GMT

Return of the Basil Mantis It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw the Basil Mantis. After my last harvest, he moved out of the basil. I was a little worried because I hadn't seen him since. Today, I found him in the peppers. He has grown a bit, including a nice pair of wings. Definitely looking good!

Fri, 16 Aug 2002 20:52:55 GMT

I am older than my parents By virtue of their 9 year exile in Oklahoma and Texas, my parents are 31 year old Californians. That makes me the elder of the family. Ken moved out of state at 24, then came back for a couple of years. He is in Oregon now and stuck at 26 or 27 and clearly a case of arrested development. Beth, our only native, was behind me by 2 years at the start. She compounded this by spending time in South Carolina, Arizona, and North Carolina. While she is back and maturing again, her 12 year absence puts her at 26. So my parents are 9 years younger and my sibs are 14 years younger. I even have a few years on Michele. No wonder that I feel old.

Thu, 15 Aug 2002 00:07:44 GMT

Pesto The basil is getting bushy, it's harvest time again. The first order of business is to find the basil mantis. He's not part of the pesto. The harvest The recipie I have never met a recipie that I didn't want to modifiy. For pesto, I am starting with a basic pesto recipie from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I don't know how much basil I have, so I'll wing the amounts. Also almonds are replacing pine nuts. This is close: 4 cups fresh basil
5 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup shredded Asagio cheese
1 cup raw almonds chopped.
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
Blend until smooth. It's a little gooey. You could probably add more olive oil, garlic or cheese.

Tue, 30 Jul 2002 04:51:39 GMT

From the Garden The garden in the patio room is starting to produce big time. My pepper plants especially love it there. I currently have an abundance of jalapenos, serranos, and fresno peppers. The red and yellow bells are coming. As a result, I am searching for chile pepper recipes. Out of desperation, I came up with one on my own. It's a roasted jalapeno and ahi sandwich. Grill one ahi steak, fire roast three to four jalapeno peppers (remove skin and seeds), place on a toasted sourdough roll. Add lettuce, tomato, and other condiments if necessary. Enjoy!

Sun, 14 Jul 2002 22:22:28 GMT

At home today, after 405 miles of research yesterday.

We are back home and writing today, taking a break from our research for Birding Washington after visiting sites at the northern part of Western Washington yesterday. We didn't see any rare birds during our 405 miles of travels yesterday, but we did get a good look at the Pacific Tree Frog in the photo to the right, as well as tons of mature and immature Bald Eagles. Probably a highlight of the trip was watching nine Kingfisher interacting and hunting along a freshwater marsh area at Birch Bay State Park north of Bellingham.

There are sure lots of great things and places to see here in Washington! [Mac Net Journal] We used to have hundreds of these small frogs (Hyla Regilla) in our backyard in Los Altos. One morning I found one in the shower, so picked it up and carried it outside, I went back in to start my shower and found another one in the shower. I was alone in the house, so I think that the gods were playing with me. When Michele and I moved back to Los Altos in 1995, the frogs were gone. I miss their evening choruses. I haven't heard them in San Jose either, even though we are just a couple blocks from Coyote Creek. I'm guessing that the pollution and neighborhood cats have killed them off.

Fri, 21 Jun 2002 23:25:06 GMT

Progress I'm making progress on converting the Tektite talk into a movie. I have the complete talk in quicktime. I also have all of the slides scanned in. Now comes the tedious process of creating animations on the slides that match Pop's pointing during the presentation. At this point, I have completed about 6 minutes out of 50. I'm not sure how quickly the rest of the presentation will go. But, I am pleased to be making progress.

Tue, 28 May 2002 16:48:04 GMT

Back from the tropics We arrived back in San Jose last night after spending 10 days in the US Virgin Islands. The house, cat, and plants survived our absence and Shasta (the cat) seemed genuinely pleased to see us come home. Today is a day to catchup, post some pictures, do laundry, get film developed, prepare for the coming weeks, and reflect on what a great break we had. My parents, Michele and I left San Jose on May 16 for St Croix to visit with my brother and family. Ken is in St Croix watching algae spawn, so when he invited us down, we jumped at the chance. Uncle Stuart joined us as well. Unfortunately, Beth and her family are in the middle of a move from North Carolina back to CA, so they couldn't make it to the islands. This was Michele and my first visit to the Virgin Islands. Mom and Pop were last there 30 years ago, when Pop was an aquanaut on Project Tektite (scroll down for the story). A highlight of the trip was the four day stay at the Tektite site and swimming out to see where Pop spent two months living on the sea floor. It was great getting back in the water. I made a couple of free dives a day as well as one tank dive. Michele also had fun diving, which was a treat, because she is not a "water" person. She didn't go below the surface, but was able to scoot around, getting the hang of the mask, snorkle and fins. Another treat was seeing Pop back in the water. Once beneath the surface, he was like an old pro (which of course, he is).

