I saw an owl on the school fence, walking home from the bus stop last night. It was super cute… a tiny thing, maybe the size of a can of soda-pop… I was a little shocked, because I think of Owls as big birds of prey The bird looked like a brown and white feathered capsule, with huge yellow eyes and long skinny legs. I stopped in my tracks and admired it for a moment and then went to take a picture. It took off before I could snag him, but I found a very close approximation… it was a burrowing owl! (The mascot of my old university) Apparently they don’t get very large, so I doubt what I saw was a baby though it looked babyish to me at the time.

He flew off into this tree, outside of my view. The creepy yellow light looked nifty and I had the palmtop out, so I took a picture.

It’s odd… I think of owls as these huge predators, but this guy would’ve had trouble with a rat, I think. Maybe an anole or a mouse is more his speed. I’ll be coming back to see if I can spot him again. I really love living close to this sort of wildlife.

That Space piggy picture got well over 3500 hits over the course of 12 hours yesterday…that’s more hits than my coverage of the hurricane back in October, and I thought that was nuts. I wonder if someone else linked to it, because only a couple of dozen bounced through my journal-site to that page.

Made plans to go see Wicked with Danny some time in the weeks ahead. I’m looking quite forward to it, though I wonder how much he’ll like it. It was his idea, so groovy. Yikes.. I wonder how much he’ll balk when he finds out they’re between $109 and $225 per seat? I suspect I might be flying solo. A bit more expensive than the $5 seats for Arsenic and Old Lace at his school.

Pretty Keen – estimate to price of any address.

Floating wind turbines

The Magenn Power Air Rotor System (MARS) is an innovative lighter-than-air tethered device that rotates about a horizontal axis in response to wind, efficiently generating clean renewable electrical energy at a lower cost than all competing systems.

The magenn flying wind turbine is held up by helium generating 4Kw,enough to power your needs. It costs around $10,000, but it could pay for itself in about 6 years depending on how you use it. It’s anchored by a tether that can extend up to 1,000 feet above ground. Generally, 400 feet is enough to catch the minimum 3 meters/sec wind speed needed to sustain a nice supply of electricity. No towers or heavy foundations are necessary and sizes range from small “backpack” models to large megawatt generating devices.

Moment of lyric (take your pick – mov, or youtube)

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