Farm News 06-22-08
Sunday morning, long after chores, 80°
Weight: 208 lbs. Bah!
Barn News
Suzette has six bunnies, born a week ago last Saturday. They should have their eyes open in a day or two.
There are three goose eggs remaining in the incubator after the last candling session with Jesse. He takes the egg into a dark room and then presses a small flashlight against the shell on the side away from him. The light shines through the shell, showing the developing gosling as a shadow. Jesse is quite clever at candling, as this process is called, and I like being able to take out dead eggs before they start stinking.
Last Sunday we sent Dave off on the endless trip. About thirty family and friends gathered at the ranch to wish Dave, “Happy trails.” Several people talked about how nice he was, and he was a nice guy. No one mentioned it, but many people were pleased he had finally quit drinking. Dave was often a maudlin drunk, which became tiresome, but, like many alcoholics, when he wasn't drinking he was a great guy.
We had a new sideshow at the send-off gathering: Dave's ashes were parceled out into small, neatly made packages tied with rattan, each a bit larger than the size of a gift wrapped condom. People attending the gathering took home with them a packet of Dave's ashes. One packet of Dave's ashes will go to the Ware Cemetery at Ware's Grove, Illinois, to join him with many distant cousins. I'd like for the same thing to be done with my ashes, it seems to be a way to sort of 'spread yourself out' after death.
Linux
I've been using Linux for several years to run the GeezerNet.com web server, Geezer1.server. Geezer1.server is an aging Micron Pentium Pro box, upgraded with a modern motherboard and big hard drives. At the moment it sits quietly next to my desk, disconnected from both power and internet. When plugged in, it grinds and growls for a few minutes, and then springs into action, answering internet requests for the web sites www.GeezerNet.com and www.GeezerNet.US.
'Springing into action', in this case, means starting the operating system called Linux. Linux is completely independent of Microsoft Windows. Linux if free, open source, software. For the life of the internet, Linux has been the operating system for most servers, such as dear old Geezer1.server. There, it dispenses web pages and moves email around, operating for years without failures. It's pretty solid, technically, and very stolid in it's appearance.
Recently, Ubuntu 8.04 appeared. Ubuntu is a 'distribution' of Linux, whatever that means, but Ubuntu 8.04 is not stolid. It works, it's straightforward, and you don't have to leave Windows to install it. You can install it like any other program, and the next time you reboot your computer, you will have the choice of rebooting into either Ubuntu or Windows. Choose Ubuntu and your computer boots up Linux.
My primary word processor is Open Office Writer. I use it to write Farm News. Between the time when I wrote the above paragraph, and the time I am writing this paragraph, I rebooted my computer from Windows to Linux. When Linux had booted, I opened up my primary word processor, but the operating system underneath all this is now Linux. Then I went to the folder /host/, which is the same as C:\ in Windows. After fiddling around a bit I opened up this document, the same one I was working on in Windows, and wrote this paragraph.
The point is, Linux accommodates Windows nicely, and, in the cases of Open Office, Thunderbird, and FireFox, the same programs will run on both operating systems. Installing a Linux system is now within reach of non-techies. The most difficult part of the process is creating a CD that will then install Linux on your system. Send me an email if you want me to send you a CD that will install Linux.
Books
Resolution by Robert B. Parker
I like Parker's westerns. This one is a sequel to Appaloosa, which I also liked, continuing the discussion between the lead characters about the ethics of shooting people.
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
The plot of this book was implausible, as was the setting: two towns in eastern Colorado named Hope and Despair. The action was okay, though, and I'd read another one of his books. He's not one of my favorite authors, even though his implausible settings are, nevertheless, biologically and celestially accurate, i.e., he does not find mesquite growing in Montana, or see a full moon rise after midnight.
Weight: 208 lbs. Bah!
Barn News
Suzette has six bunnies, born a week ago last Saturday. They should have their eyes open in a day or two.
There are three goose eggs remaining in the incubator after the last candling session with Jesse. He takes the egg into a dark room and then presses a small flashlight against the shell on the side away from him. The light shines through the shell, showing the developing gosling as a shadow. Jesse is quite clever at candling, as this process is called, and I like being able to take out dead eggs before they start stinking.
Last Sunday we sent Dave off on the endless trip. About thirty family and friends gathered at the ranch to wish Dave, “Happy trails.” Several people talked about how nice he was, and he was a nice guy. No one mentioned it, but many people were pleased he had finally quit drinking. Dave was often a maudlin drunk, which became tiresome, but, like many alcoholics, when he wasn't drinking he was a great guy.
We had a new sideshow at the send-off gathering: Dave's ashes were parceled out into small, neatly made packages tied with rattan, each a bit larger than the size of a gift wrapped condom. People attending the gathering took home with them a packet of Dave's ashes. One packet of Dave's ashes will go to the Ware Cemetery at Ware's Grove, Illinois, to join him with many distant cousins. I'd like for the same thing to be done with my ashes, it seems to be a way to sort of 'spread yourself out' after death.
Linux
I've been using Linux for several years to run the GeezerNet.com web server, Geezer1.server. Geezer1.server is an aging Micron Pentium Pro box, upgraded with a modern motherboard and big hard drives. At the moment it sits quietly next to my desk, disconnected from both power and internet. When plugged in, it grinds and growls for a few minutes, and then springs into action, answering internet requests for the web sites www.GeezerNet.com and www.GeezerNet.US.
'Springing into action', in this case, means starting the operating system called Linux. Linux is completely independent of Microsoft Windows. Linux if free, open source, software. For the life of the internet, Linux has been the operating system for most servers, such as dear old Geezer1.server. There, it dispenses web pages and moves email around, operating for years without failures. It's pretty solid, technically, and very stolid in it's appearance.
Recently, Ubuntu 8.04 appeared. Ubuntu is a 'distribution' of Linux, whatever that means, but Ubuntu 8.04 is not stolid. It works, it's straightforward, and you don't have to leave Windows to install it. You can install it like any other program, and the next time you reboot your computer, you will have the choice of rebooting into either Ubuntu or Windows. Choose Ubuntu and your computer boots up Linux.
My primary word processor is Open Office Writer. I use it to write Farm News. Between the time when I wrote the above paragraph, and the time I am writing this paragraph, I rebooted my computer from Windows to Linux. When Linux had booted, I opened up my primary word processor, but the operating system underneath all this is now Linux. Then I went to the folder /host/, which is the same as C:\ in Windows. After fiddling around a bit I opened up this document, the same one I was working on in Windows, and wrote this paragraph.
The point is, Linux accommodates Windows nicely, and, in the cases of Open Office, Thunderbird, and FireFox, the same programs will run on both operating systems. Installing a Linux system is now within reach of non-techies. The most difficult part of the process is creating a CD that will then install Linux on your system. Send me an email if you want me to send you a CD that will install Linux.
Books
Resolution by Robert B. Parker
I like Parker's westerns. This one is a sequel to Appaloosa, which I also liked, continuing the discussion between the lead characters about the ethics of shooting people.
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
The plot of this book was implausible, as was the setting: two towns in eastern Colorado named Hope and Despair. The action was okay, though, and I'd read another one of his books. He's not one of my favorite authors, even though his implausible settings are, nevertheless, biologically and celestially accurate, i.e., he does not find mesquite growing in Montana, or see a full moon rise after midnight.
posted by The Geezer at 11:31 AM
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