Jefflog

I’ve had my Apple Powerbook laptop as my primary personal computer for nearly five years now. Yes, it’s pretty old by computer standards, and yes, I’m looking to buy a new computer sometime soon, but to be honest this laptop works just fine for web browsing and e-mail.

Until a few weeks ago, I needed to keep it tethered to the electrical outlet because the battery had been flakey for years. Sometimes it would work for 30 minutes, sometimes for 2 minutes, and completely unpredictable. I was doing a lot of my computing on the kitchen counter standing all the while. I decided it was time to buy a new battery despite its age.

What an incredible amount of freedom it has brought. I can work on the couch or the kitchen table for hours. This also makes it easier to move away from small fingers that like to touch the keyboard and screen.

So it’s nothing that most laptop owners don’t already have, just a little personal victory that I had not experienced for a while.

Lately, I’ve been trying to think of some other titles for my position other than “stay-at-home dad”. Something with a little more oomph. So far, I’ve thought of the following:

1. Stay-at-home man
2. Full-time father
3. Director of the house

Can anyone else offer any better suggestions for me?

It seems like every part of the country has its share of critters found near where people live. In California, we had black widow spiders, red velvet ants, and the occasional tarantula. New Orleans has its legendary cockroaches, who I’m guessing are faring after the floods much better than the residents are.

At our previous Indiana homestead, I blogged about finding bats and rabbits. We also had a raccoon who would sometimes peer in through our sliding glass window, and while not in our backyard, I spotted deer about half a mile from the old place. It was always interesting to see new creatures.

Our latest residence is no exception. The latest wave of storms caused a multitude of frogs to jump into our basement window wells. I thought about keeping them there as pets of a sort, putting a little tray of water to serve as a pond, but I soon realized that there weren’t enough insects to come by to keep them all alive. I captured most of them in a bucket and released them in a nearby wet area. I left two frogs in the window well just to see how they will fare.

We also had a field mouse fall in there yesterday. I fished it out too and deposited it in a nearby field. No telling how long it’ll last before falling into someone else’s window well.

A few months ago, we had a mole fall down there as well. My parents were in town and captured it, but not before it ate a hole through my window screen.

Lots of crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies and fireflies to be found out here too. I suppose they’re common around most parts but not where I grew up, so these were always insects I only read about kids catching. I’ve no doubt my kids will be catching these critters in no time.