Fri, 03 May 2002 10:51:44 GMT

Flowers Michele's Grandmother had beautiful plants around her house in Gustine, CA. Last year, before the house was sold, we pulled bulbs from around the house. The irises and amaryllis seem to handled the the transition from Gustine to San Jose quite nicely.

Thu, 02 May 2002 23:40:43 GMT

Mr. Tides 2.0.1 is a tide and current prediction program that uses a map interface to show tide and current stations all over the world (except the United Kingdom). Mr. Tides is freeware, issued under the GNU Public License, and is available for Mac OS X and Mac OS 8 and up. [Macintouch] Pop, you might want to take a look at this program

Thu, 18 Apr 2002 08:17:33 GMT

Jellies: Art, Science and Om. A new scientific art exhibit about jellyfish may be a lot more entertaining than educational, but that's the point. Katie Dean reports from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. [Wired News] Michele and I saw the exhibit on last Sunday. It is heavy on the art, but still provides good information on cnidarian lifecycles and physiology. It is definitely worth seeing. Also, it is not currently attracting crowds like the other exhibits in the aquarium, so you don't have to wade through people to see it.

Tue, 09 Apr 2002 16:53:34 GMT

quondam. [Dictionary.com Word of the Day] Hey, I learned a new word today.

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 18:39:04 GMT

IPod: Music to Hackers' Ears. Apple's iPod is the hottest digital music player on the market. And thanks to a small army of hackers, it's being transformed into a general-purpose device that makes the Palm seem quaint. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] Maybe my iPod will replace my Newton.

Sun, 07 Apr 2002 02:11:51 GMT

Composting For some reason, I have been very successful with composting. I currently have over a cubic yard of new soil, full of worms and other bugs, ready to use in the garden. I also have three compost bins, full of leaves and other detritus in various stages of decomposition. I started composting when I realized how many leaves the mulberry trees in our backyard produce in the fall. Envisioning the hours of back-breaking work, raking them up and carting them to the front for pickup, I decided that I needed a compost bin. In the first year, I produced about 9 cubic feet of soil. I had to augment this with potting soil when planting my garden. I picked up two additional bins and am now producing over three times that. I am no longer buying potting soil. In addition to the leaves, the compost bins receive my coffee grounds and filters, tea-bags, and vegatable waste from the kitchen. I also recycle the soil from last seasons pots.

Sat, 06 Apr 2002 23:41:01 GMT

Gardening It's really too nice a day to spend inside. So I spent the last hour doing some yard and garden work. The sweet peas are starting to bloom in the front yard. But they are still mostly hidden by the boxwood hedge. I did some major trimming on the boxwoods to get more sun to the sweet peas. Now I need to find some room in the compost bins for all the clippings.

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 06:33:44 GMT

Welcome back my friends... Every so often, I put on some music I haven't listened to in twenty plus years. It's amazing to feel the drive and passion of a 17 year old sweep over me in just a few notes. This is stuff that I wrote off years ago. But now hearing it again, I can't help but turning it up. Once again I'm a silly kid jumping around my living room. The notes grab me and throw me about. I know every note, every lyric, as they wash over me. Amazing.

Fri, 08 Mar 2002 18:21:38 GMT

I'm starting to turn a corner here and figure out how to incorporate Radio into my existing sites. The goal is to use the categories to direct items to weblogs on different sites. Getting this done takes two steps. First, you set up the category to stream up to an existing site. Then you create a template that is consistent with your existing site, but uses Radio's macros to generate the log and other items on the page. You can see the results from my first attempt under the Family link to the left. Now the next step, is to get tighter integration between my Radio weblog and the existing site. For example, the navigation should be the site navigation, not my Radio weblogs navigation.

Wed, 27 Feb 2002 18:14:33 GMT

Playing Hooky There is no better way to spend a gorgeous February day than a trip to Point Lobos.

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:32:05 GMT

Tyler at the Reception.

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:26:30 GMT

Tyler's Baptism

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:21:25 GMT

Tyler's Baptism, at the water's edge.

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 18:12:44 GMT

Tyler getting dressed for the baptism. The dress that he is wearing was found in a cedar chest at Grandma Clifton's house. We are not sure who wore it previously, but it could have been Pop, Uncle Stuart, Grandma Clifton, or all of the above.

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 17:34:57 GMT

Michele and Tyler, after Tyler's baptism.