We’re moved back into my house in Nanaimo, which has been like  time warping back nine years.  Amazingly enough, everything in the crawl space has survived with little damage.  This includes Jack Darcus’s painting, which still looks good except for a couple of scratches the kids gave it years ago when it was in our hallway.

Jack wants a digital picture of this painting for his website and resume, and has offered to touch up the scratches.  So I’ll take it in to Vancouver at the first opportunity.  For now it’s on my wall again.

My last tenants were not into yard work, so the blackberries had pretty much taken over.  I couldn’t find the fish pond, and when I slashed back the foliage it was dry with  a dead weed eater lying in it.  It’s now full of water again and home to three small koi.  We’re hoping they will grow.

The New Frog

Our house is strangely proportioned.  I have no idea why it is as tall as it is, because the ceilings are normal height.

It needed something to balance it, so before I went to China I built a frog to emerge from the front wall.

That frog was made of plaster.  I had hoped sealing it with fibreglass resin would preserve it, but it slowly soaked up the water and the frog (ahem) croaked while I was in China.

I wasted no time getting started on a new frog as soon as we moved back into the house. This time it’s nothing but wire and fibreglass, so it should last forever.

I don’t think the new frog has quite the personality of the old one, but one thing I’m very happy about is the new frog eye.  Much more realistic.The Digital Microscope Hack

I’ve wanted a digital microscope for some time now.  There’s always something I want a closer look at.  For example, I left a couple of alder sapling walking staffs in the crawl space for the nine years I was in China.  I was expecting them to be well seasoned and very strong by now.  But while no other wood in the crawl space has been touched, something has eaten the alder.  Completely.    It didn’t have the strength to hold up its own weight.  This is so strange, because the two by four studs I also left in the crawl space look like I purchased them yesterday.  Thanks be for that.

Here’s what the alder Staff looked like to the naked eye.

Recently, PZ Myers blogged on Pharyngula about a hack that turns a smart phone camera into a digital microphone, using only about twenty bucks worth of materials.  Naturally I had to build one.

I found the materials estimate to be spot on.  The lens from a cheap laser pointer at the Dollar Store, nuts, washers, bolts, plexiglass, wood from Home Depot, and the total bill was about $21.  Unfortunately that isn’t counting the table saw and drill press I felt were necessary to complete the project.  Sure, I could have done it with my hand electric drill and my circular saw, but.. this kind of precise scientific equipment requires precision.  Or so I told myself.  I also told myself that it’s probably still cheaper than the digital microscope I could buy on line.

And it works.  Here are a few of the pictures I took – a close up of a quarter and some shots of desiccated bug fragments I found in the wood.

I’ve always found microscopes to be frustrating instruments.  This one no more than the others I’ve used.  There are a few problems.  One is that the camera has an auto-exposure function, so using the LED back light shots the exposure down to black.  The auto focus is also a problem when I’m trying to get a specific level in focus.  But all in all, it’s a great hack and lots of fun.  I’m looking forward to using it more.