A Carnotaurus egg?
Dino even has moving parts. Yes, I am easily amused.
 | Roar!
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Seriously, check this out...
Did your parents ever buy you a happy meal, or you do so for your children? And why did I wait so long?
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Reading about a large family of hardy plants on Pam Montgomery's blog reminded me of a volunteer specimen that seems to be a hybrid between my 'autumn joy' stonecrop (or sedum) near the public sidewalk and a much shorter spreading 'dragons blood' variety close to our house.
 | Rosy flowered as opposed to rust red,
this sedum still makes for excellent
mantid hunting grounds...
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The silly thing I want to share did not photograph so well. With the homeowner in his open garage, I snapped a quick pic and drove away. | The green rectangle frames
what I tried to show...
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At least an Internet search offered plenty of images. There are numerous vendors and some of their products actually spin.
 | I think the solid silver one looks better.
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Have you seen one of these novelty car accessories? Would you own one?
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With summer here coming to a close, I am thankful for our grape-style Roma tomato plant my husband picked on a whim and the Gong Bao pepper specimen I found. They have out-produced all the rest. Yesterday, though, I harvested two ripe Marglobe tomatoes that weren’t either munched on or rotting. One I ate right away, the larger one I’ll share with my husband.
 | Almost too Pretty to Eat
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As for wanting to help, I am not at all technically minded, but have managed to work with the new format of Blogger. Cleo said her human dad has been frustrated. I can’t blame him, and who doesn’t want to read more from lovely Cleo the cat? Feel free to skip all this, of course, and forgive me if this seems pretentious. Nonetheless, here goes…
To start, I set up templates for both text and photos/video, using a publish date several years out so they stay in ‘draft’ mode. Switching between HTML and ‘compose’ formats, I copy and paste into a new document. Again, risking ostensible conceit, allow me to illustrate with images:
 | Text Template with 'Placeholders'
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 | Text Template in HTML Coding
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 | Photo Captured to Its Template
Using the Compose View
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 | Now, the Image Encoded
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 | I've Inserted the Image Code Between Text Lines
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 | The Preview, Incomplete, of Course
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Did I just make it more complicated? ~shakes head~ And did you know the thousands of current coding languages are so unlike person-to-person communication that learning them suits those of a science minded disposition? Can you guess how many my husband knew during his technical career?
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I'm going to copy some of my blogging friends, such as sweet Pam, and respond to comments while also sharing yet another memory. And like you, dear Ellen, I am definitely a mosquito magnet grateful for cooler weather. As for your thoughts on Alaska, you know what's coming next since I added it in the comment on your blog. But I was wrong on two (!) points. Anchorage is neither on the Kenai Peninsula nor does the peninsula's interior share our Midwest weather.
For those who don't know and may be interested, however, the Kenai Peninsula is about the same size as Ohio. And the state's southernmost regions share our plant hardiness zones. While their shorter summers cause plants to take advantage and mature fast, the mosquitoes flourish during those often rainy warm days.
 | This is random but worth sharing.
What a lovely September day!
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On an entirely different note, Pradeep Nair kindly introduced me to binjal, a tasty treatment for eggplant. Unfortunately, I used my fresh tomatoes instead of tomato paste and the results were too sweet. Oops. But now I know. So thank you, my friend.
At long last, as to the 'fish food' bit of my title, a boyfriend and I used to swim in his neighborhood's pond. One especially dry summer, the shoreline dropped to the point the fish were going hungry. Whatever their usual diet, they schooled around us and began taking bites. For once I wasn't the only one providing a meal. so there's that. ~grin~
Did you know that eggplant got named for being both oblong and white? Would that put you off from eating it?
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All my ruminating about bloodsucking insects brings back numerous memories. And many are fond, believe it or not, such as during the summer of 1999. My husband and I spent a week in Alaska, meeting my parents during the pinnacle of their transcontinental camping trip. Among my souvenirs is 'Skeeter', who hangs out on various magnetic surfaces.
 | Only today did I realize her proboscis is bendable...
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To our good fortune, though not Alaskan residents, that season was unusually dry. We didn't have to worry about their legendary insect population while those communities had to cancel all Independence Day fireworks displays.
One fall trip to North Carolina's Outer Banks is another story. We arrived on the island as a hurricane swept out to sea, leaving behind wet and flooded conditions that spawned an epic mosquito population. Hungry females swarmed me every time I entered or exited our condominium, the shaded entryway a perfect place for them to congregate. Thank heaven for liquid bandage, which helped stop the itching.
A most memorable incident occurred at the Pea Island Nature Preserve. Alas, we did not get very far. My husband still marvels at seeing me flee before a cloud of mosquitoes.
A visit to the Indiana Dunes National Park introduced me to biting flies. The whole point to view an ocean-like setting, we never did. At least we enjoyed wildlife at the man-made lake outside our motel room. That and some fine dining made the trip worthwhile.
I've had similar experiences at home, too. Take the work lunch break I spent reading in an old cemetery. A few days later I visited my doctor thinking a medicinal side effect caused itchy bumps. Nope. She asked if I'd spent time among un-mown grasses. Yup. Chiggers found me that year. My guy teases that I should have known to expect bloodsuckers there.
Did you know not all mosquito species require blood for egg production? Or that the name is Spanish for 'little fly'?
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For those who didn't get the pun (Sorry, Liz, because if you got it I know you groaned - or will soon), look close at the can the complaining explorer holds...
 | See it now? Heh...
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And if you aren't familair with 'Off' repellent, his colleague brought 'On' by mistake. ~snicker~ And that made me think about the brand name, since who isn't likely to shout, 'Get off me!' when swarmed?
Have you ever been chased by a cloud of misquitoes? Did you know that Alaska is known for giant bloodsuckers?
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This frame's joke is so subtle that my husband needed a few moments, he said, for it to sink in. Please let me know if you get it or not.
Isn't it funny how brand names become so ubiquitous that we lose the meaning? And, if you're unfamiliar with advertising in the United States, is the punchline meaningless?
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Thank heaven Gary Larson is back with The Far Side comics. His humor is just what my husband and I need this year.
Do you get the punchline? Is his warped mind not genius?
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